#innkeeper chronicles

[housedemarr]

MY TOP 6 ILONA ANDREWS BOOKS

[happylandchaos]

Innkeeper Chronicles crew

Not quite as ghibli style as intended but eh

[okaybutilaughed]

Gertrude Hunt is good at following instructions…Dina did say “everything”, right?

Anyway, every time I re-read this part of “One Fell Sweep” I giggle about this missed opportunity and imagine Gertrude Hunt’s roots delivering Sean both the gun AND the girl.

[distracteddaintydemon]

One of the things I deeply appreciate about Sweep With Me is what they did with labels.

Treaty Stay is innkeepers' holiday with three traditional categories of guests: warrior, sage, pilgrim.

And they accidentally get all three!

The warrior is on a personal pilgrimage to resolve her tangled past.

The pilgrim is actually a very wise and philosophically attuned guy, posing as a pilgrim to get better chances in acquiring the wisdom he knows he needs.

And the sages are quarrelsome space chickens who perceive philosophical debate as a perfect preludium to brawl.

A perfect shift. Very neat trick. And with this as a background, Dina and Sean shifting in and out their identities as innkeepers, each because of their own reasons, and Orro's struggle to replicate a junk food burger which both contests and confirms his identity as one of the best chefs in galaxy.

I very much like what they did here.

[dabblingreturns]

The innkeeper chronicle is the only series I can think of that fails to be urban fantasy by being so firmly rooted in the suburbs.

[mashithamel]

I have been reading Ilona Andrews’ Innkeeper Chronicles, and only now, many books in where it is explicitly explained, did I realize who George is. He has a last name. His brother is Jack. He’s a necromancer. He marries Sophie, who is basically unhinged. Gaston. Totally missed every single clue! This is why I don’t read mysteries.

So, many thanks to the author who finally decided all of these blatent clues still needed a narrator to walk the dumb audience by the hand to the correct conclusion!

Also, seeing grown up George be pretty awesome is so cool.

[ghostflowerdreams]

Book Review - Clean Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #1) by Ilona Andrews

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.

3 stars: ⭐⭐⭐

I sat staring at my keyboard for five minutes, wondering what to say about this book. It was a nice, decent, and quick read, but it never really sparked any strong emotions in me. By the end, my main takeaway was simply, "That was nice," and not much more.

There were a few amusing moments, and I liked the overall premise, but nothing truly stood out or had me eagerly turning the pages to find out what happened next. I wish that I liked it more, but it just didn't leave me with that immediate urge to pick up the next book in the series.

That said, I wouldn't completely rule out continuing. If a friend asked me to read the rest of the series with them, or if it came up as a book club selection, I'd be open to giving it another chance.

[book--brackets]

BFB Preliminary Round 14

The Wicked + the Divine by Kieron Gillen

The Checquy Files by Daniel O'Malley

Tea Dragon by Kay O'Niell

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley

Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta

Damar by Robin McKinley

The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook

see results

Voting ended onAug 3, 2024

The Wicked + the Divine by Kieron Gillan (2014-2019)

Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead. The team behind critical tongue-attractors like Young Avengers and PHONOGRAM reunite to create a world where gods are the ultimate pop stars and pop stars are the ultimate gods. But remember: just because you’re immortal, doesn’t mean you’re going to live forever.

The Checquy Files by Daniel O'Malley (2012-2022)

"The body you are wearing used to be mine." So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.

She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own.

In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined.

Tea Dragon by K. O'Neill (2017-2021)

From the award-winning author of Princess Princess Ever After comes THE TEA DRAGON SOCIETY, the beloved and charming all-ages book that follows the story of Greta, a blacksmith apprentice, and the people she meets as she becomes entwined in the enchanting world of tea dragons. After discovering a lost tea dragon in the marketplace, Greta learns about the dying art form of tea dragon care-taking from the kind tea shop owners, Hesekiel and Erik. As she befriends them and their shy ward, Minette, Greta sees how the craft enriches their lives--and eventually her own. 

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper (1965-1977)

When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back, three from the circle, three from the track; wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone; five will return, and one go alone.” 

With these mysterious words, Will Stanton discovers on his 11th birthday that he is no mere boy. He is the Sign-Seeker, last of the immortal Old Ones, destined to battle the powers of evil that trouble the land. His task is monumental: he must find and guard the six great Signs of the Light, which, when joined, will create a force strong enough to match and perhaps overcome that of the Dark. Embarking on this endeavor is dangerous as well as deeply rewarding; Will must work within a continuum of time and space much broader than he ever imagined.

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter (1979)

In The Bloody Chamber - which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan's 1984 movie The Company of Wolves - Carter spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like "Little Red Riding Hood," "Bluebeard," "Puss in Boots," and "Beauty and the Beast," giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition.

Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews (2013-2022)

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.

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley (2005-2012)

For Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, life has not been a fairy tale. After the mysterious disappearance of their parents, the sisters are sent to live with their grandmother--a woman they believed was dead! Granny Relda reveals that the girls have two famous ancestors, the Brothers Grimm, whose classic book of fairy tales is actually a collection of case files of magical mischief. Now the girls must take on the family responsibility of being fairy tale detectives.

Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta (2008-2012)

Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian, Sir Topher, have not been home to their beloved Lumatere for ten years. Not since the dark days when the royal family was murdered and the kingdom put under a terrible curse. But then Finnikin is summoned to meet Evanjalin, a young woman with an incredible claim: the heir to the throne of Lumatere, Prince Balthazar, is alive.

Evanjalin is determined to return home and she is the only one who can lead them to the heir. As they journey together, Finnikin is affected by her arrogance . . . and her hope. He begins to believe he will see his childhood friend, Prince Balthazar, again. And that their cursed people will be able to enter Lumatere and be reunited with those trapped inside. He even believes he will find his imprisoned father.

But Evanjalin is not what she seems. And the truth will test not only Finnikin's faith in her . . . but in himself.

Damar by Robin McKinley (1982-1984)

Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who comes to live in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Hillfolk. Her life is quiet and ordinary-until the night she is kidnapped by Corlath, the Hillfolk King, who takes her deep into the desert. She does not know the Hillfolk language; she does not know why she has been chosen. But Corlath does. Harry is to be trained in the arts of war until she is a match for any of his men. Does she have the courage to accept her true fate?

The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook (1984-2000)

Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead. 

Until the prophesy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. There must be a way for the Black Company to find her...