In this young adult thriller, five asexual teens of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities who know each other only virtually meet in Las Vegas to infiltrate a shady illegal gambling operation within in a legitimate casino to take down a mob boss. Despite that they are all helping Jack Shannon try to get the goods on this boss, Peter Carlevaro, to help free his mother from jail, where she is thanks to Carlevaro. Gently discusses several identities on the asexuality spectrum and platonic love. It is written as a confessional by Jack and is heavy on the family and friendship theme. ( )

My name is Jack Shannon, and this is not a love story. It’s a confession.

Ending the prologue with this line was one hell of an opening. It made me think it would be a suspenseful, cleverly plotted heist story.
It wasn’t.
It’s literally 5 teenagers being chaotic. Quite different than what I expected, but it made for a fun and quick read.

With five different characters, there are five different asexual experiences. Asexuality comes in many varieties, combines with any sexuality and can be separate from aromanticism, multiple of which were present in the book. I would have liked some more about those varieties and the differences among the five friends, but the bits that we got were nice.

That is also a downside. I know about these characters’ asexuality, not their personalities. The characters were likeable enough, and their friendship is believable, but I felt like there wasn’t enough time to develop all of them as individuals.
Why does our main character have a crush on the love interest? I’m not sure. What is Georgia’s personality? Also not sure.

The heist itself was… well not a heist at all?
The entire book is just them sneaking around trying to find useful information.
The characters are nowhere near equipped to pull off any heist anyway. Jack is literally 17. He knows how to play cards, but he’s clumsy and make dumb mistakes too. On the positive side, that made the book feel much more realistic. Jack has an unrealistic amount of money, but other than that, they felt like actual 16-17 year olds trying to pull off a scheme. No weirdly overpowered 16 year old criminals here, just an online friend group. There’s even a 23 year old trying to be a Responsible Adult that Jack has to answer to. ( )

I really appreciated the representation but when the word 'Heist' is in the title I am expecting a lot more fun shenanigans than what was delivered in this YA novel. It was so great to see a full cast of asexual characters and the dynamics within the group were engaging. Essentially though there was a lot of sitting and talking and wondering how to get Jack's mum out of jail. Maybe if I hadn't been hoping for a casino heist in the style of 'Ocean's Eleven' I may have enjoyed this more. ( )

I was lucky enough to be given an eARC and I would definitely recommend it for anyone who likes a bit of crime and fun friendships in their YA. But honestly the main highlight for me was seeing a cast of unique diverse asexual characters. It often feels like ace rep gets put on the back burner a lot of the times (when you can even find any) so it was refreshing to see it take such a center spot light, be openly discussed and to see different facets of the identity. I wish I had something like this back when I was younger. ( )