Novella November: Kiss of Venom by Jennifer Estep

It's Owen time! Like most fans of the series, I haven't been too thrilled with Owen Grayson, ever since he went and broke the heart of my favourite assassin, so I was deathly curious about KISS OF VENOM. It is, after all, the first time we get to be inside Owen's head. And what an interesting and tormented place it is! KISS OF VENOM takes place between DEADLY STING and HEART OF VENOM, so Owen and Gin are on the outs but are in a better place than before the craziness at the Briartop Museum (in DEADLY STING). Owen feel like a butthead (because he was a butthead -- an understandable  butthead but a butthead nonetheless) so he's not really sure how it interact with Gin when he sees her at Northern Aggression, a club owed by their friend Roslyn.

What I liked best about KISS OF VENOM is watching Owen repair his friendship with Phillip Kincaid. I have a major soft spot for Phillip, in no small part due to his soft spot for Owen's sister Eva. Phillip and Eva give us glimpses into Owen's past, in addition to being great characters on their own, and I'm always excited to see them on the page. And Owen and Phillip out for a night on the town is something I never thought I'd see, at least not from one of their points of view, so that was a real treat. Of course, it's no Elemental Assassin story if someone's not out to kill Gin but now it's Owen's turn to do the dirty work. KISS OF VENOM shows you how strong his feelings are for Gin, and also gives you a lot of insight into what makes him tick. We got a lot of information about Owen's history in WIDOW'S WEB thanks to Salina but you really see how those events shaped him with this little window into his mind.

I would suggest reading KISS OF VENOM after you've finished with DEADLY STING, not just because reading things chronologically is always best IMHO but because there are references to events from that novel in KISS OF VENOM. This novella isn't an essential read since you can move from DEADLY STING to HEART OF VENOM without any issues but it's definitely worth checking out if you want a better sense of Owen Grayson, or just some extra time in the Elemental Assassin world. As always, Estep has knocked it out of the park.

Read an excerpt (scroll down to Excerpt tab)