Spider's Bite - Book Review

Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin #1)
by Jennifer Estep

What is it about:
My name is Gin, and I kill people.
They call me the Spider. I'm the most feared assassin in the South — when I'm not busy at the Pork Pit cooking up the best barbecue in Ashland. As a Stone elemental, I can hear everything from the whispers of the gravel beneath my feet to the vibrations of the soaring Appalachian Mountains above me. My Ice magic also comes in handy for making the occasional knife. But I don't use my powers on the job unless I absolutely have to. Call it professional pride.

Now that a ruthless Air elemental has double-crossed me and killed my handler, I'm out for revenge. And I'll exterminate anyone who gets in my way — good or bad. I may look hot, but I'm still one of the bad guys. Which is why I'm in trouble, since irresistibly rugged Detective Donovan Caine has agreed to help me. The last thing this coldhearted killer needs when I'm battling a magic more powerful than my own is a sexy distraction...especially when Donovan wants me dead just as much as the enemy.

What did I think of it:
This book left me feeling a bit disappointed.

I guess it's because most reviews I've read about this series were raving. I had expected to fall in love with this book.

Instead it left me feeling lukewarm.

I'm not sure what was missing. Is Gin too much of a hard-ass for me? Too jaded? I'm not sure. I've read books with hard-boiled heroines before where i loved the heroine. Is it because she's an assassin? Now that's more likely. I even suspect that my dislike of another assassin character colored my opinion of Gin.

Anyway: I never warmed up to Gin, which made me not that interested in reading how she gets herself out of trouble. I also didn't much care for the 'ít's lust, not love' relationship between Gin and her Caine. That I did finish reading the book had more to do with the fact I didn't have another book with me, than that I was in any way invested in the story.

I will confess that I liked the writing and the world building though, so it wasn't all meh.

So as you might guess I won't be continuing this series, although I think I might give Estep's Mythos Academy series a try, to see if another lead character might make me fall in love with Estep's writing.

Why should you read it:
It's a nice UF read with cool world building.