Books and Needlepoint: Venom

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Venom by Jennifer Estep (Book Review)

Shared by Kristi

Title: Venom(Elemental Assassin, Book 3)
Author: Jennifer Estep
Publisher: Pocket Books (Simon and Schuster)

My synopsis: Genevieve Snow has been living under an alias Gin Blanco for years. You see, Genevieve's mother and sister were killed when Gen was a teenager. She thought her little sister Bria was also killed, but has recently found out she is still alive. They were all Ice Elementals but Gin also inherited her father's power and she is a Stone Elemental also. She has also kept her identity as the assassin, the Spider, a secret. She is retired from being an assassin now, and is just trying to live her life as restaurant owner of The Pork Pit. Her mentor, Fletcher Lane, left her The Pork Pit when he was murdered.

Unfortunately for Gin, life doesn't seem to want to leave her in peace. Mab Monroe, local Fire Elemental and mob boss, is out to get her. She believes that Gin may have had something to do with the murder of her associates son at one of her parties. Gin was already out to get Mab as she has been made aware of the fact that Mab is the one that had Gin's family killed. She just doesn't know why. Elliott Slater, a giant, and Mab's right-hand man continues to get in Gin's way. He has decided that he is "dating" Roslyn, a vampire who came into his radar because of Gin. I say he decided because Roslyn doesn't want to have anything to do with him, but because of his size and who he works for, she doesn't have much of a choice. Gin feels responsible because she feels it is her fault that Slater even met Roslyn.

Meanwhile, Bria has come to town and is working as a detective with the Ashland Police. She is partnered with Xavier, another giant who also moonlights as security for Roslyn. She goes by Bria Coolidge and still wears the rune that she had as a child. She also has three rings, one of which is a spider rune representing Gin. While Gin knows that Bria is her sister, Bria does not know who Gin is. For Gin, Finn, her foster brother, Jo-Jo and Sophia - dwarf sisters with powers of their own and Xavier are really the only family she has ever known. Owen Grayson, a local business, seems determined to join Gin's small circle of friends though. Problem is, Gin is having some self-esteem problems because her last boyfriend could not accept her assassin side.

When Slater kidnaps Roslyn, things heat up and Gin knows she is going to have to take him out regardless of what it costs her.

My thoughts: This is my first Elemental Assassin book and I loved it! I can't wait to get the first two, Spider's Bite and Web of Lies. I want to get to know these characters better - they are people you would really want to have on your side. I like the paranormal books that aren't set in some weird setting or time. Aside from the fact that they were giants, dwarves, elementals and vamps, these were people you could have living next door. I want to state though, that this book read very well as a stand alone. I did not feel like I was missing anything by not having read the first two. Looking forward to the next one though as I want to see what develops between some of these characters. It is Tangled Threads and it is due out in April of 2011.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Pocket Books in exchange for my review.~