Gateway Reviews

FORGIVE ME NOT Violeta Chen-Samuels is guilty. There’s no doubt about that. One night of bad decisions left her—and her family—irrevocably changed. One night of poor choices caused an accident that took her little sister’s life. As a juvenile offender, Violeta’s fate is in the hands of her victims—in this case, her family. She could do A stint in juvie. Or she could do something else, something meant to rehabilitate her: the Trials. Catered to her specific crime, the Trials are supposed to help juvenile offenders change their lives. And unlike a stint in juvie, there’s no end date in sight. On the outside, Vincent Chen-Samuels can’t stand to watch his sister hurt. But he’s hurting, too. The whole family is, with one of them gone and another locked up. He just wants Violeta home, but it isn’t his choice. Can he convince his family to forgive his sister before their family is too broken to fix? ...

SUDDENLY A MURDER Izzy Morales and her best friend have always bonded over old movies--the glitz and glamor of the Golden Age of Hollywood. So a 1920s-themed graduation party at the famous Ashwood Manor (which just so happens to be the same place their favorite murder mystery was filmed) is the only way for them to end high school in style. But what should be a unforgettable week-long getaway with their friends quickly turns sour when one of them is murdered. Unforgettable week indeed. Trapped at the island manor as a storm descends, these friends don't know. Everyone's a suspect, and the detectives won't let them forget it. What's a little bit of murder between friends? Quite a lot when you're the girl who brought a knife--when you're Izzy Morales. THOUGHTS This might not be a serious thriller, but it's a Knives Out type of fun. It's g...

Wil Greene's mother is missing, and she knows the Clarke family has something to do with it. She'd stake her life on it. She's lost friends. She's lost more-than friends. But she knows what she knows, whether the police believe her or not. A year later, the case is cold--and, according to the police, a shut-and-dry runaway situation, nothing more. But Wil knows that's not true. Elwood Clarke is just trying to hold it together. A year ago, he lost his best friend when she lost her mother, and his social circle has only dwindled since. Everyone else has big plans ahead of them--college, for one--but no such future is in store for Elwood. He's the heir to his father's church, after all. He couldn't leave town. Not now. Not ever. Not when he has to dedicate his life to the Garden of Adam. But just days from his eighteenth birthday, Elwood discovers he was never meant to be his father's successor. He was always meant to be his father's sacrifice. Sudd...

Rumi has spent his entire life behind the walls of St. Iago. Within the walls, the citizens of Upper City are safe. Glittering technology, easy comforts, and endless distractions help to block out the world outside the walls, the world crumbling in the face of environmental disaster. For Rumi, life inside the walls is all he has ever known.  Until his father, an ambassador to Lower City, falls victim to a terrorist attack. In quarantine with a new strain of a disease that once threatened to wipe out the world, Rumi’s father has limited time left. Unless Rumi can find a cure. Unless Rumi dares to venture outside of the walls to where a cure just might exist.  So Rumi escapes. Outside the wall in the ruined city of Paraíso, Rumi meets girl called Paz who offers to be his escort to a healer up north, a healer who just might have cure he’s looking for. But Paz isn’t who she says, and life in Lower City is just as dangerous as Rumi has been told.

Kerry and Annie have always been on the outside looking in. So when they discover that one of the popular girls is getting threatening messages on social media, they jump right in to offer their investigative services. Getting invited to one of the biggest parties of the year is an obvious perk to this new job.  What they didn’t count on was finding a body at the party. Specifically, Kerry didn’t expect to find a body while almost, kind of about to have her first kiss.  Instead of tracking down a cyberbully, these best friends are now stuck in the middle of a murder investigation. And one death isn’t enough. As the popular kids go down one by one, Annie and Kerry find their new position in the in-group particularly precarious. Is everything really as shiny as they thought from the outside?

Sabine Zhang has been watching Hotel California forever. So when she gets a chance to be on this season, she can’t say no. Hotel California isn’t like other reality shows. No melodrama. No forced friction and interpersonal conflict. It’s just a bunch of kids hanging out—Asian American and proud of it. For a girl like Sabine, one of the only Asian faces in her small Illinois town, this is a dream come true.  But this season is different. This season, the show has been picked up by a bigger network. Sabine knows she’s out of her depth right away, and every other word out of her mouth seems to be a mistake, something that the producers can use to drive the cast apart. Drive Sabine away from the rest.  What Sabine hoped would be a summer for her to connect with other Asian American kids instead becomes a chance for her to feel more self-conscious than ever. And with every misstep she makes, she starts to wonder if the mistakes aren’t just her own social awkwardness. Is there a bi...

As a blue moon rises this Halloween night, anything could happen. Anything. Ghosts and ghouls, haunted houses, evil wizards and endless transformations: thirteen tales spin twist horror tropes in new, horrific ways. Haunted house parties turn deadly. Dead things come knocking in the night. Monstrous movie-goers, intrepid podcasters, and Ouija boards gone wrong cast an unsettling glow over these diverse tales. Anything could happen in the light of this uncommon moon.