The White Rose (The Lone City #2) by Amy Ewing

Age Range: YA
Pages: 320
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: 6 October 2015
Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: 3 Stars

Violet Lasting is no longer Lot 197; she has escaped surrogacy and is on the run in the Lone City. In this sequel to The Jewel, Violet and her friends are fighting for survival. Nowhere is safe - and never will be - unless Violet can help Lucien destroy the royalty. 

Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and Matched, this is the second book in the Lone City trilogy, following on from Amy Ewing's shocking and compelling debut novel, The Jewel. Violet, Ash and Raven have escaped the palace of the Duchess of the Lake, but Regimentals are hunting for them across the city. Nowhere is safe, and they are dependent on Lucien and his secret society for survival. If they can reach the safety of the White Rose then Violet may be able to help Lucien in his plan to rescue more surrogates. For one surrogate, however, it is already too late. Violet's best friend, Raven, is pregnant. And in the Jewel, surrogates cannot survive giving birth.

My Thoughts:

I just honestly do not know if this series is for me.  I wasn't very impressed with the first book, The Jewel, and was really hoping that the series would pick up for me.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen.  I don't know what I was expecting, maybe for more character growth or a faster moving plot line, but the book didn't really work for me.  I am in no way saying that this book is bad, but it just wasn't great either, I would say it is a mediocre book at best.

I think the biggest issue for me comes down to the characters.  After two books, I am still not invested in the characters, Violet grew on me some, but by no means do I find her to be a particularly good or unique main character.  In fact, I still find her character to be quite dull.  As much as I try, I am just not invested in her or her story.  Then there is her love interest Ash, of all the characters I like him least.  I just find his character whiny and annoying.  There is something about the instant love and his personality that make this romance rub me the wrong way.  I would have much preferred if she had had someone like Garnet as a love interest.  In fact,  Garnet is one of the only characters in the book I liked.

As for the plot, I wouldn't say that it was bad, it just lack-luster. Based on the way that the first book ended I was really hoping for a fast-paced adventure, but I didn't get that.  Instead, it was a lot of travel, backstory, and set up for the future fighting. These qualities do not necessarily create a bad novel, but it just didn't meet my expectations. I really wanted a plot that would blow me away and would really get me into the series. I wanted action and revolution, instead, I got a lot of planning and build up.

This book was not a hit for me, but it was not a complete miss either.  I didn't find myself bored or ready to put the book down, but I was never engrossed in it either.  To be frank, this is the second book in the series and I am still not loving the story.  I don't know if I will continue on to the last book or if I will DNF the series.  I still have some hope that the last book will have the action I am craving, so maybe at some point, I will read it.