Clean Sweep
by Ilona AndrewsPublished on December 2nd 2013
Pages: 181
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 before. It’s smart, vicious, and lethal, and putting herself between this creature and her neighbors might just cost her everything.“
I like magical houses. I still really want a room with Mood Wallpaper like Sarah Addison imagined. I like Diana’s aunts’ house in Deborah Harkness’ books. It hides things until it feels you need them regardless of what you think. Howl’s Moving Castle is just awesome.
The Inn has magical extra rooms and it is able to hide bodies. It could come in handy. Dina is an Innkeeper. It is a family business. Her parents have disappeared though and their Inn closed when they left. Now Dina has taken over an abandoned Inn and is trying to rebuild it. She needs to gain star ratings to get more business. The only way to do that is to have satisfied customers and she can’t get customers without stars. Her only customer is a prisoner. That isn’t going to help.
The new idea in this book is that werewolves and vampires are both alien races. Inns are a sanctuary for all races but doesn’t mean that everyone who stays here is going to get along.
This is the first Ilona Andrews book I’ve finished. Yeah, I DNFed Kate Daniels when I got bored. There are a lot of loose ends in this story and I’d like to read more but it doesn’t look like a sequel is happening anytime soon. Supposedly the second book is being posted online but on the site it only goes to chapter 2 and that was posted over a year ago. Does anyone know any more about this?
Magical houses are one of my favorite parts in the stories too. I haven’t read those you mentioned, but I’ll check them out.
I liked this series. Didn’t blow my mind but I liked the idea.
I’m a big Ilona Andrews fan, I love her Kate Daniels, The Edge and Hidden Legacy series.
As for the sequel ‘Sweep in Peace’, there is info on the official website: “After being on available for 60 days, Sweep in Peace was taken down for editing, so it can be improved and turned into an ebook.” I hope it will be available soon.
Good. The website I saw has only 2 chapters of Sweep in Peace and made it look like an abandoned project.