Friday Flourish: Elemental Assassin Coloring Bookmarks!

Happy Friday Everyone!

I don't know about you guys, but I'm very, very ready for the weekend. BEA last week was its usual whirlwind of awesome (a recap will be coming at some point), but it's exhausting, and because I have the worst luck ever when it comes to air travel, we were of course delayed in getting home. We got home late Saturday, and then on Sunday drove 6 hours to pick up Mya, the newest pit bull addition to our family. The drive was more than worth it as she and Gracie are becoming fast friends, but all this week I've had trouble staying up past 9. *blinks wearily*

But enough about being tired! It's Friday and I have a very different kind of Flourish post to share with you today. While book covers are my primary focus, I do occasionally get design requests for related things like bookmarks, teaser quotes and the like, so when Jennifer Estep (one of my longtime favorite authors) got in touch about doing a coloring bookmark for her outstanding Elemental Assassin series, I jumped at the chance to do something entirely new to me.

Adult coloring books are all the rage at the moment (I need more in my life!), so I loved the idea of a coloring bookmark. Heroine and all-around badass Gin runs a restaurant called the Pork Pit when she's not putting her silverstone knives to good use, so Jennifer thought it might be fun to design something around all the mouthwatering comfort foods Gin dishes up in each book. On the back we brought in some of the Elemental Assassin branding elements, with Gin's spider rune and her classic tagline as the focal points. I hope you guys love how they turned out!

Front:

Back:

Want an Elemental Assassin coloring bookmark of your very own? Here's how you can get one:

Get your swag on! For 2-3 stamps, Let's Talk Promotions will stuff an envelope full of Jennifer Estep swag so you can keep some swag and give away some to interested parties. Just send a self-address stamped envelope with two stamps on it to Let's Talk Promotions, P.O. Box 241721, Milwaukee, WI 53224 and mark "Jennifer Estep" on your envelope. Currently, LTP has swag for Gin Blanco and the Elemental Assassin series.

Let's Talk Promotions also offers swag for fantasy author Faith Hunter. If you want some of Faith's swag, follow the instructions above and mark "Faith Hunter" on your envelope. Cheers!

Find Jennifer:

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You can check out more of my design work at Seedlings Design Studio!  

Review: Bitter Bite

BITTER BITE
Elemental Assassin #14
Jennifer Estep
Urban Fantasy
400 pages
Pocket Books
Available February 23rd
Source: eARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Which is stronger: blood ties or a battle-tested friendship?

It’s not easy being queen bee of an underworld abuzz with crooks and killers. Wielding my potent Ice and Stone elemental magic will only get me so far—my real secret is my tight-knit makeshift family, a motley crew of cops and criminals, dwarves and playboys. My foster brother Finnegan Lane is my right-hand man, but when his suddenly not-dead relative comes back into the picture, I’m the one on the outside looking in.

It’s funny how life works: one minute your best friend is rock-steady, and the next he’s doe-eyed and buying into this whole loving-relative routine to the point of ignoring you. I’d like to be happy for Finn, I really would. But all of my instincts are telling me that beneath the syrupy sweet demeanor and old-fashioned charm, this sudden interloper is planning something. The whole shtick leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. This person might have avoided the grave once, but I’ll put anyone who hurts Finn in the ground—for good.

MY THOUGHTS
*This is an early review. Normally I post a little closer to the release date, but this is one of my favorite series and I didn't have it in me to hold off this time:)

Bitter Bite is the fourteenth installment of the Elemental Assassin series, a number not too many series are able to hit without losing steam, but Ms. Estep manages to keep each new Gin adventure as engaging as the last.

One of the strongest aspects of this series as a whole is the wide array of villains Ms. Estep pits Gin against time and again, each beautifully monstrous in their own unique way to keep us on edge throughout even though we know Gin will prevail in the end. The strongest villains, however, are those that have a more personal vendetta against Gin, the ones who know just where the chinks in her armor are and can aim their knives, bullets or magic at those places with unerring precision. With Bitter Bite Ms. Estep gives us series favorite Finn's mother, a woman so perfectly sweet and polite on the outside that we can feel our lips curl into a disbelieving sneer every time she appears on page, but we can only smile in glee throughout because we know she'll get the bloody end she deserves before our time with Gin comes to a close once again.

Gin is as she's always been, a glorious blend of strengths and weaknesses, and we can't help but love her most when those weaknesses are on full display as they are in this installment. There's no better way to simultaneously bring Gin to her knees and incur her wrath than to threaten someone she loves, and Mama Dee does so in perfectly sinister fashion, leaving us counting the pages until Gin is finally able to unleash her full fury. Gin's not alone in her fury however, and the additional time we get to spend with Finn in both the present and a few flashbacks of their life together with Fletcher is every bit as enjoyable as we we'd hoped it would be when we first learned that Bitter Bite would focus on a blast from his past.

Overall, Bitter Bite is a strong addition to this series, giving us a villain who threatens our cast of beloved characters on an emotional and physical level, and leaves us with more than a few revelations regarding Gin's long-dead mother that are undoubtedly going to make future installments very, very interesting.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Jennifer:
 

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

 

This book was sent to me by the publisher  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Spider's Trap

SPIDER'S TRAP
Elemental Assassin #13
Jennifer Estep
Urban Fantasy
400 Pages
Pocket Books
Available July 28th
Source: eARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Keep your friends close but your enemies within stabbing distance.

One important lesson I’ve learned in the assassination business is that to be the best you have to roll with the punches. Now that I’m queen of Ashland’s underworld—by default, not by choice—a lot more punches are being thrown my way. But I suppose that’s the price of victory for taking down some of the underworld’s top dogs. Good thing I have my Ice and Stone magic to help me survive my volatile new position. Just when I think things are finally settling down, someone tries to murder me during a hush-hush underworld meeting. But the real surprise is how strangely familiar my shadowy assailant seems to be.

My job is to maintain order among killers, crooks, and thieves, and soon I’m embroiled in a bloody game where the ability to keep secrets could be the greatest superpower of all. My enemies have all sharpened their knives and laid their traps, waiting for me to fall. But this Spider weaves her own webs of death…

MY THOUGHTS
Ms. Estep never fails to impress with the Elemental Assassin series, pitting Gin against foes with varying levels of villainy that test her on all levels, forcing her to never rely too heavily on any one of her innumerable assets. While Spider's Trap feels a bit like an in-between installment–the epic showdown with Madeline Monroe in the previous book a tough act to follow on an emotional and physical level–Gin's world is never anything other than hugely entertaining.

With her takedown of Madeline, Gin is now the reluctant head of Ashland's criminal underworld, required to put her knives aside, much to her chagrin, and practice the art of mediating disputes between the more humorous of her city's bad guys. Thanks to their antics and Gin's attempt to be a more hands-off boss of bosses, this installment has a lighter overall feel, even when a shadow of Gin's past finds his way out of the dark corners of her memory and into the light. It's more of a quick, light (light being a relative term of course) read than some of its predecessors as a result, Gin's general badassery on a lower setting as her team and a couple of newcomers help her solve a new metallic problem, our emotional investment in this particular tale perhaps not quite as strong as when Madeline targeted everything Gin holds most dear.

That being said however, we find ourselves catching a sneak peek in the concluding chapters at what the next installment promises, a beloved secondary character clearly going to have a long awaited moment in the spotlight (not that he needs one, Finnegan Lane shines brightly whether he appears on two pages or two hundred). As always, Ms. Estep makes our time with Gin and company fly by, leaving us satisfied with a complete story while hinting at things to come, and this series continues to deliver action, humor and a touch of romance in every installment.

Rating: 3.5/5

Find Jennifer:
 

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

 

This book was sent to me by the author  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Black Widow

BLACK WIDOW
Elemental Assassin #12
Jennifer Estep
Urban Fantasy
400 pages
Pocket Books
Available November 25th
Source: eARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
There’s nothing worse than a cruel, cunning enemy with time to kill—and my murder to plan.

With wicked Fire elemental Mab Monroe long gone, you’d think I could finally catch a break. But someone’s always trying to take me down, either as Gin Blanco or my assassin alter-ago. Now along comes the Spider’s new arch-nemesis, the mysteriously named M. M. Monroe, who is gleefully working overtime to trap me in a sticky web of deceit.

The thing is, I’m not the only target. I can see through the tangled threads enough to know that every bit of bad luck my friends have been having lately is no accident—and that each unfortunate “coincidence” is just one more arrow drawing ever closer to hitting the real bulls-eye. Though new to Ashland, this M. M. Monroe is no stranger to irony, trying to get me, an assassin, framed for murder. Yet, as my enemy’s master plan is slowly revealed, I have a sinking feeling that it will take more than my powerful Ice and Stone magic to stop my whole life from going up in flames.

MY THOUGHTS
One of the reasons the Elemental Assassin series continues to be as successful into the double digit installments as it was in the beginning is Ms. Estep's ability to craft the most cunning, sadistic, and beautifully despicable villains for Gin to face down, each one testing her not only on a physical level, but on a mental and emotional one as well. As a result, we don't simply feel as though we're reading the same story again and again with a different bad guy in play, instead we get to watch as Gin's character grows and matures, helped along by friends but even more so by foes; men and women who have a bloody lesson to both teach and learn.

With Black Widow, we're reminded of a time several months ago for Gin (seven books ago for us readers) when she faced another monster bearing the Monroe moniker, a woman who passed her cruelty and her flair for the dramatic to her daughter. What's most intriguing about Madeline however is not her elemental ability (though her acid magic is the stuff of nightmares to be sure), but rather the way in which she comes after Gin. Before Madeline, the impressive array of villains in this series have, for the most part, come at Gin directly, confident enough in their fighting prowess, strength or elemental gifts to challenge a woman with a reputation as fearsome and merciless as their own. They've come with egos and arrogance on proud display, taking their swings at her with all the physical force they have in their arsenal, and while they've brought Gin to the edge of death, none have managed to tip her over.

Madeline, though in possession of a healthy ego of her own, takes a different tack than all those before her, using smarts over brute strength to unleash a seemingly passive multi-pronged attack on Gin and those closest to her. She's clearly watched as Gin has effectively defeated head-on attack after head-on attack, and thus shoves Gin out of her comfort zone, forcing her to fight a very different type of battle than she's used to. One where the cover of night and the flash of her silverstone knives are rendered useless, and she must instead comb her vast knowledge of strategy to win a game played by rules not of her making.

Overall, Black Widow proves that the strength of the Elemental Assassin series is in no way waning, and Gin herself is only getting stronger and more impressive as she goes. Ms. Estep clearly has a reservoir of perfectly hateful villains ready and waiting to throw down their gauntlet for Gin to pick up, and here's hoping we have at least another twelve books on the way to see them try their very best.

Rating: 4/5

Are you a fan of audiobooks? Then check out a clip of Black Widow from Audible!

Black Widow on Audible

Find Jennifer:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the author  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Poison Promise

POISON PROMISE
Elemental Assassin #11
Jennifer Estep
Urban Fantasy
416 pages
Pocket Books
Available July 22nd
Source: e-ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Gin Blanco is hard-nosed, sexy, and lethal. Nicknamed “The Spider,” she’s a stone elemental assassin who brings her unique mix of magic and tact to every assignment, no matter the target.

There’s a new drug on the streets of Ashland, and its name “Burn” sums up the potent effect it has on its users. When one of her restaurant employees is threatened by dealers of the drug, Gin steps in to set things straight…

MY THOUGHTS
There comes a certain point in a series approaching the teens in number where there’s simply very little to say that hasn’t already been said about the characters, their strengths and weaknesses and the author’s ability to write their ongoing stories. At book eleven, Poison Promise continues to maintain the level of characterization and quality storytelling fans of the series have come to expect from Ms. Estep, and while this installment doesn’t necessarily show any new sides to Gin and company or throw an unexpected wrench in the well-oiled machine that is the Elemental Assassin series, it is nonetheless a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend several hours.

Gin has been a badass from the very beginning, thoroughly convinced her emotions were buried beneath a cold and ruthless exterior never to see the light of day, but we as readers have always been able to see that for the delusion it is, her stark vulnerability and low sense of self-worth in every area save for her abilities as an assassin coming through loud and clear. She has a tendency to take the cruel words of others–from adversaries and loved ones alike–as her penance to pay for the life she leads as The Spider, a trait that is sometimes as frustrating as it is effective in strengthening our bond to her.

In more recent books however, we've started to see a Gin who no longer simply accepts the disgust and disdain of others for the blood on her hands as her due, and her self-confidence as a woman, friend, sister, and lover–rather than just The Spider–continues to grow in Poison Promise. Gin carries around quite a bit of guilt when it comes to her little sister Bria, and as a result, she's always squared her shoulders in the face of Bria’s disapproval of her profession and stoically accepted her criticism (much to our dismay). Finally, in this latest installment we find a Gin who is unwilling to be an outlet for Bria’s frustration any longer, and we can’t help but smile in satisfaction as Gin gets angry at her sister when she would have previously stood still and let the blows find a soft place to land.

Poison Promise, though as action-packed as all the books that have come before it, has a somewhat inexplicable softer quality to it, where the violence Gin inflicts and that which is inflicted upon her isn’t quite as intense as it has been in installments past. There’s the feeling of building toward something larger in scale, and though we’re given a complete story with another epic villain struck down in the end as we’ve come to expect and appreciate, we definitely get the sense that book twelve will be bigger, badder and more brutal than this book as perhaps the most dangerous enemy yet sets her sights on Gin.

Rating: 4/5  

Find Jennifer:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: The Spider

THE SPIDER
Elemental Assassin #10
Jennifer Estep
Adult Urban Fantasy
400 pages
Pocket Books
Available December 24th
Source: e-ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Amazon)
How did I end up in a career where I always have blood on my hands? Well, let me tell you a story about an assassin who thought she could do no wrong. . . .

Ten years ago. A blistering hot August night. I remember like it was yesterday. The night I, Gin Blanco, truly became the Spider. Killing people is what I do best, especially now that I’ve honed my Ice and Stone magic. But back then, I had yet to learn one very important rule: arrogance will get you, every single time.

This particular job seemed simple: murder a crooked building contractor with ties to ruthless Fire elemental Mab Monroe. My mentor, Fletcher Lane, had some misgivings, but I was certain that I had the situation under control . . . right up until I exposed my weaknesses to a merciless opponent who exploited every single one of them. There’s a reason assassins aren’t supposed to feel anything. Luckily, a knife to the heart can fix that problem, especially when I’m the one wielding it. . . .

MY THOUGHTS
The Spider is a somewhat unusual installment in the Elemental Assassin series given that it's the tenth book yet also a prequel to all of the books we've read thus far, allowing fans of the series a never before seen glimpse at Gin as she's getting her bearings as an assassin while at the same time giving newcomers to the series a perfect introduction. This newest installment does revert back to the somewhat repetitive nature the last couple books had finally moved past, reminding longtime readers of things they are well aware of nine times over, but as always, even with that niggle Ms. Estep thoroughly entertains with a piece of Gin's life previously unknown to us. The real treat comes in the form of Fletcher Lane, a man we lost early on in the very first book and have felt the absence of in each book since, but in this story he's alive and well and beautifully caring despite what he's training Gin to do, and we can't help but revel in every minute we're granted with him knowing when it's over we'll be faced with his loss all over again.

The younger version of Gin we get in this book is surprisingly different from the Gin we've come to know and love, our expectation that she would be the exact same woman ten years prior of course slightly delusional once we've had time to think on it, and our initial shock quickly gives way to curiosity as we begin to catalog all the ways she differs from The Spider with whom we're so familiar. Over the course of this series we've learned to implicitly trust Gin, perhaps at times questioning the always-fatal solution she suggests to various problems, but we've unequivocally known that those she targets deserve their fate and then some; many of the villains she's faced monsters that haunt us long after we've finished reading. In this story though we find ourselves a bit off-kilter, Gin's willingness to so quickly believe what a file tells her is the truth causing nerves to roil in our guts and unease to shiver down our spines, something that's completely foreign to us in this context and utterly fascinating at the same time.

Gin has always been someone who inspires confidence in us as readers, our faith that she knows what she's doing unwavering as she proceeds to teach the nightmares that plague Ashland's streets, businesses or government officials lessons that will lead them straight to their graves. There's no doubt in our minds in The Spider however that it's Gin who will be learning a lesson; a rather brutal one that finally gives us some insight as to why she's so very susceptible to emotional hurt, particularly from members of the opposite sex. While we ache for this younger Gin, wanting nothing more than to scream ourselves hoarse telling her to open her eyes–that The Spider we know would never be satisfied with face-value and would dig and dig and dig until she found everything there was to know before acting–we find ourselves both riveted and resigned, knowing Gin has go this one the hard way in order to be the woman we meet later in her life.

It's nothing short of gratifying in the concluding chapters to watch as the Gin we recognize emerges from the young woman we didn't, the price for the change in her extraordinarily high, but paid for in full in wounds visible and not. Overall, The Spider is a deeply satisfying addition to this series for both new fans and old, Ms. Estep handing us a piece of Gin we never knew we were missing but now can't imagine continuing her story without.

Rating: 4/5

Find Jennifer:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Heart of Venom

HEART OF VENOM
Elemental Assassin #9
Jennifer Estep
Adult Urban Fantasy
384 pages
Pocket Books
Available August 27th
Source: e-ARC vie Edelweiss for review

THE STORY (from Amazon)
When I say you’re a dead man, take that literally.

To me, killing people is like a day at the salon: cut and dry. Well, more like rinse and repeat when you moonlight as the assassin the Spider. But my last spa day ended redder than my freshly painted nails after a twisted Fire elemental and his goons kidnapped my close friend Sophia Deveraux and nearly killed her sister Jo-Jo in the process.

Up Ashland’s most dangerous mountains, and deep into the heart of its blackest woods—I’ll track these thugs no matter where they take Sophia. It doesn’t matter what kinds of elemental magic they try to throw at me, my Ice and Stone powers can take the heat and then some. I will get Sophia back, over their dead bodies.

Because anybody that hurts Gin Blanco’s family becomes a body.

MY THOUGHTS
With the Elemental Assassin series we are always guaranteed a knock-down, drag-out fight between Gin and whatever villain is currently thinking of replacing Mab Monroe as Ashland's Biggest Bad, but what so often surprises us no matter how many books we read is the emotional intensity that accompanies the swinging of Gin's fists and the slashing of her knives. While the previous installment was a little lighter in tone overall (relatively speaking of course), Ms. Estep plunges us deep into the darkness of Gin's world in this newest book, a horror from Sophia's past emerging once again to grab hold of both characters' and readers' hearts alike, giving them a brutal twist and yank as family fights desperately to save family.

Gin has been a fighter from word one of book one, always the first to defend those she cares about even if they are undeserving of her loyalty and affection, but where she has always been nearly indestructible physically, her emotional armor has always been far softer. She's highly susceptible to rough words in a way she isn't to rough hands, the former cutting deep and drifting like a slow-working poison through her veins, while the latter simply glance off and then go limp, no longer a threat as the person attached to them is dead by her blade. Her stoicism and her cool, controlled demeanor are a point of contention for us as readers; we can't help but admire everything that makes her both woman and Spider, but at the same time, her constant internalizing of emotional pain can be frustrating, as it was in the previous book when things with Owen so rapidly deteriorated.

Luckily for us in this book however, Gin makes a few small efforts to voice her hurt when she has a quiet moment to actually talk to Owen amidst the fight to save Sophia, listening to his apologies and his reasoning for past behavior, but instead of simply accepting the way he treated her as her due given the life she leads as an assassin, she hesitates, taking the much-needed time to really think about what her heart can and cannot handle moving forward. She doesn't hold Owen's actions against him or try to make him hurt as she's been hurting, she simply takes stock of the wounds he's inflicted, lets him know he caused them, and then decides if she's up for the not-insignificant job of rebuilding her trust in him. Owen, for his part, acknowledges his role in how things turned out between them, and the ice we'd built up around our hearts when it came to him can't help but melt a little in the face of the warmth we can practically feel when he looks at Gin.

In addition to the tension crackling between Gin and Owen as they feel one another out, Heart of Venom also gives us perhaps the most violent and dark of Gin's battles thus far, a brother-sister team of fire elementals raising the bar when it comes to sadistic cruelty, their vile games made all the more horrifying given Sophia's involvement. The bits and pieces of her past alluded to in past books were enough to send shudders racing down our spines, but to bear witness as Sophia is forced to live her nightmares all over again is a special kind of torture, and we find ourselves appreciating Gin's ruthlessness more than we ever have before. All in all, this latest gritty adventure of Gin's is perhaps the most gripping one yet, overflowing with pain, love, family and more than a little blood to leave us even bigger fans of the series than we were when we started.

Rating: 4.5/5

Find Jennifer:

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon

If you didn't get a chance yesterday to check out my interview with Jennifer and enter for your chance to win a copy of Heart of Venom, you can do so here!

This book was sent to me by the publisher  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Interview and Giveaway: Jennifer Estep + Heart of Venom

Jennifer Estep is one of my auto-buy authors and I'm beyond excited to welcome her back to the blog today to talk about my very favorite elemental assassin, Gin Blanco. Gin is about as badass as they come, but she's also surprisingly insecure when it comes to friendships and relationships, making her an intriguing combination of soft and hard that I just can't get enough of. I'm reviewing Heart of Venom tomorrow, so be sure and check back as it was one of my favorites of the series thus far!

Looking back at all the books in the Elemental Assassin series, is there any particular one that gave you more trouble than the others above and beyond the challenges that come with writing any story?

In some ways, SPIDER’S REVENGE was the most challenging for me. I really wanted to deliver on the Gin-Mab arc in that one for readers, especially when it came to the final Gin-Mab battle in the book. So I really tried to think about how I could write those scenes and the overall book in a way that would be most satisfying for readers. Hopefully, folks enjoyed how that arc ended and the adventures that Gin has had since then.

If you were to join Gin, Bria and Roslyn’s book club and it was your month to choose a book and host, what book would you pick for the group to read and what snacks would you make when you all got together?

Good question! I sort of do this in every book when I’m deciding what Gin is reading at the time. I always try to pick something that ties in with the plot or what Gin is going through in some way.

At the end of DEADLY STING, Gin and Bria are talking about the book club, and Bria mentions that she wants to read THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett because of the events that happened in DEADLY STING. Since Ashland is such a corrupt city, and Gin spends so much time dealing with the underworld bosses, I think a book like that would be right up her alley.

But if I were choosing, I would probably pick something like REDWALL by Brian Jacques, which is about a mouse who becomes a hero and saves his friends. I think that sort of story would also appeal to Gin.

For the snacks, I like to bake, so I’d probably make lots of desserts, like some chocolate brownies, that would satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth. That’s sort of what Gin does in a scene in HEART OF VENOM for a day at the beauty salon with Bria, Roslyn, Sophia, and Jo-Jo.

Gin hasn’t had an easy time of it in the love department. If she wanted to take a break from her own sometimes-troubled romance and experience the sweetness or drama of another couple, what book or movie might she treat herself to?

Gin’s love life has definitely had its ups and downs, so I think that Gin would choose a movie that would be a fun escape for a few hours. So I could see her watching something with a lot of action and adventure, like THE PRINCESS BRIDE or PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL. I could also see her watching something a little darker and grittier and with a little more angst, like CASINO ROYALE or THE BOURNE IDENTITY.

Sophia has always been a personal favorite of mine from the very beginning. What new or surprising things did you learn about her character given her more prominent role in Heart of Venom?

As I’ve been writing the books, I always knew that Sophia had been through something really traumatic that shaped her into the character that readers meet in the series. I can’t give out spoilers, but I will say that as I was writing HEART OF VENOM and really exploring Sophia’s backstory, that it definitely got a lot darker than I anticipated, as did some of the scenes in the book.

If Fletcher could see the woman and fighter Gin has become since his death, as her mentor and teacher, what advice, criticism/compliment, or instruction would he have for her?

I think that Fletcher would be proud of how Gin always manages to survive, no matter how much danger she finds herself in. But I think he would be even prouder of how she’s slowly lowered her own emotional defenses and opened herself up to people like Bria and Owen.

Back in the beginning of the series, Fletcher told Gin that he wanted a normal life for her, part of which included letting herself care about other people. So I think that he would be really happy with the circle of friends and loved ones that she’s slowly built for herself as the series has gone along.

Happy reading, everyone!

• • • • • • • • • •

JENNIFER ESTEP

I’m a Southern gal through and through. Sassy, sarcastic, and just a tad crazy.

I spent my formative years doing the usual kid things – playing, hanging out with my friends, and making up wild stories in my head.

It’s the last one that’s gotten me into trouble.

I don’t remember the first book I read. Or the second. Or even the third. But somewhere along the way, I fell in love with books and reading. Fairy tales, fantasies, adventure stories, mysteries, romances, westerns. As a kid, I read every book that I could get my hands on.

My mom, bless her, encouraged this obsession by taking me to the library every week. It’s one of my favorite childhood memories. Most folks think penicillin, indoor plumbing, and the Internet are the world’s best inventions. Not me. The greatest thing ever created was a library. Indoor plumbing is a close second, though.

The more I read, the more I thought about writing my own stories. I penned a few poems and short stories over the years, mainly for class assignments. Somewhere along the way, I realized that I wanted to write books for a living.

In college, I majored in English because of my love of books. But what can you do with an English degree? I didn’t know. One semester, I got a job with the college newspaper and discovered you could write stories and make a respectable living. Since that light-bulb moment, I’ve earned a bachelor’s degree in English and journalism, and a master’s degree in professional communications. Currently, I’m an award-winning features page designer for a daily newspaper.

Now, after many, many years of toil and trouble, I’ve achieved my dream of being a bona fide, published, fiction author. I plan to keep on keeping on – writing, dreaming, making up wild stories in my head.

And getting myself into trouble.

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon

• • • • • • • • • •

HEART OF VENOM

When I say you’re a dead man, take that literally.

To me, killing people is like a day at the salon: cut and dry. Well, more like rinse and repeat when you moonlight as the assassin the Spider. But my last spa day ended redder than my freshly painted nails after a twisted Fire elemental and his goons kidnapped my close friend Sophia Deveraux and nearly killed her sister Jo-Jo in the process.

Up Ashland’s most dangerous mountains, and deep into the heart of its blackest woods—I’ll track these thugs no matter where they take Sophia. It doesn’t matter what kinds of elemental magic they try to throw at me, my Ice and Stone powers can take the heat and then some. I will get Sophia back, over their dead bodies.

Because anybody that hurts Gin Blanco’s family becomes a body.

• • • • • • • • • • 

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to Jennifer, I have one print copy of Heart of Venom to give away on the blog today. To enter, please just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US residents only. Good luck everyone! 
 
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Interview and Giveaway: Jennifer Estep + Deadly Sting

Today I'm thrilled to welcome author Jennifer Estep back to the blog to answer a few questions about the latest release in her Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, Deadly Sting. It's no secret I'm a massive Jennifer Estep fan, and I just cannot get enough of both this series and her young adult Mythos Academy series. I thinks she writes absolutely brilliant characters and tells a fabulous story, so I hope if you've yet to read anything by her that you remedy that immediately!

One of the things I love most about the Elemental Assassin series is each book always features a new and brilliantly despicable villain. Aside from Mab, which villain has been the most fun to pit Gin against?

Thanks! I appreciate that. I always have a lot of fun coming up with the villains, trying to make them evil and charismatic at the same time, and really trying to give them that someone-you-love-to-hate vibe.

I’ve enjoyed writing all of my villains, but if I had to pick one, I would go with Elektra LaFleur, the assassin with electrical elemental magic in Tangled Threads. She’s like Gin in a lot of ways, and it was fun for me to write an evil version of Gin and have them go toe-to-toe with each other.

Let’s say instead of taking a class at the local college, Gin pops over to Mythos Academy to further her education. What class offered at Mythos would Gin most be interested in?

Good question! I think Gin would definitely be interested in Professor Metis’s myth-history class. Gin loves to read, so she’d enjoy learning more about the various myths, gods, goddesses, creatures, warriors, and artifacts that make up the Mythos Academy world.

The secondary characters in this series are hugely entertaining and almost as big of a draw for readers as Gin herself. What book features your favorite cast of secondary characters?

I would say that one of my favorite cast of characters is in the Dortmunder series by Donald E. Westlake. The books are about a group of thieves who get into some really funny and strange situations. So all of the characters are a bit odd and quirky, but still funny and lovable at the same time.

The Elemental Assassin books are always ones I devour in a single sitting because I can’t bear to put them down no matter how late at night (or early in the morning) it’s getting to be. What’s the last book that kept you up reading?

I enjoyed Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. I’m looking forward to Siege and Storm, the next book in the series.

Gin’s the type of woman who keeps her emotions under wraps, never truly allowing the people in her life to see how much their words and actions sometimes hurt her. If she were to open up to just one person about her current relationship troubles with Owen, who would it be and what’s one thing she’d like them to know about how she feels?

Hmm. Good question. I would say that if Fletcher were still alive, that Gin might confide in him. Fletcher really molded her into the person that she is, so in some ways, I think that she feels closest to him and that he understands her the best (even though he’s dead).

I think Gin would tell Fletcher that she’s grateful for how strong he made her. However, I also think that she would tell him that while she wouldn’t trade that strength, her being an assassin has still cost her more than she thought it would.

Is there a possibility we’ll get a novella or spinoff book featuring Phillip and Eva, or will their relationship unfold more within Gin’s story?

It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t have any plans to do a spinoff story with Phillip and Eva right now, although they will continue to appear with the other characters in my Elemental Assassin books.

But I’ll never say never. I’d love to write more stories from the various characters’ points of view and show their adventures, along with Gin’s. I’ve had several people ask about a Finn and Bria-centered story or book, which I think would be a lot of fun to write. But it just depends on my writing schedule, which is already pretty full for this year. We’ll see what happens.

There’s a piece or two from the Elemental Assassin series, like the name of Gin’s restaurant the Pork Pit, that have been worked into the Mythos Academy series. Is there anything from the Mythos world that’s crossed over into Gin’s?

Definitely. In Widow’s Web, the seventh book in the series, Gin talks about someone growling and sounding like a Fenrir wolf, which is one of the mythological creatures in my Mythos Academy series.

I also have references in my Elemental Assassin and Mythos Academy books to characters from my Bigtime superhero paranormal romance series. For example, in the Elemental Assassin books, Finn often wears suits made by Fiona Fine, who is a fashion designer character in my Bigtime series. In my Mythos Academy series, Gwen has a poster of Karma Girl, a character from my Bigtime series, on the wall of her dorm room.

I think that the references to my other books are fun little Easter eggs for readers. I’ve gotten a few e-mails and comments from folks saying that they like the references, and it’s a lot of fun for me to figure which characters, places, etc. to use and where to work them into the various books and stories.

In the opening chapter of Deadly Sting, Gin is tortured by Finn with dress shopping for a museum gala, and thanks to some things that happen, she determines that red is a color that suits her. What color would you say is going to suit Gin best in Heart of Venom?

Oh, I think that red will continue to be Gin’s color for the foreseeable future. LOL. That’s really all I can say without giving out spoilers for Deadly Sting or future books in the series, though. Happy reading, everyone!

• • • • • • • • • •

JENNIFER ESTEP

I’m a Southern gal through and through. Sassy, sarcastic, and just a tad crazy.

I spent my formative years doing the usual kid things – playing, hanging out with my friends, and making up wild stories in my head.

It’s the last one that’s gotten me into trouble.

I don’t remember the first book I read. Or the second. Or even the third. But somewhere along the way, I fell in love with books and reading. Fairy tales, fantasies, adventure stories, mysteries, romances, westerns. As a kid, I read every book that I could get my hands on.

My mom, bless her, encouraged this obsession by taking me to the library every week. It’s one of my favorite childhood memories. Most folks think penicillin, indoor plumbing, and the Internet are the world’s best inventions. Not me. The greatest thing ever created was a library. Indoor plumbing is a close second, though.

The more I read, the more I thought about writing my own stories. I penned a few poems and short stories over the years, mainly for class assignments. Somewhere along the way, I realized that I wanted to write books for a living.

In college, I majored in English because of my love of books. But what can you do with an English degree? I didn’t know. One semester, I got a job with the college newspaper and discovered you could write stories and make a respectable living. Since that light-bulb moment, I’ve earned a bachelor’s degree in English and journalism, and a master’s degree in professional communications. Currently, I’m an award-winning features page designer for a daily newspaper.

Now, after many, many years of toil and trouble, I’ve achieved my dream of being a bona fide, published, fiction author. I plan to keep on keeping on – writing, dreaming, making up wild stories in my head.

And getting myself into trouble.

Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon

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DEADLY STING

Red is definitely my color. Good thing, because in my line of work, I end up wearing it a lot.

Most people shy away from blood, but for an assassin like me — Gin Blanco, aka the Spider — it’s just part of the job. Still, it would be nice to get a night off, especially when I’m attending the biggest gala event of the summer at Briartop, Ashland’s fanciest art museum. But it’s just not meant to be. For this exhibition of my late nemesis’ priceless possessions is not only the place to be seen, but the place to be robbed and taken hostage at gunpoint as well. No sooner did I get my champagne than a bunch of the unluckiest thieves ever burst into the museum and started looting the place.

Unlucky why? Because I brought along a couple of knives in addition to my killer dress. Add these to my Ice and Stone magic, and nothing makes me happier than showing the bad guys why red really is my color.

• • • • • • • • • •

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to Jennifer, I have one print copy of Deadly Sting to give away on the blog today. To enter, please just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US residents only. Good luck everyone!

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Review: Widow's Web

WIDOW'S WEB

(Elemental Assassin #7)

Jennifer Estep
Adult Urban Fantasy
400 pages
Pocket
Available August 21st
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)

I used to murder people for money, but lately it’s become more of a survival technique. 

Once an assassin, always an assassin. So much for being plain old Gin Blanco. With every lowlife in Ashland gunning for me, I don’t need another problem, but a new one has come to town anyway. Salina might seem like a sweet Southern belle, but she’s really a dangerous enemy whose water elemental magic can go head-to-head with my own Ice and Stone power. Salina also has an intimate history with my lover, Owen Grayson, and now that she’s back, she thinks he’s hers for the taking. Salina’s playing a mysterious game that involves a shady local casino owner with a surprising connection to Owen. But they call me the Spider for a reason. I’m going to untangle her deadly scheme, even if it leaves my love affair hanging by a thread.

MY THOUGHTS

Widow’s Web is the seventh installment of the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, continuing to impress with a heroine who, book by book, allows readers under her substantial emotional defenses to show us yet another layer of the already multi-layered assassin known as The Spider. One of the most intriguing aspects of these books–outside a highly entertaining core cast of characters–is Ms. Estep’s ability to craft new and unique villains to take Gin on in each tale. After seven books, one might expect Gin’s nemeses to have core similarities or common traits, and the battles to feel as though we’ve been through them with her before, but to our utter delight, Ms. Estep flexes her villainous creativity and brings another memorable foe to the table in this newest book. Where some past villains have been loud in their evil, throwing the weight of their physical strength, magic, wealth and power around and attacking Gin head-on, the evil in Widow’s Web is far quieter, and while she does pose a physical threat to Gin, the emotional threat she represents is far more terrifying for us as readers.

Gin is a paradoxical heroine—exhibiting the utmost physical prowess and consummate skill when it comes to her assassin’s trade, but yet as each book continues she seems to become more and more fragile (relatively), our knowledge and understanding of who she is stripping away some of cool detachment and the harshness of the assassin and replacing it with the insecurities and vulnerabilities of a very human woman. She’s not the type to show any outward display of emotion or give voice to her feelings, instead she deflects anything that causes her pain with The Spider’s tough-as-nails demeanor, hiding the wounds the words or actions of those around her have caused until she can acknowledge them in private with only our eyes as witnesses. It’s these private intimacies that are becoming more numerous as the series continues, and with the return of a woman from Owen’s past in Widow’s Web, our connection with Gin is at its strongest and most poignant as we watch her suffer blow after blow to both the body and the heart.

Ms. Estep pulls no punches in this tale, pushing Gin and us to our limits emotionally when history seems to repeat itself in terms of love and loss, only the pain we feel is all the more acute given how our relationship with Gin has grown from earlier books. While Gin at times can be frustrating in her stoicism, refusing to defend herself and her actions when we so desperately want her to lay herself bare and let the ones hurting her see how their words and deeds so easily make her bleed, she also continues to earn our respect as she bears the burdens of everyone around her without a single word of protest. Widow’s Web leaves us with an ache in our chests, bodies limp and exhausted after the physical and emotional battle waged in its pages, but Ms. Estep does not simply abandon us to wallow in our despair, instead she gives us the barest glimpses of hope that Gin’s future will be a happy one.

Rating: 4.5/5

Excerpt + Giveaway: By A Thread

Jennifer Estep's Elemental Assassin series is one of my absolute favorites, and today I'm super excited to share a short excerpt with you from the latest release, By a Thread, so you can see a little bit of Gin in action for yourself (you can read my review HERE). She is made of win. Seriously. For those who may have young eyes reading over their shoulders, please note there is some language in the following passage.

I eased out of my bedroom and tiptoed across the dark suite, using the mental map that I’d made earlier to skirt around the couches, tables, and other furniture. I stepped up to the door, careful to keep away from the glass peephole so that whoever was lurking around outside wouldn’t realize I was awake and already waiting for them.

I looked across the suite at the closed door that led to Bria’s bedroom. As an elemental, she’d be able to hear the stone’s cries too, although they wouldn’t resonate as loudly with her, since she had Ice magic and not Stone like I did. I waited a moment, wondering whether she’d heard my alarm and would come out and investigate, but her door remained closed. Looked like I’d have to deal with our visitors myself. Not a problem.

I blocked out the stone’s wails, put my ear close to the door, and listened. Right next to me, the brass doorknob softly turned and rattled.

“Sorry,” someone muttered on the other side of the door. “Wrong key. It’s this one, I think. The third time’s the charm, right?”

So he’d tried two wrong keys already, and that’s what had triggered the protection runes in the stone. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. If he’d used the right key the first time, he might have avoided tripping my silent alarm.

“You’d better do more than think,” a familiar voice growled. “That bitch skewered my hand like it was a fucking kebab, and I plan on doing the same to her—and worse.”

So Pete Procter, the guy I’d stabbed earlier at the Sea Breeze, was outside, along with his friend with the keys. But neither one of them were elementals, otherwise they would have heard my alarm and realized they were walking into a trap. Too bad for them.

“And Ron, one of the night clerks, told me that sweet little blond piece of ass is in there with her too,” Pete continued. “We’ll have fun taking turns with her. Maybe both of them, all of us, at the same time. There’ll be enough for everyone.”

Pete laughed at his ugly promise, and I heard a few more sly chuckles chime in with his. Make that more than one friend outside. I smiled in the darkness like an animal baring its fangs. Good. I’d hate to get out of bed just for Pete.

“There,” the second guy said. “I told you I had the right key. Get ready.”

A soft snick sounded as the door unlocked. I eased away from it and stepped behind a fake palm tree in a brass pot in the front corner of the suite.

The door opened a crack, and a pair of bolt cutters slid through the narrow space and caught on the security chain. From my hiding spot, I saw a hand squeeze down on the cutters, which easily sliced through the flimsy metal. Trent, the giant, I thought. He’d have the strength to use the cutters with one hand, and he was probably as pissed at me as Pete was for busting him up earlier. That made at least three guys outside. I wondered how many more Dekes had sent, or if they’d decided to do this on their lonesome. Didn’t much matter. They were all getting dead.

More information on Jennifer and her books, including her amazing young adult Mythos Academy series, can be found here:

Website
Blog
Goodreads
Twitter

GIVEAWAY

Jennifer is nicely offering up a copy of By a Thread to one lucky winner on the blog today. Yay! To enter, please just leave a comment on this post with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. Giveaway is open to US residents only and will run through midnight EST on Friday, March 2nd after which time a winner will be chosen and announced on the blog. Good luck everyone and thank you again Jennifer!

Review: By A Thread

BY A THREAD
(Elemental Assassin #6)
Jennifer Estep
Urban Fantasy
384 Pages
Pocket
Available February 28th
Received from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
When killing people is your job, there’s no such thing as a vacation.

Then again, how often does an assassin live long enough to enjoy her retirement? In this line of work, you either get lucky or you get dead. And since I destroyed my nemesis Mab Monroe a few weeks ago, all of Ashland’s lowlifes are gunning to make a name for themselves by taking out the lethal Spider—me, Gin Blanco. So I’m leaving behind my beloved barbecue joint and heading south with my baby sister, Bria, to cool my heels in a swanky beach town. Call it a weekend of fun in the sun.

But when a powerful vampire with deadly elemental magic threatens an old friend of Bria’s, it looks like I’ll have to dig my silverstone knives out of my suitcase after all. Complicating matters further is the reappearance of Detective Donovan Caine, my old lover. But Donovan is the least of my problems. Because this time, the danger is hot on my trail, and not even my elemental Ice and Stone magic may be enough to save me from getting buried in the sand—permanently.

MY THOUGHTS
As hugely entertaining as ever, By A Thread makes it crystal clear yet again how wonderful a storyteller Ms. Estep truly is, delighting us with humor and charm while at the same time pushing every single one of our emotional buttons as Gin continues to grow as a person, an assassin, a sister, and a lover. It’s easy to start this latest story wondering where things can possibly go after the epic showdown and fiery conclusion to the Mab Monroe storyline, questioning whether or not this installment will feel somehow empty without her dark and sinister presence. Our musings and our hesitancy are for naught however, as Ms. Estep ratchets up the emotional intensity to an all time high and gives us a new villain who easily rivals Mab in evil deeds done to others, raising the fine hairs on our arms with his sick games and his certainty that he's untouchable.

Gin has always been the highlight of these books, her strength as a killer-for-hire-turned-pro-bono-defender-of-the-weak always beautifully combined with an innate vulnerability when it comes to those she cares for. In By A Thread, that vulnerability is particularly acute, and like the silverstone embedded in her palms and the blades she brandishes she absorbs everything thrown her way, taking every callous word, disdainful look, and snide comment from those she would easily give her life for into herself and storing it there without so much as a word to her own defense. She gladly hides her own pain, sliding her cold assassin mask in place to spare those around her any guilt or hurt as a result of what she does in the dark of night, and we can’t help but want to scream out loud so that all may hear the virtues we see in her, voicing our opinion of the woman she is and silencing those who judge her for the reputation she carries.

Back to torment both us and Gin is Donovan Caine, his righteousness in full force despite the time that’s passed since he left Ashland and Gin behind without so much as a kind word of parting. He’s as demeaning as ever, verbally berating her for everything he thinks she is or isn’t, but things have changed for Gin in the time since his departure, and it’s beyond satisfying to read Donovan side by side with Owen as Owen proves to us again and again just how clearly he sees Gin when everyone else is blind to anything other than her role as The Spider. He’s never fooled by the mask she wears or the defenses she puts up, and she allows him to see her emotionally bare knowing she’ll never see a look of disgust in those violet eyes at what’s revealed.

In additional to the turmoil surrounding Donovan’s sudden reappearance, we also have a spectacular new villain who challenges Gin physically and mentally at every turn, constantly keeping us on our toes as we are reminded that Gin is not infallible and that her mistakes are often bloody ones. Though we ultimately know Gin will come out on top, Ms. Estep ensures that the journey to victory is not one easily walked, hearts as bruised and broken as Gin's body is before The Spider shows everyone once again what she’s really made of. The closing pages are perhaps the most rewarding of all as Gin confronts past and present demons both physical and emotional, finally refusing to absorb any more rancor in silence and letting the wounds inflicted by words wielded with unprecedented expertise be seen by those who have done the most damage with them.

Rating: 4.5/5

Review: Spider's Revenge

SPIDER'S REVENGE
(Elemental Assassin #5)
Jennifer Estep
Urban Fantasy
400 pages
Pocket
Available September 27th
Received from author for review

Warning: Review contains mild spoilers

THE STORY
Gin has been plotting her revenge on fire elemental Mab Monroe for years. She's been sharpening her skills as an assassin and continuing the training her mentor and the closest thing she had to a father, Fletcher Lane, taught her in preparation for the moment when vengeance for the death of her mother and older sister would be hers.

Mab only knows a woman by the name of The Spider is decimating the men loyal to her and destroying them one by one, but soon Mab will know that The Spider, Gin Blanco, and Genevieve Snow are all one and the same, and it will be the last thing she knows before she dies.

Because Gin suffers no delusions she'll make it out of her confrontation with Mab alive, she attempts to let Owen Grayson know just how important he is to her, slowly prying open the doors of her heart that so brutally slammed shut as a result of Detective Donovan Caine's rejection. But all too soon her patience with Mab pays off, and it's time for The Spider to surprise her prey.

MY THOUGHTS
Through four books we've slowly watched as the tension between Gin and nemesis Mab Monroe has escalated slowly but inexorably, a bloody and painful journey that could only ever have a bloody and painful end. Finally we are given the book where the entirety of Gin's focus is on Mab herself and not a minion or hired villain, and we find ourselves darkly entranced as all of Gin's grief and anger find and target their source, honing in with fine precision and denying us the possibility of reading only a few chapters before returning to the realities of our world. Instead, time has no meaning to us as we read, any plans we might have had for our day or evening abandoned as the glorious fury of Gin's wrath is unleashed on the monster who murders and maims any who oppose her.

Gin is a remarkably constructed character, her skill at dealing death and the ease with which she rends flesh with a unwavering swipe of her silverstone knives things that should make us instinctively uneasy, but Ms. Estep masterfully manages to write inherently human weaknesses and vulnerabilities into the body of the assassin so that connecting with her is ultimately a non-issue. We've read as she's been emotionally eviscerated by a man whose eyes saw only what the word "assassin" made his mind see as opposed to what was actually there, and finally in this story those wounds have almost been entirely healed by the love of a man who sees all the pieces of her–the innocence of Genevieve Snow, the stalwart survivor that is Gin Blanco, and the deadliness of a trained killer known as The Spider–and accepts each of them as necessary to making her who she is. She's been teetering on the edge of taking a leap of faith in her relationship with Owen, and it's incredibly satisfying to see her jump in this story and witness those who have been patiently waiting to catch her get their chance.

The build up and final battle with Mab is spectacularly executed, things for Gin going wrong more often than they go right, ensuring we are beside ourselves with worry and stress the entire time we're reading. Though Gin is a professional killer with undeniable skill, she doesn't simply waltz in and take Mab down in twenty short pages after hundreds of pages of planning, instead she engages Mab in a deadly dance, forced to retreat as often as she advances while making mistakes that just have us rooting for her all the more. Gin's elemental powers have been steadily growing with each book, but Ms. Estep maintains Gin's authenticity in this showdown beautifully, staying true to her and her mental and physical strengths without altering her so that she suddenly knows how to wield her ice and stone magic with the utmost competence. She's the Gin we've grown to love, as much a fighter with fists and smarts as she is with her elements, and we fight beside her every minute of this tale.

Though Spider's Revenge sees the epic conclusion of the Mab Monroe story arc, Ms. Estep leaves plenty of possibilities open for the next two installments (and hopefully beyond) so that there's no shortage trouble for Gin to find moving forward. Gin is one character whom it's a pleasure to watch grow and change, and her band of ridiculously lovable misfits keep some of the darkness at bay with their humor and loyal support of a woman who would sacrifice everything she has and everything she is to spare them the slightest pain. Gritty and violent but also poignant and powerful, Spider's Revenge is one that will not soon be forgotten.

Rating: 5/5

Review: Tangled Threads

TANGLED THREADS (Elemental Assassin #4)
Jennifer Estep
Urban Fantasy
384 pages
Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster
Available April 26th
Received from author for review

THE STORY
Gin's retirement from being the assassin known as the Spider isn't really working out the way she'd planned. She's more active than ever after declaring war on Mab Monroe, the fire elemental responsible for murdering her mother and older sister, killing the woman's men one by one and leaving behind her spider rune as a calling card to be sure Mab knows just who's after her.

But Mab Monroe has never been a woman to sit idly by while she or her multitude of legal and illegal business ventures are being threatened, so she hires an assassin of her own to hunt down The Spider and eliminate her.

While plotting to kill the new killer in town, Gin is also exploring a new relationship with prominent businessman Owen Grayson, recovering still from the damage done by Detective Donovan Caine when he left town in a haste to escape his unwanted feelings for her and her chosen profession. If one fledgling relationship wasn't enough to deal with, Gin is also working on rekindling a connection with her baby sister Bria, the woman who just happens to be the detective in charge of finding and stopping The Spider. With new relationships forming and old scores to settle, Gin's retirement has never been so far away.

MY THOUGHTS
The fourth book in the Elemental Assassin series, Tangled Threads is yet another face-paced thrill ride, but where the earlier books focused primarily on the action and the impressive battle skills Gin possesses, this latest installment begins to weave new layers of complexity. This complexity comes in the form of character maturity and emotional growth, a development that lures us deeper into the story just as Gin's assassin namesake might entice its prey to step deeper into its web. While still dark, gritty, and unequivocally brutal, we find ourselves slowly inching our way under Gin's defenses and getting a peek at the heart of the proven fighter, the loyal friend, and the scarred little girl who's just beginning to find her sense of self-worth. We start to see Gin dare to hope–hope that maybe her heart isn't as black as she's always thought, and perhaps it might just be big enough to allow another person entry.

The relationship between Gin and Owen is a highlight of this story, the deep rooted scars left by Donovan's betrayal and abandonment starting to heal as a result of Owen's persistent affections and withheld judgment. Her understandable fear that the bloody hands, the sharp knives, and the questionable nighttime activities will eventually blind him to the woman herself slowly begins to recede, replaced by a warmth and wealth of emotion that both frightens and excites her. We can't help but smile as we will her to open herself to Owen as she never has before, finally believing herself to be as deserving of acceptance as we certainly know her to be. With Owen's steadfast dedication to her and his unchanging opinion no matter what she reveals to him, Gin begins to see that being in this particular relationship doesn't necessarily mean she has to choose between being the assassin with her own sense of justice and being a woman worthy of love, but rather can be a blissful combination of the two–both uniquely flawed and flawless–as she sets out to remedy the wrongs done unto her and others.

In addition to creating a captivating relationship, Ms. Estep is also incredibly gifted at writing novels that introduce an immediate threat to Gin and those she loves, revealing page by page a story wherein the foe is dealt with in typical Gin fashion, but she also seamlessly threads the ongoing threat with Mab Monroe through the middle of events so we never lose sight of our ultimate villain. With every Gin adventure we are brought ever closer to the suffocating blackness emanating from Mab in fiery waves, and while we know a showdown of unfathomable proportions looms not far in the distance, Ms. Estep creates a series of believable intermediate evildoers whose roles serve a specific purpose in helping Gin accomplish her vengeance against Mab.

The only minor flaw to Tangled Threads is the at times repetitive nature of the writing, with certain names, elemental gifts, or character associations being explained to us again and again as though we lack the ability to retain information we read twenty pages prior. Though this repetition will certainly be helpful to those who decide to read this book without picking up the previous three, for those of us who are avid fans and eagerly devour each page of every book, the constant reminders can be a bit distracting. Small drawback aside, Ms. Estep adds another brilliant story to her already impressive resume, and the countdown to Gin's next appearance in Spider's Revenge has certainly begun.

Rating: 4/5