Jewel

Written by Beverly Jenkins

Narrated by Kim Staunton

A proposal she had no choice but to accept . . . 

Though Eli Grayson is one of the most handsome, charming, and intelligent men in Grayson Grove, no one will take a chance on a confirmed bachelor. Unwilling to give up his dreams, Eli convinces his friend Jewel to pose as his wife. Their masquerade is to last just one night . . . but when word gets out, Eli and Jewel must tie the knot to save his career—and her reputation.

Became a love she never expected . . . 

Angry at being forced to turn her life upside down, Jewel never imagined that a white-hot passion would consume her once she and Eli became husband and wife. Sharing a bed has turned their prim friendship into a sensuous love affair . . . but when a woman from Eli's past returns to stir up trouble, he and Jewel will learn just how far they'll go to protect the precious gem of their newfound passion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Jun 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063054738

Beverly Jenkins

Beverly Jenkins is the recipient of the 2018 Michigan Author Award by the Michigan Library Association, the 2017 Romance Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the 2016 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for historical romance. She has been nominated for the NAACP Image Award in Literature, was featured in both the documentary Love Between the Covers and on CBS Sunday Morning. Since the publication of Night Song in 1994, she has been leading the charge for inclusive romance, and has been a constant darling of reviewers, fans, and her peers alike, garnering accolades for her work from the likes of The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, and NPR. To read more about Beverly, visit her at www.BeverlyJenkins.net.  

Reviews for Jewel

[eurohackie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not my favorite by Ms. Bev, but certainly a good book! Adults acting like adults, a sweet secondary romance, and lots of very interesting Black history wrap around this unconventional story of a marriage of convenience. I didn't like it quite as much as I've liked her latest novels because it felt like Jewel didn't have much agency. She went from being under her father's thumb to being under her husband's, more or less against her wishes. She tried to do Eli a solid by posing as his wife for one evening, but ended up having a shotgun wedding later that same evening to cover up the lie. She wanted to build a house on her land; the men in her life protested and she gave in. She wanted a chance to get to know her husband; he set about seducing her and she gave in. I much prefer a character like Regan in Tempest, who is unconventional and doesn't give a fig what anyone cares or does about it.The muck-racking villainess was too evil to be true ("Satan's handmaiden" was the town's nickname for her) and had absolutely no redeeming features, which made her a little boring. It was so OTT that it was hard to believe Jewel would even allow her nasty insinuations to hurt her, but she does. Luckily the rift between husband and wife only lasts a day, but still. That felt like a particularly weak point.It was also a bit sad to know that Grayson Grove was such a singular place in its progressiveness. Ms. Bev packs all of her stories full of history, and she was at pains to point out that universal education was definitely not the standard of the day in the 1800s, nor was women's suffrage or even that of Black people. The founders of Grayson Grove wrote so much of what we take for granted into their charter and it's striking, and saddening, and humbling.There is a lot of politics, sex, and religion in this book, so if that's not your bag, you may want to skip it. Otherwise, it's definitely worth a read, for the history of newspapers alon