Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews Narrator: Nora Sofyan
Series: Innkeeper Chronicles #5
Published by NYLA on January 13, 2023
Genres: Science Fiction Fantasy
Length: 16 hours and 25 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
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Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
Welcome to Gertrude Hunt!
We are so happy to see you once again. Your innkeepers, Dina Demille and Sean Evans, will see to your every need. No matter what accommodations you require, the inn will oblige. Physics are not an issue for us. Our Red Cleaver Chef is delighted to impress you with his culinary mastery. Rest assured that your safety is our first priority.
Enjoy yourselves, relax, and above all, remember the one rule all visitors must abide by: the humans must never know.
Sweep of the Heart is a serial novella set in the Innkeeper Chronicles featuring Sean Evans and Dina Demille.
For those who are not familiar with this series, The Innkeeper Chronicles is written by Ilona Andrews, first on their blog with a chapter posted each week. Once the book is complete, they post it as an ebook and an audiobook. I’m not sure I have those details exactly right, but they are close enough. There is a lot going on in this world that they have built.
Our main character, Dina Demille, is an innkeeper in a small town in Texas. Her neighbors think she runs a bed and breakfast, and she does. The interesting thing is that she hosts guests from other planets and not all of them are humanoids. The inn is somewhat sentient and bends to the will of the innkeeper. The innkeepers do have magic, but most of it is tied to the inn, so they are much less powerful off the inn grounds.
Throughout the series, we’ve seen quite the array of guests. This time though, the guests are extremely unique. Dina reluctantly agrees to host a spousal selection for a royal leader of a group of planets. The goal of this is to find a suitable partner to create an heir. Because of the technology involved in the creation of the heir, the gender of the spouse is a non-issue. The spouse is required to spend 25 years with the ruler to help raise and be a part of the child’s life. Because of this, the kingdom (I don’t think this is the right word, but I can’t remember what is the correct word), will grant a small ask of each of the contestants and a large ask of the winner and the delegation of the spouse-to-be.
There is a very eclectic group of contestants. I don’t remember all the names, but there is a very beautiful fish creature that can travel in a bowl that will translate his body movements into words, there’s a tree group that will kill and eat people. There’s a space snow leopard. There was one group that was very hard to describe, but sounded like they would be very disturbing to see. Vampires and more. The culture of all of these groups was fun to learn. I think it was the tree people that would make threats and then end with “would you like to discuss?” There was an animal-like creature that liked to smother living things.
Throughout this “contest”, there’s a debate run by a space chicken that is a great philosopher. There’s a talent show, which has a wide range of “talents”. There was a one on one date with the ruler, in which the 250 pound space snow leopard jumped onto Dina’s lap and asked to be brushed (after she saw Dina brushing her cat).
Sweep of the Heart was a really fun story and overall series. I love the ability of Ilona Andrews to come up with such a wide array of characters. Not only are the descriptions of these species very in depth, the individual personalities of the individuals of each species is well defined. If you’ve ever read Ilona Andrews, you know they create truly amazing worlds too. I just love my time in any world that they build. I also fell in love with all of their characters. Even the villains, you love to hate. I just don’t have enough great words for that team.
Narration:
This is the first book I’ve listened to by Nora Solyan. I think she did an amazing job. The large cast of characters and such a large array of character species and she seemed like she had been doing this all along. Not many people can deal with voicing fish people, cat people, chicken people, rat-like people and more. And male and female was no issue either. She’s also great at including the emotions you want to see, whether it is a fight, romantic or humorous scene, she always had a great feel to how she performed the story. I would gladly listen to her work again.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Nora Sofyan
Nora Sofyan is an actor, director, audiobook narrator and consultant (editing, performing, media). She is also a mother, wife, daughter, friend, collaborator, comedy fan, mushroom enthusiast, comedy fan, dialect collector. When not working she is at home reading stories out loud — to her children, family and you. She has been reading aloud professionally since 2015, and mimicking the voices and sounds around her since long, long before that.
About Ilona Andrews
“Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team. Ilona is a native-born Russian and Gordon is a former communications sergeant in the U.S. Army. Contrary to popular belief, Gordon was never an intelligence officer with a license to kill, and Ilona was never the mysterious Russian spy who seduced him. They met in college, in English Composition 101, where Ilona got a better grade. (Gordon is still sore about that.)
Gordon and Ilona currently reside in Texas with their two children and many dogs and cats.
They have co-authored several bestselling series, including the #1 NYT bestselling urban fantasy of Kate Daniels, rustic fantasy of the Edge, paranormal romance of Hidden Legacy, and Innkeeper Chronicles, which they post as a free weekly serial.
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I started listening to audiobooks when a new book in a series was coming out and I wanted to get a refresher, but didn’t have time to read all the books (I think it was Anita Blake). I fell in love. I stayed with strictly re-reading books that I’d already read for a long time. I eventually tried an audiobook for something that I hadn’t read first and was hooked there too. Now, I listen to audio for both re-reads and first time. I have some series that I’ve given up reading and only listen. I try to get any many books/audiobooks from the library to help save on my budget. Books on CD and the newer digital downloads from the library really allow me to listen more. I then purchase my favorites (because who can wait in line for your favorite book??) and less mainstream books from Audible or some other online retailer.
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My favorites. The best of the best.
Yes! I love this series.
Fantastic review. I absolutely love this series.
I’m a bit late. I still need to read this one.
Thanks for your review. I need to listen to this one. I’ve read it and found it good, but not my favorite of the series, with “little things” that bugged me. I am hoping I’ll enjoy it more, and on the level of the other titles, with a listen to the audiobook.
I need to check out this series one day.
Another author duo I need to read some day! I’ve wanted to since I think they were at NOLA StoryCon the year I went.