Venom

Elemental Assassin, Book 3

By: Jennifer Estep

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

"It's hard to be a badass assassin when a giant is beating the crap out of you. Luckily, I never let pride get in the way of my work. My current mission is personal: annihilate Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who murdered my family, which means protecting my identity, even if I have to conceal my powerful Stone and Ice magic when I need it most.

"To the public, I'm Gin Blanco, owner of Ashlands best barbecue joint. To my friends, I'm the Spider, retired assassin. I still do favors on the side. Like ridding a vampire friend of her oversized stalker - Mab's right-hand goon who almost got me dead with his massive fists.

"At least irresistible Owen Grayson is on my side. The man knows too much about me, but I'll take my chances. Then there's Detective Bria Coolidge, one of Ashland's finest. Until recently, I thought my baby sister was dead. She probably thinks the same about me. Little does she know, I'm a cold-blooded killer... who is about to save her life.

©2010 Jennifer Estep (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Estep has really hit her stride with the gritty and compelling Elemental Assassin series. She surrounds her fascinating and complex heroine with a cadre of supporting players, each of whom are intriguing in their own right. Brisk pacing and knife-edged danger make this an exciting page-turner. Kudos to Estep, who is rapidly heading toward the top of the urban fantasy genre!" ( Romantic Times)

Return of the Spider

This book was like another book 1 in that it was the beginning of very important issues that will be dealt with in the future--New war, new relationship, new family, new friendship etc. This book is a really good set up for the next books in the series.

Book 3 picks up where book 2 ended. The narrator continues to weave this suspenseful tale as Elliott Slater was still being a terror and Mab Monroe was still letting her flunkies bully everyone. Elliott came and beat up Gin at her night school (Ashland Community College). He threatened her life and the people around her. Obviously he doesn't know Gin Blanco, because the Spider doesn't let anyone push her around or hurt the ones she loves. So Gin Blanco and Elliott Slater finally have their showdown--a prelude to the war with Mab Monroe.

On another note, Gin has to rescue Rosalyn and make some decisions regarding Owen Grayson. We finally get some very important events that shaped the life of the successful business man and they make sense now. I like the direction this story is going and I can't wait to hear Tangled threads.

Loved It

Any additional comments?

Great narration. I like to list this first as it can make or break a story.

Loved this story. Easy listerning and very entertaining. Will be impatiently waiting for any new books in audio from this author.

I really enjoy it when readers with similar reading interests list their favourite authors and series. It really helps me find new authors too follow. Mine are Charlaine Harris, Jeaniene Frost, Jennifer Estep, Faith Hunter, Molly Harper, Ilona Andrews, Kresley Cole, Deborah Harkness, Nalini Singh, Coreene Callahan and Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Happy Reading

Can't Stop!!

Where does Venom rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I rank Venom one of my favorite so far.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I could not stop listen I wanted to listen to all 12hours at one time. Great story

Gin is at it again

Gin Blanco is a tough girl with Ice and Stone magic that, along with her training, gets her out of all kinds of messes. It also allows her to help her friends, or Finn's friend Rosalynn, in this case. Rosalynn is a vampire/madam at Northern Aggression, arguably one of the coolest names for a bar I've seen. Because Rosalynn helped Gin get into one of Mab Monroe's parties last year, she came under scrutiny of the Fire Elemental's goons - and one of them took a real shine to the vamp. A bruised, bloody shine.

Killing Mab's favorite giant is now on Gin's to do list. Doing it before Rosalynn ends up dead would be preferable.

This is female protagonist, urban fantasy. Gin makes for a believable tough girl while still having all the hang ups normal people have. Love affairs gone bad. Picking the wrong guy. Not thinking far enough into the future. The story is packed with action, magic, and wry humor. Just the way I like it.

Great series

The Elemental Assassin books are great. very engaging with interesting strong characters and good story lines. a perfect mix of fantasy, action and romance. And I love having a series with a strong, add kicking female as the lead character

They are getting better

I find this series very enjoyable. It goes by fast as I am invested in the story. Lauren Fortgang is PERFECT for this book and does a fantastic job narrating. The one drawback of the first 2 books is the constant repeat of the "who she is". It is like they said they needed to add 5 pages so she took 1 paragraph and added it to every other page through the whole book. However, in this book, they did not do that. I will definitely continue with this series.

Another great book from Estep!

Loved it! This is probably my third time listening to this series. However, it's been awhile, so I feel like I'm experiencing it again for the first time. I love the her view of the paranormal!

Getting better....

I'm beginning to like this series much better than I did at first. The writing isn't quite as repetitive as the first two books. I like the love interest Owen so much better than Donavan, especially considering our heroine. I'm waiting to find out what has happened to Sophia, because that sounds like it will be an interesting story. The story keep referring to how Gin is getting stronger with her elemental magic, what I don't understand is why she doesn't work/ practice with it more to hone her skills. I do realize this is not her main means of assassination, that she prefers her "silver stone knives", but consider who she wants to kill, you would think she would perfect all means available to her.

LOVING this series more and more

****Review will contain mild spoilers if you are not update on the series.****

Ok the awesomeness of this series just gets better with each book. Each book in the Elemental Assassins series has its own plot with a bigger picture plot surrounding the murder of Gin’s mother and older sister. Things keep building as Gin finds out more about that night and about her later handler, Flecter.

Gin is still mourning her handler and foster father, Fletcher. She is also having a hard time with her love life. But as one douche bag leaves town; another HOTTER and more suited for Gin, guy comes along.

“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.”

By the time Venom ends I can’t see a more perfect guy for Gin than Owen.

Gin just can’t seem to stay retired from the assassin gig. But instead of getting paid for her skills she is using them as a service to the good people of Ashland.

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

Gin and gang has their hands full trying to help Rosyln Phillips with a stalker problem. The stalker in question is Elliot Slater, Mab Monroe’s head of security. Gin has no problem planning a way to kill the giant, since we start out Venom with Slater beating the crap out of Gin on the college campus. How can that be? Gin decides to go along with the beating as not to give away her cover as Gin Blanco.

Gin spends a great deal of Venom protecting her cover in order to get closer to Mab Monroe and figuring out a way to take her out for killing her family all those years ago.

Speaking of family, Gin finally gets to meet her baby sister that she thought died with her other sister and mother on that dark night. Gin and baby sister Bria are on different sides of the law but are more alike than either would have guessed.

Venom is full of action, mystery and a healthy dose of dark humor and snark. I love the world and characters that Jennifer Estep has built. It’s been a while since a series has grabbed me the way this one has.

And now that I’m done with this review and can now start Tangled Threads!

Really want to read them all BUT......

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I really like the story line but can't take the constant repeating of previous books. I little here n there is ok but it's almost like it was "copy & pasted." I also can't take the amount of description and details given in between Character questions. By the time she was done describing how she felt, prev book info, lay of the land and weather I forgot the original question from the character. I also can't stand any longer how Gin is such a "Bad Ass" YET she is always beaten to a pulp!!! Enough is enough!! She is an Assassin!! At least let her kiss A$$ here n there please!!! I got small satisfaction when she killed 4 giants in a row but it just made all the other times she was beaten even worse cuz she should have done the same to them!!

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Less details or better placed

What does Lauren Fortgang bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her voices are GREAT

Could you see Venom being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Sorry I don't think I want to spend the money on repeated info and a horrible assassin. The love plot is good but too much "STUFF" surrounding it. I listened to alot of it in Fast Forward