Throwback Thursday (82)

I found this picture of Trinity College Library, and thought it would work for this meme with a little play with lighting and adding the words.

Let's talk about those books already on the shelves, yours or the stores.

I have a post for books I'm looking forward to coming out;

Unk

Looking Forward To...

But what about all those wonderful books that are ALREADY on the shelves.

Whether it be on your shelf waiting to be read or on the shelves in the stores waiting for you to give it a good home.

So, I thought I would share a book a week that is just waiting for me to travel through it's world.

Now... where do I start? Lets go by Published Date on the books...

This Week:

And a few of you are going to throw tomatoes at me for holding out on this one for so long... I should get back to this series and read this second book.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Curiosity is definitely going to get me dead one of these days. Probably real soon. 

I'm Gin Blanco.

You might know me as the Spider, the most feared assassin in the South. I’m retired now, but trouble still has a way of finding me. Like the other day when two punks tried to rob my popular barbecue joint, the Pork Pit. Then there was the barrage of gunfire on the restaurant. Only, for once, those kill shots weren’t aimed at me. They were meant for Violet Fox. Ever since I agreed to help Violet and her grandfather protect their property from an evil coalmining tycoon, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m really retired. So is Detective Donovan Caine. The only honest cop in Ashland is having a real hard time reconciling his attraction to me with his Boy Scout mentality. And I can barely keep my hands off his sexy body. What can I say? I’m a Stone elemental with a little Ice magic thrown in, but my heart isn’t made of solid rock. Luckily, Gin Blanco always gets her man . . . dead or alive.

I've heard back from a few bloggers that they would like to join in this meme post, so I'm adding a Linky for you to join in.  Grab the picture above, and join in.  All I ask, is if you can acknowledge my blog in the post so others know where to come back to and join as well.  Thank you.

Book Review: Spider's Bite

Spider's Bite

By:  Jennifer Estep

Publisher:  Pocket Books

Publish Date:  February 2010

Format:  Paperback 395pgs, pocket size

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Series:  1st book in An Elemental Assassin series

Recommendation:  Yes, a light, quick assassin action read.

Book Synopsis:
My name is Gin, and I kill people.

The 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 on 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.

First Sentence:
"My name is Gin, and I kill people."

My Thoughts and Summary:
Gin, a stone Elemental finishes a job at the asylum and returns to the Pork Pit, like after every job, to meet with Fletcher - her handler and father figure - who hands her a folder with information on her next job.  A job that she doesn't want to take as she wants to go on vacation, but after seeing the obscene pay for it, she will go on vacation afterward.  She is to assassinate the CFO of an important company as he's been found at playing with the books.  Gin thinks the touchy part...he's an Air Elemental, but he may not be the Air Elemental she needs to be worried about.  Taking this assignment quickly turns Gin into the assignment and fall guy, and brings grieving and great danger to the family she's acquired.  Now the man she was to kill, she needs to save in order to save her own neck, along with the man meeting with him - the one and only cop that is on the straight and narrow, and hot looking, Donovan Caine.  Will an honest cop be able to work with an assassin?  Let alone the assassin who killed his partner?

This is not the dark gritty assassin read I usually read.  It had a light feel to it, and a fast read.  And I enjoyed it for that.  It was a quick read for me to sit down, pick up, and flip the pages.  A relaxing read for me.  Hard to believe relaxing with an assassin. lol.

I seemed to be flying through the pages, looking to see what would happen with Gin, what would she find out, what next fight would she get into.  And wanting to see the elemental magics held by her and others.  Then I was worried about Finn, Fletcher's son, wondering if he would stay safe.  And we can't forget about the handsome "good" cop, Donovan Caine.  I wondered if he would come around to seeing the world really isn't all black and white, and Gin falls in the gray area.  And what would become of them.

I really like the elemental magic here.  Being a Stone Elemental Gin can feel all the emotions ~ good and bad from stone; roads, walls, and so on.  But she has a touch of Ice Elemental too.  There are different elementals and degrees to their powers, as we see through the book.  This city Gin calls home, isn't such a happy place, and by the end of the book we start to understand that feeling more.


The first chapter starts with Gin on a job, and hints at what all this world has to hold for us.  And starts us out with action, Gin at her best work - killing with a screw and a pen.  We then slow down for a few pages to meet Fletcher, see more of the world, and get hints to Gin's past.  The hints make us curious to know more.


In the end, I got most of my answers.  I say most as the ending leaves me stunned with what Gin finds Fletcher had a file on.  A file that references Gin's past, which he pieced together and still loved Gin wholly.  I have the second book here, and look forward to following through with Gin to learn more about her, her past family, and keeping an eye out for Donovan.  And there is a tie to that Fire Elemental, Queen Mobstress I'm wondering on too.

I got the feel of much more to come, that ties with who we have learned about here in this book.


I read this book for my own enjoyment.

Who? What? Where? (59)

Who are you with? Where are you at? What's happening?

Share with us just a little bit of what is happening in the book you are reading, right where you are now.

Just a tiny taste of what's happening, remember try to not give spoilers of the book.

(This is a new meme I'm going to try and will tweak as I go. And please don't laugh at my lame attempt at drawing. ;D )

I finished my book last night and haven't started the next one yet.  So, I'll give you a brief of where I was...

I was in shock with Gin at the Pork Pit when she received her gift.  Then in her apartment when she looked through the folder, I started asking more questions.  Wow.  That was a way to make us think.

Spider's Bite
By:  Jennifer Estep

Teaser Tuesday (111)

Teaser Tuesday

is a weekly event

Sponsored by MizB of Should be Reading

Here's how it works:

Grab the book you are currently reading (anything at all)

Open the book to any random page.

Share 2 teaser sentences from anywhere on the page

Please Make Sure They Are Not Spoilers!

(Don't Give Too Much Away)

Just enough to pique our interests

This Week:

Caine saw me staring and crouched down to get a better look.  He took care not to get within arm's or knife's reach of me.

Spider's Bite
By:  Jennifer Estep
185pg

Throwback Thursday (55)

Let's talk about those books already on the shelves, yours or the stores.

I have a post for books I'm looking forward to coming out;

Looking Forward To...

But what about all those wonderful books that are ALREADY on the shelves.

Whether it be on your shelf waiting to be read or on the shelves in the stores waiting for you to give it a good home.

So, I thought I would share a book a week that is just waiting for me to travel through it's world.

Now... where do I start? Lets go by Published Date on the books...

This Week:

Aaah, this one is going to get me a LOAD of slack.  Yes, for not reading it.  But I will say, it is now moved to the shelf of must reads.  AND I plan on picking it up in the next few weeks here.  I've put it off long enough.  So don't yell at me to bad, I'll be getting to it very soon.

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.