Review: Unraveled (Elemental Assassin #15) by Jennifer Estep

Title: Unraveled

Series: Elemental Assassin #15

Previous books in this series: Spider's Bite (#1) | Web of Lies (#2) | Venom (#3) | Tangled Threads (#4) | Spider's Revenge (#5) | By A Thread (#6) | Widow's Web (#7) | Deadly Sting (#8) | Heart of Venom (#9) | The Spider (#10) | Poison Promise (#11) | Black Widow (#12) | Spider's Trap (#13) | Bitter Bite (#14)

Short stories in this series: Poison (#0.1) | Web of Deceit (#0.2) | Spider's Bargain (#0.5) | Web of Death (#1.5) | Wasted (#2.7) | Tangled Dreams (#3.5) | Tangled Schemes (#3.7) | Spider’s Nemesis (#4.5) | Thread of Death (#5.5) | Carniepunk: Parlor Tricks (#8.1) | Kiss of Venom (#8.5) | Unwanted (#14.5)

Author: Jennifer Estep

Genre: Adult, urban fantasy

Publication date: August 2016

Published by: Pocket Books

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis:

What could go wrong when you’re trying to unravel a decades-old conspiracy?

As the current queen of the Ashland underworld, you would think that I, Gin Blanco, would know all about some secret society controlling things from behind the scenes. I might be the Spider, the city’s most fearsome assassin, but all my Ice and Stone elemental magic hasn’t done me a lick of good in learning more about “the Circle”. Despite my continued investigations, the trail’s gone as cold as the coming winter.

So when Finnegan Lane, my foster brother, gets word of a surprising inheritance, we figure why not skip town for someplace less dangerous for a few days? That place: Bullet Pointe, a fancy hotel resort complex plus Old West theme park that Finn now owns lock, stock, and barrel. At first, all the struttin’ cowboys and sassy saloon girls are just hokey fun. But add in some shady coincidences and Circle assassins lurking all around, and vacationing becomes wilder—and deadlier—than any of us expected.

Good thing this assassin brought plenty of knives to the gunfight...

My rating: ★★★★★

Finn’s mother is gone for good, but my poor Finn is still feeling the after effects of his mother’s betrayal. Especially since he apparently inherited some western themed resort/amusement park? Can someone say vacation? Lol.

“Cowboy up, y’all. We’re going on a road trip.”

Anyway, Finn, Gin, Bria, and Owen go and check out the place... and they stumble upon a conspiracy they must unravel before someone gets killed.

As it’s expected, Finn is not doing so great after everything that happened with his mother.

Finn stared at that spot along the wall a second longer before turning away and screwing a smile on his face, as though everything were normal, and he were still the carefree, happy-go-lucky guy he’d been before Deirdre had blown into town. Before she’d ripped his heart to shreds and betrayed him in the worst way possible. Before she’d tortured him with her Ice magic. Before he’d killed his own mother to save me.

I love Finn—he’s one of my favorite characters, just ever, so this makes me extremely sad. No one actually wants to go to this place, they’re only doing it for Finn.

Bullet Pointe was moderately famous in Ashland and the surrounding area, sort of like the poor, distant Southern cousin of one of the Disney theme parks.

Remember the last time they went on vacation in By A Thread? Yeahhh things don’t go too well from them this time around either. Lol. But I liked the change of scenery! I love Ashland, but I really liked that we got to be somewhere different for a little bit, especially it being a theme park! And a cheesy one at that! I loved it! I also loved that we got a little bit of a mystery/treasure hunt going on... that was a lot of fun!

We also got to see Elemental magic being used in some new ways! It was really cool! I always love when we see magic used in ways we haven’t seen before. We also got a different type of flashback in this book. Usually they always have to do with Fletcher and back when Gin was a full time assassin. In this one, however, we go all the way back to when her family was still alive. I really liked that!

So at the park the gang goes to see a show and Gin has a bit of an overreaction... it was funny! Snarky sassy Gin is my favorite Gin. But violent badass Gin is also my favorite. And when you put those two things together, it’s even better!

I pulled out a sharp, serrated knife from a butcher block and started slicing tomatoes, lettuce, and onions for the day’s sandwiches. Cutting things always made me feel better.

Be it a vegetable or a body... I guess? Lol.


One of my new favorite things in this series is the banter between Silvio and Gin. It’s so funny and I just love their relationship!

“I can take care of myself, you know. I am an assassin after all. People actually fear me and stuff.” I sighed. “Normal, sane people, anyway.”
“Uh-huh. Talk to you soon, Gin.”

I love this particular scene because Silvio was basically treating Gin as if she was the harmless Box Ghost (remember that guy? Lol)... it’s so funny!


But we all know she is not harmless 😉 Speaking of which, the action was great, as always. The final fight took place in the theme park itself and it was SO cool! It was very Home Alone-esque and I loved it!

It should be no surprise that I love this book. This is one of my favorite series after all. They only thing with this book, I actually figured out where the treasure was as soon as Gin first came across it. I thought it was pretty obvious, but they didn't figure it out till chapters later! It was a little frustrating, but I forgive it because I love this series. Lol.

Anyway, I’m excited to see what will happen next since the Circle is still butting into Gin’s life. What’s their deal??

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊