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Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Urban Fantasy Summer Reading Celebration-Jennifer Estep
Welcome to the Urban Fantasy Summer Reading Celebration here at That’s What I’m Talking About!!
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| original images by marin & papaija2008 at FreeDigitalPhotos.com banner designed by Jennifer from Books Make Me Happy |
The celebration runs from July 1 through July 12, 2013, with guest posts, author and series spotlights and lots and lots of GIVEAWAYS!! In fact, each day there is a new post, there is new giveaway to enter! CLICK HERE for more information.
Today my special guest is blogger, Liza from Blogging by Liza. Liza is here to share her love for the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep. In addition Ms. Estep is donating a signed copy of Deadly Sting to give away, details below.
Jennifer Estep is the New York Times bestselling author of the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series, and the Bigtime paranormal romance series. I will admit I haven’t read either the Mythos Academy or the Bigtime series yet, but am a total fan-girl of Ms. Estep’s Elemental Assassin series.
The Elemental Assassin series
The Elemental Assassin books are set in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland, where Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina meet in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider, who runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in her spare time. Gin is also an elemental or person who can control one of the four elements – Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone. Gin has the rare gift of being able to control two elements, Ice and Stone in her case. Besides elementals like Gin, Ashland is also home to giants, dwarves, and vampires.
Books in the series are (in reading order): Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, Venom, Tangled Threads, Spider’s Revenge, By a Thread, Widow’s Web, and Deadly Sting.
Thread of Death, an e-novella, is also available.
Kiss of Venom, an e-novella from Owen Grayson’s point of view, will be released on July 22, 2013. Heart of Venom, the ninth book, is due out on Aug. 27, 2013. The Spider, the tenth book, will be out on Dec. 24, 2013.
Parlor Tricks: An Elemental Assassin short story will also be published in the Carniepunk urban fantasy anthology, due out on July 23, 2013. To help promote the anthology, Parlor Tricks is also being offered as a free e-download.
Haints and Hobwebs: An Elemental Assassin short story can be found in The Mammoth Book of Ghost Romance.
I found the Elemental Assassin series thanks to many of many of my twitter friends talking about it… actually they were all talking about how much they love Finnegan Lane. While Gin Blanco is the main focus in this series, I have to say the other characters in the series add so much to Gin and her life. I seriously could gush about this series for hours on end, but thought I would talk about some of my favorite characters in the series.
- Gin Blanco (Genevieve Snow), aka The Spider – I love Gin! She knows who she is and makes no excuses for the life she now lives. She became an assassin after Mab Monroe killed her family and Fletcher Lane took her in. Gin loves to take care of everyone. When she isn’t killing to protect her friends and family, she spends much of her time feeding everyone. I would happily eat every meal at the Pork Pit to try all of Gin’s different recipes. Gin is one of the wittiest characters I’ve read in any series. She is a total smart-ass and only becomes more so when she gets in a tough situation.
- Finnegan Lane – Finn is Gin’s Foster brother and the one person she can depend on to always have her back. Finn is the son of Fletcher Lane, who trained Gin to be an assassin. Finn is the research man and seems to have a never-ending supply of cars for Gin to use and destroy. He can charm just about any woman in Ashland, but his one true love is none other than Bria Coolidge, Gin’s very own baby sister Bria Snow. My love for Finn knows no bounds. He is such a fun character who gets some of the best one-liners in the series.
- Bria Coolidge – I’ll admit it took a bit for me to warm up to Bria. I wanted her to accept Gin the moment they met, and it killed me that there was no instant family reunion. The fact that Bria is a cop might have something to do with it, but still wanted the sisters to have the perfect reunion. I will say I’ve enjoyed watching the sisters actually become sisters. I love how protective Bria is of those she loves, and that especially includes Gin and Finn.
- Jo-Jo and Sophia Deveraux – Dwarven sisters who help Gin out with each job. Jo-Jo is an air elemental who heals Gin and her friends after each job. Sophia is the muscle and responsible for body disposal for Gin. Gin counts them as part of her extended family. Jo-Jo and Sophia had worked with Fletcher Lane for years before he retired from being an assassin.
- Owen Grayson - Owen is one of the wealthiest businessmen in Ashland, with an empire that includes mining, timber, and other companies. He also happens to be the love of Gin’s life, although they are currently some issues. I’ll admit I’m angry at Owen right now and hope he gets himself together in Heart of Venom.
- Mab Monroe - Hands down one of the best villains ever! She is a Fire elemental and is the one who killed Gin’s mother (Eira) and older sister (Annabella) when Gin was a child. Mab has run the city of Ashland with fear since she has taken out anyone who even tries to go up against her. Mab is the best love to hate character I think I’ve ever read.
There are so many other awesome good guy and bad guy characters in this series. Ms. Estep has given her readers an amazing series with the Elemental Assassin series and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys Urban Fantasy books. In my opinion, you should read the series in order, as each one builds on the one before it.
I want to thank Jen for letting me gush about one of my favorite series ever during her UF Celebration.
GIVEAWAY:
I have one (1) signed copy of the most recent title in the Elemental Assassins series, Deadly Sting (Book 8), to give away here at That’s What I’m Talking About. Thank you to Jennifer Estep for sponsoring the giveaway. To enter, please complete the Rafflecopter form, below, and leave a comment at the end of today’s post telling us your favorite bad guy character (book, TV, movies, etc.). Winner will be selected randomly from eligible entries. CONTEST IS OPEN US Mailing ONLY, and prize will be mailed by the author. Contest open from July 2, 2013 until June 9, 2013 at 12:00 AM EDT-midnight. I am not responsible for items lost in the mail. If you have problems with the Rafflecopter form, please email me at twimom227 at gmail dot com.
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10 comments:
Wow, that's a tough one. Death from Supernatural comes to mind, though it's debatable whether he's actually a bad guy...
My favorite villain is Darth Vader, follow by a close second by Lord Voldemort.
Thank you for the giveaway and the great post; I'm also a fan a Mrs. Estep books. ;)
I'm participating with my US address.
Hmmm, my favorite bad guy/villain would be Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Crowley from Supernatural
I like Gollum from The Lord Of The Rings :)
My favorite bad guy is Adrian Ivashkov from Vampire Academy.
Darken Rahl from Wizard's First Rule
Mystique!!
I have at least two... Col. Nathan Jessup in A Few Good Men and Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs.
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