Gateway Reviews

THESE DEADLY GAMES Crystal is used to playing games. She's a championship Mortal Dusk player, after all. She and her best friends have been preparing for the upcoming regional championship--with a multi-million dollar prize, too. She's no stranger to competition. But when she gets an anonymous text with a video of her little sister bound and gagged, she finds herself thrown into a game unlike any she's known before. She's got twenty-four hours to win. If she loses a challenge, Caelyn dies. If she breaks the rules, Caelyn dies. If she gets anyone else involved, Caelyn dies. The tasks seem simple enough at first: steal a test key, bake some brownies, make a prank call. But as the tasks escalate, Crystal realizes they're meant to hurt her--and her friends--one by one. And with one wrong move, it's game over for everyone. Forever. THOUGHTS I'll a

WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE Millie Price knows she is destined for the spotlight, and nothing will get in her way. Not even her father. Don't get her wrong. She loves her father, even as super introverted as he is. They've always been close, since she was dropped off on his porch by the mother she never knew. It's always been the two of them, which means he doesn't want to send her across the country to the super prestigious Broadway-prep pre-college she's been accepted into, even if it is the gateway to her dreams. Millie needs an ally, someone on equal footing with her father to stand against his no-pre-college decree. She needs a mother, and lucky for her, an accidentally-left-open web browser has given her just what she needs: her dad's definitely-embarrassing but super-informative LiveJournal from the year she was born. With this information in hand, she knows just what to do: track down her mother.

IT WILL END LIKE THIS Charlotte and Maddi lost their mother six months ago. Her death was tragic but natural enough. That's what their father said, at least. Her heart just stopped, or so the experts claimed, but Charlotte and Maddi know that hearts don't just stop. Not for healthy women like their mother. She wasn't old. She wasn't sick. It isn't natural, no matter what their father says. And now their mother's personal assistant has moved into their house--more specifically, into their father's bedroom. She wears their mother's jewelry, lives their mother's life, and if that isn't enough, their father has decided to make it official: he and Amber are engaged. And Charlotte and Maddi aren't willing to let their mother's story end this way. THOUGHTS This book is supposed to be Lizzie Borden inspired, and there are hints of

  Best                      First Place:             Firekeeper's Daughter           Angeline Boulley                                         ⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐ In this #OwnVoices mid-2000s crime thriller, Daunis dreams of college, where she can finally do more than straddle the line between her white mother and her native father, but before she can set out, Daunis witnesses a shocking murder that upsets the world as she knows it. Full of tough choices and very real stakes, Angeline Boulley creates a world both vibrant and tangible. Though it's a slow burn, this exploration of race, culture, and belonging is worth it in the end. Runner-Up:          The Project                                                       Courtney Summers                                         ⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ In this contemporary psychological thriller, the accident took Lo's mother, her father, and most importantly, it took her sister Bea. But Bea is still alive. Not afraid to showcase a brut