ARC Review: Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews

Sweep in Peace
Author: Ilona Andrews
Series: Innkeeper Chronicles Book 2
Publication: NYLA (November 13, 2015)

Description: Dina DeMille doesn’t run your typical Bed and Breakfast. Her inn defies laws of physics, her fluffy dog is secretly a monster, and the only paying guest is a former Galactic tyrant with a price on her head. But the inn needs guests to thrive, and guests have been scarce, so when an Arbitrator shows up at Dina's door and asks her to host a peace summit between three warring species, she jumps on the chance.

Unfortunately, for Dina, keeping the peace between Space Vampires, the Hope-Crushing Horde, and the devious Merchants of Baha-char is much easier said than done. On top of keeping her guests from murdering each other, she must find a chef, remodel the inn...and risk everything, even her life, to save the man she might fall in love with. But then it's all in the day's work for an Innkeeper…

My Thoughts: Dina DeMille is the innkeeper for an inn off the beaten path. She has only one permanent guest and is pondering the inn's future when George Camarine, an Arbitrator, comes to her with a proposal: play host to a peace conference that no other innkeeper will host. In order to preserve her inn, and despite her grave reservations, Dina agrees,

Then things get interesting. Dina has to use almost all of her resources, including her emergency fund, to remodel the inn for her various guests. She also has to hire a chef but the only one available is in disgrace because one of his diners died of poison when he was in charge.

Dina has to provide accommodations for space vampires, the hope-crushing horde, and the Merchants. All of them have a claim in Nexus and each of them want the others dead. Well, the vampires and the horde want each other dead. The Merchants just want to war to stop so that they can get on with business. The war has gone on for twenty years Nexus time and all sides have suffered major losses.

The head Arbitrator George has woven a complex plot to bring the sides to some kind of resolution. The plot involves Dina and puts the reputation of the inn in jeopardy. While Dina tries to be a good innkeeper and remain neutral while meeting her guests' needs, being used by George makes her very, very angry and makes her decide to find a way to end the conflict.

Dina is also still hung up on Sean Evans Evans, a werewolf who wandered into her life in the first book of the innkeeper chronicles. He manages to wander back into this story too playing a pivotal role in Dina's determination to solve this problem.

I liked the way that each of the alien groups was portrayed. They were clearly not human but all had understandable motivations for the war on Nexus. I liked the way Dina could relate to each different group. I thought the world building was fascinating. I loved the whole concept of an inn that was magical.

This was a very entertaining story. I look forward to reading more about Dina and the inn. I am also curious to see how her relationship with Seth might progress. And there is also the vampire Arland who would love to court her too. 

Favorite Quote:

“A couple.” George leaned forward. “The nature of the relationship between the inn and its guests isn’t quite clear to me. Why does the inn require guests?”

“It’s a symbiotic relationship,” I explained. “The inn provides the guests with shelter and food. It sees to their every need. In return, it feeds on the natural energy all living beings emit. The more varied and powerful that energy, the more magic the inn is able to generate and the stronger it becomes.”

I was given an eARC by the authors in exchange for an honest review. You can buy your copy here.