Jennifer Estep

To help out her cop sister, Gin Blanco, the assassin known as the Spider, infiltrates a gang of Burn-pushing thugs and discovers that behind the drug is a vicious vampire with a scientific eye for results and behind him is someone even more dangerous than her legendary nemesis, Mab Monroe. Original.

Poison Promise

Sarah Escorsa

When I first started reading Poison Promise I was a bit disappointed. I still don’t know why exactly, I just can’t put my finger on it, but it felt like something was lacking. The pace was painfully slow and the whole thing was a bit boring really. I never thought I would say that about this series. It didn’t help that Owen wasn’t around much. After what happened in the last instalment I thought that we would get to see more of him, not less (granted, he is more present in the second part of the book and we get one steamy scene so I can’t complain!). About Gin & Owen: I thought it was very strange that there was absolutely no talk about the aftermath of Salina’s death and the events in Heart of Venom. I know that they have worked out their differences but what happened between them was such a huge deal that I was surprised that it wasn’t mentioned here. Oh well, that’s a minor quibble really.

The good news is, the book gets a lot better once Bria starts letting her inner self-righteous bitch out (she definitely acts a bit Donovan Caine-ish here)! It definitely spices things up, gets the story going and turns Poison Promise into a pretty amazing story! Although I didn’t enjoy the book initially I now think it is one of my favourite in the series. Yes, it is that good!

It’s hard to talk about the story without revealing too much but there is so much awesomeness here: Gin now drives an Aston Martin (I know it’s silly, but to me a female assassin + an Aston Martin = so cool!), the sick bastard/evil kingpin in residence doubles up as a note-taking mad scientist, a very cool character is introduced (Silvio, can’t wait to see more of him), Bria finally saves Gin’s ass for a change… 

And Gin, oh Gin is just so cool. She is tired of hiding out in the Pork Pit, waiting to figure out who will try and murder her next. She no longer fights in the shadows but faces her enemies in broad daylight. Gin’s going public as the Spider makes for some of the best action scenes Estep has ever written for this series: when she rams the brand-new Aston Martin to force a road-block (freaking awesome!), when she uses Owen’s hammer to smash Benson’s beloved Bentley to pieces (ha!), when she finally fights Benson in the middle of the street and in broad daylight (view spoiler)[with half of Southtown watching and cheering her on (hide spoiler)] (wow!). As fantastic as the action scenes are, I think my #1 favourite scene is the one that takes place at the Benson mansion (view spoiler)[(when Gin is tortured by Benson) (hide spoiler)]. It’s definitely one of the most gut-wrenching, nerve-wrecking scene in this series so far. Absolutely brilliant!

Despite its slow, underwhelming beginning, Poison Promise is pretty amazing. Gin finally embraces her badassery in broad daylight which makes for one of the best instalments in this series so far. 

Now, do I really have to wait for two whole months before the next book is published??? Why, oh why?!

Chantale

I highly recommend this book and this series. It is one of my favourite series. I have loved every single one of the books in the Elemental Assassin series and yes I loved this book as well. It is very well done and I was hooked from the very beginning.

I can't wait to get my hands on the next book.

Poison Promise

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