Aces Up by Lauren Barnholdt - MiniView

Synopsis via goodreads:
Seventeen-year-old high school senior Shannon Card needs money. And lots of it. She's been admitted to Wellesley, but her dad just lost his job, and somehow she has to come up with a year of tuition herself. But Shannon's dream of making big bucks waitressing at the local casino, the Collosio, disappears faster than a gambler's lucky streak. Her boss is a tyrant, her coworker is nuts, and her chances of balancing a tray full of drinks while wearing high-heeled shoes are slim to none. Worse, time is running out, and Shannon hasn't made even half the money she'd hoped.

When Shannon receives a mysterious invitation to join Aces Up, a secret network of highly talented college poker players, at first she thinks No way. She has enough to worry about: keeping her job, winning the coveted math scholarship at school, and tutoring her secret crush, Max. But when Shannon musters up the nerve to kiss Max and he doesn't react at all, the allure of Aces Up and its sexy eighteen-year-old leader, Cole, is suddenly too powerful to ignore.

Soon Shannon's caught up in a web of lies and deceit that makes worrying about tuition money or a high school crush seem like kid stuff. Still, when the money's this good, is the fear of getting caught reason enough to fold?

Aces Up, was a great escape from the world, it's fun, and energetic, with a saucy main character that, though I found she got on my nerves a bit, was smart and determined.

I think part of the reason I did not love Aces Up more is because, honestly I am not a card player, and while Lauren Barnholdt did give us a nice amount of information regarding the art of poker, I was still a bit lost – all that counting, is just not my thing!

With that being said, I do think others will find Aces Up refreshing, I did for the most part, it's different from just about every other book I have read, it's got an honest message that though is not as glaring as a straight flush might be, it is there, interwoven into the story!

Bottom Line – Aces Up, though not entirely my cup of java is a gritty, read about a girl who is determined to get what she wants, yet being a teen she's confused about how exactly to get it. She makes decisions based on need, she's a bit selfish, but then who as a teen is not (it's our time to be selfish). But in the end, things come together in an unexpected, way which brings us full circle. Lauren Barnholdt is an author I will be on the look out for in the future! I give Aces Up 3 Mushrooms.

Buy, Borrow or Steal? I am glad I borrowed it, it was a good read but not worth it, to me, to own.

Aces Up
By: Lauren Barnholdt
288 Pages
Published: August 10, 2010
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Received via an ARC Tour for my honest review.