Aces Wild: A Heist by Amanda DeWitt

I received this book as a audiobook ARC for a honest review. 

I jumped right onto this book when I received it. The premise sounded just up my alley.

Aces Wild is about Jack who’s whole family is into gambling, and games. His family owns a popular hotel in Las Vegas so he has grown up around the world of the strip. When his mom suddenly gets arrested, Jack decides to try to play games of his own to find out the man who double-crossed his mom and got her arrested.

But he can’t do it alone. He decides to call on his close friends for help. His friends are all from an online group, and none have ever met in real life. This online group is made up of a sleet of people that he has met online who are the same sexuality as him: asexual.

Together they meet in Las Vegas to take down the group who is going after Jack;s family for their money and the rights to the hotel they own.

I loved this book. It wasn’t your average read. It was different and represents a very small group in the LGBTQ mafia that I feel does not get a lot of attention or recognition

What happens in Vegas when an all-asexual online friend group attempts to break into a high-stakes gambling club? Shenanigans ensue.

Some people join chess club, some people play football. Jack Shannon runs a secret blackjack ring in his private school’s basement. What else is the son of a Las Vegas casino mogul supposed to do? 

Everything starts falling apart when Jack’s mom is arrested for their family’s ties to organized crime. His sister Beth thinks this is the Shannon family’s chance to finally go straight, but Jack knows that something’s not right. His mom was sold out, and he knows by who. Peter Carlevaro: rival casino owner and jilted lover. Gross. 

Jack hatches a plan to find out what Carlevaro’s holding over his mom’s head, but he can’t do it alone. He recruits his closest friends—the asexual support group he met through fandom forums. Now all he has to do is infiltrate a high-stakes gambling club and dodge dark family secrets, while hopelessly navigating what it means to be in love while asexual. Easy, right?

The Sunbearer Trails by Aidan Thomas

I think that this book is for fans of The Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, Divergent, and anything dystopian and fantasy.

The Sunbearer Trials is a fast-paced read based off of a competition with Demi-gods. The winner of The Sunbearer Trails gets to travel to all the temples and bring life to the Sun Stones. The loser of the trials is the sacrifice to bring that light to the temples. The Sun Stones use the sacrifice to protect the pole of Rhino del Sol for ten years.

We follow Teo who is a Jade and the son of the Goddess of Birds. He is also transgender. Teo has never worried about the trails. Being a Jade he is the lowest type of demi-god and therefore not looked at to be picked in the trails Only the demi-gods who go to the academy are usually picked.

But for the first time in a century, Sol chooses two Jades, Teo and 13-year-old Xio. Teo feels like he needs to protect Xio as they are taken to the trails to compete.

I found this book hard to put down. This was just the type of book that I like to read. I loved the diversity in it, the world, and the theme. I did not see the ending coming and I NEED the next book soon! I can’t wait to see what is next in this adventure.

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg

This was my first book by Bill Konigsberg that I have read. I read this book last summer and still think about it today. It is a cute rom-com read that is fluffy and heartwarming. I want to read more books by this author.

The Music of What Happens follows Max who is running a food truck over the summer. Max is confident, a jock, and popular. He meets Jordan who is looking to earn some extra money to help his family out. Jordan starts to help Max run the food truck. The two become fast friends. Jordan finds out that his family is in need of more money than just a little extra so Max tries to help him earn the money with their food truck by making different dishes and drinks to gain popularity around town.

I would say this book is for fans of Love Simon by Becky Albertalli, or even What if It’s Us by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli. It has a smaller feel to these two authors and this book is defiantly more under-hyped.

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Out of The Blue by Jason June

Jason June has been an author on my “need to read” list since last year. I was super excited to see Jason come out with a new book this year and knew I needed to read it and not let it sit on my shelf as most books do.

I saw Out of the Blue get hyped pretty well on TikTok and instagram. I think it was a good summer read. We follow Crest who has to go on a journey on land to help one human. Crest tumbles into Sean’s life and decides that Sean is the human he will help. However, Crest has never seen or been in the human world before because Crest is a mer-person, or mermaid.

Sean was recently dumped by his boyfriend and the last thing he needs is to babysit Crest. Not knowing Crest is a mer-person, Sean finds himself seeing Crest every day and can’t figure out why this kid keeps following him around. It low key stalkerish.

I liked the idea of mer-people being non-binary. In a way it just made sense. However, I struggled with the narration of the story. It was hard to follow between characters’ ideas and actions. There seemed to be a conflict between the characters’ development and narrative. I personally did not like that almost every chapter all Crest could think of was sex. This is not a smut book and I felt like it was overused and done in an uncomfortable way.It was pretty cringe when Crest would bring up the topic. But that wasn’t the only hard-to-read spot. The characters go back in forth with wanting a relationship to being just fired which I felt was done in a poor way and just needed to be cleaned up to work.

I did enjoy the story that was trying to be told but overall it just needed a little more development to be a really good novel. I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

I re-read this book in preparation for a book signing with Casey McQuiston at a local indie store last month. However, I was unable to attend the signing last minute. I still really enjoyed this book. For me it is a nice comfort read. It is funny, light and addicting. I believe the hype is real on this book. I still gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.

“First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations. The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. 

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?”