3.5 stars. I'm the kind of person who sees "heist" in a plot description and is immediately on board, and there's just not much of this in fiction, so I excited about this - with the bonus that this had an all-ace cast. I found it thoroughly entertaining: the flashy Vegas scene and sketchier sides, the scenes of blackjack and sneaking around casinos, etc. My favorite part was probably Jack's friends - they were so fun and their dynamic was great (and as someone who came up in internet friend groups, it was surprisingly special to see it depicted here, and so normally). It was also special to see an all-ace cast depicted without it being the main part of the book, and the book touched on the differences of the ace spectrum and experiences. I do wish we knew more about the friends individually, as well as Jack's family, and just got more a real "heist" plot as I expected (though I enjoyed all of the Vegas focus). The last act and especially the last 90% happened very quickly, but I did have a good time reading this.

True to his family history, Jack Shannon runs a blackjack ring at the private school he goes to. After all, none of the other clubs really grabbed his interest. However, when his mother is arrested for her ties to organized crime, Jack is forced to go back to Las Vegas. Where his sister thinks it’s time for their family to get straight, Jack has other plans.

Jack knows that his mom was sold out by none other than Peter Carlevaro, a rival casino owner and his mom’s past lover. So, Jack hatches a plan to figure out what’s really going on. To do so, he recruits the asexual support group he’s become friends with online over the past few years. Nothing like a little high stakes heist to really cement a friendship.

Thanks to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for an advanced copy of Aces Wild to review! A group of asexual teens going on a Las Vegas heist together? Sign me up! Sounds like something right up my alley.

The upfront nature of asexuality is probably the best thing about this book. Jack and his friends are unapologetically asexual, and I am here for it. Let’s bring more characters like this to YA! Jack also has a romantic love interest, and I love that they make the distinction between sexual attraction and romantic attraction. They’re different, people! And a lot of people don’t seem to understand that.

Unfortunately, for a book that’s advertised as a heist, the heist part is lacking. Jack’s heist doesn’t happen until the last quarter of the book. There’s a lot of build up to it, which is fine! I just wanted more heist when the book has it in the title. I went in expecting something like Oceans 11, but got something different.

Some other reviewers have also pointed out aspects of the story that are ableist. Specifically the fact that they use a hearing aide as part of their heist, for Jack’s sister whose deafness isn’t mentioned until it’s convenient. I recommend checking out some of those reviews (you can find one here) to learn more.

Here for the asexual representation, but not at the detriment of other kinds of representation. Let’s keep that in mind for the future!

All in all, if you’re looking for a heist book, maybe go in another direction.

This book was a wild ride! When his family and their casino are in deep water, Jack Shannon secretly enlists the help of his friends to take it back. This heist novel was fun and I enjoyed reading about the team's plans and snafus along the way, as any high school kids attempting this feat would encounter. Each character had a unique personality. The ace representation was great to see! I loved the found family troupe in this book and how they all came together to help their friend.

I read the arc when it was still using the hearing aid as the communication device, which I was very disappointed to see. Medical devices are incredibly expensive, and as as assistive technology user who has to keep old tech in case something breaks, it made me angry to see the hearing aid dismantled. That said, I am SO happy that the author and publisher listened to the disability community and edited the book.

I will recommend this book to teens or anyone looking for a queer, action packed, fast-paced read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Peachtree for sending me this arc in exchange for an honest review.
I was really forward to this book because of the cover and the synopsis & the fact that it would represent asexual teens but unfortunately it was a miss for me.
The “heist” wasn’t really a big factor like I thought it would be.
Overall, I just hoped for more. We really need more ace representation in books so I hope authors keep writing them! This one just wasn't a win for me.

☆ 4.75 stars ☆

I'm a simple person. I see the words "ace" and "heist", I read the book

The premise of the story is great! It features an online friend group of ace people, and my ace heart couldn't have been happier to hear that. There is also a nonbinary character, aroace, and more. I constantly search for books with ace rep, but I've never found one with a whole cast of ace main characters. As someone who has known that they're ace since middle school, this book made me feel seen.

However, considering there were this many ace characters, I wish asexuality was expanded upon a bit more. As mentioned in the book, asexuality is a spectrum, but there weren't really and examples of that in this book. Overall though, I was mostly satisfied with the representation.

I enjoyed the plot and the pacing of the book. I found it really easy to get into the story when I started reading it, and I got more and more interested as I got further in the book. I loved Jack's narration as well, it was very entertaining.

One complaint I have is that we didn't really get to know many of the characters, aside from basic facts and Jack's general feelings about them. Some side characters kind of blended together, and I feel like we could've been given a little more information about the main characters. I would especially love to know more about Jack's friend group, as they were all very interesting characters.

Overall though, I really enjoyed this book! I liked the plot and the characters. I had a great time reading it! I would definitely recommend this book, and I will for sure be buying it and reading it again.

Thank you to netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A solid read! DeWitt created a fun and very sweet contemporary novel, following Jack as he struggles with the fallout of his mother being arrested, resulting in him and his group of friends planning a heist to set the record straight.

First off - while this is pitched as a heist novel, I would not say that's the main plot point. The heist doesn't come into play until 30% into the novel, and even then it's in the early development and planning stages. This novel mainly revolves around friends and family and the general mess of being a teenager.

Jack, our protagonist, is struggling with many things in life - reconciling his ace identity while having a romantic crush, the fallout of his mother's arrest, the acknowledgement of the unknown since he doesn't know where to go from here. The first thing on his mind after the arrest is to find out who sold out his mother, and he has the help of his friends for this heist.

The writing for the friends was wonderful. I adored all of them, and how different they were but how strong their bond was. It was great in exploring the ace identity as well - as some characters are ace+aro, while others have romantic attraction, and how confusing figuring out your identity can be.

The heist itself was fun, if a bit messy in planning and execution. I had to suspend disbelief for a lot of it (you would think a secret gambling place would have better security) but was overall still enjoyable. All in all, Aces Wild was a great read that explored friendship and asexuality, and had fun hijinks in store.

**I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**


Amanda DeWitt presents Aces Wild, a fast-paced young adult novel in the vein of 21 (2008). When Jack's mother, head of what remains of the Shannon crime family and owner of a successful casino on the Las Vegas Strip, is imprisoned for her misconduct, Jack knows that there has to have been a betrayal. The Shannons don't get caught. And there is only one family that would know enough to send Aileen Shannon to prison- the Carlevaros. Jack comes up with a scheme to get all of his best friends to Vegas to seek a little bit of payback on Peter Carlevaro and hopefully free his mom in the process. Five friends who all met as an asexuality support chat come together in a pseudo-heist in Aces Wild.

Asexuality representation is so welcome and important in books for me. I also enjoyed that each person in Jack's group of friends had a different sort of feeling about their asexuality and its intersection with other identities, whether they be racial/ethnic, gender identity, or being aromantic (or not) in addition to being ace. DeWitt did present different forms of asexuality while not having a relationship as the center of the story. I was very happy to see this, and to see that the fact that as much as sexuality was central in the friend group forming, it was not central to the plot.

I liked Jack's voice as our narrator. His narrative tone was one that was a bit snarky and believable as an older teen. Likewise, the side characters were perfectly enjoyable and easy to buy into.

My personal difficulties with this book center around pacing. I like a fast paced book. While this book was, indeed, fast paced, the last quarter of the book was lightning fast and not in a constant-action keeping it rolling sort of way. It felt more like a sudden realization that the book had to end so everything needed to be tied up post-haste, which made that only limited in its success for me. Really, the ending almost felt a bit sloppy.

In addition, the actual stakes were somehow both sky-high, and pit-of-the-earth low. Jack needed to get his mother out of jail to make sure his lifestyle didn't change, primarily. Aside from not wanting his mother to be in jail. But really, there wasn't ever really a threat of Jack's lifestyle changing all that significantly. His sisters had access to their trust funds. Once he came of age, doubtless he would also gain access to his own. He could finish the last year at his fancy boarding school and go from there. He acknowledges repeatedly how he hardly ever sees his mother or father or sisters. His friends would get sent home for lying to their families about why they went to Vegas, but his friends were always going to go back home. So, beyond the simple wanting his mother to not be in jail, there was nothing riding on his success or failure, particularly with the end of book reveals which were not overly shocking. As soon as you start thinking too hard about the character motivations, the plot line begins to fail, which is unfortunate.


As it was, Aces Wild was a perfectly entertaining, adequate novel that I think will appeal to its target demographic as well as a more general audience and I was happy to read it early.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review! Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: YA Fiction
Aces Wild follows a group of all-asexual teenagers as they attempt to help their friend Jack Shannon get revenge on a family enemy. Their journey won’t be easy and will require a lot of blackjack playing and shenanigans.

Pros:
-the characters were everything, I loved all of them and I really enjoyed how their friendship grew and developed from online to in person
-the budding romance or at least figuring out those feelings between Jack and Remy was really cute
-the whole heist was fun to read about
Cons:
-while I really enjoyed this book, I think the heist could have been a bit more exciting, it felt like they just kept doing the same thing

Thoughts on the ace rep from an aspec reviewer:
I loved the ace representation and it felt specifically written towards aces rather than the general public. I think the book did a good job of educating readers on the topic of asexuality while also making sure that the character’s aceness wasn’t the only thing that defined them. Lastly while Aces Wild did acknowledge that’s it’s a spectrum I think it would have been nice to touch a bit more on the topic.

Aces Wild follows a group of asexual characters that go on a heist. It does give off six of crows vibes and I had so much fun reading it.

This book is all you would want from a heist and then some: a ragtag group of friends, high stakes, a voicey protagonist, and a sprinkle of crime and corruption. At the center of the story is a touching message about honesty and love. It's fast-paced so you can finish it in one sitting, and I really liked the backdrop of Vegas casinos and the atmosphere that put over the story.

Aces Wild, while it has the ingredients for a wonderful ace-rep heist novel, unfortunately, falls flat in regards to its promises, the big one being, well, the heist in question.

When "A Heist" is literally in the title, I'm expecting an Oceans 11-esque Vegas thievery with a fun little gang of criminals/friends/crimebosses. What Aces Wild was, it wasn't quite a heist. So if that's what you're going for, I'd suggest a different read.

When I was most excited about was all the asexual representation. I mean, a whole cast of ace characters? Yes, please! And I will say, these aces were different from any I've seen in fiction before. (Those being their whole character revolving around their asexuality, which is super disappointing to see, and quite demeaning when you make someone's entire personality off of their sexuality. But I digress.) Being ace was what brought these people together, and they identify as such, but it was not their sole personality trait or their entire identity. This book is not about asexuality. It has that as a characteristic, which was the representation readers really want to see. So that was well done.

As for the characters themselves, some had personalities, but a couple were lacking, so I wish the author had spent more time developing them. Also, the ending felt a bit rushed, and kind of ambiguous for my taste, but overall, it was a fine story. I was just looking for more, especially with such a stellar setting and plot potential.

This was fun!

I can agree with everyone saying that maybe slapping Heist on the cover built up expectations for this to be more action-oriented, and yeah, that part of the action did come pretty late, but I wasn’t here for the Heist part, I was here for the ace rep and the friendship and I loved that. The characters were silly and felt for the most part like real teenagers, these are the kinds of friends I wish I’d had at that age, and reading about them felt like getting a big hug in that respect.

So yeah, perhaps temper your expeditions, but don’t hold it against the book because overall it’s a sweet story about friendship and found family and hijinks, and there’s a lot to enjoy outside of the espionage style action

This was cute! Great to see some Ace representation on the page and done in a way that wasn't overly done. The characters were Ace, yes, and it was acknowledged, but certainly not the full story. I love heist stories and really had my hopes up for this, but couldn't really get into it and I can't really pinpoint why. I liked the characters, for the most part, although Jack is very much a teenage boy and thinks like one. For some reason this story just didn't hold me the way I'd hoped it would, but the world is also a mess right now, so that could be it, too. I'll give it a re-read once it hits shelves. I also appreciate how the door was open for a sequel. I could see this becoming the new Naturals-style series.

When Jack's mom is sold out by her Las Vegas rival & arrested, Jack's asexual friend group meets up in Vegas to get revenge & uncover the truth.

This book's promotion has been really big on two things: heists and asexuality. But I felt like it fell short in both aspects with how much they are centered in book promos, so I was left disappointed. I expected higher stakes heisting with more action, and I mean a lot more action. I also expected their ace identities to take up more space in the book & in their discussions, but that also underwhelmed me. It seems like it was only a conversational point when aphobia was challenged. I would have liked more conversation around their identities in a positive way since it's so heavily promoted as an asexual book.

This is not to say I didn't like anything about the book. I did. I just think the book needed a different focus for the promotion, which would have made for a better read for me.

Here's what I liked:

• I appreciated the inclusion of internet friends and how each character had such a distinct and different personality
• I enjoyed the sneaking around and sleuthing to uncover secrets
• I loved the acknowledgement of how being asexual does not mean you don't have romantic attraction
• I also loved the acknowledgement of amatanormativity and the push of society to have a partner and kids
• I was also really fond of the slight nods to Arthurian legend

It's also important to note the following instances where word choice could've been better:

• Definining asexuality as a lack of sexual attraction
• Comparing gaining a fondness of wild printed shirts to Stockholm Syndrome

Edit 7/27: I forgot to add this in my original review and I apologize because it's very important for those deciding whether or not to read, and important in general to call out ableism. In almost all of the heist scenes, there is misappropriation of hearing aids. Jack "repurposes" his sister's old hearing aid to turn it into a spy device so he can communicate with a group member inside where no phones are allowed. This is not okay, he is faking being a person who is in need of a hearing aid and stole the hearing aid from his sister. She was beyond angry at him but was given very little page time surrounding this. Please consider this when wanting to pick up this book.

Edit 8/3: The ableism has been removed in the current netgalley files & will be updated for publication as well. Thank you to the author & publisher for listening to early reviewers and upholding accountability. Now the MC modifies an airpod to an MP3 player and does not pretend to be HoH anymore.

Rep: ace MC, ace SCs, aroace SC, nonbinary SC, Vietnamese & German American SC

CW: gambling, ableism

Rating system:
5 - absolutely love, little-to-no dislikes that did not impact my reading experience

4 - great book, minor dislikes that did have an impact on my reading experience

3 - good/decent book but for some reason did not hook me or there were some problematic things that just were not addressed or greatly impacted my reading experience

2 - is either a book I did not click with and did not enjoy, problematic aspects are not addressed and severely impacted my reading experience, or I DNF'd but think it has potential for others

1 - is very problematic, I would not recommend the book to anyone

As an asexual teenager I am so happy we've come to a point where we can have books with ace main characters, and that too 5 of them. However the story in particular didn't engage me much, which was unfortunate because I enjoy medias with heists in it a lot.

I had a lot of fun with this one? I basically read this in one sitting waiting for people to email me today at work, but it’s a delight.

It’s a bit predictable but hey, heist stories aren’t really about the heist. They’re about the characters, and these ones I loved.

I can't speak to the issues with the deaf/hard of hearing element that is in the plot as I am not a part of that community, but according to the twitter for the publisher they are removing that element due to feedback from the community.

- Aroace, ace, demiromantic, and non-binary rep
- Unreliable narrator
- Chaotic schemes
- Coming of age

Thank you Peachtree Teen, and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

‘Jack Shannon runs an underground blackjack club at his private school, but when his casino mogul mother is arrested, he knows exactly who’s to blame: rival casino owner, Peter Carlevaro. Determined to get his own back, Jack and his online best friends also known as the asexual support group are plotting the revenge of a lifetime. Who needs luck when you have five aces up your sleeve?’

Imagine Kaz Brekker had a modern, snarky, ace and chaotic son and you’ve got Jack Shannon. This was a wild ride and had good ace representation, but I feel like this wasn’t technically a heist book and upon reflection, wasn’t as good as I initially thought.

The found family, ace representation, and storytelling was fun but this unfortunately had a passing joke about police brutality that felt wrong to me, and a deaf reviewer has pointed out that one of the characters is deaf, but their hearing aid is used by a hearing person as a plot device. (However, as a disclaimer, always look at what BIPOC and deaf reviewers are saying as I am white and not hard of hearing).

This was unfortunately disappointing as I was very excited about the all ace cast :(

As a asexual, I just felt this book was ... strange. If someone told me that all five of the MC's were asexual, I would have never thought of it. I felt that the main character had more of an autistic vibe to him.

I found the story a bit far=fetched, and there were parts of the story where the characters just went on... and on... and on and nothing really happening. I made it as far as when all 5 of the MC characters came to the hotel to meet the main character for the first time, and then they went to a live-chef experience.

I had to DNF this.

I read about 40% of this book and relatively enjoyed it but my frustration with the eBook formatting put me off at one point and I never felt compelled to pick it back up. Which says everything for me.

I was really excited for this release after seeing the synopsis. I’ve read a lot of LGBTQIA+ books and it was nice to find one about ace individuals who weren’t discovering their sexuality or figuring out how to be in love despite it (at least from what I read). I’m also a huge Ocean’s fan. So this was perfect for me!

Ultimately, I felt the story moved a bit too slowly and was weighed down by having too many characters who seemingly had no purpose. Big groups work better in movies because of the visual aid. They can be entertaining or “seen” without bogging down the story. 352 pages really isn’t enough for all the people we’re meant to know or to care about. The story could have been just as (or more) effective with fewer characters while still paying homage the heist movies that inspired it.

There’s a possibility I might want to finish this story down the line just to see how it plays out but it’s unlikely I’d do it anytime soon.

While the ace repcis great, there's no heist, the characters are flat and uninteresting and the book is ableist.