Review:Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin #4) by Jennifer Estep

I’d rather face a dozen lethal assassins any night than deal with something as tricky, convoluted, and fragile as my feelings. 

But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assassin known as the Spider. Hovering outside sexy businessman Owen Grayson’s front door like a nervous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn’t shy away from my past—or my present. And right now I have a bull’s-eye on my forehead. 

Cold-blooded Fire elemental Mab Monroe has hired one of the smartest assassins in the business to trap me. Elektra LaFleur is skilled and efficient, with deadly electrical elemental magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone powers. Which means there’s a fifty-fifty chance one of us won’t survive this battle. I intend to kill LaFleur—or die trying—because Mab wants the assassin to take out my baby sister, Detective Bria Coolidge, too. 

The only problem is, Bria has no idea I’m her long-lost sibling . . . or that I’m the murderer she’s been chasing through Ashland for weeks. And what Bria doesn’t know just might get us both dead

Oh was I glad to have this little beauty in my hand. After struggling with Darkfever I was finally able to abandon it and read some quality story telling.

I love Gin. I really do. Even more now she’s out of retirement 🙂

I’m going to be realy annoyed if Caine taints Gin’ and Owen’s relationship.

Again, the only thing I can pick at it the constant retelling of past events, but that is a very, very small thing, but it does distracted me from the story. Although, if i’ve only got that to moan about I should really shut up.

I want to mention Vampires. I really like the fact that they aren’t anything special. It makes an nice change.

Hum, I’m thinking LeFleur’s brother going to make an appearance. Whether this book or the next. The actual name of the next book is starting to scare me… Spider’s Revenge. I reckon it means something’s going to hit Gin hard.

Yet again a fantastic installment of the Elemental Assassins Series

Rating: 6/6 – It Was Amazing

Review: Venom (Elemental Assassin #3) by Jennifer Estep

What kind of assassin works pro bono? 

It’s hard to be a badass assassin when a giant is beating the crap out of you. Luckily, I never let pride get in the way of my work. My current mission is personal: annihilate Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who murdered my family. Which means protecting my identity, even if I have to conceal my powerful Stone and Ice magic when I need it most. 

To the public, I’m Gin Blanco, owner of Ashland’s best barbecue joint. To my friends, I’m the Spider, retired assassin. I still do favors on the side. Like ridding a vampire friend of her oversized stalker—Mab’s right-hand goon who almost got me dead with his massive fists. 

At least irresistible Owen Grayson is on my side. The man knows too much about me, but I’ll take my chances. Then there’s Detective Bria Coolidge, one of Ashland’s finest. Until recently, I thought my baby sister was dead. She probably thinks the same about me. Little does she know, I’m a cold-blooded killer . . . who is about to save her life.

I really need to stop star rating books on goodreads immediately after I finish reading the book. I’m way too involved and often give a 5 when really it should be a 4. I want to give this book a 5 though. but I have issues with it. Notably the re-capping of previous events which I moan about below. And also the fact that Gin kept saying “don’t worry I kill him/them. You’ll never have to worry about him again” then she’d mess up, but she’d keep on saying it so that I stopped believing her. It’s a little thing but still

After reading Spider’s bite and Web of Lie in quick succession, I couldn’t wait to get stuck into this 3rd instalment, Vemon. I’m loving this series. Gin is still kick ass but we’re starting to see a little beneath the surface now.

Again, it’s action packed and fast paced. One of the many reasons I love this series. The only thing I don’t like (and I’ve already mentioned) is the way Estep re-caps everything that happens in the previous books. Everything! All the time. It’s like the start of a TV show “previously on…” but throughout. I find it jarring, and it makes me skip ahead a lot and I don’t want to do that. This happens in every book and by the 3rd book I wanted to pull my hair out. Okay, it didn’t bother me that much and the fact that it’s a great series makes it up a little but I wish it would stop. I know there’s a reason for it but it’s getting repetitive, and to be fair, if you’re going to start a series in the middle, or 3rd book in you deserve to not know what the hell is going on (IMHO).

All in all Vemon is a great read. You get everything you expect from Gin and more, although, please start at the beginning of the series 🙂

Rating: 5/6 – Really Liked It

Review: Web of Lies (Elemental Assassin #2) by Jennifer Estep

You might know me as the Spider, the most feared assassin in the South. I’m retired now, but trouble still has a way of finding me. Like the other day when two punks tried to rob my popular barbecue joint, the Pork Pit. Then there was the barrage of gunfire on the restaurant. Only, for once, those kill shots weren’t aimed at me. They were meant for Violet Fox. Ever since I agreed to help Violet and her grandfather protect their property from an evil coalmining tycoon, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m really retired. So is Detective Donovan Caine. The only honest cop in Ashland is having a real hard time reconciling his attraction to me with his Boy Scout mentality. And I can barely keep my hands off his sexy body. What can I say? I’m a Stone elemental with a little Ice magic thrown in, but my heart isn’t made of solid rock. Luckily, Gin Blanco always gets her man . . . dead or alive.

I jumped straight into this after finishing spider’s Bite and I wasn’t disappointed. Another action packed installment from the elemental assassin series.

I was really rooting for Caine in Spider’s Bite, but I’ve lost patience with him now. Seriously, where does he get off? I’m getting the feeling that when Gin falls she falls hard and fast. She’s worth more than being a guilty lay. Caine seems to be one of them guys who’d keep Gin as his dirty little secret. She really needs to walk away. But I think that it’ll be Caine who has to back off, though, because I don’t think Gin will any time soon.

Oh Owen, Owen, Owen. I like you, I really do. There’s more to this guy, I just know there is. Now that Donovan is taking the moral high ground the is way is open for Owen, and I think he’d be good for Gin, and a good challenge. I never got the feeling that Gin and Caine were evenly matched, but I think she’s met her match with Owen. There more to him for sure. I’m excited to see where it goes.

A fantastic read

Rating: 6/6 – It Was Amazing

Review: Spider’s Bite (Elemental Assassin #1)

They call me the Spider. I’m the most feared assassin in the South — when I’m not busy at the Pork Pit cooking up the best barbecue in Ashland. As a Stone elemental, I can hear everything from the whispers of the gravel beneath my feet to the vibrations of the soaring Appalachian Mountains above me. My Ice magic also comes in handy for making the occasional knife. But I don’t use my powers on the job unless I absolutely have to. Call it professional pride.

Now that a ruthless Air elemental has double-crossed me and killed my handler, I’m out for revenge. And I’ll exterminate anyone who gets in my way — good or bad. I may look hot, but I’m still one of the bad guys. Which is why I’m in trouble, since irresistibly rugged Detective Donovan Caine has agreed to help me. The last thing this coldhearted killer needs when I’m battling a magic more powerful than my own is a sexy distraction…especially when Donovan wants me dead just as much as the enemy.

Well whoa! I really didn’t expect that beginning! As you can most probably tell I didn’t read the blurb. But after the initial shock I soon settled into it, then quickly found myself hooked.

I didn’t think I’d like Gin as much as I did. I really liked her no apologies attitude. She is what she is, and she’s good at it. Even though we don’t get to know much about Fletcher I still felt Gin’s pain at his torture and death, and understood her need for revenge.

I liked Finn and I liked the close sibling-like relationship he has with Gin. I admit I got a little something in my eye when Finn hugs Gin and tell’s her he thought he lost her too. I hope he sticks around in the next book. Actually, there wasn’t anyone I didn’t like, or that got on my nerves.

It was a great read. The pages (clicks!) went by unnoticed as I was that engrossed. Definitely a series to go on my favourite list. It doesn’t have the humour of The Disillusionists series, but it would come a close second if I judged it based on how much I enjoyed the story 🙂

Rating: 6/6 – It Was Amazing