clean sweep | The Obsessive Bookseller

Title: Sweep of the Heart

Author: Ilona Andrews

Series: Innkeeper Chronicles #5

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: Welcome to Gertrude Hunt! We are so happy to see you once again. Your innkeepers, Dina Demille and Sean Evans, will see to your every need. No matter what accommodations you require, the inn will oblige. Physics are not an issue for us. Our Red Cleaver Chef is delighted to impress you with his culinary mastery. Rest assured that your safety is our first priority. Enjoy yourselves, relax, and above all, remember the one rule all visitors must abide by: the humans must never know. Sweep of the Heart is a serial novella set in the Innkeeper Chronicles featuring Sean Evans and Dina Demille. -Goodreads

The Review:

A new book from IA I hadn’t realized was coming out? Sign me up immediately!

These authors are some of the very few who qualify for the “drop everything and pick up on release day” category. As the Innkeeper series is actually a web serial first and only later published into volumes, I suppose I could be even more on the ball and read them as they’re published. As it is, these books are very episodic and wildly entertaining.

My favorite thing about Sweep of the Heart was the alien interactions. Hosting a matchmaking event at the Inn, the main characters had to navigate many off-world politics while keeping their guests from being eaten by other guests. It was loads of fun – the different biological makeups adding even more variety to an already enjoyable read. I also liked the element of competition in the book, as these species were all in attendance seeking the hand of a single ruler in marriage. Now, how the marriage and, er, succession producing would work between two different alien species was a little over my head, but the technicalities of it didn’t seem to take away my enjoyment of the story.

That’s something I can say about all of IA’s works. They’re so much fun and some of the few stories that can take me out of critical mode into just enjoy it mode almost every time. The fun components here were entertaining enough that I think under different circumstances I may have given it a five stars, but it took me a bit longer than it should have to get reacclimated with the story and the characters. It had been so long since I’d read book four that I spend a lot of time at the beginning trying to remember context and who everyone was (yet another reason why I should probably follow the series online instead of waiting for it to go to print). Once I figured it out though, it was smooth sailing to the end.

I consumed this one on audio and would endorse going that route for the series. Most of IA’s works are narrated by Renee Raudman, but this one was performed by Nora Sofyan and honestly I didn’t even notice the shift until researching for this review. I thought she did an excellent job at bringing the story to life and had a good mix of character accents.

Recommendations: the Innkeepers is another delightful series from my ultimate favorite urban fantasy writers. If you want the full effect of everything going on in this series, consider reading the Edge series first, as there is some crossover.

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by Niki Hawkes

Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews

Title: Clean Sweep

Authors: Ilona Andrews

Series: Innkeeper Chronicles #1

Genre: Urban Fantasy (kinda)

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is…different: Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because she’s responsible for the deaths of millions and someone might shoot her on sight. Under the circumstances, “normal” is a bit of a stretch for Dina. And now, something with wicked claws and deepwater teeth has begun to hunt at night….Feeling responsible for her neighbors, Dina decides to get involved. Before long, she has to juggle dealing with the annoyingly attractive, ex-military, new neighbor, Sean Evans—an alpha-strain werewolf—and the equally arresting cosmic vampire soldier, Arland, while trying to keep her inn and its guests safe. But the enemy she’s facing is unlike anything she’s ever encountered. It’s smart, vicious, and lethal, and putting herself between this creature and her neighbors might just cost her everything. -Goodreads

The Review:

Ilona Andrews are my feel-good authors.

It’s pretty much a guarantee at this point that I’m going to enjoy everything they produce. And they’re only getting better with time. Innkeeper happens to be my last unexplored series from them, and I plan to savor it.

Clean Sweep was delightful. One of the funniest I’ve read from them, it’s biggest selling point was how much fun they clearly had with it. The world building is wildly random compared to other books in the genre (low fantasy setting and feel, urban fantasy beings, and a slight science fiction influence) but somehow it worked. There’s a lot of unexplored territory that bodes well for an interesting expansion in future books… I can’t wait. :)

The characters were also 100% Ilona Andrews trademarks, meaning they were strong-willed, capable, cheeky, and a complete pleasure to read. Dina might be one of my favorites because she’s a little more understated and I like the depth of the backstory driving her actions. The male lead fits the carbon copy, but he’s just different enough that I didn’t mind it.

For such a quick read, the book did have a few small pacing issues. Everything was engaging and interesting, but I think there were too many info-drop scenes. It is a slightly more complicated world and setting than usual, but hopefully it will go more smoothly in the next novel. My rating also reflects comparisons to other books they’ve written, some of which have completely knocked my socks off! Clean Sweep was just a solid, entertaining story by comparison.

Recommendations: these authors (it’s a duo writing under one name) are among my favorites for a reason – they always produce fun, creative, and exciting stories. Clean sweep was an excellent start to this ongoing series, and I’d recommend it as a good starter if you haven’t tried an IA yet. I’m going to start calling Ilona Andrews my “instant mood-boosters.” :)

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