Book Review - Clean Sweep
/Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews
Star Rating: 5/5
Number of pages: 235
Release date: December 2, 2013
Series: Innkeeper Chronicles
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Buy the book: Amazon
Synopsis: (from Amazon) 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..
Review: I've never read anything by Ilona Andrews before, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. Firstly, I smiled when I realized that the book wasn't pure fantasy. It's sci-fi too…because I apparently didn’t read the description very closely. Andrews takes a lot of the typical fantasy tropes in this and revamps them in a really interesting way. Aliens mostly, and I kind of love that! It just adds such a big new dimension of possibilities.
I also love the relationship that Dina, the main character, has with her inn. It's sort of a sentient being...kind of, and it's a relationship that speaks to the inner desire in a lot of us to have someone in whom we can find home. In this case, it's just a wee bit more literal. I rolled my eyes a bit when the werewolf/vampire love triangle/rivalry began, but the story got delightfully meta at the end, which made the indulgence totally worth it. And there's a big mystery happening in the background of the book! *Gasp!* I need the next one, stat! Honestly, I love everything about this book. Little Beast, the characterizations, the world building blended with mythology. I super-duper enjoyed it!
Recommend?: YES! Get it now!!!
