Nice Guys Bite (Elemental Assassin, #15.5)

by Jennifer Estep

New York Times bestseller Jennifer Estep continues her Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series with a novella starring Silvio Sanchez, the vampire assistant of Gin Blanco, as he goes on a holiday date that turns out to be more deadly than romantic.

Working for Gin Blanco (aka the Spider, the assassin who runs the Ashland underworld) doesn’t leave much time for romance, especially with Gin’s holiday party planning in full swing. But when he catches the eye of a charming gentleman, Silvio finds himself going out for coffee.

All’s fair in love and war, though. Just as Silvio is starting to enjoy himself, he realizes he’s being watched. His nice guy date doesn’t sense the danger, and Silvio wants to keep it that way (and, well, keep the guy alive) so Silvio ends the date early—only to be abducted by some villainous giants.

Will Silvio survive the night and make it back to the Pork Pit in time for Gin’s holiday party? Only if he decks the hall with bodies...

• ISBN10: 1501142305
• ISBN13: 9781501142307
• Publish Date: 12 December 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Pocket Star
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 105
• Language: English

Reviews

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

I’ve always like Silvio, ever since I first met him in Black Widow. He is a character that I could always relate to. He is a bit of a tech geek and very organized. He is also a information hound. I think I fell in love with him as a character when Silvio and Finn used to race to find information that Gin needed quicker and more of it. I kinda liked the idea that Finn was getting a run for his money. I was very excited to her that Silvio was getting his own book (even more so than Finn).

So this story is set during the Christmas season. Silvio has a date. I wouldn’t call it a big date, but it was supposed to just be coffee. So, Silvio has this date with a guy he met at the Pork Pit. They’ve had some nice conversations while there, but now it’s time to take things a step further and go out with just the two of them. As with Gin and her gang, things didn’t go quite that easily.

This is a short story, so I won’t go into details of where it goes from there. Just know that this is exactly what you expect from an Elemental Assassins story. There is a good fight scene. There is a good scene where Silvio has to use his mind to get himself out of the situation that he got himself into. Silvio proves that he is more than just an assistant. This wouldn’t be a Jennifer Estep story if there wasn’t great food included, so check there too. LOL

I will add what appears to be the moral of this story (and I wouldn’t consider this a spoiler), always backup your devices on a regular bases. If you’re a fan of this series, you know how much Silvio loves his tablet. His is never without them. I’m the same way with my phone. I back it up all the time, because I don’t want to loose anything. Computers are important as well. So remember, always backup your devices. LOL

Narration
This story was a little weird to listen to at first. I’m so used to Lauren Fortgang as the narrator for this series, it was weird to hear everyone with someone else. I completely understand that they wanted a male narrator to voice Silvio. He is a guy after all. This was the first time I’ve listened to David Marantz. I will say that he did a good job with the narration. I thought he did a good job with the women and the men. He even did a good job with Sophia, who has a difficult voice.