Such a fun premise for a book and a clever, suspenseful heist! Perfect for people who want a clever mystery about LGBTQIA characters.

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

This book had a lot of promise and mostly delivers. The writing style is very simplistic, and that is where most of my disappointment lies. I just prefer a bit more exciting or lush prose. There was also a large cast of side characters, and I feel that they were mostly one-dimensional. However, the discussions about sexuality, dealing with parental disappointment, friendship, etc was all really good. Plus all set on the backdrop of a glamorous Las Vegas heist!

This was so fun!! An ace heist story is truly the most amazing idea and I don’t know why it took me so long to finally pick it up but it was great! I do think the heist of it all could have been more exciting but I really loved the characters and the idea of this group finding each other because of their ace identities! I would definitely recommend this one! ☺️

"I forgot, sometimes, that it was beautiful. It was a sharp reminder of what was at stake — not just Mom but the entire Shannon family legacy. It was a big thing for one kid to save, but if I could pull it off, it would be worth it."

you'll find "aces wild" described as six of crows but they're all asexual and it's a casino heist, which is fair as a selling point but doesn't encompass the whole thing, of course.

jack is a boy who's always enjoyed the opulence of his native las vegas. as the heir of one of the biggest casinos on the strip, he's not immune to the lure of cards, betting, and less than illegal ways to always win. so when his mom gets arrested for questionable deeds of her own, jack sets out on a mission to clear her name and expose the man who got the matriarch of the shannon family behind bars.

you can't do a heist on your own, of course. you need brains and brawn and friends to rely on. the book is heavily focused on the bond between jack and his friend group, and i love how realistically dewitt portrays online friendships. social media references don't feel outdated and are kept sparce enough to just remind us online friends are just as real.

as lovely as the bond was, though, the characters themselves were weakly established. they barely have time to shine and at times i'd forget georgia existed.

the most difficult thing for me, as someone in my late twenties, was to believe a group of teens,the youngest of whom is fifteen, could pull this off. then again, if i was fifteen and had just seen "now you see me", i absolutely would've bought into it.

i'm glad that the use of a hearing aid was replaced from when i had read some of the first arc version, but it wasn't cleaned up in the text fully. someone who doesn't know probably won't notice, but it makes little sense why jack would look around kerry's room for an airpod in the final act.

i know some people found there wasn't enough actual heisting in the book but i quite liked the buildup and planning for ir, setting my suspension of disbelief aside.

despite the character development issues, "aces wild" is funny, heartfelt adventure that might help a little to patch the hurt you're feeling now that netflix cancelled the six of crows show. we'll get 'em next time.

This was a wild and queer joyride full of twisty stories and a crazy heist. I loved all the characters and I just really loved the story. Couldn’t put it down

I have… an issue with books being comped as Six of Crows just because they feature a group pulling off a heist. Which I know is mostly trivial because it is a very popular book so if you use it as a comp – you’re almost guaranteed readers. But it doesn’t always work out the way you want it to.

So while I understand the comparison to Six of Crows, I also… don’t. But I tried to not let it affect how I read the book. I chose to do a hybrid read, not because I wasn’t enjoying the ebook; but because the audio narrator (Robbie Daymond) also narrated The Trials of Apollo, which I really enjoyed.

It was quite interesting to see an issue/difference between the two editions. So, an earlier version of the e-arc had a hearing aid turned into a listening device. DeWitt changed it and there was a new version on NetGalley (I had to remove my version from Kindle and re-download, but no problem).

The original arc had a scene where they used an old hearing aid and turned it into a listening device. Hearing aids are expensive? And they sort of.. treated it like a spy toy. I also thought it was weird/bad to only bring in mentions of the sister Kerry (whose hearing aid it was) when they could use her old hearing aid (I do believe she didn’t even know they were using it?). Especially as Kerry barely had a personality. The audio still had the hearing aid, but a later scene the hearing aid was changed to an AirPod turned communicator.

I liked the characters and then there were times where they annoyed me (Gabriel and Morgan, I’m looking at you). The plot was okay, given that it was definitely a character-driven story. I think because DeWitt focused more on the characters (not a bad thing) the plot fell to the side a bit so the whole “heist” plot line wasn’t as clean or well-written as it could have been. It also felt… very Gossip Girl – the whole thing of teens running around and doing everything that they wanted to do.

I liked Jack for the most part. I did find him annoying but I like Daymond’s voice helped with that as he’s used to narrating another annoying character (Apollo/Lester). I think Jack and Remy were probably my favourites of the group and I liked their relationship a lot. It was sweet and well-written.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

This was a fun book with a plot line that kept me guessing, but I did get it figured out before the big reveal. There seemed to be a lot of teenage angst going on in the main character and that did make me roll my eyes at some points. Overall it was a fun read.

Thank you NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for an eARC of Aces Wild by Amanda DeWitt. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love the premise but this book really didn’t do it for me.

The controversy over the hearing aid was uncomfortable to the point I stopped reading for a while. I do appreciate that the author listened to reviewers and changed that part.

When I came back to the book, as I was reading, the online friend group having one kid lie about their age made sense but it bothered me a lot. It’s realistic but these kids thought they were sharing their most intimate thoughts with same age peers. Yes, I’m sure it was meant to be a lesson for teen readers on online safety but it bothered me a lot because ultimately kiddo was violating community standards on a website and that’s its own can of worms.

The premise and title were so cool and I love seeing more ace representation in fiction especially young adult fiction, but this was a let down for me.

2 stars

I got this from NetGalley a while back because everyone was talking about it and I was having FOMO. The synopsis sounded intriguing enough but I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. Everyone I saw talk about it was raving about it. I went in excited but also scared because of the hype but I am so glad I finally read it because I loved it so much. The hype is definitely deserved. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Peachtree Teen for providing me with an eCopy in exchange for my honest review. 

I ended up buddy reading this with dbs_guide_to_the_galaxy we had planned to read 3 chapters a day and I managed to stick to that until I got closer to the end and I just couldn't make myself put it down anymore. 

Ok so I was immediately sucked into this story. I loved that it's a book about asexual characters. I'm pretty sure this is my first book with asexual characters in it and I will admit that while the term isn't new to me I am still learning about what it means. This book was somewhat informative for a newbie like me but don't go into it expecting a full lesson in asexuality. I feel like this representation was done really well. We also get other representation like a deaf character but this could have been handled better. 

This is described as a heist book but I would say it's heist light. They do attempt a heist but these are teenagers that are in way over their heads so what can they really do. Don't go in expecting a heist the likes of Six of Crows. I loved the friendship dynamic and got so many laughs out of their banter. I especially loved the relationship between Jack and Remy. They are both Ace but over the course of the book they both come to terms with having a crush on each other which this book makes a point to say that there's an Ace spectrum and every Ace person is going to be different. This isn't a romance but you can't deny their connection from the very beginning. 

Everything about this book worked for me. I loved it so much and I will for sure be looking into whatever else this author has written or will write.

Extremely excited that this exists!

Idk how to write a review for this because I think my expectations were unfair and this book is pretty great but not really what I wanted it to be.
The fact that this is the story of a group of five different characters who are all on the asexual-spectrum was really amazing. I appreciated the way they all showed various aspects of this identity and the intersections of their differing identities. I liked that such a big amount of characters makes it easy to show different expressions of the same identity and I liked that there were both alloromantic and aromantic characters. I liked the development of the different relationships in this book.
I guess I prefer to get the vibes and the characters but not the plot. The heist itself and the pacing of the story made it harder for me to get through. It took a while for me to finish reading this story because I was not as invested in the plot as I hoped to be.

This was such a fun book! I wholeheartedly love the idea of a largely ace cast, and that alone has me beyond happy. Tie in just how much I love Jack, and you've got me hooked!

This book had me invested from the start. Jack had my full attention. I love how he just has this air of teenage "coolness", but in reality, he's struggling just like the rest of us in life. He's impulsive, and anxious, and worries too much about things a 17 year old should not be worrying about. But he's also that kid from the Vegas strip that knows his way around a bustling city, plays blackjack, has tons of money, etc. I want to take a moment to say I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the audio. The narrator did a fantastic job when it comes to portraying all these different things about Jack.

For a heist type novel, I felt this was actually fairly believable, which made it all the better. The descriptions were definitely on par, and it was easy to visualize everything that was happening, which is a huge plus for me. I love all the side characters, and the progression of the storyline.

I don't really have anything negative to say about this one. It was fun, and I love the characters, and it just fully immersed me.

I loved the YA spin on a heist book as well as the diversity of the characters. It had a little Ocean's Eleven feel to it, but with a highschooler who just wanted to save his mom. It was refreshing to see a book where the MC and his friends identify themselves as Asexual, or Ace, but that not be the main "conflict" or struggle. It is just who they are, living authentically and having that be their common bond. Overall, a really good book with some interesting twists and turns.

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

3.5/5 rounded up because it has many aces.

Ugh I have so many conflicting feelings about this book! I wanted to love it. Five asexual characters in one place!! Sign me up! However, while the idea was amazing, the reality of this was disappointing to me. I spent half of this book debating if it was really a heist or not.

So the big thing was that this book felt like all the characters were the same with how their asexuality presented. Every one of them felt like they were sex repulsed. Yes there are sex repulsed aces, but that's not the whole community. To see sex favorable and indifferent aces written out of the story was hurtful to me. And for a group of friends that met on a general ace thread in Tumblr, you would think there would be some variety in ace rep.

Additionally, the ace rep just felt very surface level. Like you can totally have casually queer characters, but with how much this book had been marketed as an all ace cast, I definitely expected there to be more of a focus on being ace and their various experiences being ace. Points though for seeing ace and asexual on page. I will never get sick of that.

Small thing that bothered me was that the MC (fake Kaz Brekker lol) kept saying "this is not a love story" or whatever, and he very much had a romantic subplot with his friend. I don't mind romance or romantic subplots. But having a character repeatedly say "this is not a love story" while falling in love/pursuing a romantic relationship was weird.

Overall, this one fell flat for me unfortunately and definitely made me feel excluded from my own community lol. But I would read Amanda's next book.

Rep: white demiromantic asexual cis male MC, white cis female side character with a cochlear implant, Vietnamese-German American asexual nonbinary side character, Greek American sapphic asexual cis female side character, vegetarian Latine aroace cis male side character, Black asexual cis female MC, various white side characters.

CWs: injury/injury detail, blood. Moderate: child abuse, emotional abuse, abandonment, violence. Minor: infidelity (past, side character).

I was really excited for this book as an asexual individual, but the ace representation in this book felt so superficial to me. Also the heist part was so so predictable. A letdown, really.

Date finished: 9th June 2023
Publish date: 13th Sept 2022


4⭐
📱

Thank you to @Netgalley for approving this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good heist book, and couldn't pass up the chance to read this one when I saw it.
I had two problems with this book. 1. Why has this book taken me so long to pick up? And 2.The formatting was a bit weird (and does happen in arcs sometimes), but easy enough to overlook and didn't impact the story.

The start of the book was quite slow, and took a while before things started happening. But when they did, it was an incredible roller coaster ride.

A group of friends all bonded over their asexuality (ace), they planned to uncover the truths amid the lies and tricks of sin city (Las Vegas). The group (named themselves Aces Wild) get up to some of the craziest shenanigans imaginable (and honestly, there are a few parts that left me wondering how they even got away with it).

This was such an exciting and interesting read. Full of twists and turns (some predictable, some weren't), and a great group of characters.

Heartfelt, humorous and overflowing with drama this book was one that I definitely enjoyed.

The representation felt honest and each character was well balanced, the similarities working together and the differences making sure they didn’t feel like a series of cardboard cutouts.

The high stakes moments did feel a tad rushed, after so much build up they were over very quickly but I did still enjoy reading it.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022, because I mean a full cast of ace characters? That's the dream. I feel terrible about giving such an ace book three stars, but it just did not live up to my expectations. Let's talk about the parts I liked and the parts I didn't like.

What I liked:
- My absolute favourite part of the book was the ace rep. I mean a group of ace internet friends?? It's like this book was written for me. I adored all of their ace jokes and puns. We absolutely need more books like this!!

What I didn't like:
- The characters felt a bit flat. Despite spending so much time with them, we never got to know more than a few characteristics for each character, to the point where I actually felt like Jack (the mc) didn't really know his friends that well, since we saw everything through his eyes? Literally all I can tell you about the friend group is that Remy is nonbinary and ace, has a dog, and has a crush on Jack and therefore forgives everything he does, Georgia is sapphic ace, really nice and good at math, Lucky is younger than the others, ace, and unrealistically good at hacking, and Gabe is aroace, likes clothes with weird patterns, and is really nice except for two times when he gets really angry, which felt so out of character?? That's literally all I can tell you about any of the characters.

- The whole heist really wasn't that exciting. A heist is supposed to be high stakes, but I couldn't feel that at all. I had to make myself pick the book back up every time, which is never a good sign. It probably didn't help that I read it as an ebook though, since it's my least favourite way to read books, and I've seen other people who liked it much more as an audiobook than ebook.

- How the book treated aromanticism. I mean I'm glad there was an aroace character, but I just felt like an ace book should have handled aromanticism a bit better, since you know they're both aspec? That might just be me overreacting though since I haven't seen anyone else talk about this.

- The ARC I read still had the ableist part with the hearing aid, but I'm glad they changed that in the final version.

Overall, I'm really sad that the book didn't live up to my expectations, when I was sure it was going to become a new favourite. However, the ace rep is great, and it gives me hope that more such openly ace books will get published in the future!

My search for ace rep is ongoing. This book was part of peach tree teen's first trio of books. Sadly it didn't work for me. The characters weren't distinguishable and read as archetypes. In theory this heisty book sounded right for me. Amanda Dewitt second book sounds cool and I can't wait to try again