Week 41 Review: Stings and Stones

From Goodreads:

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.

My Review:
This was a really fantastic read! I really enjoy Jennifer Estep's writing, and this collection of stories was so much fun to read, to be in all these various character's heads, because the main series we're just in Gin's, so that was great to have these stories collected!

I'm pretty sure I've read one or two of these before, but it's great to have them all in one place, it's a convenience. Especially since I don't think I had access to the anthologies for the 2 stories that had previously been published in an anthology. 

One thing that I've noticed, at least in these self-published books, is that there's a tendency to use 3 words (while I love reading, English wasn't my best class and I can't for the life of me figure out if these are verbs, adverbs, nouns or whatever they are), like in Web of Death, we had "choked sobs, moans, and whimpers' and then a page later "scuff, smash, and crackle." It's not that I don't like it, but it's something that I noticed. 

I loved getting these little snippets of the world that we otherwise wouldn't have, since they don't fit with the main stories. Fletcher dies really early on in the series, which is a big catalist, so I loved getting his perspective, and all the others! I just had a great time reading these stories! 

These were really great reads and I can't wait to read more by Jennifer Estep! 

Author: Jennifer Estep
Series: Elemental Assassin 
Read: October 8th, 2023 
Source: Author for Review
Reason Why: Love her writing and this series, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2023 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Jennifer Estep
Expected Publication: November 28th 2023

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars