Jewel Mass Market Paperback – April 29, 2008

I have been a fan of Ms. Jenkins for more years than I can remember. There is always an element of Black History which is informative and thought provoking. This story line emcompasses family love, conflict, and forgiveness. I have read most of her books about 3-4 times. Just love a fantastic read.

Two friends have to pretend to be married, only to wind up having to REALLY marry? The jokes write themselves and this was a JOYFUL read. Full if passion and I found myself actually rooting for Eli to win Jewel's heart and trust. Yet another amazing Black history lesson - especially since the Black press is so close to my heart.

Jewel was one of Ms. B’s books that I’d never read. I’m not sure why that is since I’ve tried to get my hands on all of her books. And, like every other time, Ms. Jenkins did not disappoint.Returning to Grayson Grove, Michigan—the setting from Vivid—was a great ride for me. I was interested in seeing what happened to the people of the town after Nate Grayson and Vivid Lancaster rode off into the sunset. As always, the scenery descriptions zapped me right into the beautiful town and its surrounding areas.The book opens with a little mystery (sorry, I can’t spill) and then we are reintroduced to Eli Grayson—Nate’s handsome cousin. Eli, who had some less than admirable traits in the past, has tried to live on the straight and narrow. He’s a journalist by trade, but the local paper he ran has closed due to lack of funds. The Gazette is Eli’s passion and he’d do anything to try and get it back up and running. When the owner of a thriving Black newspaper enters the picture, intent on investing the money to help The Gazette, Eli sees this as a way to get back to doing what he loves. However, G. W. Hicks only invests family men—Eli has to have a wife.Enter Jewel Crowley, who we met in Vivid as well. Jewel is fiercely loyal to her family and takes care of her father, Adam (who is married to Eli’s mother coincidentally), and her brothers—and loves doing it. When Eli comes to her with a proposal—they would pretend to be married for one day then when Hicks leaves after investing in The Gazette it would all be over—she is skeptical but agrees to it. After all, who can resist Eli Grayson? (Not me.) Jewel has even harbored a crush on him for years.Of course, it couldn’t be that easy. That’s when the fireworks start for these two. One night of pretending becomes a real marriage of convenience—which I have to say is one of my favorite premises. Give me a marriage of convenience and I’m all in.Once again, Ms. B gives us a passionate love affair. These two are on FIYAH! Eli is strong and intelligent (my kind of man; gray eyes, hot body, and all). Jewel is smart and beautiful (and a fire cracker). Perfect Couple (and if you haven’t read my thoughts on perfect couples, click here). I was hooked from the beginning. There was mystery, intrigue, and the supportive characters were colorful and extremely important to the story. I especially loved that Maddie (another character from Vivid) was featured and had her own mini-love story. All in all, I was so happy that I had a chance to read Jewel. I enjoyed every bit of the story.

I really enjoyed this fantastic fake marriage trope romance set in the the world of Grayson Grove, a Black small town that was introduced to us in the book Vivid. In this second book in that series, we get to know side characters from Book 1 better. The premise is that Eli Grayson, a recovering black sheep of the family and newspaper man, asks Jewel Crawley, a practical, no-nonsense young women who’s been caring for her father and brothers since childhood, to enter into a pretend marriage of in order to convince an investor from the East to rescue his paper. When they have to turn their make-believe marriage into a real one in order to protect Jewel’s reputation, the two opposites seem like they will never attract despite a hidden attraction between them.I liked this a lot- it was great seeing Jewel and Eli’s characters grow and develop throughout the book. I particularly liked Eli’s journey to forgiving himself for his betrayal of his cousin (Nate) and his mistakes with women which come to hurt Jewel. I loved Jewel as a character and how strong and stubborn and honest she was so that she didn’t cut her nose to spite her face and was willing to take a risk for happiness.If there’s anything I wish could have been different, I wish Nate and Vivid had featured in this book. I understand why they didn’t- so that Eli could be thrown in uncomfortable situations for growth, but I missed having them. I also wish Maddie could have had a separate book of her own because she’s such an interesting character and I’m so curious about her happy ending which kind of happened mostly off the page of this book.However, this was a pure delight to read. The secondary characters that make up the friends and family of Eli and Vivid in their small town are compelling and a enjoyable to read. The author delivers a lot of historical contextual fact within this book and embeds it nicely in the storyline so that both heart and mind are engaged. This book is nearly 15 years old and it stands up fairly well to contemporary scrutiny for problematicness. I definitely recommend checking this out, especially if you’ve read the more popular book in this series, Vivid.

I really enjoyed reading Eli and Jewels story. You really get to see what Eli is all about. Eli is the nephew of Nate Grayson. He was introduced in the book Vivid. If you haven't read Vivid yet, you should read that one first. VIVID was very, very good. I didn't want to put either of the books down. I was new to Beverly Jenkins about two months ago. Since then I have read 19 of her books practically back to back. I think I have read all but 4 of her historical romance books. Midnight is next. The last three are not available on kindle as of yet. Hopefully they will be soon. I may have to buy the actual books to finish her historical romance novels. I enjoy reading her books so much I plan to continue reading only her books until I have all of them to date. I'm so glad I was introduced recently so I didn't have to wait on any of the books. Lol. I guess you can say I am big fan. READ VIVID FIRST THEN READ JEWEL. YOU WILL LOVE THEM BOTH.

Loved itv

I don’t think there’s any trope Ms Beverly hasn’t written well but this was particularly fun. I really enjoyed seeing these two come together. As always, the host of supporting characters was also a treat.

Excellent like all her books