ARC Review--Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody

Welcome to the City of Sin, where casino families reign, gangs infest the streets…and secrets hide in every shadow.

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, her only lead is a name: Levi Glaisyer. Unfortunately, Levi is not the gentleman she expected—he’s a street lord and a 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.

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.


There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding Amanda Foody’s newest release, Ace of Shades! I was more than eager to read it once I got my hands on a copy as I had heard good things about her debut which I still need to read. This book was far different from what I was expecting, it was intriguing and full of mystery. Though some of the world politics were a little complicated and adding in magic and abilities it makes things a little harder to grasp as it wasn’t based on things I was familiar with. But other than those murky waters I found I quite enjoyed this one!

Enne has come to New Reynes in order to find her mother who has been missing for some months now. She was left with a letter that says where she went and if she hadn’t returned to go to New Reynes and find a man named Levi, who would, hopefully, help Enne find her. When Enne does all this, she finds that New Reynes is a most dangerous place indeed. Trusting Levi to help her find her mother will be a great leap of faith.

Levi is the leader of The Irons, a local gang that works with gambling and whatnot. Though Levi is in a bit of a pickle himself as a deal to earn big money that his boss brought him in on is starting to go sour. He owes a lot of money to another man named Sedric Torren who runs his own casino and is notorious for getting what is owed to him. Basically, don’t cross Sedric, like Levi is about to. He has ten days to earn the money he needs to pay him back and helping Enne find her lost mother may just be the key to getting that money.

As I said, this world was a little more complex that I had anticipated. It was part fantasy, part steampunk almost what with the different kind of technology they used. I wouldn’t say it’s steampunk exactly, because steam and machines weren’t really a part of it, but that’s the feel I got from it and is the best word I could think of to describe it. Adding in the fact everyone is gifted with two kinds of abilities, you have the makings for a world not like our own.

There was a good deal of mystery to this one; what with trying to find Enne’s mother and then of course, another mystery pops up. One that wasn’t expected, though I admit I started making my own suspicions over things. The end results are inconclusive you could say, as while we did learn some things, the ending to this one leaves things a little unsettled, yet I wouldn’t say it was really much a of a cliffhanger, more like laying the foundation to what will likely build into an even bigger puzzle!

There was a bit of possible romance happening, but I was astonished to see that not much happens in that area. But I would think when the next book comes around we might finally get to see something between Enne and Levi!

Overall this book is leaving me feeling a bit puzzled over things and what happened, the hows and the whys…what will likely happen in the future to come. I am not sure of any of it. It was still a really decent read but I feel like while I am reading I shouldn’t be questioning things about how the world works. And yet, I found I never really quite grasped what goes on in this place. And when I can’t understand how things work, I can’t quite get into the story. Here, I did have a general understanding, but I’m all about the details. So while I understood enough, I still found that I only sort of liked this book. There were times when I was really enjoying myself, and perhaps I will have a great appreciation for things come the second book. I still liked this book, but I can’t say it was an immediate favorite. I definitely plan to check out the rest of this series and hopefully Amanda’s first book as well, so I’m not done yet!


Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars


Ace of Shades releases April 10, 2018