5/3.5

So I really love Jennifer Estep books and I’m a loyal Elemental assassin fan. I like Gin adventures but unfortunately a last couple of installments fell under my expectations and that’s fits this book too.
The story starts right where the previous one left off with the consequences of the revelation in Spider trap. As usual after a brief retrospection we are off to the frenzied chase and multiple adventures that surround Gin life. To my biggest disappointment it’s starts to get old for me. Don’t get me wrong it is excellently executed and Jennifer Estep has a talent to create intense and structured conflicts but after 14 books of the same MO I need something more I guess. And honestly lately I started to feel like the character development stopped in Gin case.
My other big problem is that I love or more like require a little romance to my ‘contract killing and problem solving’ and in this series I had it for a while. Not so much anymore, I mean Gin relationship with Owen stepped into a stagnant period. There is no progress regarding it what so ever. Feels like it not even there anymore. I miss it.
Finn is not my favorite character in the series so, I think he is arrogant and kind of selfish so I was not really delighted his center role in the story. It doesn’t mean that I is a bad story. Moreover there is a lot of interesting and deep emotions in it. I’m just not a fan of Finn.
It is interesting to see how the team works if there is a ‘conflict’ tearing them apart. The events are a bit similar to the ones that happened to Owen in Deadly sting. One plus for Finn to realizing his faulty views way faster than Owen did.
On the other hand this time Gin has a harder job to keep the peace and make everything right because she has a lot on her plate not just with the Finn situation but being the new ‘Big Bad’ Wolf of Ashland. Still she handles herself quite well.
It’s a good story, not the best in the series but still enjoyable.
I received this copy of Bitter Bite from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

Bitter Bite proved why the exciting Elemental Assassin series is such a popular one. Gin Blanco was at her best here, protecting her loved ones and kicking the bad guys, ahem, behinds.

“You should know this,” I said in a cold, hard voice. “When you hurt Finn, I will kill you.”
She gasped again, her blue eyes widened, and her hand flew to her heart, as though she were truly startled by my poison promise.

You’ve gotta enjoy a female character who is a tad paranoid and cynical, definitely a badass, and not afraid to fight until she’s the only one left standing, BUT who is also loyal, caring, and a heck of a cook. That’s why I look forward to each new book in this series. I think Jennifer Estep has done a great job building a character who’s not your typical heroine. The stories are dark, gritty, and gory, but to me they’re still about family, love and hope. It’s a cool combination.

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Digging up a grave was hard, dirty work.

Gin has discovered a file on Finn's mother, Deirdre Shaw. A little grave digging turns up a box with information proving that she is not dead. Gin dreads giving Finn the news and unfortunately he learns the truth from Deirdre herself. Gin is suspicious of Deirdre from the start which creates a riff between her and Finn.

There is something about this series that just sucks me in. I originally had a problem with all the repetition in the books. For some reason it doesn't bother me any more. I enjoy learning things about Gin. This time it was through a recurring nightmare from when she was 14. It is heartbreaking to see how much she wanted to be a part of a family with Fletcher and Finn.

Gin's love for Finn makes his attitude so hard to take after he starts spending time with his mother. It fascinates me to see that Gin is vulnerable. She has spent so much time building up her reputation as a hard, uncaring person. To see her cry is difficult.

I love the interaction between the secondary characters in the book. You know that you can always depend upon Jo-Jo and Sophia. Owen has worked his way back up to "book boyfriend" status although I still feel disappointed in him at times. Bria and Gin have a wonderful bond. I'm happy to see it strengthen with each book.

The story line has twists and turns that keep your attention. I am always amazed how invested I get in these plots and feel like I am in the story.

I highly recommend this series and look forward to the next book.

Originally posted at Vampire Book CLub

At the end of Spider’s Trap readers were told pretty much point blank what—or maybe I should say who—was coming up next. In Bitter Bite, Finn’s elusive mother is back in Ashland. Deirdre Shaw, whom everyone thought long dead these thirty-plus years, has returned. Coupled with Fletcher’s beyond-the-grave warnings about Deirdre and Gin’s own Spidey sense, it’s very clear from the onset that all is not right with Mama Dee. Finn, who it seems desperately felt the void left by not growing up with a mother, enthusiastically embraces the chance to get to know Deirdre. To say the least, Finn has blinders on where she’s concerned and won’t listen to reason from anyone. So it falls upon Gin to figure out what game Deirdre is playing. She just hopes Finn comes out unscathed in the end.

What I’ve always found interesting with the series, and something that is coming into play more and more, is the fact that the past doesn’t stay buried, and the past is not always what we remember. We see this in every book with the addition of some reminiscence of Gin’s involving a past case with herself and Fletcher. The whole premise of Bitter Bite is the past coming back to wreak havoc. While sometimes I feel like the coincidences between how things have tied together have been a little too convenient, I did like the addition of Deirdre.

Ever since Gin got rid of Mab at the end of the first story arc in the series, I’ve felt like the villains have been hit-or-miss. Sometimes the buildup doesn’t necessarily pay off, but in the case of Bitter Bite and Deirdre Shaw, I think it does. I think I give nothing away when I say she is a bad elemental. Someday (say by the end of the series), maybe the other characters will finally believe Gin when she says that something is not right, instead of just claiming she’s paranoid. When it came down to Deirdre’s endgame, I wasn’t too shocked. Honestly, the formula that Jennifer Estep has established with this series runs true in Bitter Bite and when it all comes down to it, the biggest thing that sets Deirdre apart from other villains is that she is Finn’s mother.

Something that I loved in this book was getting to see some tender moments between Gin and Finn. I feel like this series sometimes glosses over opportunities for the characters to grow through their vulnerabilities. I love the driving action as much as the next person, but I also love a well-rounded character and sometimes that involves slowing down a little bit. I feel like this opportunity was missed with the Owen and Gin reconciliation. Here, I liked seeing Finn and Gin reconnect after he dismisses those who care about him in favor of a mother he never knew. I’m also happy to learn we’ll get a Finn point of view story, Unwanted (out in July), which I hope will delve further into Finn’s state of mind.

Overall, if you’re a fan of this series, I can’t imagine Bitter Bite being a disappointment to you. While it follows the same protocol as other books, I really felt a sense that we’re heading into the final act(s) of another story arc, if not the entire series.

Link: https://holedupinabook.blogspot.com/2017/07/elemental-assassin-series-1-15-by.html

Wow, 15 books, where do I even start? First of all, I just want to be clear that book 15 is not the last book. In fact, book 16 is currently available however one of my library is showing that the copy is missing and my other library doesn’t even have any of her books. So. I also think I have given this book way too much attention – I mean, 15 books? That’s a lot of dedication on my end. Also even though I think the way how book 15 ended with that major cliffhanger, it was also a good way for me to wrap up the series. Mainly because now Gin is going on another huge mission on taking down another whole organization altogether. So I should probably get out before she even starts because knowing Jennifer Estep, she’s going to milk another 10 books just to defeat them.

So first things first, I did enjoy the series otherwise I would not have spent so much of my time listening to all 15 books and yes, I had them via audiobook. I really did enjoy the narrator as well because she did the Southern accent so well with all of that “sugar” endearments being thrown in. And let me tell you, it got thrown in quite a bit. I know the author was trying to emphasize that the characters are all from the south but I think she overdid it. Everyone literally had an intense southern drawl and their voices were either gravely or nasally. There was nothing in between. So obviously the narrator did as told and while doing a fantastic job in the voices, it was also difficult sometimes to distinguish some of the characters. I mean, from what I know, not everyone in the south have gravely/nasally voice. And apparently they’re all either super grumpy or super sugary. Also no in between. Are there no normal people in the south? According to Jennifer, apparently not.

That being said, I’m also not sure if it’s a grammatical error or a regional difference because Gin would often say “he/she got dead” and in the north east, that is so wrong grammatically that I would honestly cringe every single time she would say something along those lines. You don’t “get” dead – you “become” dead or you “get killed”. It was something small but as an assassin, she would cause other people to “get” dead on such a frequent occurrence that it started to really rub me wrong.

Another thing that got annoying after a while was all of the flashbacks and dreams that Gin would have. And it was so forced that I really hated it. I mean, most of these flashbacks and dreams just happened to occur right when it was actually relevant and she would somehow remember something from the past that would help her figure out a certain problem or answer questions. Out of all the books, I don’t think there was even one of them where Gin figured things out for herself if it didn’t pertain to actual fighting but problem solving – she would “somehow” fall asleep and get some wisdom-filled dreams that would “miraculously” save the day. In the beginning of the series when Fletcher was killed, it made sense for Gin to have some recurring dreams about him and what he had said but after a while, it became a little redundant and in book 15, she was remembering things that happened to her over 20 years ago. Not sure about you but that seems highly unlikely.

One other issue (last one, I promise before I am basically just venting) was the same problem that occurred in the Anita Blake series where the author seemed to copy and paste certain sentences/paragraphs in each book. For example, every single time before she would sleep with Owen, her lover, she would say something about the little white pills and always using extra protection. And it was the same line, over and over again. Thanks for the sex education, Jennifer but 15x in 15 separate books? That’s a little excessive.

Even though I have basically been ranting, I truly did enjoy the books. Despite Gin’s shortcomings (she was a little slow at times), I found her resourceful in times of need and admired her loyalty and ethics. She was an assassin but she was an assassin who cared. She had these moral codes that were embedded in her and I was pleased to find that she never broke them even though there were times when it certainly would have been easier. Her friends and family were always loyal to her and even though they argued at times, at the end of the day, they remained true as well. Those were relationships you can’t really find anywhere and I’m glad to find that Gin managed to pick up really grounded connections as the series went on.

The plots were usually different in each book but there were a lot of previous references scattered throughout so I would definitely recommend reading them in order for a reader to really get the whole picture. I was also intrigued by how much underworld dealings were going on in Ashland which seems like a normal southern small-town but apparently that was not the case because once Gin would take down one of them, another one would show up. It was like whack-a-mole all over again.

I would recommend this series to people who would be okay with an overall interesting plot and intriguing characters and wouldn’t mind the tendency to rehash things again and again.

Review copy provided by publisher

With each book in the Elemental Assassin series I think there is no way I'll like this book more than the last book, and I'm wrong every single time. I absolutely adore each book in the series and feel the books get stronger with each addition to the Elemental Assassin series.


Gin Blanco remains one of my favorite characters in the Urban Fantasy genre. She is such a strong character partially due to everything she has gone through in her past and partially because she must always be the one to step up and protect her friends and family. When her foster brother Finnegan Lane's long dead mother reappears, I knew it wouldn't be pretty for Gin for long. I didn't trust Deidre any more than Gin did and just knew she was using Finn for something bad. I hated that Finn, who had known Gin pretty much their entire lives decided to trust Deidre and blow off Gin's concerns about her. I did love that Ms. Estep addressed the elephant in the room, since Gin had just gone through a similar situation with Owen right up front. I will say with all my love for Finn, I still wanted to "Gibbs smack" him across the back of the head multiple times while reading Bitter Bite.

I always know in my heart of hearts that everything will work out for Gin and her family and friends, but have to say Ms. Estep kept me on the edge of my seat a little longer than I really wanted. I have to say I really kind of loved to hate Deidre as a villain, and couldn't wait to see her get hers. Bitter Bite was a can't put this book down until I finish reading the story for me. Seriously I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish reading it because I had to see where Ms. Estep was taking the story next.

3.5 out of five stars


Okay....so I have hit the biggest reading slump that I’ve ever been in and it has been torture. I can’t remember the last time that I only read one book in a month. I can’t even say that I really enjoyed this book. It was good but I didn’t exactly enjoy it like I normally would have 😖.

So Bitter Bite follows Gin and the Gang(tm) as they deal with the return of Finn’s supposedly mother. It’s full of paranoia, bank heists, and family drama. This book was interesting but I just did not enjoy it. I liked the concept and the way it ended, but I have had so much stuff going on this month that it completely sucked any enjoyment from this book.

All in all, the book was good. I’m giving this one a three and a half out of five stars.