Aces Up

i am currently reading the book Aces Up by Lauren Barnholdt. it is a really good and interesting book. what happens is that Shannon's dad loses his job. their family starts struggling when their dad cannot find a job. her mom's job is not enough to hold up a family. so slowly things start to fall apart, her older sister Robyn got accepted and was supposed to be attending Uconn but she has to attend the community college, then her dads BMW gets taken away. Shannon has been accepted early to Wellesley college but she doesn't see how her parents can afford it, she really wants to go there; she also may get scholarships but even that won't be enough. so she decides to take matters into her own hands and get a job so that by the time school rolls around she'll have enough money. most jobs pay really cheap so she decides to fake the age 21 (shes turning 18!) and get a job at the casino, which is $20 an hour plus tips.


when she starts working there she gets a message saying to go to a hotel room and that it is really important. when she goes she meets Cole who is 18 and plays poker (even though you have to be 21) and has his own secret poker team called Aces Up. what they do is pretend they don't know each other when they play so when one of them wins big money it is split among them. he tries to encourage Shannon to join but she says no. but when things get worse at her house and shes not make enough money at work she decides to give it a chance. she wins $200 he first night and continues to play, she gets $2,000 in a week. so she decides to just do it until she has enough money for college and she'll quit Aces Up and her job.  


she starts to get hooked on to playing poker and plays every night, shes done at 5 a.m. and goes home to change and head to school, and her grades start to fall; by a lot!! then Cole asks her to play at the poker tournament which has a $13,000,000 prize!! she immediately says yes, he then tells her that everyone from Aces Up is going to be playing and they are going to cheat to guarantee one of them wins and then split the $, he says she'll get $50,000; that's a lot less than $13,000,000. and her parents find out and say she has to quit and is grounded.


i know that Shannon was tempted but i don't think that she should have ever joined Aces Up. i mean  one of the reasons she said no in the first place is because she knew that she could get addicted, just like Cole. and she is not herself anymore, its like she is living 2 lives. i think she should just talk to her parents and they could figure something out. she also starts hooking up and eventually going out with Cole, which i think is a big mistake. i feel like hes using her and fooling her into thinking he really likes her to make sure she doesn't leave Aces Up. everyone is worried about her: her sister, mom, dad, teachers, and max. who used to be her best friend. she feels alone but, she doesn't realize how many people she has around her that care about her.


i can;t wait to see what happens next!!