I received a copy of this book from netgalley for an honest review.

4 3/4 Stars

Bitter Bite is book number fourteen in the Elemental Assassin series. Most series of this length start to fizzle and I lose interest in them, but Ms Estep has made the series better as it gets into the later books. Bitter Bite is a prime example of that, as I didn't want to stop reading for any reason.

In this book, a family member of someone in Gin's close circle of friends and family announces that they are alive, after all of Ashland believed they were dead for over thirty years. We find out that Fletcher left clues for Gin in case this woman comes back. Fletcher was so concerned because it's Finn's mother. Gin finds Fletcher's clues but has a hard time putting them together, except to know that Finn's mother is a very dangerous Elemental who only thinks of herself.

As the book progresses, the action, intrigue, interactions between Gin and Bria, and intense emotional turmoil make the story so interesting and hard to put down. As I told a friend, I was half convinced that Bitter Bite gave me an ulcer because I was so consumed by the story that I had a physical reaction. Hopefully I'm wrong about that part since I'll be waiting impatiently for the next installment of the Spider!

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely!! I would say that you'd probably want to have read most of the previous books to know about the history of Gin and her friends before jumping in at book fourteen, but a person might be able to start here if they shook off the history. If you're already a fan of this series, I'd say you already know you can't get your hands on this book soon enough!! It's an amazing addition to the series that I can only guess any fan will love.

Read my review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2958495839

Listened for Fun (Audible)
Overall Rating: 4.50
Story Rating: 4.50
Character Rating: 4.50

Audio Rating: 5.00 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: Bitter Bite was a Finn-filled story so it goes down as one of my favorites in the series. I LOVE me some FINN!

Quick Thoughts: Way to leave us with more questions Jennifer! I love that this series stays strong by wrapping up some things and hitting us with a right hook. I am possibly more in love with this series as the characters grow and change than I was in the beginning. Finn has had my heart from the beginning. I was very excited to hear that he was the focus of this story even though I knew that meant more Bria too. I will admit she didn't annoy me this story, makes two in a row. I might have to start liking the gal.

Best PART

Spoiler

Even though it was leaning that way, let me just say that Finn did not pull an Owen so I didn't have to give him a nickname (YEE HAW).

So I really enjoyed Bitter Bite from beginning to end. You have to read just for the entrance into the bank by Swagger Silvio <---yep I nicknamed him!

Audio Thoughts

Narrated By Lauren Fortgang | Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins

Broken Record ALERT: If you haven't listened to these on audio then you are missing out. THAT.IS.ALL.!

Part of my Read It, Rate It, File It, DONE!

Tja, was soll ich sagen. Ich liebe diese Reihe einfach und lese sie schon lange nicht mehr wegen dem Plot. Gefühlt ist ja wie in einem Anime. Es kommt immer ein Gegner, der stärker und besser ist und doch irgendwie besiegt wurde. Aber ich liebe diese Charaktere einfach. Es fühlt sich an wie nach Hause zu kommen, wenn Gin mal wieder ihre Messer schwingt um ihre Familie zu beschützen. Und was ich wirklich mag ist, dass sie nicht unbesiegbar ist, eher im Gegenteil und so oft nur knapp überlebt.

Bewertung: So zwischen 4 - 4,5 Sterne

Es ist nun Gin Blancos 14. Abenteuer und ich muss sagen .. mir hat das Buch sehr gefallen. Da mir der vorherige Band zu sehr nach dem Schema 0815 ging, hatte ich nicht allzu große Hoffnungen hier.

Ja, das alte 0815 Schema wurde größtenteils wieder angewendet, aber da sich das Buch doch sehr viel um meinen geliebten Finn drehte, war es zwischenzeitlich wirklich sehr spannend. Man hat eine Neue, eher unangenehmere Seite vom eigentlichen Charmeur und Strahlemann Finn kennengelernt. Ich muss auch sagen, dass Charaktere wie eben Finn und auch Bria mehr Persönlichkeit bekommen haben. Die Nebencharaktere sind sonst halt wirklich eher blasse Nebencharaktere/Helferlinge, ohne große Persönlichkeit gefühlt. Es freut mich dementsprechend, dass einigen Charakteren, wie auch Silvio zum Beispiel, mehr Leben eingehaucht wurde.

Fazit: gelungenes Buch und ich freue mich auf Band 15 nächstes Jahr!

Far from the best book in the series. Actually I found it rather meh. This time was for Finn to play the sucker and I really did not like that in he first place. The fact that he behaves utterly stupid most the time does certainly not help.

The fact that Gin behaves almost as stupid when it comes to controlling the situation does not help either. Why this procrastinating when it comes to telling Finn the truth. She had the letters from Fletcher to help support her for Christ sake. As a result of her delaying, delaying and then delaying some more things of course blew up in her face and then, naturally, everything of course became so much more complicated. Even her fighting and deduction skills seems to have suffered in this book.

On the whole the back was pretty much predictable from start to finish. Most of the time I just waited for Finn to finally have the penny drop and wise up. Naturally this dragged on until the end of the book. Well, at least then he promptly admitted what kind of asshole he had been and did some apologizing.

The main protagonist is really a manipulating bitch and I found here severely lacking in bad-guy-appeal.

There are a few twists around. Like the secret , ehhh, well if what that was all about it will no be a secret any more will it? Anyway it did never outweigh what, in my personal opinion, was some rather larger negative point with this book.

Overall it was still worthwhile reading and it was as well written as the other books inte the series although the author does repeat herself a bit as usual and for Christ sake, drop the Crack, Crack, Crack stuff all over the place. It is not a children’s story. My main gripe with the book is that I just did not like story itself very much.

I did something I've never done before with a Gin book...I put it down midstream to read another book. I don't know, I still love Gin and the gang (although Finn was a pill in this one), but I'm tiring of this series. Each book is just more of the same. There was an interesting reveal in the ending, and I'll likely read the next one. It just won't be with as much enthusiasm as before.

BITTER BITE was surprisingly hard to read. Finn has always been loyally by Gin's side and BITTER BITE pulls them apart.

Finn, Finn, Finn, oh how you disappointed me in BITTER BITE. I can totally understand his mommy issues and that he really wanted to believe his mother was everything he dreamed a mother would be, but I never thought he would pick a stranger over Gin. On top of feeling horrible for Gin, I thought Bria got the short end of the stick too. I mean who wants to hang out with their boyfriend's evil mother, having to pretend she is the best thing in the world because the person you love can't see through her crap?

As for Gin, she takes in all of the events in BITTER BITE like only Gin can. She is loyal, ruthless and willing to do anything she can to take care of those that she loves. She has faced some evil foes in her time, but I truly enjoy watching her take down all the new ones that throw themselves in her path.

I have come to the realization that I probably won't ever dislike an Elemental Assassin book. I love the characters, I love the world and I look forward to seeing how Estep ends the series when the ending happens to come—even though that will be a sad day.

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book wow, ok I love that we get more of Finn and Gin and how they grew up. To see how much she cares and how she is willing to do and put aside for Finn its heart warming.

I didn’t see his mother coming back because we all thought her dead. I hate what she does to Gin and to Finn and how she tried to tear their relationship apart.
The twist in the hierarchy was new looking forward to see what is going to happen.
Again I am enjoying the narration.