I loved the characters in this and the narrator did an awesome job of distinguishing them. Although I wouldn't call this fully a heist, it was a fun ride with some high stakes. Overall I would recommend this to readers.

I ended up not *loving* this book, but I think that's more of a me problem than a problem with this book. I think I thought I enjoyed heist novels more than I do, and I really loved the idea of a queer/asexual heist novel (yay Ace rep!), but the heist-y bits just weren't for me.

I did love the Vegas setting, as I do loooooove Vegas, so that did help me visualize what was going on. But I think my brain has a hard time with heists and action sequences because I can't wrap my mind around descriptions of the plan or what's happening when the plan doesn't go to plan. Both were struggles for me here. I'm not sure if this was a fault of the writing or my own brain, so I default to it being a me thing. But would I watch this on the big screen? Absolutely.

HOWEVER, my students were very into this. The premise is very sellable in the library and I have a lot of out and proud Ace students. They are always excited when I book talk this book, especially since there is so little explicit asexual representation. So I have definitely bought this for my library and put it in the hands of students!

Aces Wild, summed up, would be this – teen asexual heist story. I don’t know about you, but ace rep or heist alone would be enough to interest me, but put them together!? SOLD! This book works so well!

Jack Shannon runs a secret blackjack club at his boarding school – and he’s very good at it, because he comes from a Las Vegas casino family. He doesn’t have any “real life” friends at school, but that doesn’t matter because he has a tight group of online friends. When he gets the call his mom has been arrested for their family’s ties to organized crime, he immediately goes home to Vegas.

He knows his mom is too slick to have gotten caught without someone framing her, and he knows who that is, he just has to figure out how to prove it. This is where his online friends come in. He’s allowed to “invite some friends” over per his older sister/guardian so why not invite these people he’s never met irl before!

All of his online friends are also asexual, just like Jack, which is how they became friends in the first place. I love love loved the ace rep in this book and how it was there, but not forced on you the entire story. Jack may have a crush on one of the people in his friend group, but isn’t sure how to articulate that and he has to work through being ace and having a crush. But they have bigger problems, like how to be teenagers and get into casinos and gambling dens.

This is a fast paced heist story that I never wanted to put down, I always needed to know what was going to happen next! I loved the friendship of this group and it shows how even if you’ve never met before in person, you can still know someone else from talking online.

The only complaint I have is the ending felt too rushed and cleaned up a little too easily – but I really enjoyed the journey of this book and that’s what really matters in my mind.

I didn't really enjoy this one that much so I only gave it a three-star rating without reviewing it on Goodreads.

At heart this is a pretty standard heist story. Jack has an in depth and constantly changing plan to ruin the man he blames for his mother's arrest. I like that he acknowledges that his mother isn't a "good" person but that love and loyalty are different than objective "good". Additionally, that there are degrees of good. While his mother engages in some low level criminal behavior, our antagonist is manipulative and cruel, objectively "worse". The plot is a bit predictable and the big reveal fairly obvious but the characters are solid and interesting, enough to keep the reader engaged in spite of the formulaic plot.

Aces Wild is the eprfect heisty book - full of with drama, excitement, adventures and aces.
It was so refreshing to read a book from a male character's POV, the narrator did an amazing job to bring the character to life.

The ace rep!! fabolous!! This book was a proof of the fact that not all books need romance, romantic sub-plots to be entertaining and meaningful. Give us more books like this please.

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.

Jack Shannon is the son of a Las Vegas casino mogul, and he runs a secret blackjack ring in his private school’s basement. Everyone knows Jack, but his real friends are online, member of an asexual support group he met through fandom forums. When his mom’s arrested for ties to organized crime, Jack knows she was set up by rival casino owner, Peter Carlevaro. He can prove it, but he’ll need the help of his friends, who he’s never actually met in person before, to pull it off all while navigating falling in love while being asexual.

This book was so much fun! As an aspec individual, I would have loved to have this group of friends growing up (and also, you know, knowing what asexual is and that it’s me). I identified with the characters and was impressed at how they represented different parts of the Ace spectrum. I’m also a huge Ocean’s 11, 12, 13, and 8 fan, so Vegas and heists and casinos, those settings and plot points are right up my alley.

I listened to most of this while playing Animal Crossing, and it was a good choice. The slow, easy-going nature of the game mixed with the fast-paced twists and turns of the books was a great combo. Definitely recommend this book is you’re up for a wild romp with a bunch of Asexual queers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Teen for free access to the audiobook of Aces Wild: A Heist by Amanda Dewitt in exchange for an honest review.

Okay. Love love love love LOVE!!!!! This was such a fun time. Set at a hotel and casino. Rich kids running amok. Found family. Validation of asexuality. Funny, witty, fast paced, entertaining. I had an absolute blast and fell in love with all of these characters. This book so quintessentially captures the experience of today's Gen Z teen. These kids found each other online just looking for a place to belong, and in meeting each other are able to offer unending support as they discover who they are in the midst of family dysfunction and the surrounding chaos. I loved this from start to finish and highly recommend for any age audience.

Reading about a bunch of asexual characters forming a found family and helping each other out is what I've always wanted. Reading such a perfect yet casual representation, and explaining the asexual experienceS and feelings (because there are multiples ace characters showing how different aces can be!!! *gasp*) hit me so hard I was so happy.
I AM so happy that this book exists. That I'll be able to throw it at everyone and show them that yeah, you can have great ace characters be the centre of a bad ass heist, without the focus being solely on the fact that they're ace.

Look, i'll be honest I didn't manage to get completely gripped by the plot but I did enjoy the book generally. I think I wasn't in the headspace for this this week but mydumb brain didn't realise it until the book was almost done and I hadn't been paying attention to a third of what i was reading.
I'd love to say I'll one day go back to this book and read it properly, but i know myself and i know that won't happen.
I'll just be content in knowing I loved parts of this book.

4.75/5⭐️

“What was more suspicious? Playing it cool or trying to hide?
Easy decision. Always go for the path with the least resistance. And the least amount of eyeballs if possible.”

First of all, I need to say a big thanks to Netgalley and RB Media for letting me listen to this gem.
As someone on the Ace spectrum, having a cast filled with people like me makes me feel very - can I say validated? It makes one seen and honestly, this really made me excited.
Now, let’s get to the story: Something is quite alluring about heists in fiction, isn’t it? And so is it with this book. I’ve been hooked from, especially the lines “This is not a love story. This is a confession.” - I could hear the smirk on Robbie’s lips when he read this.
I think, Amanda and everyone included in deciding that he should read the book, made a great choice because to me - the story was lively!
It’s been fun to check in to the wild story every evening and just imagine Jack going on his ways to find out what Carlevaro has to keep Jack’s mum in trouble. And the messages from the Ace-support group are amazing! Gosh, I cannot explain how much fun it’s been.

I was very excited for this book due to the asexual rep as that makes it an own voices read for me, however I didn't enjoy this as much as I'd been anticipating.

The representation alongside the synopsis and the prospect of a heist being carried out served to make this an anticipated read for me, one of my most anticipated for the year in fact so I eagerly dove into it.

I loved all of the representation, truly I did because we have an all asexual cast and there are very few books with ace rep. Trust me, I know, because I've been looking and eagerly pouncing on any book that has it! I also really loved the way Arthurian legend was brought into it because I'm a huge sucker for a bit of Arthurian legend! The twist was also quite brilliant towards the end and I can't say I saw it coming, in all honesty, not to mention it was quite well paced and I do love a bit of found family!

However, I found the characters fell a little flat and didn't have distinct personalities. They were very one dimensional and I found it quite hard to remember who was who as none of them really stood out to me. I just didn't connect to them or really enjoy them, if I'm being honest. I also found my attention wandering because I was promised a heist and I wouldn't really say anything within this book served as a heist. It certainly doesn't deserve the comparisons to Six of Crows given that despite the cuss words it's actually quite juvenile and a few times I did wonder if this was supposed to originally be a middle grade novel.

Ultimately, this book fell flat for me which is a shame given I was so excited for the asexual representation and I pretty much only carried on with it as I needed something to listen to while doing a few bits around the house.

Aces Wild is a story that has everything that it takes to be a great book: a casino robbery, a group of internet friends, and love entanglements.

When this audiobook appeared and I saw everything it promised, I told myself that I had to listen to it no matter what, actually I finished it very quickly because it is spectacular.

The story begins with Jack, a boy from a wealthy family who owns hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, who finds out that his mother has been taken to jail. But he knows that someone must have sold it and most likely was one of the family's partners, so he decides to gather his internet friends to rob a casino and help his mom.

The book is just great. The characters are very funny and I really liked that a very important theme in the story is asexual representation which is what he and Jack's friends know each other by. The story has a touch of romance and a lot of friendship. Jack has a personality that can be a little stupid at times, but I loved seeing him fight his fears about the situation with his mom and still try to protect his friends from what they're about to do.

The writing is light and catchy. I loved how the narrator acted out everything he was telling, it made me feel like Jack was really telling me the story.

If you can give this book a chance I recommend you do, it's a great experience. I hope they can translate the book into Spanish because it really deserves it.

I loved this love letter to internet friendships, teenage asexuals, and card-counting, underage gamblers. That sounds very specific, but once I got a bit into this well-narrated audiobook, I was absolutely sold on the premise- and I had to keep reading to find out how they'd pull it all off!

While heists and chases are not my typical direction, I was completely enthralled the entire time. I had an inkling to the twists, but Amy still got me. I loved this work. The narrator was a little distracting at first. They sounded a little old, but the more I listened the more I became accustomed to the voice. High recommend.

2.5-3.5⭐️

I was really excited for this book but it was very mid for me. The characters were a little flat and the plot was a lot less focused on the heist or their asexuality, I heard that it was like oceans 8 but they are all teenagers and ace but it was mostly in the background and the heisting was either WILDLY unrealistic and out there or it was just predictable. It does give oceans 8 vibes a bit however it’s more like famous parent legal issues story line then oceans 8 and other then them saying they are ace I didn’t really see the representation, I was hoping for blatant representation but other then them being ace being made known and a comment or two about societal judgment there wasn’t much and I feel like it definitely could’ve been more then it was. I don’t know I was just let down from the reviews I had seen

CW
Abandonment, Ableism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Blood, Sexism

All I needed to hear was a heist with an all-ace crew and I was IN. The optimism that I had at the beginning did unfortunately dwindle and turn into disappointment throughout the story. I still feel like young adults on the younger side could still enjoy this book. It read almost more middle grade than young adult, just because the characters were not flushed-out and the "heist" itself, if it even can be called that, was quite juvenile.
I loved the idea of an all-ace cast, but the execution was not there. Other than them all being asexual, I wouldn't be able to say much about the characters' personalities. Even the representation itself left much to be desired - asexuality is an umbrella term that houses a wide spectrum of identities, but the characters presented quite a flat, one-sided view of it.
The heist itself was not much of a heist and the plot was predictable. And while I enjoyed reading about the friendships between the characters, I would likely not have finished the book had I not been listening to it as an audiobook simply because I was bored.

Jack is a normal teenager...he runs a gambling club at his private school, he spends holidays in exotic places, and he summers in Las Vegas. Oh wait, maybe not normal. Something that is normal about him is that he has a group of online friends who all identify as asexuals, along with himself. His mother owns a casino in Las Vegas and is arrested...then he invites his friends to Vegas with the hidden agenda to help his mom get out of jail by finding out how she was maybe framed.
The actual heist of this book is pretty unclear and incredibly low stakes. It's pretty disappointing. But what I can say is that the asexual representation is fantastic. It even gives us a storyline of someone who identifies asexual and how they can still have a romantic or interest in a relationship. Relationships do not have to be physical to be meaningful. Bravo for that and it gets three stars alone for that.

Jack Shannon, son of a Las Vegas casino mogul, runs a blackjack club at his boarding school until he is called back to Las Vegas after his mother’s arrest. Jack is certain that she was sold out by Peter Carlevaro, her rival casino owner and jilted lover. Jack’s sister Beth wants this to be a chance for the family to go on the straight and narrow, but Jack plans to find out what Carlevaro has over his mom’s head. To help him, he flies in his group of online friends from his asexual support group.

I loved that this book featured a whole friend group of ace people, who have very little rep in books up until now, and I also loved how the group of friends met and bonded online and then got the chance to meet up in person. I think it will help if you know going into the book that this is more about Jack’s relationships with his friends and (to a lesser extent) family, as compared to time spent on the “heist”. Robbie Daymond did a fantastic job narrating the audio book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

Jack runs a secret blackjack ring in his school's basement, and when his mom gets arrested for ties to organized crime, he enlists the help of this crew to avenge her.

This book reads a little bit like a quirkier Six of Crows with a fully asexual cast. I love that a book with this much ace rep exists, but this wasn't my favourite. I didn't have any problems with it, necessarily, but I didn't find the plot to be that interesting and not much of it stuck with me.