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Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin, #1)

Jennifer Estep

Start date: January 23, 2012

Finish date: February 16, 2012

Discussion: ♦Buddy Reads♦

Discussion leader: Shellbelle

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♦Buddy Reads♦

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What Members Thought

Oct 25, 2016 Barbara ★ rated it really liked it

Shelves: zzz-cover-building, paranormal-warriors-guardians, author-title-char-e, read-2016, zzz-cover-body-part, paranormal-magic, urban-fantasy, x-set-in-usa-tennessee, zzz-cover-weapon-other, zzz-cover-tattoo

This book grabbed me from the first line....
"My name is Gin, and I kill people."
...and didn't let go until I finished the adventure.

Gin Blanco is an assassin for hire who even throws in a freebie now and then for the truly deserving. Gin also has the elemental magical powers of stone and ice and what she can do with them is amazing. I really liked Donovan Caine and the pseudo-relationship between them. I really did wonder why Gin didn't tell him why she killed his partner but I guess I already k ...more

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Sep 27, 2010 Thenia rated it liked it

Shelves: 2013, reviewed, r-ab, paranormal, series

This is the beginning of Gin, aka Spider's story, stone elemental and notorious assassin. She is doing one last job before retiring, when everything goes wrong. She is double-crossed, framed, her mentor is murdered and she needs to find who is behind everything before she and her closest friend are killed.

Enter Donovan Caine, one of the last honest detectives who also has it in for Spider for killing his partner and caught in the middle of the mess created. The two have to team up to find the p This is the beginning of Gin, aka Spider's story, stone elemental and notorious assassin. She is doing one last job before retiring, when everything goes wrong. She is double-crossed, framed, her mentor is murdered and she needs to find who is behind everything before she and her closest friend are killed.

Enter Donovan Caine, one of the last honest detectives who also has it in for Spider for killing his partner and caught in the middle of the mess created. The two have to team up to find the people behind everything, while they struggle with the intense attraction and the distrust they feel for one another. Where Donovan is moral and determined to do the right thing, Gin is cocky and on the opposite side of the law, making things complicated for the two of them.

In this dark world, elementals seem to be on the top of the power pyramid, with vampires, giants, dwarfs and humans of all shades possible framing them. Gin's past is still very much a mystery and there's quite a bit of foreshadowing for what's to follow.

A couple of things stood out to me while listening to the audiobook. One, the way Gin kept referring to the color of her eyes - "my grey eyes narrowed"- and the way she would enumerate the emotions she could read in the detective's eyes/face in a list - "desire, guilt, something-else".
First, I don't know about other people, but when I narrow my eyes, I don't usually think of their color. A mention of it in a description once would have been fine, but the number of repetitions combined with the first person narrative made it weird.
Second, I envy some people their eye-reading skills as it seems I'm woefully unskilled in that area and can only speculate. Some emotions might be easy to decipher, but being able to read whole lists like that after a few seconds of gazing into someone's eyes takes talent!

Irony aside, Gin is cocky, but also straightforward and pursues the poor guilt-ridden detective, while investigating who framed her and seeking revenge for her mentor's grisly murder. She does get a bit banged up in her escapades, despite her skills, but keeps on going.

Tentatively, I'll try the next book in the series, hoping that I'll like Gin a bit more and that we'll get some answers. Oh, also fewer repetitions would be nice. Maybe I'll avoid the audiobook as well, since listening to the story seems to have exacerbated Gin's cockiness. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 11, 2010 Charlotte (Buried in Books) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

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Jan 20, 2012 Christal rated it really liked it

Shelves: magic, female-lead, urban-fantasy, purchased-to-read, vampires, assassins-spies-and-mercs

Spider's Bite was a really enjoyable story. Jennifer Estep has crafted a fascinating world filled with elemental power and I can't wait to learn more about it.

Gin Blanco was pretty badass. She talked tough, but had the skills to back it up. I loved seeing her in action. I hope we learn more about her family and what happened to her in future books. Mainly I just want to know why they were targeted.

Finn was a great partner for Gin. He was funny and snarky and just played so well off her. I also r ...more

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Nov 13, 2018 Katharine rated it it was ok

Shelves: i-vant-to-suck-your-blood, do-you-believe-in-magic, urban-fantasy, imagine-that

Didn't hit the mark for me. I'm so disappointed. I really wanted to like the book and fall in love with the series. I think it was that there was too much violence, but it's not like I haven't read and enjoyed books with quite a bit of some type of violence in it. I just don't know. ...more

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