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Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin, #1)

Jennifer Estep

Start date: April 1, 2011

Finish date: April 30, 2011

Discussion: (2011) April Read: Spider's Bite

Discussion leader: TheGeekyBlogger

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(2011) April Read: Spider's Bite

Spider's Bite: Full Book Disussion
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last updated May 13, 2011 04:05PM

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last updated May 05, 2011 06:07AM

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What Members Thought

Sep 17, 2011 Chelsea rated it really liked it

Shelves: uf-pnr, vampires, magic

This review was originally published at Vampire Book Club.

Gin Blanco is the kind of protagonist I love. She knows who she is and is completely at ease taking charge. Also, she has wry wit, which is always appreciated.

Spider’s Bite heroine Gin kills people for a living. She’s an assassin, and has never had any real qualms about killing people. They deserve it. She’s good at it. And it’s never personal. However, when a client sets her up to be murdered, to take the fall for some nasty things and i This review was originally published at Vampire Book Club.

Gin Blanco is the kind of protagonist I love. She knows who she is and is completely at ease taking charge. Also, she has wry wit, which is always appreciated.

Spider’s Bite heroine Gin kills people for a living. She’s an assassin, and has never had any real qualms about killing people. They deserve it. She’s good at it. And it’s never personal. However, when a client sets her up to be murdered, to take the fall for some nasty things and involve her family — well, she’s going to make them pay.

While Gin uses typical fighting skills, she is actually an elemental. She, like others within the Elemental Assassins world, is one who can wield magic tied to her element. She can call on stone to bring down a building if she wanted, but, well, that’s too easy. Plus, those who use their magic too much go insane. While investigating who is after her, we get to meet some engaging characters including a vampire former prostitute, a goth who loves to dispose of bodies and even an air elemental who runs a salon.

There’s a great juxtaposition of high society and its seedy underbelly. Mob queens out flaunt their power on the charity circuit and just about every cop is dirty. I say just about because the one good guy left on the force, Donovon Caine, finds himself under attack from the same person after Gin. They strike a truce, though he tells her he’ll hunt her down the moment it ends. I liked these two together. Gin makes no apologies about her serious crush on the detective and I appreciated her owning her sexuality by taking the lead.

There were a few writing quirks that threw me off while reading Spider’s Bite – mostly repetition of phrasing — but I believe they may be purposeful. Gin is methodical. She will wait as long as it takes to get revenge. So, it makes sense that she might say the same things or repeat her process of strapping on knives, each time. The function is well-thought, but I kept thinking “I just read that.”

With such a rich world, Spider’s Bite offers so much potential for an amazing series, especially as Gin begins to question what she really wants out of life. The events of Spider’s Bite shake her, and I will definitely continue with the series to see how she progresses. Fun and edgy, Jennifer Estep’s writing voice hooked me. I’m game for more.

Sexual content: Sex scene ...more

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Jan 01, 2011 Jen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: x-read-in-2011

Ok My turn - I guess I'm behind on everyone elses reading - or at least I'm reading the older books everyone else has already read -

Umm This book was pretty good - I gave it 4 stars because I finished it will read the next book too. So it wasn't that bad :)

I have never read an assassin book before - at least not where she was the good guy and the bad guy all roled into one. She was paid to kill people - but she only killed people who deserved it. So I supose there is good in her. She does try Ok My turn - I guess I'm behind on everyone elses reading - or at least I'm reading the older books everyone else has already read -

Umm This book was pretty good - I gave it 4 stars because I finished it will read the next book too. So it wasn't that bad :)

I have never read an assassin book before - at least not where she was the good guy and the bad guy all roled into one. She was paid to kill people - but she only killed people who deserved it. So I supose there is good in her. She does try to pull off that she doesn't care about anything or isn't sorry about anything but you can see she does care.

I HAVE read books about the Elemental powers though and I have to say - They're not my favorite - I'd rather she be able to fly or have super human strength - maybe her hand transforms into a bunch of knife fingers - but the elements ... that's cheating! How can somoene produce tornado type winds - throw bricks from a building from the other side of the room... make their body solid while still able to fight?? Yikes!?!
Even the end of Braking Dawn was a let down when they started playing with the elements in the battle.
BUT for what this book was about - it was pretty good. I was able to look over her magical use of the stone - the ice ... ok I"ll let her have that too .

I'm not too big on Donovan Caine - for one she discribes him as not THAT good looking - but his good characteristics make her hot for him.
He doesn't like her - infact he wants to kill her. But that doesn't stop him from their hot and heavy sex in the supply closet ... twice - while they're waiting for word from the poeple she's trying to kill ?? humm guess that's one way to pass the time with someone who is mildly cute, right?

I'm not to big on her bold-ness about the relationship - she kills people, yeah , I get that - but she practically throws herself at him. The scene at the bar kind of threw me off - After one drink - and again waiting for the bad guys to show up - why not make the most of their time?
I don't know - just seems like their relationship should have smoothed out a little - I can see why she didn't want to tell him about his partner being slime - but still - I kept waiting for Flinn to tell him or someone else to jump in - then he realizes she's the good guy and falls for her that way - then they can live happily ever after ...
now I'm not so sure how the next book is going to play out , but I'll give it a shot.

So all and all - the book was ok :) ...more

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Nov 16, 2010 Heather Book Savvy Babe rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Spider’s Bite is book 1 in Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassins series. I have seen this book around for awhile, and finally got the chance to read it. I am happy to report, I was not disappointed! Gin Blanco is my type of heroine, she’s tough, magical, sensual, and proud of who she is. She is an assassin, not a CIA sanctioned assassin, she’s a stone-cold contract killer. I love her character, she brought herself up from tragedy, with the help of her handler, Fletcher. In Spider’s Bite, Gin is ...more

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Feb 01, 2011 Christen (GoldiloxReads) rated it really liked it

This review is based on the audio book.

Spider's Bite is the first in the popular Elemental Assassins urban fantasy series by Jennifer Estep. I'm just now getting around to reading this series, although its been on my TBR forever! I was really looking forward to getting on the Gin Blanco train and I have to say, I wasn't disappointed!

Spider's Bite was so much more than I thought it would be. Its definitely on the darker side of UF, with a lot of grit and murder and sexiness. Gin should not be an This review is based on the audio book.

Spider's Bite is the first in the popular Elemental Assassins urban fantasy series by Jennifer Estep. I'm just now getting around to reading this series, although its been on my TBR forever! I was really looking forward to getting on the Gin Blanco train and I have to say, I wasn't disappointed!

Spider's Bite was so much more than I thought it would be. Its definitely on the darker side of UF, with a lot of grit and murder and sexiness. Gin should not be an easy character to like - she's a trained assassin who kills for clients and she's very private and difficult to get to know. But somehow Estep made me not only like Gin, but empathize with her.

She is a very damaged character with a typical urban fantasy heroine background - dead family, no one to turn to, lived on the streets, etc. But the way the author stretches out the details of her back story and ends the book still without fully giving us Gin's history was really well done. I know just enough to understand her a little but I'm enticed to learn more in subsequent books. I can really get the feeling that this is a series. It doesn't feel like everything important is wrapped up in one book, but rather that we will learn more and more as the series unfolds.

The other characters - Finn, Fletcher, Donovan - are very fleshed out and well rounded. They are rich characters that I felt at home listening to and they have interesting and complicated relationships that I loved. I don't like things to be easy and predictable in my UFs and this book is wonderfully complex. Donovan and Gin's relationship is especially complex since he is constantly at odd's with his growing attraction to Gin warring against his anger that she was the assassin that killed his partner (don't worry, the partner had it coming). I really have no idea how these two can have a functional relationship, but they certainly are hot together when Donovan can stop himself from getting in his own way.

As far as the Southern setting, I almost felt like Ashland was another character in the series. The world building of the city, its occupants, and their corruption is amazingly well done. Estep introduces us to elemental magic, vampires, giants, dwarves, an unscrupulous police force all without overdoing it or filling pages with info dumps. I can't wait to learn more about the city...especially the food (Yum! Don't read this book on an empty stomach!).

Overall I'm highly impressed with this first in a series and I can't wait to dive into the rest of them. Jennifer Estep has definitely made her mark in urban fantasy with this series and I can't believe I put off reading these books for so long!

Notes on the audio: Narrator Lauren Fortgang does an awesome job of combining Gin's dark and casual attitude toward her job with her sexy Southern accent. She really hit the nail right on the head. I loved the audio, but will be reading the next two because I already owned them. However, I do plan to listen to the remainder of the series.

Recommended for fans of: dark urban fantasies, assassins, complicated romance, elemental magic, and delicious sandwiches with Gouda cheese. ...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Jennifer Mckinney rated it it was amazing

Wow! I am so glad I stumbled into Jennifer Estep's Elemental Assassin Series. I was looking for another series to read with the same characters and I found an amazing one. I am a huge fan of the paranormal realm especially paranormal romance but sometimes I just want to read a series with less romance and more action! This book definitely has the hot factor but it has so much more action! I enjoyed every second of reading this and could not wait to read the next one and the next one. I have read ...more

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