Bitter Bite – Jennifer Estep
Release Date: February 23rd 2016
Pocket Books: Urban Fantasy
400 pages (Kindle edition)
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Because the longer rope I gave her, the sooner she would hang herself with it. And when she did, the Spider would be waiting to cut down the rope – and put Deidre Shaw in the ground for good this time. – Gin Blanco
Bitter Bite is the 14th installment in Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series. Take a moment because this is the 14th book in its series, 14th! So be aware there will be spoilers in this review because duh its the 14th book, of course there is going to be spoilers.
I have been on this journey with Gin since I first read the first book, Spider’s Bite, and have not been disappointed with each book that came after and there was no difference with this one. Well maybe a little difference being that this book topped all previous 13.
Bitter Bite started in a very Gin-like fashion where our favorite protagonist is in a graveyard digging up a grave because what else would Gin be doing? Because she is the Spider, the most notorious assassin in Ashland, she runs into some trouble but you know Gin, she can kick ass with her eyes close while getting a manicure done that was probably forced by her foster brother Finn. Speaking of Finn, this book happens to follow around him and his thought-to-be-dead-but-is-now-alive mother. Finn doesn’t see anything wrong with his mom suddenly reappearing in his life after 30+ years but Gin knows there is something fishy about Deidre Shaw from a cryptic message that Fletcher had left behind for her to find.
Throughout the series I adored Finn – such a sweet and good natured charmer that Finn. But I never wanted to throttle him so bad until reading this. Though I mean throttle him in a good sense. I wanted to throttle Deidre Shaw in a bad sense as did the rest of the characters – Sophia, Bria, Owen, JoJo, Silvio and Gin.
The blood induced fighting scenes were as fantastic as ever – I love it when people underestimate Gin and she comes out on top like she always does. While Finn does choose to not believe Gin about his mother, their sibling bond only continues to grow as Gin fights to save Finn’s life and hers. We also get to see a flashback of the two when they were younger and how their bond really began to grow as they had each other’s back. I absolutely loved seeing them work together in the end and show just how far they would go for one another.
Like always the side characters are a great part of Estep’s writing, they may only seem like side characters to other readers but to me they make the book in something so much more and bring out the greatness that is Gin. I loved the banter between Gin and her assistant Silvio – it felt more relaxed in this book and I couldn’t help laughing every time Gin threatened to take away Silvio’s electronics for tracking her whereabouts. You know you love him Gin. Bria was a hoot, her jealous and dark side coming out in Bitter Bite making Gin amused as well as me too. But her love for Finn made her try to be a better person though that didn’t keep her from clenching her teeth and saying, “The things we do for love.”
My favorite aspect of the book was how funny it was despite the situation, the lines Estep gave to her characters came out at the right times and always got a laugh out of me. The best part of the funny parts was how Estep incorporated some form of killing or someone dying. It was in the perfect Gin-like fashion and made the book lighter. My favorite scene was when Gin talked about a time when Finn made a bet that she couldn’t mock kill him, which she did of course, and she calmly talked about all the places she scouted out to kill Finn and how easy she made it to be. It was a great way to take a depressing scene and make it hopeful that Gin would save the day.
Most may not say it but I did not see that ending coming, every time I thought I knew who the bad guy was I was wrong and the mystery kept on turning, shocking Gin and the readers. I love that Estep always has me guessing and that I gasp out loud when the antagonist is revealed.
I need to stop gushing and just tell you guys to read the book, so read the damn book – It was amazing and I cannot wait for the next one ( the 15th book!). Overall I gave the book 5 well deserved stars and if I could have given more, I so would have. Thank you readers for reading and I will have another blog post up soon.
Over and out.
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