Gateway Reviews

THE SWAN'S DAUGHTER Demelza lives a simple life, unlike her beautiful, world-conquering sisters. As the daughters of a veritas swan (and the wicked wizard who stole her away), each of these sisters is more beautiful and cunning than the last... except for the youngest, Demelza, the only one to take after their father. While her sisters were destined from birth to bring men (and the countries they lead) to their knees and harness power for their wizard father, Demelza has always known a more... domestic existence. Reading, researching, and exploring the wild lands around her father's tower is all she's ever known. Until her research leads her to the missing piece of her father's lifelong quest for immortality: Demelza's very own heart. And now that she knows her heart is the key, her father knows it, too. Fearing for her life, Demelza flees her father's domain and heads to the only place his influence doesn't reach: Rath...

WE'VE HIT TURBULENCE Olive Austin isn't a hopeless romantic, but sometimes life calls for a grand romantic gesture. Like leaving a week early to meet up with your boyfriend in Hawai'i. To surprise him. So romantic. Definitely not a decision she made because she suspects he's been cheating. Flying isn't something Olive loves, but it is a necessary evil in this case. What's unnecessary? Being stuck next to her ex on this 13-hour flight. Her ex she never quite got over. Her ex who has never been shy about making fun of her new boyfriend. The same boyfriend who doesn't want to return her calls... THOUGHTS Where was the plot? Where was the chemistry? Where was the island luxury? This book didn't hit any of the right notes for me, from an insufferable main character to an abysmal plot structure that made it so very difficult to get invested. I ...

SUNDOWN GIRLS What can help a family at odds? Vacationing in a secluded cabin. The Stoakes family certainly needs that quality bonding time. Naomi needs this retreat most of all. She's felt like an outsider these past few months, ever since she was taken from the woman who stole her as a child and reunited with her birth family. Some bonding time, time to feel like she's actually one of them and not some weird, mostly-grown interloper, might be nice. This cabin might be remote, but the new renovations mean it's beautiful. And the nearby town of Sparksburg, Virginia is quaint. Charming, even. Or at least that's what the rest of her family thinks. Naomi can't shake the feeling that something here isn't right, but she doesn't really want to rock the boat. Not here, not now. But as she digs into Sparksburg's past, she discovers it used to be a Sundown Town, where Blacks weren't allowed past sunset. This violent, not-so-di...

  Best                      First Place:             Time After Time Mikki Daughtry                                         ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ In this dual-timeline romance, college student Libby spends her entire savings fund on an old Victorian fixer-upper and settles in to renovate as she connects with a love story that unfolded in this house one hundred years ago. A blending of historical and contemporary love stories, Mikki Daughtry mirrors two romances full of wit and longing and forbidden hopes and dreams. Though jumping between timelines means getting pulled from a favorite cozy love story a few times as readers bounce back and forth, this romance is the perfect sort of home-renovation escapism in which to lose yourself. Runner-Up...

New month, new books for our TBRs! Happy New Year! A new year brings a ton of new books on top of reading goals and challenges. Here are just a few of the books I'm excited to add to my TBR this month! Love Goes Viral Alexandra Berman, Camille Stochitch, & Estelle Laure From the Publisher: Love Thompson went viral. Now she has it all—fifty million followers, brand deals, a Hollywood address, and the fast track to the music career she’s always dreamed of—until…she doesn’t. After Love takes the blame for her influencer boyfriend’s mistake, the fallout goes more viral than the video that rocketed her to fame. By the next morning, she’s already lost sponsorships, ten million followers, and her debut single. Love needs to rehab her image, and that means dating someone a little more homegrown. Enter Austin Grey. Austin is about as homegrown as it gets. His only followers are the regulars at his family’s struggli...

TWIN TIDES When Aria Nguyen gets a call from a police officer in Minnesota, she knows one chapter of her life is finally coming to a close. Her mother's body has been found. It's strange she was found in the middle-of-nowhere Minnesota, absolutely. But that doesn't stop Aria from hopping on the next plane to finally put her mother to rest. But something here isn't right. Because waiting for her at the police station is a girl who looks just like Aria. A girl also here to identify the body of her mother. Their mother. Because Aria Nguyen and Calliste Ha are identical twins. Aria and Calliste have lived drastically different lives. Aria's struggled to stay afloat, barely managing to pay her sick aunt's medical bills while keeping atop her college work. Calliste, on the other hand, has been living as a lifestyle influencer in LA, funded by the food mogul father Aria didn't know she had. Why they were separated is a m...