Aces Wild: A Sin City Collectors Novella (Sin City Collectors, #1)

by Amanda Carlson

• ISBN10: 1502566281
• ISBN13: 9781502566287
• Publish Date: 29 May 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 188
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I was mighty disappointed in Aces Wild. I love supernatural creatures running loose in Las Vegas! It's just the perfect setting for them to wreck havoc or blend in. In this version, supernaturals are mostly blending in, but there's a collections agency to bring in those who choose to be naughty. Neve is one such Collector, and she's just got her latest assignment, which she is not pleased about on two counts. First, she has to bring in a vampire. Neve hates vampires, despite being half herself. Second, she's been assigned a partner, probably because of her hate of vampires. Jake isn't too thrilled about the assignment either, since he and Neve have a past which she's been successfully avoiding for three years.

My first issue with Aces Wild was the romance, which is a huge problem since this is in fact a Romance. The author manages to hit on the one grey area within sexual assault, which made me very uncomfortable. Apparently, Neve and Jake had a one night stand, but she remembers none of it. He insists that she came to him completely sober and of her own free will and initiated it all. She says she wasn't herself and had no control of her actions, which she doesn't remember. Well, she was in fact sober and not under any of kind of influence, but Neve does have every right to be upset about it because it's not what she wanted. Then there's a perfectly logical explanation. At least a perfectly logical paranormal explanation, which made sense, but not really. In fact, it seems really counterproductive so I couldn't accept that answer. It also made for the most awkward and unsexy sex scene, and I was distracted by the fact that it shouldn't have been working that way because of reasons. It was just a mess.

As for the plot, I did enjoy it in the beginning. Neve and Jake are kind of undercover, trying to find their target in the hotel. Lots of exciting things happen, but then Neve comes face to face with the vampire they're suppose to bring in. It was totally predictable who he was, since there's really only one vampire she'd have any reason of facing. Said vampire is supposedly the most powerful and most feared, but he acted like a child throwing a tantrum. And yes, he had a monologue revealing all of his plans. Yawn.

In the end, Aces Wild just let me down. The set up is one of my favorites, but the plot was predictable, and the romance wasn't very romantic.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Melanie]

This is a brand new PNR series where each installment is to be written by different author. The first installment is written by Amanda Carlson. I've read Ms. Carlson's other series, Jessica McClain, which is wonderful. If you haven't read her stuff, I highly recommend this UF werewolf series, full of many other great paranormal creatures.

Before I get sidetracked, in Aces Wild, Amanda is responsible for building the new world set in Vegas where the supernatural world exists, but humans are not aware of it. The main character, Nevada Hamilton, Neve, is a dhampir; half human, half vampire. She was raised by her mother, who was rarely sober. Neve is a collector. She works in the supernatural community to "collect" or bring in other supernaturals who have broken the law, like a bounty hunter.

On this particular mission, Neve, who normally works alone, is paired up with Jake Troubadour, a hellhound. Jake and Neve have a past and it didn't end well. Neve is not happy with this pairing. Not only that, her mark is a vampire. She doesn't do well with vampires. Her first case was a vampire, and the only mark to ever escape her clutches.

This is the first book that I've read with hellhounds as shifters. I have to say, I like this breed of shifter. They have extremely thick skin that vampires can't pierce. They are stronger than other shifters and don't have their toxicity to silver. Witch's magic is also much more difficult to work on them. They were originally meant to guard kings and queens. You put all of that together with one sexy, smooth talking Jake and you have a great PNR hero.

I really enjoyed this story. I just wish it were longer, it is a novella and could've been novel length, in my opinion. I think Jake and Neve were great characters and I want to know more about them and their future. My understanding how this series will work, we might see some cameo appearances from them, but I don't think it will be even as much as what we see in other PNR stories. With a different author writing each book, I don't think they will want to spend too much on the other author's characters. We do meet the hero and heroine of the next book, but their part is small in this book.

I loved how this story ended. It was great, especially for Neve. After all the things she learned in this story, about her parentage and her mother's past, it was good to see that potential future. I highly recommend that you give this series a try. Book two is written by Kristen Painter, who is another author I'm familiar with, so I'm really excited about that book two. I don't know that I'm familiar with any of the other authors, I this is a great chance to meet some new authors.