Yes, you who have been with me for a while are correct, I already shared Ilona Andrews as an Inspiring Author. Why have I brought the duo back so soon? Women’s Independence Day! I love the Innkeeper Chronicles and the independent females who take on what scares them most to reach their ultimate goals, find and create a family.
They use Earth as the crossroads of the Galaxy. As the crossroads between wormholes and dimensional gateways, Earth has a lot of unique visitors and needed a place for them to stay during their travels. Enter the Innkeepers. The Inn and the Innkeeper have the extraordinary power to cater to all of their guests’ needs, be it a Vampire castle or a specialized chicken coop, while maintaining their secrets from humanity.
Dina Demille grew up in an Inn and became an Innkeeper herself. As she focuses on bringing the long-abandoned Inn back to life, Dina is desperate for magical guests. Although she had a long-term tenant, who incidentally has a bounty on her head, Dina must keep her tenant safe while dealing with space vampires, werewolf soldiers, and bounty hunters.
Dina spent the last few years searching the Galaxy for her parents and their missing inn. At last, she realized another way she might find them was through the guests at her own inn, Gertrude Hall. Something unworldly is attacking the dogs in her neighbourhood and Dina gets involved.
This was a territorial kill, left for everyone to find — look how bad and clever I am.
Ilona Andrews, Clean Sweep
I am a huge fan of both sci-fi and fantasy stories. Books that can include the best elements of both are my favourite. The new and enticing use of magic in my world, the visitation of aliens, even if they are space vampires. They see Earth as not a particularly interesting place, except for its location. I think Clean Sweep and the rest of the Innkeeper Chronicles fit my criteria well. Dina is a magic-filled human. She has the same challenges as many new business owners; she needs to find her clientele to maintain her business. Who can’t relate to that? The quirky fun is that her inn, Gertrude Hall, is somewhat sentient, and her guests are unique and more violent. She is also a good neighbour and doesn’t like that some alien entity with claws is killing the neighbourhood dogs. I wouldn’t either.
International Women’s Day
is a great day for me to celebrate examples of independent female characters in fiction. Why does it make me think of Dina? She is young, alone, and made hard choices in her life. At first, she thought she wanted to be an average human to fit in. Then, when she lost her parents and no one could explain how or why, Dina and her brother searched the Galaxy for answers. When she still did not find them, she focused on an Inn to draw the answers to her instead of searching for them. Not once did she give up. She focused completely on her desire to find her parents and made her choices independently.
No matter if there was a sexy vampire or a stubborn werewolf interested in her, she moved forward with what she knew was best for her and meeting her goals. She also learned her own blind spots through the series and learned to compromise where it made sense and to hold to her standards the rest of the time.
Maud, her sister and the protagonist in the second trilogy of the Innkeeper Series, is no slouch either. A skilled warrior, poet, and survivor of the most savage vampire-held planet, she trusts no one outside of her family. After she, and her daughter, are rescued by her sister, she learns there are others she can trust, if she can open her heart.
Vampire worldview, condensed into three sentences: If it’s not food or a pet, kill it, it might be poisonous.
Ilona Andrews, Sweep of the Blade
I love both sisters and their survival instincts. I cannot wait for the next book in Maud’s journey. If you are interested in learning more about the Demille sisters, you can find their information here.
Happy Reading!
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