Gateway by Sharon Shinn

Gateway by Sharon Shinn
Rating: 2.9/5

Synopsis: As a Chinese adoptee in St. Louis, teenage Daiyu often feels out of place. When an elderly Asian jewelry seller at a street fair shows her a black jade ring—and tells her that “black jade” translates to “Daiyu”—she buys it as a talisman of her heritage. But it’s more than that; it’s magic. It takes Daiyu through a gateway into a version of St. Louis much like 19th century China. Almost immediately she is recruited as a spy, which means hours of training in manners and niceties and sleight of hand. It also means stealing time to be with handsome Kalen, who is in on the plan. There’s only one problem. Once her task is done, she must go back to St. Louis and leave him behind forever. .

Review: This is one of those books where you get let down on because you expected too much. Despite such an amazing summary there, the story wasn't what I thought it would be. Some parts of the book seemed really unrealistic to me. The pacing was a bit slow, and not as fast as I thought it would be due to the blurb.

The good side of the book is that although the characters weren't developed as well as they could be, you'll still enjoy the book because of the choice Daiyu has to make. Other aspects will keep you interested in the book as well such as the choice of words the author uses.

What I thought of...

The Beginning: Nice introduction.

The Middle: Would have liked it to be a bit more fast paced, but overall it was okay.

The End: ARG! The ending was too open for me. Would have liked it to be resolved, and not so abrupt.

FTC: Received this book for Other Shelf Tours