Clean Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles, #1)

by Ilona Andrews

[EBookObsessed]

This story was certainly not as exciting as a Kate Daniels novel, but it was still a very enjoyable story with its own interesting world building. The very premises of the story opens up the possibility for future stories and characters

Dina Demille is the innkeeper of the Gertrude Hunt. This Inn is no ordinary Inn and if you're human, you had best be finding a local Holiday Inn because Gertrude Hunt is not for you. Dina's Inn caters to supernatural beings. Of course, right now, she only has one guest who looks like a sweet elderly southern lady but just happens to be an intergalactic fugitive responsible for millions of dead, and quite possibly because she ate them all, with a little BBQ sauce. But everyone knows that an Inn's grounds are neutral territory and as long as she doesn't leave the grounds, none of the bounty hunters looking to collect the multiple contract against her can do anything. Such is an average day in the life of an innkeeper.

Dina helped her parents run their inn until one day, while Dina was off at college, her parents and their Inn just vanished. Dina hopes to make such a success of her inn that eventually someone will come in and recognize her parents' portrait and she might finally find out what happened to them.

But finding her parents is her future goal. Right now she is desperately trying to make a success out of Gertrude Hunt, and the fact that there seems to be something hunting and killing the dogs in the neighborhood is not good for business.

Dina was hoping that Sean Evans, the werewolf who moved into the neighborhood would do something about it, since he obviously claimed the territory and should feel the need to defend it, but merely suggesting it has turned Dina's Inn into a battlefield of wills between Dina and Sean.

As an Innkeeper, Dina's magic is tied to the inn and while she is on the grounds, she and the Inn can keep their guests safe. Off of the grounds is another story but if Sean won't defend the neighborhood, Dina might just need to step in and hope for the best. When a battalion of Vampires parks their spaceship just outside of Earth's atmosphere and several of their warriors, in full battle armor, come knocking on Dina's door, this problem might just be out of Dina and Sean's league.

THOUGHTS:
I once again went with audiobook on this one and the story was definitely easier to follow than the Kate Daniels series. Only issue I had was that it is the same narrator so it took some reminding to remember that it was a different story and not Kate narrating.

It is not as action-packed or as exciting as the Kate Daniels series, but I enjoyed the story and the introduction of the characters. The premise of a magical Inn for supernatural opens up any possibility of characters to be introduced and story lines to followed. It is more than just Earth supernaturals and also a suggestion that all supernatural come from outer space. There are portals to other planets and dimensions where guests can come from and they really do have creative license to create new creatures, cultures and abilities. There is a loose connection to The Edge series.

In this story, Sean Evans is a werewolf but apparently his parents didn't tell him much about his people's history, so through Dina's introduction of the great big universe to Sean, we are given our beginning foundation to the world of the innkeeper chronicles.

I definitely found it entertaining and I want to see where Ilona plans to take the series in future stories.