Also by this author: Ante Up, All In, Red BloodedWelcome to Vegas. Home of the Sin City Collectors. The job description is easy: Bring the offending supernatural in to the Boss and don’t ask any questions.
Nevada Hamilton has learned a few things since becoming a Sin City Collector, and staying away from vampires is one of them. After botching her first Collection, the vamp getting away after causing as much damage as possible, she hasn’t been assigned to another one since.
But when she receives her next playing card, she’s in for a surprise. Not only is a vampire her next target, but they’ve paired her up to make sure she gets the job done right. Refusing a Collection is not an option, but when she discovers who she’s working with, making the mission as difficult as possible for her new partner becomes her top priority…
Being a hellhound isn’t enough to protect Jake Troubadour from Nevada Hamilton, no matter how thick his skin is. Finding out he has to work with the beautiful dhampir, after not seeing her for three years, is a low blow—but Jake is a professional. He takes his Collections as seriously as he does running his bar. He’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done, but after that, he’s out. No more chances for the girl who wrecked his bike and scarred his soul so long ago. But even with his heart dead set against it, this hellhound quickly finds he’s not immune to love after all.
What’s Collected in Vegas, stays in Vegas...
I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Melanie’s Review
Aces Wild by Amanda Carlson is awesome. I really enjoyed reading this book and can’t wait to read the other books as they are released. Carlson is also known for her Werewolf based Jessica McClain Series. It’s nice to see an author who can transition so seamlessly between different species within the paranormal/supernatural world.
In Aces Wild, Carlson takes on the world of Vampires, Hellhounds, Dhampirs, Witches, and God knows what else that ‘exists’ in what almost sounds like an underground paranormal mafia. Nevada Hamilton is a “collector”. She collects the assigned target, delivers them to “the Boss” and goes on her way. Luckily she hasn’t been assigned any Vampires since her disastrous first assignment. For her newest assignment, she’s surprised to find that she has not only been given the name of a Vampire to collect, but she’s been paired up with a super hot hellhound named Jake, who she happens to share a bit of crazy history with.
I did mildly feel a little bit lost in the beginning and felt like I had missed something between Nevada and Jake, but that feeling didn’t last very long. I still feel like there is more to their story, but Aces Wild wasn’t meant to give me their entire story.
From the very beginning of Aces Wild, I wanted to know more about these characters. I wanted to know everything about Nevada and Jake; I wanted to know where they came from, why the chemistry between them was so intense and where they were going. This desire to know the characters kept me entirely wrapped up in the story and kept me wanting more, more, MORE! Carlson kept me curious as to where the story was going and caused me to read the book very quickly, thus making Aces Wild another of Amanda Carlson’s books that I finished well before I was ready to stop reading. As with pretty much all of Carlson’s books, I wish it was longer, but what can you do? It’s still a great story.
Carlson creates these super strong and independent women in her books that I know I personally would love to be like in real life. They aren’t flowers and candy kind of women. These women are nunchucks and AR-15 kind of girls. They are the type of woman that would appreciate ammo as a Valentine’s Day gift. Carlson’s women are strong and sensual all at the same time, and to be honest, I’m kind of jealous of these women for their emotional and physical strengths.
Amanda Carlson’s male characters aren’t pushovers and can hold their own against their female counterparts and they all seem to be able to play off of each other’s strengths and weaknesses in a way that makes a great story all around.
Carlson’s other books are filled with vivid and very well written action and fight scenes. She is a very visual author and great at helping you see the scenes as they take place in the story. Aces Wild falls into this description as well. This is one author that really knows how to write an action scene without leaving the reader to wonder, “Well, how does that work?”
The twists and turns that Carlson provides are sometimes hinted at, but for the most part are pretty good at sneaking up and surprising you. I thought I had figured some things with the plot line out on my own, but she was able to cause me to doubt myself enough that I was truly surprised when it was finally revealed.
This was yet another great book by Amanda Carlson, and I recommend that anyone who likes Paranormal Romance take a chance and read this book. I really can’t wait to read the rest of this series as it is released!
Check out Amanda’s Jessica McClain Series also!
You can see my review of Full Blooded HERE.
About Amanda Carlson
Amanda is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, with a BA in both Speech and Hearing Science & Child Development. She went on to get an A.A.S in Sign Language Interpreting and worked as an interpreter until her first child was born. She enjoys playing Scrabble to an unhealthy degree, shopping trips to Ikea and has a great weakness for tropical beaches. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and three kids.
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