Review Detail

Picking up almost right after The Jewel left off, The White Rose finds Violet on the run from The Duchess of the Lake. She has no choice. She has to escape The Jewel but she refuses to go without Ash and her friend Raven. The plan is to get to a house in The Farm but getting there without being caught is a huge challenge – even with help from the mysterious Black Key and his associates. A new ally helps Violet understand her ability to use the Auguries and what they truly are, and with that understanding comes hope that maybe this rebellion will succeed.

The Jewel ended on a pretty big cliffhanger so I was looking forward to this book finally coming out. There were parts I liked, parts I didn’t, but overall this book moved the story forward and did its job to set up the big battle in the third book. There was more world-building and character development present as well, which was great.

My main issue with this book was that it felt like it was trying to do too much, too fast. A good portion of the first half was the characters trying to escape and make it to the safe house in The Farm and then introducing the rebel group, Violet’s training, a few big reveals and twists, they were all crammed into the second part of the book. It made for very fast reading of the second half since it was so fast-paced but it also made the first half slow and a bit repetitive.

My favourite thing about the book ended up being the character interaction, which is always a big thing for me. If I enjoy those, chances are I enjoy the book. The friendship between Violet and Raven is so sweet and strong and there was always the feeling that those two would do anything to protect each other. If there was a main couple in this series, I would say it was Violet and Raven as friends. The romance between Violet and Ash was still there but it was mostly in the background. I was a little undecided on their romance as there were times when it felt more like a sibling dynamic and maybe they only thought they were in love because they were the first to look at each other and see beyond the labels of ‘surrogate’ and ‘companion.’ It will be a wait and see type of romance. My favourite interactions though, involved Garnet. I would love to read something, even just a novella, from his POV because wow that boy has shown a lot of growth through these two books.

Even with the few issues I mentioned, I enjoyed reading this book and it has me excited for the third and last book to come out. In about a year from now:( I’ll just wait impatiently for the title and cover reveal because these covers have been breathtaking so far!