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annagwritesandreads 's review for:

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
3.0
dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

3/5 Stars

Description: To Chiamaka, her status at Nievus is everything, to Devon, it's everything his mother wants for him. Chiamaka and Devon from very different social circles, yet both are targeted by the mystery Aces. Aces is revealing secrets about Chiamaka and Devon that are very true but very scandalous. Can these two come together to figure out who is behind Aces and make it through their senior year?

The good:
- I like the mystery overall
- I appreciated the unraveling of the mystery and the greater conversations that can be had outside of the book
- This book was very appropriately marketed at Get Out meets Gossip Girl, which I love to see an appropriately marketed book, I knew exactly what to expect going in.

The loss of two stars:
- The audiobook narrator for Devon was not good in my opinion and really took away from my enjoyment of the story. I do listen at 1x speed and I know many people listen at a faster speed, but it was painful. I felt every 5 words he was taking a breath and I could not stay engaged. 
- Outside of the narration (there are 2 narrators and I did not mind the person who narrated Chiamaka's perspective), it felt extremely slow paced. I would be curious to re-read this as a physical book instead of the audiobook.

Overall: Pick up the physical book if you're interested, I'm sure you'll like it if you enjoy YA Suspense/Thriller Novels.