aces wild was an amazing heist book that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. the ace rep was really refreshing, and the group of characters were so easy to connect with and i completely fell in love with them

thank you to the publisher for sending me an EARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

4 stars ⭐️

rep: all asexual cast, aroace sc, non binary sc, sc wearing hearing aids (mentioned only once in passing)

okay, this book is literally be gay do crime AND IM HERE FOR IT!!! however, i thought it was gonna be wayyy more intense than it ended up being. i wanted MORE heist, MORE high stakes! maybe i was expecting it to be more like six of crows tho, which it wasn’t since it was a contemporary, so don’t go into it expecting a lot of morally greyness when it’s not gonna be AS morally grey as kaz brekker.

i absolutely LOVED the found family, i LOVED the characters so much, and i LOVED seeing how asexuality shows itself differently on different people! 🥹 i also loved seeing an ace relationship developing LIKE OMG ACEXACE IS THE DREAM AND I NEVER SEE REP FOR IT AND IT MADE ME SO HAPPY!

some revelations shocked me, but most i was expecting at some point, so again, i really would’ve loved higher stakes and more shock-factor. that being said, it was cool to have an unreliable narrator since i’m not used to reading books with one.

all in all, READ THIS IS YOU WANT A FUN FRIEND GROUP OF QUEERS DOING CRIME AS THEY SHOULD!

I an unable to review this title, as it was archived before I had a chance to download and read it. This feedback is only to stop this title from adversely affecting my netgalley feedback rate. If in the future I have the opportunity to read this title, I will post a proper review here.

A heartwarming found-family story about a group of ace-spec misfits coming together to pull off a Vegas heist? I knew I was going to love this one right from the get go.

What I wasn't expecting was how much Jack's voice would draw me in, or how much I'd enjoy reading about the blood family ties that would turn out to be a huge part of the story, in addition to the friendships between the teens. Ideally I would've loved to get to know the rest of the group other than Jack and Remy a little better, as I loved the snippets of them we did get to see (particularly Gabe), but there were a lot of different plot threads to bring together so I get why there wasn't time to give them all the page space they deserved. I also loved the use of Discord messages through this book, they made me smile!

Unfourtunately this one just wasn't for me. I think it was a very fun, fast paced story and a lot of people would really enjoy it. I loved the diversity and the variety of ace characters. I think I just wanted more heist and more detail about the heist. I also think YA is just something that I struggle to really love. Overall, this is a really good book if you like found family, friendship, queer characters, and YA stories.

Did not finish due to ableism in initial copy with hearing aid theft and modifications. I believe it was changed to an AirPod in the later version.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

It took me long enough, but I got to it eventually. This was a such a fun book! They are teens, so obviously they behave like teens, which felt natural. The queer rep was also on point.

I looooove ace rep, and add in a queer hiest and silly little teenage monologues? hell yes.
wish there was a bit more emphasis on the ace rep but honestly this was such a great read, the narration was fantastic.

As soon as the blurb for this book was published I ran to Netgalley to see if it was available. Six of Crows and ace characters?! Yes please!

Sadly, this book had my expectations pretty high due to being compared to SOC and as it is one of my favorite books....I was let down by this story. I found myself not really caring for the characters and the plot itself was not what I expected from the blurb.

I love seeing ace characters represented in books! This was such an interesting read of a rag tag group of queer teens doing a heist, I only wished the ace-ness of the characters played a bigger role in the story. It was definitely a fun read!

I was not the biggest fan of this book and it made me sad because after reading the blurb I was very excited to read it. I also believe that maybe this book wasn't for me (I'm a big reader of YA but I've grown out of the age range) so i'm not going to be too harsh.
Most of the story felt very hard to believe and fantastic at times and that took me out of the story more than it should have.
Maybe I would recommend this one only to teenagers, as I think they would probably enjoy it more.

This was a really fun read! I loved all the ace representation. I felt well represented and happy. Jack's pov was funny and charming!

This book was just wonderful.
Jack’s narration was so funny and so REAL.
A change of pace from standard narration.
This is representation at its finest.
Giving insight to Aces and how they
can experience emotions.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

My favorite thing about this book was definitely all of the representation. As someone who identifies as asexual, I loved seeing ace characters represented on the page. As a whole though, I found the book to be lacking in some places. But I think it just might not have been for more. I was a little bored at times and found some of the characters to be forgettable. But overall, it was a solid 4 star read.

I've enjoyed this book a lot!

I'd recommend it to someone who looks for/likes:
- endearing but chaotic teenage main characters
- a lovely friend group of ace-spec characters representing a range of the ace/aro spectrum
- a fast paced adventurous story where the group tries to stop the villain's plans

I liked the plot, the end came a bit sudden but I still liked how the story was resolved in the end. Overall the story focussed on the characters and their interactions and relationships, especially between Jack and his friends and his sisters. I loved the ace representation! It felt so real, a group that found each other online and support each other.

Okay, so. The blurb on this one had me 100% sold–a heist in the vein of Six of Crows featuring an all-asexual cast? You’d be hard-pressed to find a more perfect intersection of my interests. The thing is, this marketing tactic really did the book a disservice. This is not like Six of Crows, minus perhaps the found family element and some teens engaging in illegal activity. It was a fun read, and the ace rep was wonderful, but I’ll admit, I felt rather let down. Were it not for my extreme soft spot for good ace rep, this would likely have been a lower rating.

First things first–and I cannot stress this enough–Jack is not Kaz Brekker. Full stop. Kaz is a scheming, calculating mastermind; Jack is an impulsive card-counter who is in over his head. Kaz shuts down his emotions (to an unhealthy extent); Jack is actually in touch with his feelings. Kaz’s idea of revenge is getting rich and exacting brutal psychological and/or physical damage; Jack just wants to get a guy sent to jail for his crimes. The thing is, this doesn’t make Jack a bad character! He has complex emotional motivations, with conflicting feelings toward his family and a deep awareness of his loneliness. He is self-deprecating and often hilarious; a few times, I audibly laughed while reading his narration. If you can adjust your expectations and anticipate this book being what it is–a fun, chaotic, contemporary romp–you’ll enjoy it a lot more.

Now, on to actual review points! As I said a moment ago, the best words to describe this book are “chaotic” and “fun.” The story itself is patently implausible and sometimes relies on occurrences and tropes that scream “cheesy movie” more than “legitimate heist.” Even labeling the book as a heist is rather misleading; it’s more a story of revenge espionage with a heft side dose of self-discovery and family drama. Many of the plot points relied on (a) one character’s extreme computer skills (all “Hollywood hacking,” alas), (b) bizarre coincidences, or (c) logic that doesn’t make much sense. None of these points are necessarily bad, but the combined effect is to make suspension of belief rather difficult and undercutting some of the stronger points of the book. For instance, there’s a very interesting repeated tie-in of Arthurian mythology, but without adequate fleshing out, the value of that element is diminished and sometimes feels like an afterthought. It’s squarely in the category of “fun if you don’t think too hard about it,” which isn’t necessarily a problem for YA, but may be disappointing for readers who want a stronger plot backbone.

The friendships in the book met a similar fate. Some of the side characters had fantastic dynamics, with plenty of bickering and banter, but for others, their development came across as one-dimensional and half-baked. One character, Georgia, had no real identifiable personality traits, and the romance between Jack and another character lacked any sort of convincing foundation. The best relationships were between Jack and his sisters, but even those sometimes floundered. All that said, I am still a sucker for books about internet friends meeting in real life (for a better example of one, check out Catfishing on CatNet, which is also full of queer rep), and I enjoy when the dialogue genuinely feels like teenagers talking, which was the case here.

Of course, the absolute best part of this book is the prominent ace rep. An all-asexual cast is pretty much unheard of in fiction of any sort, so seeing the relationships that develop between the characters was immensely gratifying. The variety of representation meant that all sorts of myths could be debunked–there is an asexual romance (but there is also an aromantic character, so there’s balance), there is a sharp criticism of the “you’re too young to know” mentality, there is BIPOC ace rep and nonbinary ace rep…there’s a lot to work with. Now, this book doesn’t cover the whole ace spectrum: there is no demisexual or gray-ace rep, and with only one aro character, there isn’t much exploration of what being aromantic means. This isn’t a bad thing, but readers who don’t know much about asexuality going in might mistake this book for a comprehensive depiction, rather than a broad (but incomplete) cross-section.

Overall, this book is something like cotton candy: it’s a little flimsy in its construction, and it doesn’t last very long, but the overall result is still fun. If you’re looking for more ace books in your life, it’s not a bad pick; it just isn’t my first choice.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book with an all asexual group of friends. However, I felt the characters didn't really live up to their full potential and they were fairly forgettable. I think this book just wasn't for me, as I didn't really enjoy the Vegas atmosphere.

They made a mistake by putting "A Heist" in the title.

The writing in this is incredible. I opted for the audiobook on this one (thank you to the publisher for sharing it with me) and that was such a good decision. It's rare I read a young adult book with a male main character (on purpose), but I'm so glad they went with the narrator they did. It injected so much life into what was already a vibrant voice and made this an absolute joy to read.

The characters really did make this shine, even if they didn't quite live up to their full potential. I think if I hadn't read by audio and was able to hear their different voices they might have blended together. Still, it's a diverse cast with individual personalities that bounce off each other well and were entirely believable in who they are. The main character is Jack, and his best friends in the world are four people from an online group chat. They've never met in person, don't even know what the others look like, yet they know things about each other that their own parents would never know. This part really got to me because, honestly, I've got one of these too. The part where they all met for the first time in person yet it immediately felt like they'd done this a million times before--I met my group of nine for the first time last year and this is exactly how it felt.

That ace rep though. My god, I loved it. I'll say it louder for those in the back: a book does not need a romance to be worthy of reading. This dipped its toes into all aspects of the ace spectrum. How it's a spectrum and you can change where you sit on it and how you feel. You can consider yourself aromantic/asexual, or just ace but still able to experience attraction. Maybe you're demisexual, where you are aro/ace until you form a strong enough emotional connection with someone that you do develop romantic attraction (that's me!). This book made itself clear that it wasn't a love story, but there was still the glimmer of one, leading again into the fact that you can be asexual and still experience attraction. The ace spectrum is so broad and nuanced and I really wish more books were able to give us leading characters like this.

Where this fell short was in it declaring itself a heist when it is simply ... not. This needed to be so much more heisty to come anywhere close to an Ocean's 11 comp. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this so much, but nothing remotely heist like happened until the last 10%, and it was quite simple and less heist and more what would have happened in any other YA book in a similar plot point. I'm also more of an eat-the-rich kind of gal, not a let's-help-the-rich-boy-keep-his-wealth-away-from-another-rich-man. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

Still, I'd read more from this author. I deeply appreciated the rep and would love to read more in the same vein.

I liked this book! Jack Shannon's voice was funny, witty, and oh so seventeen. I didn't really think this book was a "heist," but the found family dynamics of the Aces gang definitely was a great recipe for both success and queer disaster, the best combination. There were a few moments that were a little bit corny, and I highly doubt that people wouldn't know what the son of a prolific Vegas casino magnate looks like esp in our technology based world. So other than some lil plot holes like that and other "sneaky" movements that definitely would not work in real life I enjoyed this little jaunt!

ACE REP! 3 CHEERS!
When I say that I have been waiting for this one< I have been waiting for this book! Queer rep, heist, sapphic, non-binary! This book has everything I love about books especially normalized queer characters. The slow build-up is fantastic. While it wasn't exactly how it was marketed, the story was amazing. I thought it was extremely refreshing to see a book like of this!