Books and Writing - Jennifer Estep {Elemental Assassin, Black Blade} #1:"A raw, gritty, and compelling walk on the wild side, one that had me hooked from the first page." - Page 2

Drunk On You · 06-20-2015, 03:23 PM

I did love Finn and Gin's relationship.

So Gin and the detective doesn't get together?

Stay to the Lights · 06-20-2015, 06:35 PM

They do in book 2, but then he can't handle what she is and still be a cop with his morals. She wanted him, but he never could accept all of her.

Yes, Gin/Finn is one of my fav things in the series.

They may not be blood related, but they are family all the same.

Drunk On You · 06-20-2015, 07:03 PM

That was a big turn off for me. Every scene that he is in in the first book Gin couldn't stop saying how much she wanted to jump his bones, etc. Give it a rest. She was almost too sexual forward for my liking.

Stay to the Lights · 06-20-2015, 07:13 PM

Yeah. I didn't like them as a couple. He wasn't right for her, never accepted who and what she was, nor even attempted to understand it. I was glad knew they wouldn't last before I got into the series. It's like she was trying to force something, maybe because she wanted it to work with him, hoping he may be who could accept her.. but thankfully he goes bye bye

Book 3: Venom

Quote:

Gin Blanco is trying her best to stay as a retired assassin. But unfortunately bad news follows her, mainly because of the turn of events in Web of Lies, where she ended up snuffing out the son of a very dangerous man, Jonah McAllister, who is also the lawyer for one of Ashland’s most powerful elementals, Mab Monroe. Venom starts where Gin has the flu and is suffering from a bad cold. She’s attacked by Jonah and some of his thugs because he thinks she knows something about his son’s death. Gin puts on the scared act and is beaten within an inch of her life. Mab puts a stop to it. Mab, Jonah and his goons all think Gin is some weak, pathetic loser. And because of that Mab has no idea what Gin is capable of and will be taken down. Gin wants to kill Mab, who was responsible for murdering her parents, almost killing her when she was a barely a teen, and up to most recently thought her younger sister Bria had been dead all these years. The biggest surprise in store for Gin is that Bria is alive and has moved to Ashland to take over the role of detective, the one Gin’s sometime lover, Detective Donovan Caine had recently vacated.

Gin’s attack doesn’t weaken her resolve. She’s fixed up by two very powerful dwarfs who are skilled in healing, and has the support of Finn Lane. Finn’s father Fletcher took Gin in and taught her to be an assassin. Years later he was tortured and killed. Gin also wants revenge for Fletcher’s murder because she thinks Mab may also had something to do with it. Gin and her crew carefully plan a way to bring down Mab, but Bria is sniffing around. And because of that, Bria is marked for death. Now Gin has to protect Bria, while keeping her true identity a secret, as well as lend aid to an old lover of Finn’s, a vampire, who is being stalked by one of Mab’s psychotic goons.

And, if that’s not bad enough, or perhaps in Gin’s case, a very good thing, the mysterious, rich Owen Grayson, who first appeared in Web of Lies (Gin saved his sister), wants to know Gin better. He too has a past much like Gin’s that bonds them. And because of that, Gin may have found not only someone who understands her, but a lover who won’t judge her like Donovan did every time they were together.

Quote:

this book finds Gin's sometimes-lover Donovan Cain long-gone, as he's "gotten outta Dodge" to escape his considerable attraction to our beloved assassin. Eager to fill that void is Owen Grayson...but we're repeatedly reminded of Caine during Gin's interactions with Owen, due to her feeling once-burned; she basically compares everything from their kisses and physical attributes to their respective morals and motivations. Her wanting to know Owen at all is colored by her past with Caine. Personally, I really found the introduction of Owen as a major figure to be an intriguing one. His presence brings an enticing air of mystery, for both Gin and the reader.

Quote:

In this installment we get an even better look inside Gin's assassin persona; it's a scary and fascinating place. In the opening chapter she endures one heck of a beating in order to maintain her cover. I kept waiting for her to unleash a can of whoopass on the giants but hiding her skills was indeed the best long-term game plan for her and that's exactly what she does. You can't help but admire Blanco for willingly getting pummeled when she could have easily come out the winner of the encounter. This is just the first of many instances where she demonstrates her knack for thinking on her feet. As an ex-assassin, Gin finds herself in some pretty hairy situations yet she always manages to keep her cool, even when bullets are zooming past her head! There's more to her than just a cold blooded killer though and that's what makes her story so incredible. Her feelings and doubts go a long way into humanizing her in this book. I think that Estep does an exceptional job developing her characters in this series. They're memorable, life-like and unique; I for one can't get enough of them!

Elliot Slater is the kind of guy you love to hate and the first bad guy of this series that I really wanted to see suffer a slow and painful death at the hands of Gin. I like that it took the entire book for Roslyn's revenge to come full circle; it made the end result extremely meaningful and personal. All of the characters play a role in the main plot which is yet another noteworthy element in this book. As a result, the side stories became an added bonus instead of an essential ingredient in order to tie everything together.

Finn is finally coming into his own and I like that he actually kicked some butt in this installment. I've been on the fence about him for the past two books but now I'm glad he's a part of this series and I look forward to seeing what Estep has in store for him. I love, love LOVE Owen Grayson and how this book ended. I'm kinda hoping that he and Gin team up and go after Mab Monroe together. Wouldn't that be a romantic outing? Yeah... Natural Born Killers style! Sophia's story still remains a mystery but at least we learned something about her this time. I just hope her tale will be as awesome as I expect it to be!

Quotes:

Owen drained the rest of his tonic. “You know, I’m not used to waiting for a woman to call.” “Well, then this new experience will be good for your ego,” I replied.

“I’m just wondering how exactly I went from being the Spider to the Robin ****ing Hood of the greater Ashland area... Instead of stealing from the rich, I’m stabbing them to death for the poor.”

“I don’t judge you for what you’ve done, Gin. Why are you judging me for another man’s mistakes? Because Donovan Caine did make a mistake,” Owen said in a soft voice. “Letting someone like you go.”

“Are you sure he’s in there?” I asked. Finn grinned. “Baby, would I lie?” I stared at him. “Okay, frequently,” he admitted. “But you can trust me on this.

----

The bastards never would have even got ten close to me if I hadn’t had the flu.

Coughing, sneezing, aching, wheezing. That was me. Gin Blanco. Restaurant owner. Stone and Ice elemental. Former assassin. And all-around bad-ass. Laid low by a microbe.

One second, I had my face buried in a tissue blowing my sore, drippy nose for the hundredth time today. The next, I looked up to find myself surrounded by three giants.

Oh, ****.

I stopped, and they immediately closed ranks, forming a loose triangle of trouble around me. The giants were all around seven feet tall, with over sized, bug-like eyes and fists almost as big as my head. One of them grinned at me and cracked his knuckles. Someone was anxious to get down to the business of beating me.

I was also one of the rare elementals who could control more than one element. Stone and Ice, in my case. Until recently, my Ice magic had been far weaker than my Stone power. But thanks to a series of traumatic events, I could do much more with it now. Like create a wall of Ice knives to fling at the men. I’d sliced through a dwarf’s skin doing just that. Giants weren’t quite as tough as dwarves, at least when it came to cut ting into them. Even if they did have more blood to spare that their shorter compatriots.

But the odds or how to go about killing the giants wasn’t what was holding me back. Not really. It was the consequences, what would happen after wards when their boss, Mab Monroe, got involved.

All that left me with only one option tonight—I was going to have to let the giants hurt me, beat me. That was the only way I could keep my cover identity as Gin Blanco safe, along with who I really was, Genevieve Snow.

****. This was going to hurt.

Drunk On You · 06-21-2015, 04:03 PM

Ahh so because he couldn't accept what she did or all of her but he couldn't stop his feelings he just ran away. Great.

Although I do understand. Sometimes you can't help but love someone you have no control over but not be able to be with them. Sometimes love isn't enough.

Ok so more on Bria. How did she survive? And where did she go? And did she think Gin was dead all this time too?

Stay to the Lights · 06-21-2015, 06:06 PM

That's true, and because of that, he couldn't be around her that he left town.

Yeah, she thought Gin was dead along with the rest of their family in the fire. She was found after the fire and adopted by a couple changing her surname to Coolidge.
I'm not sure if she made out that she was dead after being tortured by Mab, or that Mab just assumed she was dead, but she was lucky to survive.

Stay to the Lights · 06-23-2015, 05:09 AM

Book 4: Tangled Threads

Quote:

Gin Blanco, a.k.a the Spider, isn't the only skillful assassin in town. Elek*tra LaFleur has been hired by Mab Monroe to use her lethal electrical elemental magic to kill the Spider. As if her motivation to save her own life wasn't enough to take her out, LaFleur has added Gin's younger sister Bria Coolidge to her hit list. Gin will do whatever it takes to keep her sister alive but what would happen if the good detective learns that her sister she thought dead is still alive and is the very murderer she has been hunting?

LaFleur sales her skills to the highest bidder. After Gin declares war on Mab Monroe in the previous book, Mab hires LaFleur to take out the Spider before Mab herself becomes a victim. LaFleur is powerful, ruthless, determined and holds nothing back. She is Gin's equal when it comes to skills and it will take everything Gin has to stay alive. The action between Gin and LaFleur is intense and there were times I wasn't sure how Gin was going to get out of the bloody situations she kept finding herself in. It was both nerve racking and exciting to read. The elemental aspect of this series has always interested me and I liked that a new elemental magic was introduced into the story as well as exploring what Gin is capable of with her ice magic.

In Gin's personal life, she isn't quite sure of how to handle her relationship with Owen Grayson. Having recently been rejected by Detective Donovan Caine because of his inability to look past her occupation, Gin fears a day will come when she will see nothing but disdain in Owen's eyes. But he surprises her by showing affection and understanding towards Gin and will not let her push him away. There is nothing about Owen I don't love. He isn't afraid to get his hands dirty and he'll do what it takes to show Gin the depth of his feelings for her. Gin is young but she's already had a hard life and I believe Owen and what he has to offer her is nothing less than what she deserves.

Bria isn't aware her sister survived the attack that killed their family 13 years ago. Gin is unsure of what her detective sister will think of her illegal affairs or her personal mission to take down Mab Monroe. The decision to reveal herself to Bria weighs heavily on Gin and the arrival of LaFleur puts events into motion that will not leave Gin with much of a choice. The build up and uncertainty of a relationship between Bria and Gin had me emotionally on edge.

My favorite supporting character, Finn, is back and is as charming as ever. It's not just that wonderful southern allure that draws me to him but also the way he'll do anything for Gin, who is like a sister to him. The constant support he gives her makes him just as attractive has accent I can hear whenever I read a scene with him. Fans of Finn should be happy with the amount of page time he receives..

Quotes:

“That's why you look so tired, isn't it?" I murmured. "You used up all your magic to find me last night."

**

Owen shrugged as though it was nothing. But it wasn't nothing to me. Besides Finn and the Deveraux sisters, I couldn't even remember the last time someone had cared enough to come looking for me when I was in trouble. I was so used to being on my own for so long, always being the tough, strong, capable one, that I'd forgotten how nice it felt to have someone else look out for me.
To have someone else care about me.
And just like that, the fragile strings of my feelings for Owen joined together, all the tangled threads wrapping around and weaving their way through my heart. Scary and painful in some ways, but necessary in others too.”

**

“Finn had finished his coffee run and was strolling back down the hallway, a mug of his steaming chicory brew in his left hand. He saw Vinnie heading toward him, sighed, and reached around behind his back with his right hand. Finn came up with a gun, which he leveled at Vinnie’s head.
The Ice elemental froze in the doorway.
“Why don’t you be a good boy, Vinnie, and go sit down,” Finn said in a pleasant voice before taking a sip of his coffee. His eyes never left the other man, and his gun never wavered. Finn could be a bad-ass when he had to, just like me.”

**

“Quite a crowd tonight, Gin. Usually, it's just you and Finn."
I shrugged. "What can I say? I seem to attract minions wherever I go these days. Kind of like the Pied Piper."
Behind me, Finn huffed out his displeasure. "Minion? I am most certainly not a mere minion. Head minion, perhaps. At the very least.”
**

“What was wrong with giving Gin a key?" he rumbled. "It's not like I could keep her out of the house, even if I wanted to. I thought a key would make things easier, make her feel like she was really welcome here. This is the first time that I've dated an assassin. I don't want to piss her off”

Drunk On You · 06-23-2015, 05:22 PM

at the last quote.

Did it ever say why Mab Monroe set that fire to her family?

AtomicEmpress · 06-23-2015, 07:05 PM

I love Finn/Gin SO much!

Stay to the Lights · 06-24-2015, 06:12 AM

yes! Finn/Gin is my fav relationship, apart from Gin/Owen.

April,

Quote:

So why did Mab Monroe slaughter Blanco’s family?

Monroe’s aunt Magda could see into the future and predicted that one of Eira’s children would one day destroy her. The aunt indicated that the child possessed two elements – two different magic, ice and stone – which she could control unlike most people who only had one. To prevent that from happening, Monroe had the novel idea of killing the entire family. But two of the daughters escaped, Bria and Gin. Much later when the daughters had grown up, Monroe assumed that Bria was the daughter who could control two elements.

Drunk On You · 06-24-2015, 07:25 PM

Funny how things like that work.

Gin only wants to destroy her because she killed her family (I'm sure there are other reasons). Honestly if Monroe never killed her familiy Gin would of never became the Spider and probably wouldn't go after her.

Stay to the Lights · 06-25-2015, 11:17 AM

Yeah, I would say without that happening, Gin would not have gone after her and become the Spider. Unless there are other reasons why she became who she is. I'll know once I read The Spider, which is the next book in the series I need to read.

Stay to the Lights · 06-27-2015, 03:14 AM

Book 5: Spider's Revenge

Quote:

Old habits die hard for assassins.

And that is just what Gin Blanco is. She is the assassin known as Spider and she kills people. Spider’s Revenge is the fifth book in the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep, and it’s official. Spider’s Revenge is my favorite book in the series. With that statement, I can easily lead in to saying that this series just gets better and better in its direction, and character development.

We start right off with Gin trying to take out Mab completely by herself while Mab is hosting a dinner party at her home. Gin is crazy, I told you that, right? Anyway, she completely misses her mark, and that starts a total ****storm. She causes a wave of hurt among the two most important men in her life, Fin her foster brother and Owen her boyfriend. She went behind all her friends’ backs, tried to take out one of the most powerful Elementals in the world, and did it completely alone without telling anyone. In addition, now Mab knows she’s being aggressively hunted and has thrown up even more guards than she had before. But something else is going on. Murders have increased in Ashville more than they have been before, and Gin’s sister and detective Brie feels this might have something to do with the dinner guests Mab had over the night of Gin’s botched assassination attempt. The story unfolds from there, and it had me on the edge of my seat.

Gin’s relationship with Bria evolves wonderfully, as they are brought closer and work together to avenge their mother and sister’s murders. I was so worried right along with Gin that Bria would not accept that her sister was the Spider, the violent murdering assassin.

Finn is so close to acknowledging that he might have feelings for Bria. The way he moons after her when she’s not looking. And the way she teases him back indicates she enjoys making him work for her attention. I loved their playfulness, especially knowing that Bria could be the one to change Finn’s manwhoring ways. And that is all I’ll say on that, because this is a no spoiler zone, friends. Additionally, Owen Greyson continues to be Gin’s rock. I could not be happier with the evolution of their relationship as well. There may or may not be some long-awaited words of affection shared between the two of them. You’ll just have to read and find out

And most importantly, and why I love this series so much… the action and fight scenes in Spider’s Revenge totally deliver! The violence and gore is awesome, I just love Gin so much, she is such a freaking badass you guys. The showdowns between Gin and Mab are spectacular and had me hanging on the edge of my seat. And yet, while the Spider gets her Revenge in this installment, the way the book is ended left me so happy with what Gin might be doing when we meet her next in By a Thread, the next Gin book.

Quotes:

“So,” I said. “Exactly how long have the two of you been together? I assume that you’ve been going hot and heavy ever since that night at Fletcher’s house when the bounty hunters interrupted you. Am I right?”
Finn and Bria didn’t look at me or each other.
“Right,” Bria mumbled. “Although if it makes you uncomfortable—”
“Then Gin’s just going to have to deal with it,” Finn cut her off.
Bria stared at him in surprise.
“What?” Finn said. “I worked too hard and too long to get you into my bed to just cut you loose now, cupcake.”
Bria’s eyes narrowed. “Cupcake?”
“Cupcake.” Finn grinned at her. “Or would you prefer snuggle bunny?”
Bria’s hand drifted down to the gun on her leather belt, as though she wanted to pull it out and shoot Finn with it. Well, it was good to know I wasn’t the only one who occasionally had that reaction to him.
...
Then I fixed them both with a hard stare. “Just don’t ask me to take sides when the two of you go at each other. Okay?”
They nodded, then looked at each other. Finn waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner, and Bria snorted. But she couldn’t stop a grin from curving her lips.”

***

“I will destroy you. No matter how long it takes, no matter what it costs me. I won’t sleep, I won’t eat. I won’t do anything but plot your downfall. I will mow down your men like they’re weeds. I’ll kill so many of them so viciously, so brutally, so horribly that no one will dare to work for you. And sooner or later, I’ll get you too.”

***

"You ready to do this?"

"Just like Bonnie and Clyde." He grinned, his teeth gleaming white against the black fabric. "Although let's try not to get shot to pieces tonight, okay? This coat is imported leather."

***

“Bria’s not the one who’s a threat to you—I am. Me. Gin Blanco, Genevieve Snow, the little girl that you tortured all those years ago. And if you kill my sister, I will stop at nothing to end your existence. Nothing. And by now, you should know exactly how good I am. I’m the Spider, bitch—I’m the best there is.”

***

Book 6: By a Thread

Quote:

Gin has eliminated her biggest enemy and now is open to living a normal, mundane life. Not so. She’s been targeted for assassination by criminals who want to take over Ashland that’s now up for grabs. Gin never has a dull moment, even when her sister Bria makes her go on vacation with her to the small seaside town where she grow up to visit her best friend Callie who’s getting married. Off Gin goes expecting fun in the sun. What she gets instead is another mob type boss, in a form of a vampire this time by the name of Randall Dekes, who wants the land Callie owns. But the real kicker is, Bria’s friend’s fiancé is Gin’s ex-lover, Donovan Caine who tore her heart in two.

Gin is pretty much over Donovan because she’s in love with Owen, a rich business man who accepts all Gin is, unlike the self righteous Donovan. It still stings that Donovan looks upon her with loathing, but also with lust. Gin tries to ignore it by being lusty with Owen on the beach instead. But an assassin’s work is never done and Gin will do whatever she can to help Callie because of Bria. But when Gin almost dies because of Randall, she takes off the gloves with the help of her friends, including Owen and her foster brother, Finn.

Quotes:

♥ "I love you too much for that, Gin. I do now, and I always will.”

♥ “You’re mine,” Owen said in a fierce whisper, the heat in his eyes as bright as the scorching sun. “Not his. Mine. Only mine. Always mine.”

♥ “Wow,” I whispered when we were through. “I’ll have to make you jealous more often.”

♦ "Never trust a vampire who collects dolls."

♥ "You're my sister first, and that's all that matters to me."

"So how did it go?" Finn asked. "Did Donovan tearfully proclaim his undying love?"
"Something like that," I said in a mild voice.
"And then what?" Finn asked, his green eyes gleaming. "I want all the juicy details."
"Your such a gossip." I spoke to Finn, but I looked at Owen who hadn't said a word. "And then I punched the smug bastard in the stomach and told him I loved Owen. That's what."
Finn grinned. "That's my girl. Always resorting to violence."

**

Book 7: Widow's Web

Quote:

Gin Blanco has a new enemy in town. Her name is Selina Debouis and rumor has it, the water elemental is back in Ashland after her long disappearance to seek revenge. But it seems that that’s not the only thing Selina has her eyes on...

Owen, Gin’s lover and Selina have a complicated past. Struggling at a young age to survive, Owen, Selina, Owen’s younger sister, Eva and Gin’s other enemy Philip Kincaid banded together to do whatever was necessary to live onto the next day. One secret haunts them all and splits the group into two, severing any friendships that the group may have had. This secret is the most deceitful and it makes for a very interesting story.

Readers get a glimpse of a more vulnerable Gin in this book. The fact that Owen has ties to Selina makes simply killing her a complicated task, especially when Owen seems to be harboring feelings toward his oldest friend still. Emotions are rocked back and forth in this book and I have to say that this may be one of my favorites of Estep’s because she was able to create an engaging villain in Selina while creating some drama as well to stir things up.

Some scenes are hard to read because of the emotional depth involved in them. This was exactly the type of scenes I wished for in this series. Seeing Gin kick ass is fantastic, but seeing her deal with something far more important than saving her own life is even more special in my eyes. You see the depth of her relationship with Owen and you see her vulnerability. It just makes Gin a more multi-faceted character. It makes her more real.

Quotes:
“For a moment, I almost felt sorry for her. Then the bitch blasted me with her water magic, and I got over it.”

***

“Gin! Gin, are you here?”
“Right behind you,” I said.
Finn shrieked and whirled around. I winced at the high-pitched sound.
“Dammit, woman.” He clutched the folder to his chest. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

***

“What did Owen ever see in you?” “Oh, I don’t know,” I said, my voice as cold and calm as hers was. “Maybe the fact that I’m not a psychotic bitch who tortures people for kicks.”

^^ My heart broke in this book, but the outcome wasn't as horrible as I was expecting.

Drunk On You · 06-28-2015, 02:14 PM

why did your heart break in the last book?

Stay to the Lights · 06-28-2015, 11:44 PM

Gin/Owen broke up, but I understand why. But it wasn't as bad as I heard from reviews, so I was expecting something much worse. But by the end, I had hope.

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Fan Forum > General Discussion > Books and Writing > Jennifer Estep {Elemental Assassin, Black Blade} #1:"A raw, gritty, and compelling walk on the wild side, one that had me hooked from the first page."