WIDOW'S WEB by Jennifer Estep

Widow's Web
Jennifer Estep

Rating: C+
Synopsis:
I used to murder people for money, but lately it’s become more of a survival technique. Once an assassin, always an assassin. So much for being plain old Gin Blanco. With every lowlife in Ashland gunning for me, I don’t need another problem, but a new one has come to town anyway. Salina might seem like a sweet Southern belle, but she’s really a dangerous enemy whose water elemental magic can go head-to-head with my own Ice and Stone power. Salina also has an intimate history with my lover, Owen Grayson, and now that she’s back, she thinks he’s hers for the taking. Salina’s playing a mysterious game that involves a shady local casino owner with a surprising connection to Owen. But they call me the Spider for a reason. I’m going to untangle her deadly scheme, even if it leaves my love affair hanging by a thread.

My thoughts on the book:
So far Widow's Web is my least favorite book of the series. The romance aspect of the novel disappointed me, and the pacing was about 50 times slower than the rest of the series. I alternated between bored and frustrated for most of the book. This is a must read for fans of the series because it's important to the series as a whole, but the book by itself just did not impress me. If I didn't already love this series, I would not be continuing it. 

Gin doesn't do much growing in this novel. I know that in a series this long, there are going to be some books that are slower than the rest, and there will be some books that involve virtually no character growth. This is one of those books. I still don't like Finn and Bria together, so they didn't brighten things up for me at all. Also, Owen is a freaking idiot in this installment. I seriously wanted to smack him the majority of the time. I still like him as a character, but this novel was not his finest hour. 

The plot isn't that mysterious or intriguing. Things are pretty easy to figure out this time around. Also, there is very little action, so I got bored a lot. The pacing is extremely slow, and I just wasn't that interested in finding out what happened. Considering how I devoured the previous novels, I was surprised at how difficult it was for me to get through this one. I can only hope that the next book in the series is better. 

Overall, I'd still recommend this series to all lovers of Urban Fantasy, but this book itself didn't blow me away. 

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