This is a wonderfully fun book! It is perfect for fans of heist movies like Ocean 11. I really enjoyed the asexual representation as well and think readers will have an excellent time with this story.

4.5 stars without a question.

Thank you so much for the possibility to read this story that i didnt knew i was looking for.

The premisse sounded amazong from the start. Lord knows that Six of Crows kinda hooked us all in heist type plots, and this is exactly what it provides, but so much more. The Las Vegas scene intertwined with the underground casinos and the family dramas... to die for.

We have a whole cast of ace characters, and the possibility of this kind of rep is sooo important, and it is so nice to see new writters opening audiences eyes to the multitude of people out there in the world. Their little found family was what i was also here for, and how everybody stood for each other, priceless.

Im actually hoping for it to be a second book with all these babys, cause i just know that there are so many more adventures they can get themselves into and i would ate them all.

I enjoyed this fun little adventure! Heist might be a little strong of a word for their operation, and the Six of Crows comparison was too much to live up to, but Aces Wild stands up on its own. I love the idea and conflict within an all-asexual cast, and the characters were sweet and believable. Jack is literally nothing like Kaz Brekker, stop making that comparison. There were a lot of cheesy moments and coincidences, but I had a lot of fun.

The synopsis is what got me hooked I mean a heist with asexual internet friends? That’s interesting! You can’t trust people you meant online that easily and with the planning of the heist? But after reading the book, I was mixed with emotions. I didn't know if I should’ve felt disappointed with the characters or excited for the book to release because of the found family trope.

Aces Wild: A Heist is about Jack Shannon who is the son of a Las Vegas casino mogul, his mom. One day, Jack’s mom gets arrested by the police for their family ties to an organized crime. Jack knows that his mom’s rival, Peter Carlevaro, but he needs proof. He recruits his asexual support group to help him with his plan.

Jack struggles a lot with how he feels because he felt like he couldn’t express what he felt growing up. He makes bad decisions and embraces the people that are most important in his life. Jack’s friends: Gabe, Lucky, Remy, and Georgia. I loved them so much so it's basically a crime that there wasn’t much said about them. Jack with his friends was what I loved most about this book. Their texts with each other, the dynamics, the humor- everything I loved so much. The part that I didn’t like was the heist part, it was a bit underwhelming and wasn’t really a heist.

I would recommend it to you if you are longing for a found family who would do anything for each other. Thank you Netgalley and Peachtree for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Tw: emotional abuse, infidelity, abandonment, gambling

I absolutely loved this one!! Someone described it as an ace SIx of crows but honestly it's so much more than that! The story does revolve around a heist but it's a completely different plan and the characters are definitely not comparable to the crows, and that's a good thing! They all had their particularities and I really loved getting to know each of them! I don't think the love story was necessary, since this was mostly a book about family and friendship, but still it was pretty cute. Lucky was definitely my favorite character and the definition of "looks like a cinnamon roll, could actually kill you" lmao! I love the atmosphere of the luxury hotel and the writing was easy to follow and very engaging! I will be definitely checking out the author's future books!

I highly recommend this to anyone looking for great ace representation and a book about family and friendship!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy.

This book was a joy to read being an aroace person myself. Having a whole cast of aspec characters was like a breath of fresh air. The heist was like the icing on top!

I jump at any opportunity to read books with ace representation because I don't see if often enough in media and I was not disappointed at all.

Aces Wild follows Jack Shannon, an asexual teen and son of casino owner Aileen Shannon. When his mother gets arrested for the families ties to crime, Jack is sure that rival business owner and his mother's ex lover Peter Carlevaro has something to do with it. With his family unable or unwilling to help, Jack turns to his friends; a group of asexual teens he met online to help him out.

This book blew my expectations out of the water. The ace bits of the book were all well done but were not overly filled with explanations like I see in other books, nor was it completely the main part of the story. Jack and his friends were all smart but at the same time the writing for them felt realistic as they're all teens who are not always making the smartest of decisions. There was also a lot more to the plot than I expected than it merely being a simple heist book and I really enjoyed the plot twists at the end that I wasn't expecting. This is also not the type of love story that you would expect and I really hope that there is going to be a sequel for this someday or at least something set in the same universe.

I received this book through NetGalley and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I RECEIVED AN ARC FOR ACES WILD THROUGH NETGALLEY

"The thing about asexuality was that it was complicated in ways I was still figuring out. Just because you don't experience sexual attraction didn't mean you didn't experience romantic feelings. But those romantic feelings didn't look like they did in the movies because, well, Hollywood didn't make movies about ace people. Period. So they could be a little hard to figure out."

^THIS!^

Aces Wild by Amanda DeWitt is a strange, fun, entertaining mix that blends elements from both Six of Crows and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda if you made it very, very ace. This is not a thing I ever knew I needed before now. We have five different ace characters in the central friend-group, including an aromantic character and a romance between the main character, Jack, and a nonbinary character.

I know Jack is compared in the advertising to Kaz from Six of Crows, and I just wanted to take a moment to address that: Jack is not cold, brutal, or traumatized in the way that Kaz is. He feels more like a normal teenager who happens to be ace and has a few skills who is wayyy in over his head.

He's also emotionally stable and healthy!!! This isn't a criticism specifically of Kaz, but instead of the portrayal of some ace and especially ace-passing characters you see so often on the off-chance that you do see them. He's dealing with his family issues and teenage crushes, but beyond that there's no big emotional trauma or other metal health issues that make him come across as particularly cold and detached to the world that is then blamed on his asexuality. He's not a cold and emotionless robot. Far from it, in fact, and I cannot stress how REFRESHING that was, to see a group of well-adjusted teens who happen to be ace and it's fine. I can't recommend the book enough for that alone.

I enjoyed the dysfunctional family dynamics and the writing style was funny and entertaining to read. In fact, it's due to the <i>strength</i> of the writing that I was along for the ride with Jack's shenanigans even while I identified so much with his oldest sister in way over her head trying to keep everything together while he goes behind her back to do his own schemes. I cannot overstate how impressive that is, being the oldest sibling myself. Round of applause to Amanda DeWitt for that.

I want this book to go the distance. I want a beloved film adaptation of it that holds a special place in our hearts. I want people to read this book.

Now, all that said, I do have a few negatives here:
- None of these ace characters are interested in sex. Not one, out of five. I get that they all bonded over their shared experience and a character who was interested might not have initially had the same interests when they were meeting each other online, but one of the opportunities of this book with so many ace characters is the ability to explore the different parts of the spectrum. And while it was nice for me, who needed this book so much as a teen, to see a group of teens have no interest in sex while being ace and bonding, I feel like that was a missed opportunity.
- I much preferred the first two-thirds of this book over the last third. The 'heist' aspect is very minimal in this book, and it's much more about the friend and family dynamics. Also there's a one-two punch at the end of a trope I don't care for and a trope I hate. No spoilers, but I did see it coming by then. And overall, this book didn't quite stick the landing for me.

Thank you, Peachtree Teen, for allowing me to read Aces Wild early.

Mmm, I thought I would love this story about asexual teens, but after reading it, I felt a little disappointed. I just expected more depth and more insight into asexuality, I guess. Now it was just an okay read.

2.5
First of all if you expect a heist there isn't actually one. There's no heist planning or anything with a well-thought plan that a team can soundly execute.

Now that we got out of the way, this book is just drawing on the vibes of ace(sexuality)/ace(card) by having a group of aces hanging out in Las Vegas. And the Las Vegas vibes are top-notch. This wouldn't be a bad thing and quite new as we don't have books where most of the cast is ace. However, this would require the friend group to be interesting. Jack, the lead and narrator, is the only one with some complexity. We meet the friend group in person around 50% in the book and their previous appearances are brief group texts. They're undeveloped as hell which is a shame for a book that marketed this crew this hard. We have: Remy (they/them) the love interest I don't know much about them, Gabe the big aro brother who gives guy talks and is tall, Lucky the kid who is the genius hacker and Georgia who... can count cards really well? Also she had a girlfriend once? We know like two things about them and I forgot that Georgia was there most of the times. The characters too because she's not involved in some key moment.


Jack is his older sister Beth's biggest nightmare and as an older sister I can't even IMAGINE having to deal with him. She does her best to accommodate his needs and he runs off without thinking to create chaos. I did think that the family dynamics were the most interesting part of the book and clearly a theme but its diluted by Jack being with his friends a lot so it's a big pot with a lot of ideas but none of them are mixing well. Too many characters and plotlines not enough time. I do think it would have been interesting to pick either the friends or the family as the central people of the story instead of an unbalanced mix.

If we didn't have enough characters that the narrative spend some time on, there are also Dad, Kerry the middle sister (who is hard of hearing and Jack borrows and repurpose one of her old earing aids to communicate with Lucky. Jack also plays the hard of hearing card to get out of a situation with his "earing aid". It's mentioned later that Kerry wears hoodies and her hair to hide her earing aid. So Jack doing that felt uncomfortable knowing his sister's story) and also Morgan whose main characteristics are pink hair and impossible to understand loyalties.

Since this is a book about asexual people and wants to celebrate their diversity here are some subjects the books talk about: being ace and in a relationship and what crush means in this context, being young and ace, briefly touching on someone being aro and giving love advice, not wanting to come out to your family. This is mostly background as this less a book about teens being ace and more a book about ace teens doing things. I was also glad to see that the narrator was an ace boy as I find that in YA books, ace protagonists are more usually women.

To conclude, and I don't mean this in a bad way but this felt like a movie on Dinsey Channel (same plot twists and all) but if Disney sucked it up and added queer characters. Which means it's probably going to work well for some of you but did feel like a plot I had seen before.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review

I’ll start off by saying, as an ace person, I really enjoyed this book. I enjoy sleight of hand, heist type books and Arthurian references. I liked all of the individual characters, though I think some, particularly Georgia, deserved more time so that we could be get to know them more. It’s a hefty cast and while the interactions were strong, I felt like we could have got even more from individual characters. Also, for a heist book, there isn’t much of a heist, just them sneaking into a casino and that’s it.

So, overall, while not perfect, a strong book that I did really enjoy.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

21 meets Now You See Me in this novel about a group of ace (asexual) teens taking on the Las Vegas casino owner.

First of all I want to thank the author and #NetGalley for giving me an advanced copy in return of an honest review.

This was good. At First I was really confused by everything that was happening because Jack (our narrator) treats narrating like Zach Morris (Saved by the Bell) did—constantly breaking the third wall. However, after a while you get used to the time outs and the diverse cast of characters that you're introduced to.

We meet Jack at his highly expensive private school where he is the pit boss of an underground but totally official Blackjack club. But all of that changes the second his mom is arrested for being involved with a Crime Boss. His older sister wants to go legit, but something about this just doesn't feel right. With his friends and the determination of a Shannon, he's ready to infiltrate his mom's enemy's casino to bring them down. Simple, right?

The misfit internet friends felt believable to me because in today's age there is a high likelihood that you're going to meet friends online and that felt completely authentic to me and not at all fake. I also really appreciated that we find these kids joining together because of their love of a fandom and questioning their sexuality and having that question in common. It was refreshing to see how exactly the internet can be a good place if used correctly and that all you need is an ear sometimes.

The twists and turns that this book took along the way was good. It wasn't too suspenseful and 100% “not a love story” as Jack so eloquently put this throughout the novel. I would easily recommend you pick this book up. Can't wait to get my physical copy of the book. 4.5/5 stars

This was so fun! Ace rep is so hard to come by and this was such a good time. I’d read a whole series about them.

I loved the entire concept of the story, A heist orchestrated by a group of asexual teenagers that met because of fandom interests, sounded incredible, however, I was underwhelmed. The ace rep was great, and there was also non binary rep, but the plot fell flat, and the heist was pretty non-existent.

The character's didn't have any memorable traits, other than Lucky, the girl that lied about her age and was rude to everyone and the main character Jack, who in my opinion, wasn't written in the strongest way. His behaviour and overall persona felt forced. I think making a comparison to six of crows may have harmed more than helped, as Jack falls flat as a 'villain' that you're supposed to grow to like and support in their evil heist plans.

The other friends in the ace group chat didn't really have any characteristics, they were just there, but even Jack's siblings were only briefly mentioned and not developed on, even though they were all there for most of the story. Regardless, there was a clear connection between the friends, in the way they would banter in their group chat, which was nice to see.

Overall, I liked the concept, but couldn't really remember anything once I had finished reading, and would have loved to see more thrills and bigger stakes as opposed to standing around listening in to conversations and stealing keycards with child magic tricks.

Unfortunately, this just happened to be one of the most disappointing books I've read this year.

I was so excited to read this: the stunning cover, the exciting Six of Crows comparison, and the promise of a ragtag group of ace friends - literally what's not to like?

This fell short in pretty much every aspect. The characters were boring and SO underdeveloped. It was so hard to connect with any of them, and we didn't get much information about who they REALLY were aside from some random facts. The main character was a literal asshole to everyone, but of course, they all still.. loved.. him ?????

The "heist" was also just... not great. It didn't make much sense and was painfully unrealistic. Now, I know heist novels aren't really supposed to be "realistic", but this one just stretched it too far.

Overall, not a great book and one I'll probably just skip sharing about.

This was a brilliant debut novel.This is one of those books that's just an absolute joy to read. First, without giving too much away, this book follows a group of asexual teens doing a heist in Las Vegas.The writing is so lovely and the characters' development were captivating.

Aces Wild: A Heist is really fantastic for a debut with some really lovely and heartfelt writingI feel like this is a story everyone should read.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My biggest issue with this book is that it's marketed as "Six of Crows goes to Las Vegas." As someone who loves Six of Crows, I spent the majority of the book comparing Jack to Kaz Brekker, and Jack didn't come anywhere close to measuring up. I liked Jack, but I couldn't stop thinking that Kaz probably wouldn't have made the same mistakes that Jack did. I also feel that the "heist" didn't really measure up. I would have appreciated a little less gambling and a bit more scheming.

I think I probably would have enjoyed the story alot more if I wasn't comparing it to Six of Crows. On its own, it's a good story, and I liked the twist at the end.

Aces Wild is a beautiful, diverse, and sappy story that is kind of a love story, despite what Jack Shannon will tell you. The difference being that this is not a story of romantic love as much as it is a story of platonic and familial love (with maybe, just maybe, a bit of something else mixed in).

Aces Wild begins with Jack Shannon, the son of a hotel and casino owner, watching illegal blackjack games in the club he owns in the basement of his private high school. Jack's entire world gets flipped upside down when his mom is arrested, and he returns home to Las Vegas to face his sisters, his dad, and a rival hotel owner, Peter Carlevaro, who he is sure is the root cause of his mother's arrest. Jack is determined to take down Peter, and in pursuit of that mission, decides to finally meet up with his online friends, a group of people who all began talking because they are all asexual.

I immensely enjoyed Aces Wild, and the characters all felt very real and rich to me. Aces Wild is advertised as being about a heist and compared to six of Crows, but I do not think heists were the center of the book. Moreso, the friendships and bonds that Jack had with his friends and family were. I do wish that the heist had been expended upon more and felt more high stakes, but I did greatly enjoy what was in the book. As someone who understands the very close bond of an online group chat, it was so wonderful to read about that kind of bond and the love between those friends, particularly set against the backdrop of Las Vegas, which was its own character that affected the story. This book also didn't take itself too seriously, which I enjoyed as it made for a fairly fun read, even when set against the more dark and sinister elements of this story.

As I said above, there was not much of a heist nature to this story, and I would have loved to see more of that explored, particularly in Peter's world and his secrets. I wish we had learned more about his motivations and what dirty deals he had partaken of. I also found that the formatting of the ebook was off: At times there would be a line break in the middle of a sentence, or after each sentence when it didn't seem needed. There also weren't line breaks after each individual text/message at times. This is not so much a criticism as something I hop[e the publisher can adjust.

All in all I greatly enjoyed Aces Wild- it was a fun read with wonderful asexual representation that shows the incredible love a family can hold, whether that family is blood related or not.

ALL ASEXUAL CAST HELL YEAH <3 I’ve never been this happy about seeing representation in books. AND a heist? Phenomenal. Also I’m going to go learn how to scam people and cheat at cards.

This book was beyond amazing, a true favorite of mine now. I need a million more exclusively ace books with schemes and friendship!!!
First up, our lovely cast here! The main character, Jack, is written so well in his struggles and motivations, but I LOVE this ensemble cast. Only Jack has a POV, but it's so clear how the rest of the group sees the world and I love it. I don't even know what to say about these characters other than that I loved them to pieces. The asexual rep was phenomenal because it showed that relationships (romantic for some, but mostly platonic) aren't something that every ace person is missing, and everyone there is still capable of love. Although the point of the story isn't that they're all ace, I love how the characters can bond over that across the country from one another.
Next, relationships! The main characters are all ace, but only one of them is confirmed to be aromantic and there is a romance inside the group (Jack and Remy). It's SO well-done because it shows that although romantic relationships don't have to be the norm, an ace person can be in one without compromising their sexuality. This is shown very clearly when Jack literally asks about thirty seconds into their relationship if Remy is still ace, to which they say OBVIOUSLY. It's such a wonderful and healthy relationship to see. <3 Aside from that, the friendships in this book made me feel so happy. I loved seeing how everyone from the group chat interacted, specifically how they spoke to each other about their sexualities and lives. It was just so cute and healthy.
Lastly, our plot!!! As you know from the title, this is a heist book! One thing I think it's useful to know is that most of the book involves more schemes than heists, but there is one at the end. I felt a bit confused with some of the allegiances, but I don't think I actually WAS confused because DeWitt does such an amazing job of making everything understandable.
If you read one book this year, LET IT BE THIS ONE!!!!