Aces Wild (Sin City Collectors, #1)

by Amanda Carlson

[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.