I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody
Series: The Shadow Game #1
Published by Harlequin Teen on 4/10/18
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Young Adult
Pages: 416
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school—and her reputation—behind to follow her mother’s trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted.

Frightened and alone, Enne has only one lead: the name Levi Glaisyer. Unfortunately, Levi is not the gentleman she expected—he’s a street lord and con man. Levi is also only one payment away from cleaning up a rapidly unraveling investment scam, so he doesn’t have time to investigate a woman leading a dangerous double life. Enne’s offer of compensation, however, could be the solution to all his problems.

Their search for clues leads them through glamorous casinos, illicit cabarets and into the clutches of a ruthless Mafia donna. As Enne unearths an impossible secret about her past, Levi’s enemies catch up to them, ensnaring him in a vicious execution game where the players always lose. To save him, Enne will need to surrender herself to the city…

And she’ll need to play.

Short and Sweet

When Enne’s mother doesn’t return from New Reynes when she’s expected to, Enne decides to take it upon herself to travel to the City of Sin to find her. When the letter her mother sent last leads her to the Iron Lord Levi she knows she needs to get his help to find her mother and leave. Levi looks at Enne’s arrival as an opportunity to pay back some debts with the volts she’s promised to pay him, but it won’t be so easy she won’t pay him until they find her mother and Levi only has 10 days to pay back his debt.

Characters

Enne: Our main character. Enne was quite enjoyable as a character. She went through a lot of changes during 10 days in New Reynes. In her town of Bellamy Enne goes to a finishing school and is raised to be a proper young lady, but she has to leave that all behind in the City of Sin. On her search for her mother Lourdes, Enne begins to question everything she thought she knew about herself and the results in the end come as a shock. Enne is also determined and curious and her dialogue didn’t disappoint.

Levi: The Iron Lord. Levi is a street Lord and is unfortunately under a lot of stress lately. He’s currently running a scam and has to pay back people who are catching on and he hasn’t been paying his gang the shares they deserve. When Enne arrives he doesn’t want to help her at first until she offers payment for his services. Levi was a good character to he may have been in some awful circumstances but he tried to do everything he could to make things right.

Jac: Levi’s second, Jac is very loyal to Levi and is his best friend. Jac will back Levi up and try to help him every chance he got and I loved him for it.

Lola: A blood gazer that the group meets. Lola wants nothing to do with the group but after making an oath to Enne she has no choice but to listen to her new Lord. Lola is reluctant to help or even be around the group but she comes around when she realizes she has no choice.

Romance

Enne and Levi: The first time they meet they obviously don’t like each other. Levi looks at Enne as someone who’s going to get him out of trouble with the scam and Enne looks at Levi as someone who’s going to help her find her mother and then she can leave. Enne is not used to New Reynes customs but soon she learns to adapt. The more time she spends in New Reynes and with Levi the more they start to care about each other. I thought their relationship was cute in the end they genuinely cared about each others wellbeing.

Quotes

~”They say the city is a game, one only the reckless play.”

My thoughts

~ I loved the mystery of finding Lourdes and all of the other things it unravels about Enne’s life and the things she didn’t actually know about her guardian and identity.

~ The most interesting thing to me was the split talents, each character has a talent Enne’s is dancing and counting though she’s not very good at either, and Levi’s is orb making.

~ The world was amazing I liked that it had all of the Casinos and that there were street gangs and each one had a Lord and there were also families who play a big part of the politics of the city.

~There’s also the shadow game and only people who are invited can play and most of those people don’t win.

~ The city is deadly, and everyone has to make sure they watch their backs.

~One of my favorite things was the guidebook Enne brings with her to New Reynes. It tells her where and where not to go and it’s the funniest thing especially because Levi’s with her and her knows his way around.

~I almost forgot about Vianca! She is a Donna and runs St Morse she also has an omerta on both Levi and Enne forcing them to do her bidding.

Overall

This book was amazing and I haven’t read anything like that in a while! It’s so different and I definitely recommend this book, I’m ready for the sequel already. Pick up this book, because once you enter the City of Sin you won’t want to leave!