I was initially skeptical about these books. At first glance they appeared to be trying to cram way too much into them. Spaceships, magic, vampires, werewolves, aliens, sentient inns with dimension-warping capabilities, etc etc.

But damn, they're entertaining. And I think this one could be my favourite in the series. The first three told from Dina's POV are great, but in this one, the POV switches to Dina's sister Maud. And she is seriously kick-ass. I was cheering for her all the way through.

Maud Demille was a daughter of Innkeepers. She knew that a simple life wasn't in the cards, but she never anticipated what Fate would throw at her.

Once a wife to a powerful vampire knight, Maud and her daughter, Helen, had been exiled for the sins of her husband to the desolate planet of Karhari. Karhari killed her husband, and Maud had spent a year and a half avenging his debts. But now all the debts are paid. Rescued by her sister Dina, Maud had swore off all things vampire. Except she met Arland, the Marshal of House Krahr. One thing led to another and he asked for her hand in marriage. She declined.

Try as she might, she can't just walk away from Arland. It doesn't help that being human is a lot harder for Maud than being a vampire.

To sort it all out, she accepts his invitation to visit his home planet. House Krahr is a powerful vampire House, and Maud knows that a woman who turned down the proposal from its most beloved son wouldn't get a warm reception. But Maud Demille never shied from a fight and House Krahr may soon discover that there is more to this human woman than they ever thought possible.

Update: Read the published full length novella and oh boy. I loved it. I loved it! I loved that Ilona Andrews gave us Maud's POV at the beginning, prior to her going off with Arland to his House's planet. We get to see how she carried herself more prior to Dina finding her and Helen. We also get to see her first impressions of Arland and Sean. And we even get to witness them sparring. I loved seeing the illustrations in full cover in my Kindle too.

I can't wait for the next InnKeeper!

Original review: Wonderful! The Innkeeper Chronicles books are becoming a favorite of mine. This free novella released on Ilona Andrew's website gave us a look at Dina's sister Maud. We heard some of which Maud had to endure in the last book, this one shows us though why she is so reluctant to give in to loving Arland and marrying another vampire again. The only reason why I gave this four stars though is that I thought the flow was a little lacking between chapters. I am prepared to raise this to five stars when the full novella is released.

After the events in the last book, Maud agrees to go with Arland to his House's planet. Maud is afraid to hope for anything more really after what happened to her and Helen when her husband cost them everything. If I were Maud, I would probably be bitter forever. I don't know if I would want to be courted by a vampire either. However, we get enough scenes between Maud and Arland to know she's fighting loving him. He is everything different than her late husband was (in a good way). I usually don't like to read romance books with a widow, but Maud's husband was an ass so good riddance to him.

Helen gets enough scenes in this one to make her a favorite with readers I can see.

Arland's mother and his mother's husband were a bit frightening, I did love how quickly Arland's mother came to view Maud as a wonderful asset to their house. And her love of Helen was great to see. I want so many stories with this family!

I also loved how this book focuses more on vampire politics and we learn more about them in this one. We also get to see Maud finally get the acknowledgment of how worthy she is when it comes to Arland's family.

I really do want a stand-alone book explaining the innkeepers, vampires, and other alien species our characters have met so far in these books.

The writing was good, will not say much about that though. Reading this on the author website you will probably see some typos. I won't say anything about that in this review. The flow as I said wasn't great. I think it will get all smoothed out in the final version. I also love how these books incorporate pictures into the final version. I wish more books did that.

The ending was top notch and we are left with a dun dun dun (in a good way) when Maud gets an unexpected visit.

Only Ilona Andrews could make me like a book in spite of the science fiction setting.  Of course, she lured me in with a story that started as a traditional-ish paranormal tale involving magic and werewolves, and it all took place on good old Earth; it wasn't until this book that the series becomes firmly entrenched out in the universe with spaceships and aliens and nary a werewolf in site.  Sure, there are vampires but they really aren't very vampiric - token fangs and an obsession with rules and protocols, but all the other tropes are tossed out.

Yet in spite of all the deadly-dull-to-me intergalactic elements (and yes, my eyes glazed and glossed over all the space stuff), the tale has stuck with me in that way that Daesyn (I think that was the name of the planet) feels like a very specific place in my imagination, with it's own feel; extremely detailed as to layout and atmosphere.  It's a place I very much enjoyed obviously, since I catch myself looking forward to going back, only to remember I finished the book and now have to wait who-knows- how-long until the Andrews team published the next one.

I've always like Arland and was disappointed he didn't end up with the Innkeeper (whose name I can't remember - she doesn't play a role in this book), so I thoroughly enjoyed having this story centre on him and Maud.  The secondary characters, mostly Arland's family, contributed to the world building, and weren't merely paper constructs, though the antagonists of the story lost something with their lack of subtlety.  

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed this story in spite of all the things I dislike on the surface and I actually find myself hoping the next one comes out sooner rather than later.

I read this one for a Halloween Bingo square - tentatively the Supernatural one.  I may swap things around in the future, but for now it's the best fit, as there are no shifters in this story.