YA Book Review: The Dark Days Pact by Allison Goodman

Title: The Dark Days Pact

Author: Alison Goodman

Series: Lady Helen #2

Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Fantasy

Publisher: Viking Books

Pub Date: 

Pages: 496

My Copy: Hardcover in my Too Be Read Pile

Book Summary:

June 1812. Just weeks after her catastrophic coming-out ball, Lady Helen Wrexhall—now disowned by her uncle—is a full member of the demon-hunting Dark Days Club. Her mentor, Lord Carlston, has arranged for Helen to spend the summer season in Brighton so that he can train her new Reclaimer powers. However, the long-term effects of Carlston’s Reclaimer work have taken hold, and his sanity is beginning to slip. At the same time, Carlston’s Dark Days Club colleague and nemesis will stop at nothing to bring Helen over to his side—and the Duke of Selburn is determined to marry her. The stakes are even higher for Helen as she struggles to become the warrior that everyone expects her to be.

Book Review:

This was an awesome follow up to the Dark Days Club. I was totally absorbed in this book. I found myself liking Lady Helen even more than I did in the first book. Lady Helen and company have a lot more challenges to overcome.

I think Lady Helen has to deal with a lot more training in this book. I found it hilarious when she is trying to disguise herself as a man with some help from her benefactors who are helping her since she her reputation took a hit. Lady Helen gets a lot of things thrown at her. Also things with Lord Carlston and Duke Selburn get a lot more messy than she expects them to. Helen learns that things are not always what they seem. 

There is something bad happening to Lord Carlston and Helen is determined to help him even if it costs her life. She knows that there are things that she must do. Helen doesn’t really trust a whole lot of people and with good reason. Some people are after a certain item, but we find that this item is a lot more dangerous than anyone expects as it has become something far more dangerous and in the wrong hands could be used to bring about the end of the world.

Of course, she has to consider what things will happen when she is out in public. The Duke of Selburn is still pursuing Lady Helen. Selburn tells her that he is an ally and friend to the Dark Days Club. So of course, this changes things between them slightly. She still is not going to get married to him. Marriage is something in this society that most young ladies want. Lady Helen doesn’t want to be married to him.

Then there is the whole mess with Lord Carlston who is definitely descending into madness and made a deal with a deceiver according to Pike. Pike has his own agenda. Lady Helen is definitely caught in the middle. I love the weird twists that happened with Helen, Pike and Lord Carlston. Everyone has something to lose. Not to mention the way that Helen figures out how to deal with all the people and characters. She also has to deal with a lot of other people. While trying to keep everybody safe and doing what is right, she finds things harder to do. There is a lot of twists and turns that I didn’t expect.

I also love how she figures out how to use her abilities to save everybody in this book. We also learn that Selburn’s supposed dead wife is actually alive. So this alleviates her problem with Selburn as they no longer can get married. I thought this was a good resolution to this storyline. Loved how she and Carlston found a way to overcome what is wrong with him and how they cured him. Also like the fact that they announced that they are getting married. Really good way to end this book. I can’t wait to see what they do next if there is another book in this series.

Rating:

Four Hearts