A Book Obsession..: Tangled Threads

Tangled Threads

, by Kt Clapsadl

Tangled Threads by Jennifer Estep

Elemental Assassin #4

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...

Gin, a retired assassin, and now occasional do-gooder for probono hire, has set her sights on the "queen" of Ashland, Mab Monroe. Mab's more powerful than countless elemental put together and has the path of destruction behind her to prove it. Gin's alter ego, The Spider, has become a thorn in Mab's side, enough so that she has hired the assassin known as Elektra LaFleur. She's got a deadly electrical magic that's more than a match for Gin's stone and ice powers. Meanwhile things are heating up with Owen and She's still got the nagging problem of her long lost sister trying to bring her down even if Bria isn't aware of her true identity. All this spells for one big ball of trouble that may finally bring Gin down.

I hadn't realized just how much of a mark Donovan had made on Gin until I saw her interacting with Owen. Where she had just dove in without caution in the past with pursuing Donovan, she is the complete opposite when it comes to Owen. While it is slightly frustration since he seems to genuinely care for her, in the long run her caution might actually be a good thing. She was too quick to leap into something with someone who could never really accept her. So now that she is much more hesitant, once her feelings finally break free of the wall she's place around her heart, she'll know it was only because her feelings for Owen were real. Although she does say at one point in this book "Donovan had hurt me when he'd left Ashland. But losing Owen the same way? For the same reasons? I was beginning to think that might just break me completely."This shows that while she is cautious, there really is something substantial underneath. I just can't wait for the sexy Owen to crack that shell.

While Mab is always the big threat looming in the background, the more immediate threat in Tangled Threads comes in the form of one nasty assassin known as LaFleur. Unlike the other "big bads" Gin has directly gone up against in the past, LaFleur seemed to actually be a real threat to our own assassin. There were several times, that only the knowledge that there were future books kept me from thinking this just might be the time that Gin would lose. Now of course if Gin had of learned to finally harness her full potential and truly believed in herself, then defeating LaFleur would have been a walk in the park. I have a feeling once she finally does this, then even Mab won't stand a chance. I guess we will just have to wait and see how things play out in the end.

A word of caution for those who do not like cliffhangers; do not read the preview chapter of Spider's Revenge at the end of the book. The ending of Tangled Threads has a sense of completion, even if you still know there is plenty more to come. It just felt like a natural stopping place, that won't torment you too much in the wait between books. However, if you read the bonus chapter, which ends on one heck of a killer cliffhanger, you will be desperate to get your hands on the next book. I just wanted to throw that out there to anyone who would rather avoid that waiting frustration. Coming back to Tangled Threads itself, I was thoroughly impressed with this book. I enjoyed the previous three, but this one blows them out of the water. Like the title, things are one big tangled web with everything seeming to lead in only one direction, towards a final showdown with Mab Monroe herself. I personally cannot wait to see how things turn out and see Gin finally get the vengeance she deserves.

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