Heart of Venom

Elemental Assassin, Book 9

By: Jennifer Estep

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

The hotly anticipated ninth novel in the hugely popular Elemental Assassin series finds Gin Blanco on a dangerous mission to rescue a friend.

When a terror from the past threatens Gin’s friend and body-disposer, Sophia, Gin will stop at nothing to protect her, even if it means walking straight into a killer’s trap. Meanwhile, the rocky romance between Gin and Owen reaches a turning point - can they reunite and rekindle their love? Or will the things Gin has been forced to do in her line of work as the deadly assassin the Spider keep them apart forever? Assuming, that is, she survives long enough to find out....

©2013 Jennifer Estep (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Gin has to deal with Sophia's past

Sophia’s past has been hinted about in previous books but we finally get the whole story in this one. Her kidnapping and abuse at the hands of Harley Grimes should have ended years ago but now that Fletcher is dead he decides to return. Sophia’s history was heartbreaking and I just wanted to hug this quiet dwarf. I wanted to cry at the beginning when Harley kidnapped her because it was just so emotionally heartbreaking watching her being taken away from Jo-Jo.

In this book we see a different side of Gin. She is no longer the patient and deadly killer. She is angry and emotional and it almost causes her to make mistakes. Her determination to save those she loves is a wonderful trait but, as this book shows, it can lead her to be reckless sometimes. I do love her dedication to her family though.

Grimes and his sister are twisted gangsters who finally get what they deserve after meeting Gin. I was surprised at how ruthless and twisted these two were, especially his sister. His whole enterprise in the mountains was interesting and just a breeding ground for crazies. This mission was action packed and nonstop for Gin. We see her in the wilderness using guerilla tactics and magic to fight this group. I love how smart Gin is during missions like this, even when she is getting beat to hell.

This book also sees some resolution between Gin and Owen. They finally talk it out and Owen pulls his head out of his ass finally. I am so glad they have finally started to work out their issues because they are wonderful together. Overall, this was another amazing adventure for Gin and the gang. I am excited to see what happens next, especially since we seem to be getting closer to finding out who M.M. Monroe is.

Content Warnings: Sophia was kidnapped, raped, and tortured in the past and is kidnapped by the same individual again. References to torture and rape occur throughout the book.

4 Stars

Heart of Venom is book 9 in the Elemental Assassin series. This is an urban fantasy series with various elementals, vampires, giants and dwarfs. The main character is Gin. She is a retired assassin who now kills for principles, not money. For the most part, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I've always wanted to get Sophia's back story and this was the book to finally give that. It was an interesting storyline seeing all Sophia had gone through. I was annoyed that Owen was back in this book. I am over him and thought that bringing him back and having him apologize to Gin was completely unnecessary and unwanted. I was glad when he got injured. He deserved that and more for how he treated Gin in the prior books. I was really disappointed to find out that Sophia buries the bodies. I was really expecting some cool part of her elemental magic that allowed for her special body disposal skills. What a let down. We didn't see much of Finn in this book, and I found myself really missing what he brings to the stories with the investigations and the fights. I can't give more than 4 stars because these books are all starting to be the same just with different characters. The narration was good as always.

Loved it!!!

On the plus side, Sophia is one of my favorite characters so I was happy that this book gave us some background on her and her sister. The only complaint I have is that my other favorite, Finn only plays a small part in this book. Estep told a great story this time around. The bad guys were truly bad, and it was pretty awesome. Estep has a short e-novella out told from Owen's perspective that happens chronologically before the events in this book that gives a little more insight to him. Fortgang does a great job, the drawl she gives Gin used to get on my nerves but I can't picture it any other way now.

LilyElement Book Reviews - Heart of Venom

Any additional comments?

Gin Blanco returns in book nine of the Elemental Assassin series. This time around Gin is dealing with her friend being abducted. Sophia was taken by a crazy man named Harley Grimes, who kidnapped her in the past to tortured her and hasn't gotten over that fact that he didn't break her before she was rescued. This time around you get to see how dark and twisted JEstep's villains can be.

I was kind of surprised by our leading lady and how she acted in Heart of Venom. Don't get me wrong, I can understand why, but it was unlike her. Gin has always been a calm, calculating assassin, but since this time it is personal, she rushes and has to figure things out as it goes. She does have the help of her friends, but I wasn't sure how it was all going to play out.

There are several bits of character growth in Heart of Venom, one being finally getting more information on Sophia. Her character has always intrigued me, and previous books had only given glimpses of details of her past. I was sad to hear her story, but I can understand her character a lot better now. Another instance is Owen, the love interest. I was kind of pissed off the last few books due to Owen. He made a colossal mistake and I was glad to see him prove himself. I really like his character, and hope Gin and Owen manage to make it work in future books. The Elemental Assassin series is one of my favorite Urban Fantasy series that I've read so far. It has a bit of everything I could ask for, romance, strong friendships, and a hunky love interest. I highly recommend this series if you haven't read it yet.

Gin and Owen ahhhh

Gin and Owen.....another good listen.
Im glad to see Gin opening up with her feeling for her friends and letting them know it. I was a little worried that maybe I had enough of Gin as she really was staying closed up not letting her friends in, but this story change that.. A very good listen

Learning More About Fire

Any additional comments?

Gin and her family are back in an action-filled story about obsession, love, and loss. It seems that all fire elementals are psychopaths, and who is M.M. Monroe? This is a good installment full of more flashbacks from Gin’s childhood.

love this series

EA review


 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

perfect

Jennifer Estep always delivers in her books. This series has me hooked. if you buy one buy them all.

I think this is the best one so far!

This series can't come out fast enough for me. I can't wait for the next book. PLease hurry with book 10.

Great!!!

The story is great the narration is great makes you actually feel like you are in the book and hear them talking