Tuesday, January 8, 2013

The Adventures of Jewel Cardwell

Here's a book with a super creepy, pull-you-in-cover.

The Adventures of Jewel Cardwell - Fumi Hancock
The Adventures of Jewel Cardwell
When free-spirited and more than a little rebellious, seventeen-year-old Jewel Cardwell gained admission to Grayton Preparatory School, a prestigious, girls-only, top-notch private institution nestled in the South African farmlands of Limpopo, little did she know it would begin a trail of mysterious and unfamiliar events, changing her life forever! At Grayton prep, a battle line is drawn between ‘good and evil’ especially when there’s a full moon and dark forces swirl and turn up in the form of hideous monsters and frightening demons. With her school fr-nemies, rivalry and treachery become the order of the day and Jewel is forced to question everything she thought she knew as she struggles to stay alive in a dubious place riddled with demonic activity! Armed with a magical secret from her dying grandmother, a golden locket, she sets a new course in motion. In the middle of this whirlwind of events, she is caught between two boys: Darwin Morton, a lad she's known growing up, and Eric Broder, a soccer team leader with a silver spoon in his mouth. Why her love life has to get interesting now is a question she can't answer!

Right away this reminded me of the Harry Potter series because Jewel is cursed and she is immediately sent away to Grayton Preparatory School. The thing though is that I didn't think Jewel was as lovable as Harry because honestly? She's a bit of a brat and you can bet she's probably a handful at home. Armed with a chilling family secret passed onto her from her dying grandmother and this locket, she is quickly in the middle of a pretty harrowing adventure. And while her parents think she's going to a safe place, the place is basically a doorway to Hell with all of the demonic forces/evil lurking everywhere. 

Some problems with this book for me is that Jewel is a really angry person and for no real reason. In fact, her mother really is too and I just didn't understand any of that. A lot of the writing seemed a bit forced for me and honest to god, if I saw one more exclamation mark I was going to lose it. Those should be sporadic and reserved, you shouldn't count on there being two per page. Nothing is that exciting. I've seen some very rave reviews for this book and none of them really rang true with me. Sure, the book is good and there is enough to keep you going through it, but compared to some other YA books I've read recently, I'd have to put this one lower on the list. That's not to say you won't like it because if you are a big YA fan, you will love this. It certainly is not a boring book, there is a LOT of story happening in a relatively short book so if you prefer action packed books, definitely pick this one up. 

Review done for Pump Up Your Book

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