“Anyone can get lucky. But sometimes… you need five aces to win.”

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Aces in Vegas! What could go wrong? Umm… a little bit, actually. Some thoughts:

—WHAT I LIKED—

✨ The elephant-in-the-room here: five asexual besties! AHH. 💜 Also the fact that they’d met online and developed friendships through their chats?? Love that. Online friends are real and valid, thank you very much! Also, their banter was absolutely perfect.

✨ The tone of the story in the first half. Very lighthearted and leaned a little into the ridiculousness! Gives Dial A for Aunties/Crazy Rich Asians vibes.

—WHAT I WANTED MORE OF—

✨ A deeper motive for the mission, I guess?? I just can’t really feel bad for a neglectful, multi-millionaire in jail for fraud. I’m sorry, Jack. But your mom had it coming. 🙈

✨ Heisting. Oh dear. Darlings, this was not a heist book. It was not. It was a group of pals trying to help their friend uncover some family drama, while disguising themselves a handful of times to play Blackjack and do so.

Needed 👏 more 👏 planning 👏 and 👏 ~DRAMA~

✨ Consistent tone. Again, that first half was fun! But then it quickly took itself too seriously *and* slowed down in the second half, and lost me. It also reads more middle grade than YA, just a heads up!

✨ As weird as this may sound, more asexuality explanation. I loved that their sexualities weren’t overemphasized — they’re just a bunch of aces TRYING THEIR BEST, OKAY — but I would have liked a tad more “show” about different asexual experiences, rather than just one mention of its spectrum.

But maybe I just personally like hearing about that sort of thing from people. I just want all the baby-aces to know they’re valid, too, you know? 🥺

✨ On that topic: character depth! I don’t know a single one of those characters — aside from our main POV, Jack — and I just read 350+ pages of them. 🥲 And they all seem so lovely! I just wanted more commitment to *at least* a one-dimensional trait to attach to each of them. It’s very hard to name even that for the crew.

✨ The Arthurian-inspired family secrets bit! Hello, I am all here for that. But by the time it was mentioned — about 65% in — it felt very out of left field and thus not aptly explained for me. Definitely wanted more!

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All-in-all, it was admittedly a bit of a disappointment. I think marketing it as “the next teen heist novel” (and especially to a Six of Crows audience) really did a disservice to Aces Wild.

BUT. It still had the potential, it had fun banter, and it had an all-asexual friend group. I’m always an advocate for more ace rep in books! Give this a try when it releases, and tell me what y’all think — you might love this more than I did! 💜

Thanks to Netgally for providing an ARC of this book.
You know what, let me change the marketing tagline: this book is Ocean’s 11 meets The Heroes of Olympus. I know thesecond part is surprising, but let me explain.
This had everything I love from a good heist movie: a team of misfits that clearly don’t have their lives together at all, funny dialogues and a plan that hangs together with duct tape and anxiety. And this book also had everything I loved from The Heroes of Olympus series: a diverse team of young adults who clearly have issues with adult supervision (who doesn’t) and an obvious disregard for their own safety.
Aces Wild: A Heist follows Jack Shannons, son of a casino CEO who just got arrested, as he and his friends - who met through an online post on asexuality - try to get revenge by stealing from another casino. We follow a very diverse cast of characters, and I really appreciated that while the 5 main characters all identify as asexual, they were all on different part of the asexuality spectrum and had different experiences. The characters were funny, and pretty well-developed even though this didn’t feel like a character-driven story.
The plot was super fun to follow - but here comes the part where I think the marketing tagline might have given the wrong impression about this book. This book focuses on planning a heist - hence the Ocean’s 11 reference. The actual heist part is not exactly the focus of the book, which I didn’t mind because I’m the type that usually likes the coming-together-and-making-the-plan more anyway, but I can see why some people would be a bit disappointed.
This gets a 3.75 stars out of 5 from me: I really enjoyed my time reading it, but I would have loved to know more about everyone on the team. Also, I didn’t feel like the ending twist was necessary (but it didn’t ruin the ending or anything).

A fun story with a really compelling concept.

I can see where the comparisons go Six of Crows come from, but I would offer the caveat that the it’s a loose comparison, largely because of the heist element, and that the main character is kind of emotionally closed off.

The relationship dynamics were interesting, but most of the characters were a bit forgettable. I’m sitting here, barely able to remember all the characters names, and I would be hard pressed to list a single personality trait for at least 5 of them. I think they could have been a lot more compelling if we’d been given any development or more personality. There is a lot of promise there, and I’m sad that we barely got to know most of the cast.

The heist element was fun, and there were some great twists. Some that I saw coming, some that I didn’t. I know some people’s feedback is that it wasn’t 100% heist all the time - but I didn’t mind, and I thought DeWitt showed us the tricks they used in a fun way (through Jack’s narration).

I will say that parts of the plot didn’t really make sense to me - like there were certain plot points that didn’t do anything for the plot and didn’t feel realistic or plausible to me. Characters made decisions that didn’t make sense, and it felt like we had a bunch of ‘red herrings’ that weren’t meant to be red herrings, but just confused the plot, Unfortunately a lot of the explanations for why some of the events and decisions in this book happen felt really unrealistic and unlikely to me as well.

However, if you suspend your disbelief a bit, and just settle in for the ride, this book was a lot of fun. Despite my constructive feedback above, I enjoyed it! The concept was engaging, the ace and aro representation was awesome, and the characters show great promise. I would absolutely read a sequel if there ever was one, and I definitely plan to read DeWitt’s next book.

I really loved this book ! I love that the asexual part is respect in the relationship, that they don’t change because they « found the perfect love of their life ». The story was really interesting, I couldn’t put this books down

This was fun. Pretty much exactly what I expected and not much more. I liked Jack and all the rest of the Aces Wild crew a whole lot.

As soon as I saw a book about a group of friends who are all asexual planning a casino heist, I was ready to dive in. What a great idea! There's a lot more LGBTQIA+ representation in books than ever before, but asexual isn't something I see often. This story also has funny moments, cute friendships, and a touch of romance to round it out.

Calling this a heist book may be a bit generous. The teens aren't really planning to rob a casino or anything, just to get information that may help Jack's mom get out of prison. Most of what Jack and his friends do is listen to conversations and get into an exclusive gambling club. I was hoping for more excitement and more of an Ocean's Eleven type plot and thought it was anticlimactic.

Besides Jack, we don't learn much about the Aces Wild group, other than ages and hometowns. I would have liked to see more character development and more than a surface level story. I did think it was a quick and entertaining read, with interesting parts (like learning how counting cards works) and the start of a romance between Jack and Remy was sweet.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Peachtree Teen and NetGalley for the copy.

Gotta say the plot of this book and the title pun (ace=asexual/ace=cards) were very intriguing! This story is so unique and I did enjoy it but I wanted to love it more so it only gets three (3-3.5) stars (unfortunately). I think the book was trying too hard to do everything that it felt lacking for the whole heist and just was not 100% there. I'd love to see this book as a TV show

Six of Crows go to Las Vegas? Sounds amazing!

However, I was sad when this promise did not live up to the expectation I've set on it and maybe it's my fault.
The tory follows jack, a teenager whose mom get's arrested for illegal activities regarding their casino. His life gets uprooted and he has to find a way to save his family or say goodbye toeverything he is used to. And with the help of his internet friends, who may or may not be flying in to LV, he might find a way to get out of this situation.

To be very honest, I came in for the heist. Don't get me wrong, the heist happens but at the 90% mark of the book. This is a story of friendship and love, not a heist story. To me, the comparison to SOC meant we'd get an intricate heist that spans over the majority of the story, intricate details and lots of preparations. What this book does is give us backstory for the characters, develops their friendships. It underperformed in the heist aspect but overperformed in the relationship aspect.

I did love the inclusion of the nonbinary character, the different experiences people who identify as asexuals can have. That was my favorite thing I think.

I did enjoy the writing, the overly confident way Jack describes his adventures, even cocky at times. He pissed me off a few times, not going to lie, but he is a teenage boy, that was expected lmao

3.75/5, rounding up to 4 because there's rarely ace characters in books and they deserve the spotlight. Go into this without expecting a lot of heist action and you'll love this.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was so awesome! I mean six of crows but set in the casinos of Las Vegas, and an ace cast? What's not to love??
The vibes of this book were immaculate, and the characters were literally so well written. I felt this book was definitely more character focused, and not plot focused, which I don't mind, but doesn't leave much to discuss.
I do think this book would be better, if it had multiple Point of views, and not just Jack's point of view.

Overall though, I loved 'Aces Wild', and would definitely recommend it. 8/10.

Thank you Peachtree Teen and NetGalley for providing an e-Arc for an honest review.

I tend to be apprehensive when a book claims to resemble anything Six of Crows related but I was not disappointed with Aces Wild. Like Six of Crows there is found family, loveable albeit morally gray characters, revenge, and of course a heist! The cast of characters is brilliant and diverse and they play off of each other so well. It captures the angst and complexity of being a teenager and how forces beyond your control can throw your whole world out of orbit. There is a line at the beginning where Jack says “This is not a love story. It’s a confession.” While Jack is correct, it is not a love story in the typical sense, I would have to disagree. As Gabe would say “There are many kinds of love my dear.” This is a story about love for your family, love for your friends, love for your home, and love for yourself. So do yourself a favor and pick up Aces Wild especially if you like Six of Crows with a little Oceans thrown in there.

This was the book I've always needed and I was so glad to find out it existed. Just a fun story with a lot of ace characters, it was such a joy to experience it. So much positive representation, being at the center of the book but at the same time not being the main point at all! I absolutely loved it!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an arc of this book. In general, I really enjoyed this book. However, I do think it was marketed wrong - this isn’t really a heist book. Luckily the main thing which drew me to this book was the promise of asexual representation, which definitely delivered. The plot was engaging and the writing style was funny. Some of the characters were a little underdeveloped but I don’t think it took away from the story that much. Overall a great, fun read

A really cute book, mostly about friendship from my point of view, with a lot of representation which is so very much appreciated especially as an ace myself! Would definitely recommend if you need a fun book for whatever reason!

4.25 Stars
I absolutely loved the characters and the ace spectrum representation this book has. I really liked the tone and the plot was very intriguing. I read it in less then a day. It is very fast pace and is hard to put down.

However, I thought the heist would be more prominent in the story and as heartfelt as this book is with its themes surrounding friends and family, I felt like the ending was not as strong as the rest of the book.

So excited to receive a copy of this. The announcement and synopsis were right up my alley and it was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022.

I thought the characters were incredibly relatable. This is how teens talk online and the result was sweet and chaotic. The dialogue was charming and propulsive and I found myself wanting to be a part of this fictional friend group. While I found the plot to be less high stakes heist-y than the blurbs/pitch made it sound, the characters kept me invested.

Fun heist book, even if the heist isn't a huge part of it. It's hard to live up to a Six of Crows comparison though.. 2.5 stars

Five asexuals have a mission, what can go wrong? I loved seeing five very different types of aces interacting with each other and doing something that wasn’t focused on their sexuality. I wish I could have seen a little more depth to the characters and plot but overall a fun read.

Compare any book to six of crows and I’ll read it but there was not enough of a heist to begin to even compare it to that. I’ll start with what I liked, I loved all the ace rep and the whole main friend group was really fun. The biggest issue was that for being marketed as a heist, the heist wasn’t really that important. Also at what point, is there too many cliche poker metaphors and old immoral family wisdom? All of the “Shannon family proverbs” were just so annoying to read over and over again. I really wish this was a multi-perspective book too, I feel like some povs from the other characters would have elevated the plot a lot.

While I enjoyed the book and the themes of friendship and family that were explored, I think the premise fell short. We were told to expect heists, yet the only real heist that comes in factors in at the end of the story, and is still a little underwhelming in the way it doesn't feel very realistic. I would have also liked to see more on the exploration of Jack's demiromanticism, especially in terms of his relationship with Remy, since the difference between aromanticism and asexuality doesn't get explored as much in books. I do identify as asexual and not aromantic, so I was excited at the prospect of a romance with an ace character, but I think the characters being ace ultimately didn't factor into the story as I thought it would, especially when it is pitched in the synopsis as something to look out for.

But overall, I really did enjoy the book! I would rate this 3.5/5, but rounded down to a 3.

*Actual rating is a 3.5*

The most important thing to know about Aces Wild: A Heist is that this may be the most misleading book marketing I've come across. The heist plays an incredibly minimal role in the story and doesn't actually start to happen until very late in the story.

If I separate the book I was expecting based on the marketing and the actual book itself, I did really enjoy Aces Wild: A Heist. DeWitt's writing pulled me in from the very beginning. Jack's narrative voice was incredibly fun. I loved the asides to the reader, particularly when they were used to subvert my expectations about where the story was going.

Jack and his group of friends were the ace characters I've been dying to see on page for ages. There's such a range of diversity in how ace folks are represented that was truly great. I will also definitely be using Gabe's -- our ace and aromantic character in the group -- retort to Jack when Jack asks why he should take crush advice from Gabe: "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times... coaches don't play."

The interpersonal conflicts is where Aces Wild: A Heist really shined. There's tension between Jack and his friend Remy as Jack tries to negotiate his crush on them now that they're together in person for the first time. There's conflict between Jack and his sisters, Beth and Kerry, as the three of them grapple with their mom's arrest and try to figure out what will come next for their family. And finally there's conflict between Jack and his friends while they work through the meeting in person for the first time. All of these arcs made for a really compelling character-driven story that pushed Jack to grow in relatable, interesting ways.

If you forget the comparison to Six of Crows and go in expecting a very character-driven story rather than a plot-driven heist book, there's a lot to enjoy in Aces Wild. I look forward to seeing what Amanda DeWitt writes next.

Thank you to Peachtree Teen and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.