Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews

Clean Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #1)

Artwork for Clean Sweep, by Doris of Disanthus.com

Synopsis

This is a short novel, about 60,000 words.

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.

Iva's Review

“I have spent my spare time studying literature popular with young women of this planet. One should always study the battlefield."

Sean glanced at him. "And?"

"I suggest you give up now. According to my research, in a vampire-werewolf love triangle, the vampire always gets the girl.” 

― Ilona Andrews, Clean Sweep

Clean sweep by Ilona Andrews is an urban fantasy novel that weaves a spell upon the reader from the first sentence to the last. It highlights the strengths of the writing pair with it's facetious humour, well developed characters, spectacular descriptions and an under current of lust that throbs just beneath the surface.

When three dogs are savagely mauled to death in the span of two weeks, Dina Demille knows something must be done about it. After all, not doing something about it may draw attention to herself and her magical bed and breakfast that caters to otherworldly patrons. Her attempts to get the new werewolf in town to look into it, results only in an increased number of trees being urinated on during the night. Not really the strongest way to deter a killer.

Armed with her magic broom and backed by her sentient victorian home, Dina seeks out the one threatening her neighbours and killing their dogs, but soon learns she may have to deal with more than she bargained for when a herd of cattle and a farmer are killed in the same way, and the Holy Cosmic Anocracy, or vampires as their known on Earth, arrive seeking vengence.

You can't call yourself a paranormal fan without having read an urban fantasy by the brilliant Ilona Andrews duo.  Ilona Andrews is the pseudonym for the husband and wife writing team of Gordon and Ilona Andrews. They are well known for their urban fantasies including their Kate Daniels series and The Edge series.

Clean sweep was started as an online ongoing story where every week Ilona and Gordon would write a little bit and post it on their website for their fans to read. This allowed them to see how their audience responded to the characters and the story, but also prevented them from changing anything they had already posted. A difficult thing for a writer as many will rewrite the beginning if the story evolves differently to what they first imagined.

    

Dina Demille is a strong willed woman. Calm and quick thinking, she deals with each crisis with determination and sarcastic humour. But there is a subtle vulnerability and loneliness that endears her to the reader.  

     

Sean Evans is a man of conflicting traits. He is imprudent, but clever. Childish, but mature. He has an intensity that has female pheromones pulling at the waistband of their owners panties.       

"His russet-brown hair was cut short. His square jaw was clean-shaven. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had a strong, fit body, honed by exercise to a lean, muscular precision. He looked like he could pick up a fifty-pound rucksack, run across the city with it, and then beat an ungodly number of enemies to a bloody pulp with his bare hands while things exploded dramatically in the background. He was said to be unfailingly polite, but something in his stare communicated a clear "don't mess with me" message.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Ilona Andrews, Clean Sweep, pg 8

Arland's description is also breathtaking;

The knight raised his head and straightened.

I stared. If you had to cast Lucifer before he fell, he would look just like that. About thirty, he wasn't just handsome, he was beautiful, but it was beauty with a touch of wicked edge. He had the kind of face that would stop traffic and when the cars finally finished piling up, he would quietly chuckle to himself about it.  

                                           

  Ilona Andrews, Clean Sweep, pg 187.

Arland is perhaps the more difficult to decipher as he is very formal in his speech and actions, as is supposedly normal for the Holy Cosmic Anocracy people.  He is driven by his honour, but has enough charisma that you sense he will be an interesting contestant in the quest for Dina's respect.

With two tantilising men and a fair young maiden (Ha, don't tell her I said that!) you could easily think that Clean Sweep is a paranormal romance. Let me assure you that it is not. Those who have read the Kate Daniels series will know that the Ilona Andrews team are masters of the subtle build up. The lust is there, but the characters aren't convinced it's worth it yet. Instead you get to concentrate on the brilliance of the urban fantasy world they have created, where they blend what is real into what they would like it to be. 

Another reason why Ilona Andrews is so popular with readers is that they don't give you that feeling of imagination incompetence. There is no overloading of information with extensive details and long winded paragraphs. On the contrary, you get little glimpses of the universe they have created along the way, that you can stack together as the story flows and continues to progress, allowing you to remain captivated by it.

Clean Sweep is a simply must read for the fans of Ilona Andrews, and for those who love paranormal fantasy. The writing style has you engrossed in the story with its humour and quick wit, as well as it's detailed descriptions. The characters are palpable which adds an element of truth to the story of alien beings and magic. Readers will appreciate the undercurrent of sexual awareness that is suggested by the authors without the story's progress being overtaken by it and be impressed with the world in which it all takes place.

Connect with Ilona Andrews                                         

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Website  |  Twitter  |  Facebook

Publicist
Ace's publicist, Alexis Nixon.
Ace & Roc Publicity, Penguin Books USA
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
Alexis.Nixon@us.penguingroup.com

Nancy Yost Literary Agency 
350 Seventh Avenue, Ste. 2003
New York, New York 10001
Please contact Nancy for all questions in regard to rights and cover quote requests.