**MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ BOOKS 1-6**
Title: Widows Web
Author: Jennifer Estep
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Elemental Assassin #7
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Pocket
Source: Author
I used to murder people for money, but these days it's 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. 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 in town, 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.
Gin is the ultimate heroine. She's smart, savvy, saucy and shrewd. She's also very likable, and I've enjoyed watching her grow from someone who only cares about herself to someone who realizes that there are others in her life that mean more to her then anything else. While you might not be able to take the assassin out of her, Gin is trying really hard to do the right thing. I loved watching her struggle with that in this book.
This series never fails to surprise me. There are always curve balls being thrown left and right that I didn't expect. Gin has grown more comfortable with her ice and stone magic, and watching her use those was amazing. What I like is that they don't overpower the series, but like Gin they have grown a little more in each book and you never know what cool thing Gin will be able to do next.
The secondary characters in this never cease to amaze me. First there are the villains. Mab Monroe is still one of my favorite villainesses ever! I wasn't sure how anything would top her, but new characters keep popping up that make me dislike them so much! In this book I really hated Salina and wanted her gone immediately. I didn't like how she had Owen believing everything she said, and wanted to slap him silly several times. I kept shouting "Really, Owen, really???" and kept shaking my head in disbelief at his stupidity. I did like how she made this tough guy vulnerable, and that let us see a different side of him and because of that let us see a more vulnerable Gin as well.
After the villains, there are Gins friends-Finn, Jo-Jo, Sophia and Gins sister, Bria all who have become some of my favorite secondary characters ever. I sometimes think I like Finn more the Gin! I know he has some novellas from his point of view, but I would love to see a spin off series or a whole book from his point of view. He's just adorable in the way he protects Gin and I love seeing him with Bria. He's just so sigh-worthy. :dreamy sigh: My new favorite secondary character in this series
is Philip Kincaid. I can't say why I liked him so much, but I just did. The one small fault I have with this series, is that certain phrases are repeated over and over again. In this one, Gin mentions Owen's grey eyes and that he's her lover so many times that I kinda just rolled my eyes after awhile, because it just got to be a bit much.
Even though I found myself want to punch Owen in the eyes more then a few times, I loved this book and I can't see what new adventures are in store next for Gin.
