The Dark Days Club
Author: Alison Goodman
Publication Date: January 21st 2016
Publisher: Walker Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
London, April 1812. Eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall is on the eve of her debut presentation to the Queen. Her life should be about gowns and dancing, and securing a suitable marriage. Instead, when one of her family's housemaids goes missing, Lady Helen is drawn to the shadows of Regency London.
There, she finds William, the Earl of Carlston. He has noticed the disappearance, too, and is one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of powerful demons that has infiltrated every level of society. But Lady Helen’s curiosity is the last thing Carlston wants—especially when he sees the searching intelligence behind her fluttering fan. Should Helen trust a man whose reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? And will her headstrong sense of justice lead them both into a death trap?
In The Dark Days Club, internationally best-selling author Alison Goodman introduces readers to a heroine who is just as remarkable as Eona—and yet again reinvents an establlished literary genre, making it her own.
Although The
Dark Days Club isn't original in its concept, it's unique in its execution. Set
in Regency England, Lady Helen's coming to terms with the fact her mother's
traitorous legacy has more to it than what it seems, and that she herself is
more like her than anyone would like.
A teenager
finds out that she's special, she's a demon hunter! That there are different
kinds and not all are life threateningly dangerous, and that she hasn't come
into her full powers yet. Her love interest has a dark, mysterious past and
doesn't tell her everything about what she is and what she can do and the
differences between her male counterpart powers and what it means for her.
Pretty standard YA Paranormal set in the 1800's, right?
What sets
The Dark Days Club apart from everything else is in the way the powers are
perceived and enhanced and connected to a partner, and where that energy goes
and takes from. It's pretty interesting to read about. Helen also has a
choice, her powers can be taken away if she chooses, and she can go back to her
old life, but with a choice comes consequences, not just to her duty to
protect, but to herself. What really sets The Dark Days Club apart is that
personality is attached to powers, what makes Helen, Helen, is her powers. So
if she chooses to take them away, she could lose who she is.
The romance
between Lady Helen and Lord Carlston is not what you call a romance, not quite.
At least, not yet. It's a slow burn, built on actual hours and time spent
together, unlike her chaperoned meetings and brief time spent with the Duke of
Selburn, it's built upon looks between them and meaning and understanding. And
honestly, while Selburn is perfectly fine, and where as Carlston is the one
whose supposedly has a dark streak, which isn't his fault entirely, I felt it
more Selburn who had the more darker side, under that smile of his rested
jealousy and possession and his interest in Helen more out of wanting to beat
Carlston, than his feelings for her.
What I loved
about The Dark Days Club is the setting. It honestly does feel like you're
there, down to speech, descriptions, posture, prosperity, the scene and life is
well and truly painted, which with its setting, needs to be. No doubt The Dark
Days Club is well researched, and if paranormal in a historical setting is your
thing, you'll love it.
Rating: 4/5
