I bought the the original version of the book when it was first published and and have reread it every 5 years or so. I remember the first time I purchased the book and read the first 5 or 6 pages and thought, "Whaaaat? No way is she a . . . " and started back at page 1 to see if I was reading it correctly. This book was certainly was a new fresh take for a Regency. I love Mary Balogh books and always fondly thought of A Precious Jewel as my alltime favorite.

However, I just recently reread the book and I don't think it really stands up as well as I have always thought. For the first time, I was turned off by Gerald and thought he was immature and Priscella was a mother figure who took care of him. Secondly, because of her care-taking role with him, it seems to me that she fell in love with him because she had no other choices. Would she have fallen in love with him if she met him on equal footing? The book failed to convince me.

Thirdly, could she not have borrowed against her future inheritance? Ms. Balogh should have omitted the inheritance out of book entirely.

I'm sorry to give the book 4 stars. The writing is still beautiful and the love story is sweet. Mary Balogh writes with humour, subtlety and eloquence that very few writers can match.

Managed to get hold of this out of date book and proves that it is well worth re-visiting this author's early work. It is a beautiful story, written very compassionately. Has to be one of the best of its genre I have ever read.

As I sit at my computer writing this review, I am a mess. I read this book in one sitting and I am a complete emotional wreck....I love it! This feeling is how I feel after I've read something special, something "other", something unique, something unforgettable! This is how I feel after reading A Precious Jewel.

Priscilla Wentworth is precisely what that titles says...she is a precious jewel. Resorting to prostitution after her father/brother leave her penniless, she encounters Sir Gerald Stapleton at the brothel in which she works/lives. He is a paying customer and she completely dazzles him, not because of her beauty, but because of her sweetness and willingness to be and act exactly as he wants her to. Finally, not being able to bear watching her be abused by other men, he asks her to come under his protection by becoming his mistress. The relationship develops from this point. Let me warn you...it is slow to develop. Sir Gerald is a man with lots of baggage and it takes time for him to trust.

Sir Gerald is in many ways a more tragic character than Priscilla is. The love scenes between these two are some of the most uncomfortable that I have ever read because they are so emotionally unattached and mechanical. The reader soon comes to realize that Gerald is not capable of anything else. He is incapable of giving anything of himself to another human being because he fears rejection and protects himself against pain. He has incredible baggage from his parents and stepmother and it takes him a great deal of the book to come to terms with the ghosts of his past in order to be able to give himself to "Prissy".

This is not a light romance...if your looking for that check out "The Famous Heroine". This is an extremely complex and emotional read that will have you hooked in no time. The book evolves as do the characters within it and by the end you will be cheering and crying.....because it had to end.