Unraveled by Jennifer Estep

This is book 15 of the Elemental Assassin series by Estep. If you haven't read any of the series yet then I can only recommend it. The great thing is that all of the books can be read as stand-alone novels.

In this book we get to see fun Gin and not just the assassin. In fact the whole gang has a right good giggle.

Nothing says friends quite like a vampire using social media to make sure your most embarrassing moment is captured online for eternity. I the way Gin and Co, can be in the middle of a really dangerous and life-threatening moment, and yet still find time to make jokes at each others expense,

This story takes place not long after the disastrous family reunion between Finn and his loving mother. Yes, loving mother is absolutely said with a tongue in cheek.

Finn finds himself on the receiving end of gifts from both parents. One has left an enigma wrapped in a puzzle and the other has left him his very own theme park. A western park, equipped with gun-toting cowboys, hip-swinging salon girls and a sharp-shooting sheriff.

Of course nothing is ever as it seems and a simple holiday quickly turns into a race against time to save someone from death...again.

I like the way Estep has been developing the back-story about Gin's mother. A bit here and a little bit there has grown into a whole new dimension of opposition. Gin has a new enemy to sink her teeth into, and at the same time the reader gets to experience her reminiscing. Gin as the child before tragedy changes her life forever, but hey it also makes her the assassin we all enjoy reading about.

As always it was an excellent read and an amusing one at that.

Buy Unraveled (Elemental Assassin #15) at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

For more by Jennifer Estep read: Unwanted, Spider's Trap, Deadly Sting, Poison Promise, Bitter Bite, The Spider, The Black Widow and Heart of Venom of the Elemental Assassin series or The Cold Burn of Magic, The Bright Blaze of Magic and Dark Heart of Magic of  the Black Blade series.

Unwanted by Jennifer Estep

This is an add-on novella to the Elemental Assassin series, part 14.5. It focuses solely on The Spider's stepbrother Finn.

Finnegan tends to play a solid but smaller role in the series, so it was nice to see Finnegan have his own time in the spotlight. Gin is such a strong character that the others often tend to sink into obscurity.

Still reeling from the betrayal in Bitter Bite (Elemental Assassin #14), Finn is finding it hard to spend time with anyone. He feels as if he has let everyone down, and in doing so he has caused the deaths of many good people. He has blood on his hands.

His boss seems to want to prolong his suffering by insisting that Finn be at every single funeral for each person killed in the raid. Being confronted with so much hatred is enough to drive anyone to desperation.

Finn finds himself dragged into an unexpected situation, which he has to or rather wants to solve by himself.

It will be interesting to see whether the events of Bitter Bite change the way Finn interacts with his friends and family in the future. Will this make him just a little bit harder and a lot more cynical?

It's short and sweet, but with Estep's usual flair for memorable characters and strong story-lines.

Buy Unwanted at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

For more by Jennifer Estep read: Spider's Trap, Deadly Sting, Poison Promise, Bitter Bite, The Spider, The Black Widow and Heart of Venom of the Elemental Assassin series or The Cold Burn of Magic, The Bright Blaze of Magic and Dark Heart of Magic of  the Black Blade series.

Bitter Bite by Jennifer Estep

Bitter Bite has the same zest and power, as the first Gin B. novels. Nice to see Estep and Gin back on track and not pulling any punches.

In the Spider's Trap the reader was left with big cliffhanger of a dead mother being just a wee bit alive. Unfortunately for Gin Finn's very much alive mother is back in town and ready to connect with her son.

Finn is drawn to her like a moth to light, perhaps completely normal for someone who had to grow up without a mother. He sees her through red-tinted glasses instead of listening to warnings and sage advice, especially when it all seems to be coming from Gin.

Finnegan and Gin are family, perhaps not blood, but family all the same. The appearance of mommy dearest threatens to tear apart not only their close relationship, but also the legacy Fletcher left behind for them.

This time the reader gets a lot of new information related to Gin and the deaths of her family members. Everything leads back to the mysterious new baddies on the block, although Finn's mother does quite a good job of filling the baddie shoes.

Estep does not disappoint with the newest fast paced part of the Elemental Assassin series.

Buy Bitter Bite at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Deadly Sting by Jennifer Estep

I have to be honest I kind of miss big bad Mab. Things were so much more fun when Gin was always trying to find a way to slay that nasty piece of work. Gin needs another arch-enemy asap.

Now you may wonder why I think that, well that’s because I think there were far too many giants in this story.

In fact the author seems to have forgotten that there are actually other supernatural beings or elementals who could serve as villains. It made this all a bit one-dimensional. It was just all a bit easy for Gin.

True it might have been because the whole scenario takes place in the space of one night, which I must admit is quite an interesting concept. Gin does her version of Bruce Willis in Die Hard.

Owen deserves a slap round the face with a wet kipper as far as I am concerned. Talk about being a drama diva. He needs to wake up and smell the roses before Gin moves on to greener pastures.

In fact I think the author should introduce a new hot-blooded male, preferably dark and dangerous, to get her pulse racing and to make Owen reconsider his actions. Gin needs someone who will accept her regardless of the fact she might have to kill the odd ex-girlfriend of her boyfriend’s. I mean that could happen to anyone right?

This did feel like an interim book. Sort of an in between morsel till the next. After the book with the epic showdown with Mab and Owen acting like a complete plonker, any book after that was going to have trouble living up to the hype. Not as strong as the previous ones perhaps, but one that fans will lap up anyway. I think Estep is keeping all her eggs in a basket for the next one in the series.
I received a free copy of this book via Edelweiss.
Read more of the Estep's Elemental Assassin series here: Spider's Trap, Poison Promise, The Cold Burn of Magic, The Spider, The Black Widow and Heart of Venom.

Heart of Venom by Jennifer Estep

After the lukewarm performance of the previous book in this series I am happy to say that both Gin and Estep have got their groove back.

After the unfortunate demise of Mab, Gin has been in dire need of a worthy opponent. The psycho sibling villain combo in this book fit the bill quite nicely. Gin has to settle an old debt from the Fletcher’s past. She gets all gung-ho and forest ninja to try to save an old friend.

I liked the fact that the author took Gin back to her feisty murderous self in this story. She doesn’t spend an entire book wondering about Owen or beating herself up about killing Salina. Gin goes back to her old mantra of some people just deserve to die and she is the one that should help them on their way.

After all the hardcore Spider action I wasn’t overly keen on the way the book ended, but who cares Gin got her groove back. It is a Gin with a huge slice of humanity bouncing round inside her though and I wonder whether that will have some impact on her insect antics further on down the line.
A cracking read.
I received a copy of this book via Edelweiss courtesy of the publisher.
Read more of the Estep's Elemental Assassin series here: Spider's Trap, Poison Promise, The Cold Burn of Magic, The Spider and The Black Widow.