Title: Stings and Stones
Series: Elemental Assassin
Author: Jennifer Estep
Genre: Adult, urban fantasy
Publication date: November 28th 2023
Published by: Jennifer Estep
Source: eARC for review (but I also bought a paperback lol)
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Synopsis: New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Estep serves up an Elemental Assassin short story collection featuring danger, magic, and a touch of romance. Perfect for fans of Ilona Andrews, Anne Bishop, Patricia Briggs, and Faith Hunter.
Flash back to one of Gin Blanco’s many missions as the assassin the Spider. Learn more about Gin’s relationships with her mentor, Fletcher Lane, and her foster brother, Finnegan Lane, and see what trouble the other characters get themselves into when Gin’s not around. From a ghost’s lost love to a villain’s origin story, this action-packed collection has something for every urban fantasy and paranormal romance fan.
The Stings and Stones collection features ten short stories told by various characters:
“Spider’s Bargain” — Gin Blanco
“Web of Death” — Gin Blanco
“Web of Deceit” — Fletcher Lane
“Poison” — Finnegan Lane
“Wasted” — Finnegan Lane
“Tangled Dreams” — Jo-Jo and Sophia Deveraux
“Tangled Schemes” — Bria Coolidge
“Spider’s Nemesis” — Mab Monroe
“Haints and Hobwebs” — Gin Blanco
“Parlor Tricks” — Gin Blanco
Note: Stings and Stones is a 67,000-word collection of Elemental Assassin short stories. Some of the stories previously appeared on Jennifer Estep’s website, while others have been featured in anthologies. The print book of Stings and Stones also includes Spider and Frost, a crossover novella featuring Gin Blanco from the Elemental Assassin series and Gwen Frost from the Mythos Academy series.
I’ve read all of these short stories before but I am so glad that they’re all bundled together in one book now! Yay! This book contains a bunch of Elemental Assassin short stories, all in different POVs. You have Gin, of course, but you also have Finn, Bria, Fletcher, and more characters! It was great!
Spider’s Bargain takes place right before book one, Spider’s Bite, and it is told in Gin’s POV. In this short story, Gin goes after a corrupt cop who doesn’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer. He is an officer of the law, someone you are supposed to be able to trust, but the things he does are terrible! I was very glad that this guy got on Gin’s radar. I enjoyed this one. It was full of tension and Gin is just a badass! I love her!
Web of Death takes place between book 1 (Spider’s Bite) and book 2 (Web of Lies) and is told in Gin’s POV. Gin is now officially retired as an assassin and is moving into her new place when all of a sudden she is interrupted by a scream coming from the surrounding forest. And thus, action ensues! It was so good! I love a sassy, snarky, ass-kicking Gin 😆
Web of Deceit is told in Fletcher’s POV, Finn’s dad and Gin’s mentor. This was such a touching story—I really liked it! In this story we get to see Gin go off on her first solo kill—some asshole named Jimmy Fontaine—at only sixteen years old. And Gin doesn’t know, but Fletcher decides to keep an eye on her just in case, which was so sweet! 😠I really enjoyed this and getting to see things from Fletcher’s POV, just seeing how much he cares for Gin 🥹
Poison is told from Finn’s POV and it takes place way, way in the past when both he and Gin are only teenagers. In this short story, Finn finds himself in a bit of trouble, but don’t worry, Gin to the rescue! I keep mentioning how badass Gin is, but only because it’s true. And it was even true when she was thirteen years old! It was crazy! But more than that, I really enjoyed getting a bit of insight into Finn and Gin’s relationship, because they were never as close as they are in the present day. So it’s very interesting to see how that relationship has changed over the years.
Wasted takes place between book 2 (Web of Lies) and book 3 (Venom) and is told in Finn’s POV. This actually takes place at the bank he works at, where a beautiful woman walks and trouble ensues. Gin is the main character of the Elemental Assassin series, but the side characters are amazing in their own right! Finn is charming and equally as deadly as his sister. Except he prefers guns over knives. Lol. And this short story perfectly captured how amazing he is! Just don’t tell him that to his face—his ego is big enough as is 😆
Tangled Dreams is told in the POVs of Jo-Jo and Sophia, and it takes place between books 3 (Venom) and 4 (Tangled Threads). In this short story, after Gin kicks some ass and heads over to Jo-Jo’s to heal up, the Deveraux sisters take care of a scumbag that managed to get away from Gin. I really liked this short story and the different perspectives! We got to see Jo-Jo in action and see how Sophia gets rid of the bodies, which I always found intriguing. I very much enjoyed the insight into these beloved characters in Gin’s life.
Tangled Schemes is told in Bria’s POV, Gin’s baby sister. This short story doesn't actually take place between any two books like the other short stories tend to. This one spans from book 1 (Spider’s Bite) all the way up to just before the start of book 4 (Tangled Threads), and it shows Bria’s search for her sister Genevieve who she thought was dead, until recently. Little does Bria know that she is closer to her sister than she can imagine. I absolutely loved this! It was so heartbreaking to see Bria’s search for her sister and how close she got, but not realizing who Genevive actually was.
Spider’s Nemesis was SO good! The short story actually spans several years, even before Gin was born. One of the earliest scenes we see was when Mab was 7 years old and on her first (and I’m guessing only) playdate with Eira Snow, Gin’s mother. I honestly can’t believe this rivalry started because Mab was a spoiled, jealous brat. But even better, this short story is told in Mab’s POV, which was amazing! Learning Mab’s motives and seeing how she is and WHY she is the way she is... it was crazy. She is a terrible human being so it was very interesting having this insight into Mab’s horrible, twisted mind. I absolutely loved this short story! It was amazing seeing things in Mab's POV and witnessing her awesome but cruel powers from a different perspective. I very much enjoyed this trip through Mab’s past and her feud with the Snow family.
Ghosts! We get ghosts in Haints and Hobwebs and it was awesome! This is actually the first time we see them in this world, so that was very interesting. But in this novella Gin helps out a ghost and that special way she “helps” 😆 The antagonist in this one novella has air magic and it was used in the most interesting way. We have not seen it used like this before in this series, so I really liked that. It was very cool but equally as awful. And we got some Owen action in this one! Owen is Gin’s significant other and I love him! He is so sweet! But I loved this novella overall! The characters are just great, and there is so much action packed into this shorter story! I love it!
In Parlor Tricks, Gin is helping her baby sister Bria out on a case of a missing girl. This leads them to a traveling carnival, one that is quite strange and filled with even stranger people. And this missing girl might not be the only one who’s gone missing around this particular carnival 👀 I really liked this short story, overall! It had action, a crazy setting, and lots of magic with another interesting air elemental. And of course, our badass assassin Gin kicking ass alongside her sister Bria, who is pretty badass in her own way. I really liked that it was just Bria and Gin hanging out, getting in trouble, and then trying to get out of said trouble 😆 It was short, sweet, and fun. What more could you ask for? Lol.
And lastly, my favorite book of 2023: Spider and Frost! (I believe that Spider and Frost will only be available in the paperback edition, but not the ebook.)
I cannot express how excited I was for this novella. I love both the Elemental Assassin series and Mythos Academy, so having a story where Gin Blanco meets Gwen Frost is just-
Going into this I was beyond excited because I knew this crossover was going to be epic, but I don’t know how Jennifer did it because it was even better than I expected! The story was great, the action was engaging, and the interactions and banter between the characters... it was so freaking good! Gwen and Gin just made an epic team! The fight sequences were SO good, especially at the end because they did a thing and it was SO exciting! This novella was just perfect. It made me so giddy and happy... I just had the time of my life reading this. Lol. I highly recommend it if you’re a fan of either the Elemental Assassin series or Mythos Academy! It was SO good! I can’t get over it! Lol.
Web of Death takes place between book 1 (Spider’s Bite) and book 2 (Web of Lies) and is told in Gin’s POV. Gin is now officially retired as an assassin and is moving into her new place when all of a sudden she is interrupted by a scream coming from the surrounding forest. And thus, action ensues! It was so good! I love a sassy, snarky, ass-kicking Gin 😆
Web of Deceit is told in Fletcher’s POV, Finn’s dad and Gin’s mentor. This was such a touching story—I really liked it! In this story we get to see Gin go off on her first solo kill—some asshole named Jimmy Fontaine—at only sixteen years old. And Gin doesn’t know, but Fletcher decides to keep an eye on her just in case, which was so sweet! 😠I really enjoyed this and getting to see things from Fletcher’s POV, just seeing how much he cares for Gin 🥹
Poison is told from Finn’s POV and it takes place way, way in the past when both he and Gin are only teenagers. In this short story, Finn finds himself in a bit of trouble, but don’t worry, Gin to the rescue! I keep mentioning how badass Gin is, but only because it’s true. And it was even true when she was thirteen years old! It was crazy! But more than that, I really enjoyed getting a bit of insight into Finn and Gin’s relationship, because they were never as close as they are in the present day. So it’s very interesting to see how that relationship has changed over the years.
Wasted takes place between book 2 (Web of Lies) and book 3 (Venom) and is told in Finn’s POV. This actually takes place at the bank he works at, where a beautiful woman walks and trouble ensues. Gin is the main character of the Elemental Assassin series, but the side characters are amazing in their own right! Finn is charming and equally as deadly as his sister. Except he prefers guns over knives. Lol. And this short story perfectly captured how amazing he is! Just don’t tell him that to his face—his ego is big enough as is 😆
Tangled Dreams is told in the POVs of Jo-Jo and Sophia, and it takes place between books 3 (Venom) and 4 (Tangled Threads). In this short story, after Gin kicks some ass and heads over to Jo-Jo’s to heal up, the Deveraux sisters take care of a scumbag that managed to get away from Gin. I really liked this short story and the different perspectives! We got to see Jo-Jo in action and see how Sophia gets rid of the bodies, which I always found intriguing. I very much enjoyed the insight into these beloved characters in Gin’s life.
Tangled Schemes is told in Bria’s POV, Gin’s baby sister. This short story doesn't actually take place between any two books like the other short stories tend to. This one spans from book 1 (Spider’s Bite) all the way up to just before the start of book 4 (Tangled Threads), and it shows Bria’s search for her sister Genevieve who she thought was dead, until recently. Little does Bria know that she is closer to her sister than she can imagine. I absolutely loved this! It was so heartbreaking to see Bria’s search for her sister and how close she got, but not realizing who Genevive actually was.
Spider’s Nemesis was SO good! The short story actually spans several years, even before Gin was born. One of the earliest scenes we see was when Mab was 7 years old and on her first (and I’m guessing only) playdate with Eira Snow, Gin’s mother. I honestly can’t believe this rivalry started because Mab was a spoiled, jealous brat. But even better, this short story is told in Mab’s POV, which was amazing! Learning Mab’s motives and seeing how she is and WHY she is the way she is... it was crazy. She is a terrible human being so it was very interesting having this insight into Mab’s horrible, twisted mind. I absolutely loved this short story! It was amazing seeing things in Mab's POV and witnessing her awesome but cruel powers from a different perspective. I very much enjoyed this trip through Mab’s past and her feud with the Snow family.
Ghosts! We get ghosts in Haints and Hobwebs and it was awesome! This is actually the first time we see them in this world, so that was very interesting. But in this novella Gin helps out a ghost and that special way she “helps” 😆 The antagonist in this one novella has air magic and it was used in the most interesting way. We have not seen it used like this before in this series, so I really liked that. It was very cool but equally as awful. And we got some Owen action in this one! Owen is Gin’s significant other and I love him! He is so sweet! But I loved this novella overall! The characters are just great, and there is so much action packed into this shorter story! I love it!
In Parlor Tricks, Gin is helping her baby sister Bria out on a case of a missing girl. This leads them to a traveling carnival, one that is quite strange and filled with even stranger people. And this missing girl might not be the only one who’s gone missing around this particular carnival 👀 I really liked this short story, overall! It had action, a crazy setting, and lots of magic with another interesting air elemental. And of course, our badass assassin Gin kicking ass alongside her sister Bria, who is pretty badass in her own way. I really liked that it was just Bria and Gin hanging out, getting in trouble, and then trying to get out of said trouble 😆 It was short, sweet, and fun. What more could you ask for? Lol.
And lastly, my favorite book of 2023: Spider and Frost! (I believe that Spider and Frost will only be available in the paperback edition, but not the ebook.)
I cannot express how excited I was for this novella. I love both the Elemental Assassin series and Mythos Academy, so having a story where Gin Blanco meets Gwen Frost is just-
Going into this I was beyond excited because I knew this crossover was going to be epic, but I don’t know how Jennifer did it because it was even better than I expected! The story was great, the action was engaging, and the interactions and banter between the characters... it was so freaking good! Gwen and Gin just made an epic team! The fight sequences were SO good, especially at the end because they did a thing and it was SO exciting! This novella was just perfect. It made me so giddy and happy... I just had the time of my life reading this. Lol. I highly recommend it if you’re a fan of either the Elemental Assassin series or Mythos Academy! It was SO good! I can’t get over it! Lol.
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