Gateway Reviews

RED AS ROYAL BLOOD Ruby has spent her whole life as a palace maid, and that's how she likes it. It's a good life for an orphan like her. But when the king dies, everything changes. Because for some reason, the king has named her his successor. Not his heir apparent. Not any of his living children. Her . Ruby doesn't know how to be a queen. She doesn't know how to lead a nation, especially not one as volatile as this. And she is starting to feel like she's been set up for failure... especially when she stumbles across evidence that the king was murdered. And his murderers might have their eyes on her next. THOUGHTS This book really gives nothing. Absolutely nothing. Is it court fantasy? No, it isn't. There's no magic. There's no real sense that it is set in a secondary world. There's... nothing. So is it historical, then? Absolutely no...

GILDED IN VENGEANCE Two years ago, two girls attended a magical ball. One was given the sponsorship of a lifetime. The other was never seen again. But she's been waiting. Two years after being framed for fraud by the Society of the Charmed, Emmy Vallilo waits in her magic-proof cell plotting revenge. Because it wasn't just a coincidence or bad luck that the wealthy turned on her that night. She thought Grace was her best friend, but now she knows that Grace is the one who ruined her life, who took everything away from her. When her cell wall explodes one evening, Emmy jumps at the chance to be free. To seek vengeance, perhaps. She knows she should run and not look back, but... Jack Fontaine, one of the Society's (former) favorite sons, is waiting for her. He was framed, too, or so he tells her. And he needs her help for the revenge he has in mind. THOUGHTS This book was...

November 2025 New month, new books for our TBRs! The weather's getting colder where I am, and that means book people stockpiling new releases and recommendations for the winter weather that's on the horizon. (Weather that never seems to snow us in long enough to finish our TBRs - alas!) This month's reviews contain some great highs and terrible lows, but there are even more new releases I'm excited about stockpiling for my TBR in the coming cold! Coldwire Chloe Gong From the Publisher: To escape rising seas and rampant epidemics, most of society lives “upcountry” in glistening virtual reality, while those who can’t afford the subscription are forced to remain in crumbling “downcountry.” But upcountry isn’t perfect. A cold war rages between two powerful nations, Medaluo and Atahua—and no one suffers for it more than the Medan orphans in Atahua. Their enrollment at Nile Military Acade...

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER Cameron Morelli is a god. A football god, anyway. And worse, he knows it. There's nobody he can't charm. That's part of his charm. So imagine his utter shame (and complete bafflement) when he's rejected by the team's new water boy, Mason Gray. Mason doesn't want anything to do with someone as arrogant as Cameron. Especially now, when he's still recovering from the last... relationship he was a part of. He's got enough on his plate without some arrogant, airheaded jock in the mix. But when Cam gets benched for his poor grades, Coach asks Mason to step in as a tutor. And for the good of the team, Mason agrees, even if it means spending more time together than either of them would prefer. THOUGHTS This book is kind of hard for me to review, because on the one hand, it was cute and cutesy and fun. Everything I could want...

AN OCEAN APART Eden Lowell's barely getting by. In the flooded remains of Miami, now called the Marshes, each day is a struggle to survive. Resources are scarce: food, water, shelter. Any bad luck can mean the end. Unless you're a Cruiser, of course. The rich who left land before their luck ran out. The corporate lackeys who still have good jobs and luxury accommodation on ships sailing the world's too-salty seas. They might not live on land anymore, but they still take what they need. Which means even less for those still onshore, like Eden. When Eden learns that a local Cruiser bigwig is hosting a dating competition for her son and heir, she sees her chance to do something about this injustice. There's a sizable prize... and a lot of room to embarrass the corporate elite on their own livestream. But to infiltrate a competition like this, she'll need help. And a local political agitator known as the Ringmaster might be a...

WAVELENGTH Everyone in the world knows Admirer, a pop duo that's taken the world by storm. As one half of Admirer, Alexander Ash is one of the most famous teenagers in the world. But when the other half of this duo gets into some legal trouble, Alexander Ash vanishes... and Sasha is born. Sasha has wanted a way out of the spotlight for years. The only thing that saved their sanity was the fact that Alexander Ash only appears in public in a mask. With their brother on trial, the pressure to unmask was too much. It's the perfect time to vanish. Setting themself up in some nowhere midwestern town, Sasha plans to finish senior year in peace. But their plans for a quiet senior year falter when they meet Wavelength, a local alt-rock band with a lead singer right up Sasha's alley. Lillian has been struggling to keep Wavelength together even since she broke up with her ex-girlfriend (who's also an ex-bandmember). Inviting Sasha to be...