Disclaimer: I am an adult white woman. People of color, particularly young adults who this book was geared towards, should be listened to in their opinion of this book.

That being said, I absolutely hated this book. I almost DNF'd ~50%. My library loan expired and didn't immediately re-borrow it. But I moved through the first half quickly, and the Goodreads reading challenge tempted me into completing it. My oh my, do I wish I had just let it be as a DNF.

This book is poorly written, both in terms of the actual prose and in terms of the overall plot and characters. The prose was awkward and jarring at times and generally felt like a middle schooler wrote it. The characters were unlikeable at best -- even the two MCs who, presumably, the reader is supposed to be rooting for. Outside of the two MCs, all the characters were incredibly flat and clearly present only to further the plot. They seemed to have no lives or personalities outside of their interactions with the MCs.

The plot didn't redeem the book, either. Every chapter felt like trauma porn, as if the author couldn't decide which aspects of the Black experience should be highlighted, and instead chose to highlight all of them. So many traumatic things happen to the characters, and often in such fleeting and plot-irrelevant ways, that the impact of discussing the issues is lessened. As a reader, it felt a little like the author was throwing sh!+ pies at me every chapter, only for the sh!+ to magically disappear and new sh!+ to appear, with the sole purpose seeming to be to remind me that sh!+ exists. A few examples of what I mean: the male MC mentions that a family friend's son (?) was murdered by police, but there's no actual discussion of police brutality and it only seems to be brought up to validate the MC's fear of police; the male MC's father is in prison and (small spoiler) suffered the death penalty, which is a detail the MC uncovers in a dramatic scene that then has no relevance to the plot and does not seem to meaningfully impact the MC or his relationships with relevant people. 

Lastly, the truth behind the "aces" persona was not intriguing, full of plot holes, and, honestly, seemed to greatly underestimate readers' intelligence. The author's note said the author hoped readers picked up on the themes of racism -- I think it's impossible not to; I felt like I was being smacked upside the head with it every paragraph. I'm so so so so here for books that explore systematic racism and explore how institutions are set up to benefit white, wealthy, cis-het people (especially men), but, for me, this book didn't do that. Instead of contemplating how institutions, like education, benefit the privileged, I was focused on the (truly astonishing number of) plot holes and marveling at how deeply unrealistic the twist was.

I was hoping for a book with strong POC MCs, a nuanced discussion of racism and systematic oppression, and maybe a dash of thrill and romance. I got none of that. I'm glad I borrowed this book from the library and did not spend money on it.