Sweep With Me / Ilona Andrews

4 out of 5 stars

Thank you for joining us at Gertrude Hunt, the nicest Bed and Breakfast in Red Deer, Texas, during the Treaty Stay. As you know, we are honor-bound to accept all guests during this oldest of innkeeper holidays and we are expecting a dangerous guest. Or several. But have no fear. Your safety and comfort is our first priority. The inn and your hosts, Dina Demille and Sean Evans, will defend you at all costs. [But we hope we don’t have to.]

Every winter, Innkeepers look forward to celebrating their own special holiday, which commemorates the ancient treaty that united the very first Inns and established the rules that protect them, their intergalactic guests, and the very unaware/oblivious people of [planet] Earth. By tradition, the Innkeepers welcomed three guests: a warrior, a sage, and a pilgrim, but during the holiday, Innkeepers must open their doors to anyone who seeks lodging. Anyone.

All Dina hopes is that the guests and conduct themselves in a polite manner. But what’s a holiday without at least one disaster?

A very fun novella, which I purchased while rounding out a book order that included a recipe book that I wanted very much. I’d read the story in installments online, but what fun to have it all in one book and be able to absorb it all in one evening.

I’m a true blue Ilona Andrews fan and I really enjoy the Innkeeper Chronicles, so this little offering was ideal for me. I always appreciate Dina and her gentle-but-firm ways of dealing with guests. Orro is a favourite character and we get to know him a bit better here, including getting to peek into his living quarters. And although I’ve always suspected it, we readers get to see why Orro has never left Gertrude Hunt Inn. Of course, Sean is right by Dina’s side, riding herd on difficult guests, taking interstellar assassins on field trips, and raining destruction on any battlefield he encounters!

I don’t know how many more of these adventures that the Andrews have inside them, but I’m hoping for many, many more. I never get tired of this world and we still haven’t a clue what has happened to Dina’s parents and Dina has yet to be reunited with Klaus, her brother (although he showed up at Maud’s beside at the very end of Sweep of the Blade). Fingers crossed for more Innkeeper Chronicles!

(There was also a teaser included for Emerald Blaze! I await it with impatience and anticipation.)