Jennifer Estep
Synopsis:
I’d rather face a dozen lethal assassins any night than deal with something as tricky, convoluted, and fragile as my feelings.
But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assassin known as the Spider. Hovering outside sexy businessman Owen Grayson’s front door like a nervous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn’t shy away from my past—or my present. And right now I have a bull’s-eye on my forehead.
Cold-blooded Fire elemental Mab Monroe has hired one of the smartest assassins in the business to trap me. Elektra LaFleur is skilled and efficient, with deadly electrical elemental magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone powers. Which means there’s a fifty-fifty chance one of us won’t survive this battle. I intend to kill LaFleur—or die trying—because Mab wants the assassin to take out my baby sister, Detective Bria Coolidge, too.
The only problem is, Bria has no idea I’m her long-lost sibling . . . or that I’m the murderer she’s been chasing through Ashland for weeks. And what Bria doesn’t know just might get us both dead. . .
My thoughts on the book:
While I enjoyed the character development, relationship growth, and plot of Tangled Threads, some of the writing choices got on my nerves. I saw some readers mention that the recapping of everyone's family history, powers, etc. got annoying, and I completely agree with that. It was obnoxious to read about everyone's powers, how they were connected to Gin, and how she got to know everyone. It was also obnoxious to have every single book recapped for me. Considering I'm reading this entire series all at once, I can remember one day ago, thanks. Even if it'd been years in between, I could have figured it out. Also, the same damn dream over and over again got old. Instead of describing the entire freaking thing EVERY STINKING TIME, Estep could just have Gin say, "I had the same dream again last night. The one where my family died," something like that. We'd all know what it was. I kind of feel like maybe Estep doesn't think her readers are the brightest since she insists on spelling everything out. Or maybe that's just her style. I never paid much attention to it until other readers brought it up, so I'm not sure, haha. Anyway, moving on...
I really love how Gin is changing as a character. She's allowing herself to open up and do good things again. Her self-esteem is still in the toilet, but isn't everyone's? She actually seems to regret her actions, if not because she has real remorse, then because it makes people judge her. Through this, I know that she thinks her actions are wrong, but she didn't have a choice. I feel like, given her past, this is what she was made to do. Either way, it keeps becoming clearer and clearer that she's a decent person, although her morals are different from conventional society's.
I enjoyed getting to know more about Owen in this novel too. I am completely in love with him, and if it was possible (and Gin wouldn't kill me for it), I'd pull him out of the book for myself. As it stands, I'll support his relationship with Gin because he's really perfect for her. Also the black hair and violet eyes sounds amazingly beautiful. Yea, he's my new fictional character crush, for sure. Finn wasn't present as much as I would have liked, but Bria was! I liked getting to know more about her as well. I also enjoyed finally hearing her side of what happened the night Gin's house fell.
The plot, as usual, was intense and kept me on the edge of my seat. Even though the reminders got annoying, the pacing was still pretty spot on. I flew through the pages of this book like I have all the novels in this series. I still felt a sense of urgency, even though I knew the series couldn't continue without Gin. Like always, I was so engrossed in the story that I didn't think of that and was concerned for Gin's safety. Estep has definitely created a captivating world and intriguing plots.
Overall, I'd recommend this book to everyone. It's not my favorite in the series, but it's still highly enjoyable.
Order Tangled Threads
The Book Two Syndrome - tries to cover everything in the first book while teasing you for the third.
ReplyDeleteI wish that authors would make their stories stand alone and not overload people with background information that's available in other books. It pisses me off too when there's an entire chapter that does nothing but tell you what you already know.