Community Reviews
Come for the dead dogs and space vampires + werewolves romance, stay for the magical sentient inn.
Clean Sweep is one of those books that opens quietly and then suddenly decides to show you aliens, vampires, and a sentient inn with a personality. The premise is undeniably fun. Dina Demille is an innkeeper who caters to supernatural and intergalactic guests while pretending to be an ordinary woman in a Texas suburb. Naturally, this means her week involves investigating dead dogs, negotiating with a broody werewolf, and hosting a vampire warlord with a flair for the dramatic. As one does.
The worldbuilding is clever and imaginative. I liked the idea of the inn as a character in its own right, the hints of galactic politics, and the mystery about Dina’s missing parents. These elements are what kept me turning pages. The writing style is straightforward and conversational. It is not trying to be lush or lyrical, which works fine for pacing, but sometimes feels like the book equivalent of wearing sweatpants to a dinner party. Comfortable, but not particularly stylish.
The weakest link is the romance. We are presented with a love triangle that seems to exist simply because someone thought there ought to be one. It appears without much build-up, delivers little emotional tension, and occasionally reads like the literary equivalent of a shrug. The banter is mildly amusing, but if you removed the romance entirely, the plot would not collapse.
Overall, I enjoyed reading it, but I am not in a hurry to continue the series. It is the kind of book I could return to when I want something light and a bit quirky, not one I feel compelled to binge. Pleasant, entertaining in places, and with just enough mystery to make me curious… eventually.
Clean Sweep is one of those books that opens quietly and then suddenly decides to show you aliens, vampires, and a sentient inn with a personality. The premise is undeniably fun. Dina Demille is an innkeeper who caters to supernatural and intergalactic guests while pretending to be an ordinary woman in a Texas suburb. Naturally, this means her week involves investigating dead dogs, negotiating with a broody werewolf, and hosting a vampire warlord with a flair for the dramatic. As one does.
The worldbuilding is clever and imaginative. I liked the idea of the inn as a character in its own right, the hints of galactic politics, and the mystery about Dina’s missing parents. These elements are what kept me turning pages. The writing style is straightforward and conversational. It is not trying to be lush or lyrical, which works fine for pacing, but sometimes feels like the book equivalent of wearing sweatpants to a dinner party. Comfortable, but not particularly stylish.
The weakest link is the romance. We are presented with a love triangle that seems to exist simply because someone thought there ought to be one. It appears without much build-up, delivers little emotional tension, and occasionally reads like the literary equivalent of a shrug. The banter is mildly amusing, but if you removed the romance entirely, the plot would not collapse.
Overall, I enjoyed reading it, but I am not in a hurry to continue the series. It is the kind of book I could return to when I want something light and a bit quirky, not one I feel compelled to binge. Pleasant, entertaining in places, and with just enough mystery to make me curious… eventually.
I love this series. It's so different... Cross world adventures and political drama all enclosed in a sentient Inn with the Innkeepers sole hospitality job is to ensure no guests are killed (by each other). I loveeeeee the innkeepers powers and Beast is amazing. If I were to live in a fantasy world and have magic powers, I would be an Innkeeper.
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