Daring You To Read...Spider's Bite by Jennifer Estep

Daring You To Read is a weekly feature here on Tynga’s Reviews where we dare you to read some of our favorite older releases (at least 6 months old). All the books/series we choose to feature are titles we adored and think you should give them a shot! We think it’s a super awesome way to discover that special book who might have slipped off your radar!

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Jennifer Estep is one of my top five authors. Her books are must-buy for me and I'm constantly surprised by where she takes her characters and how she does it. As a result, I thought it was high time I dared you to try out her Elemental Assassin series, starting with SPIDER'S BITE.

Jennifer Estep has created a gritty and elaborate world in this series, one in which some people have elemental powers. Here's the description of the series from Jennifer Estep's website:

The Elemental Assassin books are set in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland, where Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina meet in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in her spare time. Gin is also an elemental or person who can control one of the four elements – Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone. Gin has the rare gift of being able to control two elements, Ice and Stone in her case. Besides elementals like Gin, Ashland is also home to giants, dwarves, and vampires.

As the blurb says, the titular elemental assassin is Gin Blanco. She's an incredibly tough, smart, and strong woman who is comfortable with who she is and what she does: she's an assassin and she's also the owner of the Pork Pig, a BBQ restaurant in Ashland, North Carolina. After her mentor Fletcher is killed, Gin embarks on a mission that will span five novels: she wants to kill Mab Monroe, an extremely powerful Fire elemental and leander of Ashland's underground. Oh, and she's also the person who murdered Gin's family.

Gin's surrounded by an excellent cast of supporting characters. My favourite in this book is probably Finn, Fletcher's son. He's one of the best people in the series because he's such a support for Gin and because he's a charming rogue. He's one of those characters you love right off the bat, and then grow to love even more because he's smart and wonderful. Gin's also got Sophie and Jo-Jo in her corner, a pair of dwarf sisters who use their abilities to help Gin with her quest.

In case fantastic character work isn't enough to get you to try this book, I should also mention that the plotting and world building in the Elemental Assassin books are outstanding. The stories have great pacing, surprising plot turns, a real sense of danger, and relationships you invest in. You won't be sorry if you give this book (and series) a try!

Want more? I bet you do! Here's the cover copy for SPIDER'S BITE:

After Gin’s family was murdered by a Fire elemental when she was thirteen, she lived on the streets and eventually became an assassin to survive. Now, Gin is given an assignment by her handler to rub out an Ashland businessman, but it turns out to be a trap. After Gin’s handler is brutally murdered, she teams up with the sexy detective investigating the case to figure out who double-crossed her and why. Only one thing is for sure —Gin has no qualms about killing her way to the top of the conspiracy.

My thoughts

Read an excerpt

Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Click on the cover to read my thoughts (except for VENOM because I skipped it and THREAD OF DEATH, the e-novella, because my review hasn't gone up yet):

Jennifer Estep also provides some delicious free short stories on her website. I posted about some of them last year so you can click here to see what I thought of the earlier ones.

Posted by jenn at 06:45

 Daring You to Read, Jennifer Estep, Simon Schuster  10 People left their mark

Born and raised in the Toronto area, Jenn moved to St. John's, Newfoundland, eight years ago for school. She's still in school (thankfully on another degree!), now trapped in her dissertation. When she's not dissertating, which happens more often than it should, Jenn spends her time reading, watching movies, playing volleyball, travelling, and enjoying the local music scene. Her latest addictions: yoga and Almond Crunch cereal.