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Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin, #1)

Jennifer Estep

Start date: January 23, 2012

Finish date: February 16, 2012

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Discussion leader: Shellbelle

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What Members Thought

May 08, 2016 Emma rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, magic

3.5 rounded up because I enjoyed it more than I should have!
Who counts like this? : 10, 20, 45...? The spider assassin does. Every time she is counting down or waiting for something to happen. Every time she meets the eye of the man she likes, she thinks 'grey on gold' (their eyes..) and every time she peruses this man she likes she says 'mmm'- like Homer Simpson eying up a donut! I'm not kidding..
And yet despite this I enjoyed the story and will definitely read the next one. Probably in the nex ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Oct 05, 2016 Tamika♥RBF MOOD♥ added it · review of another edition

Shelves: vampire-own, magic, urban-fantasy, part-of-a-series, mf-romance

Dnf @ 50%

Not another second will be spent on this book. Completely bored.

9 likes · Like · see review

Jul 20, 2014 Alison (Lady Coffin) S rated it really liked it

Shelves: assassins, set-in-north-america

Quite good, I will definitely be reading more in this series, that is for sure.
Liked the slightly altered world the book is placed in and also the main character Gin. Would love to see where her infatuation with the Detective leads.

Sorry for the quick, short review

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 25, 2015 Katherine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2015, pass-the-parcel

Gin is an assassin, and she is having a very bad week.
Somebody tried to kill her, tortured Finn and killed Fletcher.
The only person who had something on the killer, died by car “accident”. And the only lead Gin has is a detective, which partner she killed.

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 25, 2013 Aarati rated it really liked it

After contemplating for months I finally decided to pick up the Elemental Assassins series and I'm glad I did. I do enjoy a good, strong kick-ass heroine and Gin Blanco delivered.

Gin Blanco moonlights as the renowned and feared assassin, Spider when she isn't busy cooking the best barbecue in all of Ashland. Just back from a job in the Ashland Asylum, Gin's handler Fletcher hands a another case. When the case goes horribly wrong with Gin being double-crossed and her handler being dead, Gin is ou After contemplating for months I finally decided to pick up the Elemental Assassins series and I'm glad I did. I do enjoy a good, strong kick-ass heroine and Gin Blanco delivered.

Gin Blanco moonlights as the renowned and feared assassin, Spider when she isn't busy cooking the best barbecue in all of Ashland. Just back from a job in the Ashland Asylum, Gin's handler Fletcher hands a another case. When the case goes horribly wrong with Gin being double-crossed and her handler being dead, Gin is out for revenge. To complicate matters Ashland's only idealistic, law-abiding
cop wants to kill her too. It doesn't matter if they are both attracted to each other.

Spider's Bite was a largely well written book with great, well-fleshed out characters. Gin was a strong, independent woman who did her job using anyway necessary. She makes no excuse for being an assassin and openly accepts that killing is what she does best. It's a job she can do better than anyone and it pays well. For Gin it was a matter of surviving rather than killing when she was a kid, but she just honed her skills and became the most-feared and sought after assassin as she grew up.

Donovan Caine. I didn't like him much, mostly because he was riding his moralistic and idealistic high horse. He was too judgmental of Gin. His disgust for her was quite evident. He fails to realize that people are not always black and white. There are shades of grey too. Donovan goes on about how Gin killed his partner, but he never tries to find out the why. He just spews judgment like it's his God-given right.

There is an indisputable sexual chemistry between Gin and Donovan. While Gin openly accepts it and wants to explore it, Donovan is disgusted by his feelings for Gin. He unable to reconcile his attraction to Gin with his disgust for her. And honestly, he is not the guy for her no matter how Gin might wish otherwise.

Finnegan Lane is one character I loved. Fletcher's son, Gin's foster-brother and best fiend, Finn is a total charmer. He loves the high life and makes no excuses for it. Though on the surface he looks like a straitlaced investment banker, Finn is ruthless to his core. Charm, threats, gun, whatever is needed to get his job done, he does it.

Jo-Jo Deveraux and Sophia Deveraux were two other people in Gin's small family. Jo-Jo, an Air elemental is the resident healer and Sophia was the in-house cleaner. There's nothing much about them, and their appearances are not very long, but they were intriguing characters.

The book's back-story consists mainly of Gin's past, her murdered family and the Fire elemental who killed them. It does keep you interested and curious. Other than that, the main story arc is Gin trying to find the Air Elemental who flayed Fletcher alive and avenge his death.

The book was well-paced but the author kept repeating a few things again and again. "Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy" was an oft repeated phrase in the book and as was Gin's patience. It was repeated over and over again that Gin was as patient as a spider and that she could wait out the best of it. Constant references to her magic touches and hearing the murmuring of stones also got old after a while.

Though overall the book was really good, I wish the author wasn't so repetitive with some of the details. I'll surely be picking up the next book in the series. ...more

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Oct 01, 2012 Oleander rated it really liked it

Shelves: uf

Just as good on the reread. Gin is a wonderfully drawn character. I really like the two dwarf sisters as well.

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 28, 2013 Christina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: supsense, urban-fantasy

Gin is an assassin who gets double-crossed and her handler ends up dead. She has always been told to do the smart thing and run, but she can't and she is trying to find out what happened.This was an excellent book. I was really surprised at how fast-paced the book was. I loved Gin and the big bombshell that was dropped at the end of the book. I'm going to pick up the next in the series as soon as I can. This series is more of an urban fantasy than that of a paranormal romance book. While there i ...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Dana aka ♥Belladonna♥ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-urban-fantasy, genre-pnr

Yeah! A solid main character with an edge. She makes a killer sandwich, eats Mtn Dew cake and wears a watch with a garrote wire hidden inside. I love Gin. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.
This book was a 4 1/2 stars for me. ...more

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