Ilona Andrews - Clean Sweep

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.

Comment: I had this in the pile since 2013. I really have no explanation other than forgetting about it because I have liked pretty much everything I have read so far by these authors...

In this world, there are aliens and other galaxies out there, being Earth just one more planet, although it is the rule that humans should be aware of this. Dina is an innkeeper, which means she has magical abilities linked to the inn she manages, and her life is pretty mundane, even though she hopes things improve so that her chances of discovering what happened to her parents increase. However, a new werewolf resident has moved to the neighborhood and she is not impressed for three dogs have already been killed and this werewolf, obviously territorial, has done nothing to stop this. When Dina takes action, she realizes the problem is much more complicated than what she imagined and now, besides having to deal with the werewolf, there also vampires showing up and causing her worry...

Will Dina be able to re establish her routines?

This story wasn't very big, since it was originally planned to be a serial, but I just flew through the pages, as often happens with the books by these authors. There is just something about how this couple writes and thinks about the plots that makes them so captivating and engaging... I had a good time reading, even though it is clearly a work in progress, and there are more stories after this one to continue the series.

The world building is, as always, fascinating, and while the ideas and the "beings" that populate this universe aren't that different from countless other stories out there (meaning, the identification of what we consider to be a vampire, a werewolf, etc), the authors gave every character and species a twist, a special mark, and it was both fun and interesting to learn about them and the little things that make them who they are. It was again incredible to feel the authors are giving the readers enough to tantalize but not so much that what comes after might loose impact.

The writing is, to me, the best thing about these authors' work. yes, of course it doesn't suit every reader but to me the consistency and the "voice" of the stories feels very balanced. Everything is a mix of adorable and spontaneity that sets on characters we cherish and root for. It's always intriguing to imagine what will be shared next and where the story might lead to. Perhaps this first story wasn't as solid as I have thought other books by the authors to be (in other series, I mean) but it did provide all the usual feelings i came to associate with the skill of Ilona Andrews.

I liked the characters because we were given enough to be curious about them and to want them to succeed, namely Dina and her small group of friends, then possible love interests werewolf Sean and vampire Arland, but the way the plot develops an intrigue that has to be solved while we get to know these characters provided the balance I like in these stories. I want Dina to help the guys but I also want her inn to be successful and for her to know what happened to her parents, something i'm assuming will only be revealed at the end of the series...

I also liked that the inn is described as a character too, in a way, and that Dina's powers are directly related to the inn, as if one and the other are a team. Again, some of these details aren't exactly a novelty, but the way the were used in this context made discovering new things a great surprise.

This was a great introduction to the series. Obviously there are things which feel incomplete or not finished but the following books probably will solve some of these sensations as things advance. I'm certainly going to read them and I see where things are going for these characters.

Grade: 8/10