Aces Wild (Sin City Collectors, #1)

by Amanda Carlson

[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.