Review: Spider's Bite by Jennifer Estep

Title: Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin #1)
Author: Jennifer Estep
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Heat Index: 2 out of 5
Release Date: January 26th, 2010
Word/Page Count: 395 pages
Format: Purchased

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.

I enjoyed the story and thought there was a rich environment that was already laying the potential story and plot lines for future books, which I love to see. The plot of this book was engaging and had a harder/gritty feel to it that totally fit in with the context.

I was, however, a little disappointed by how the romance aspect of this book developed. It felt a little rushed, but, then again, the series that I read before this one had the two characters flirting and building the tension between them for two books before finally getting together in the third book. I suppose by those standards, having a sex scene in the first book would seem rushed. Either way, I would have liked to have had a little more build-up in this area.

The only other thing that I'll mention is that there area few times where the author gets repetitive, repeating the same information or same phrases throughout the novel. The internal monologue can get a little lengthy at times, tripping up the flow of the story, but the book is more than worth pushing through the paragraphs of thoughts.