Gateway Reviews

THE PRISON HEALER In the ten years since she arrived at Zalindov, Kiva has learned how to survive. She has rules, and she holds to them: keep her head down, don't make any attachments, and most importantly, hold onto hope. Hope is key. Zalindov may be the world's most brutal prison, but as long as she believes her family is still out there and coming for her, Kiva can survive. Kiva works as the prison's healer, a position given to her five years ago after the unfortunate demise of the last healer. She may be only seventeen, but she knows her breaths are numbered. Only the occasional coded note, slipped into the pockets of new inmates, keeps her going. But when a new inmate arrives unconscious and deathly ill, everything changes. The Rebel Queen herself is thrust into Kiva's care, and she's been scheduled to face the infamously deadly Trial by Ordeal. Along with the queen comes a new message: Kiva must keep the Rebel Queen...

EVERYONE DIES FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN In a small town, you are forever defined by the worst thing that ever happened to you. This short story cycle revolves around the lives of young people in small towns scattered across Alaska and the American West. Each story dives into the hidden drama of small town life, revealing what happens under the placid cover of spaces where seemingly nothing happens. From sled dogs and snow to wildfires and late-night rendezvouses, this book beautifully weaves together the lives of a group of American teens circa 1995. PROS Wild West The U.S. is a vast country, full of all sorts of regional distinctions. Even in small towns, these distinctions are apparent. A Midwest small town is vastly different than a Western town, and that distinction here is well-defined--in a good way. Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock fuels these small towns with their regional flare. From the sled dogs and snows of Alas...

THE FOREST OF STOLEN GIRLS It's been a year since Hwani saw her father, the famous Detective Min. It's been a year, and they've officially declared him dead. But Hwani hasn't given up on her father yet. Disguised as a young man, Hwani escapes from the claustrophobic household of her aunt and sneaks across the sea to the island of her childhood, the place where her father disappeared. Nowon Village hasn't been her home since the Forest Incident five years ago, when Hwani and her baby sister Maewol got lost in the woods only to be found hours later by the body of a dead girl, babbling about a man in a white mask. Now, thirteen more girls have gone missing in the woods. By the time Hwani arrives, the trail is cold, and the villagers colder--especially her estranged younger sister Maewol, left behind on the island when Hwani and her father left for the mainland. Maewol may know more than she thinks, though she isn't inter...

THE HALF-ORPHAN'S HANDBOOK The last place Lila wants to go this summer is camp. She simply wants to curl up, hide away, and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. It has only been a few months since her father's traumatic death, after all; she deserves a break. When Lila's mother finds a summer camp specifically for kids who have lost someone close, however, she insists that Lila and her baby brother Sammy attend. Lila agrees to give camp a chance for a single week--enough to appease her mother but not enough to make any attachments. Attachment only leads to hurt. She doesn't want the new friends that camp offers. She especially doesn't want the budding romance that bumps into her on her first day at camp, and she can fend these potential attachments off with one thought: at the end of the week, she never has to see them again. But when Lila gets caught breaking camp rules, she is given a choice: disappoint her ...