The Dark Days Club (A Lady Helen Novel) Paperback – January 3, 2017

This is the first time that I can honestly say I AM miserable knowing I have to wait another year to read Book 2 of this series! Obviously, I loved this book, so much that I annotated it. Laughing. Now, how am I to describe it accurately?On first look, this might look like Buffy meets Jane Austen, and part of that is true. But this is so much more. Goodman has written a lovely pastiche to Jane Austen's time and fiction. Her research is impeccable and so precise at times, that it took my breath away. God is in these details. Some might consider the pacing slow, or that there are too many details, but I will disagree with a smile. Creating a world of such reality made the heartbreak of Helen's situation painful and urgent. This is a girl with true agency, one reared to marry well and have a family. Add to that the painful reality that Helen is a reluctant heroine. She does not go gentle into this great darkness that enters her life. She wants her choice, and the price she pays for that choice is a harsh one. It's almost a metaphor for what young women faced when they gave up their carefully planned lives of comfort for something daring and well, shall we say, feministic. It might be compared to what Mary Godwin did running off with Percy Shelley. "Here be a world of wonder and horror."And pain and confusion, and great danger, of no benefit to herself, but to others. That is the sharp contrast. That is what Lady Helen faces. She will never be safe again. NEVER.So, it's a story about a young girl of 18, who learns that her mother was involved with The Dark Days Club, a group of people who fight against a great evil. They are outnumbered and some "great Deceiver" is about to descend upon England and the rest of the world. Helen is his nemesis. I am not going to spoil anything because this book is truly suspenseful, it's detailed, yes, the pace slowly moves, but the tension is mounting in every chapter. Helen also meet Lord Carlston, her mentor. I wish he had a point of view, but I suppose that would have been too difficult, considering how the plot unfolded. This is no dark brooding bad boy, this is a young man who carries a great burden but who believes in Helen's power and purpose from the beginning. They have great chemistry and I truly believe that they might already love one another, but don't think that yet. Who knows?I have ideas of who might be the "great Deceiver" but I am not going to share them. Goodman doesn't always play fair. It's not that predictable. Anyway, this book is about discovery, about Helen finding out some terrible truths, and about making choices, when there are "no good choices." That's how life works and it's much better in fiction when the choices we make may come back to haunt us in terrible ways. I am sitting here wondering what is going to happen to Helen, how she is going to live the life that Lord Carlston and a few other gifted (cursed) people do? Will she ever get her mother's Colligat back or will it be used against her? Will the Duke stay devoted, and if so, why? What about her uncle, her brother, Lady Margaret, and Darby? All these relationships are going to change.And Helen will be tested.Lots of great writing here. Strong writing and wonderful editing. I did not find one error. Laughing. Goodman writes great action and plots so well. Yes, I love strong plots. I love dense writing. I love big books. So naturally I am one happy person.But I have to wait, miserably, for Book 2, which I am assuming will come out in January of 2017. And then Book 3 the following year. Oh, well, patience is a virtue.

"Welcome to the Dark Days Club"Well this book was quite the delight. A lovely regency romance and dark fantasy, filled with mystery, dangerous secrets, rivalry and lust. I made quick work of this one. The book is well written and overall pretty well paced. I must admit though it requires some patience because each character's course of action is largely dictated by the societal norms of the. So some of the characters interactions can be a bit trying.One thing I absolutely loved about this book is that it has a lovely amount of wit. I absolutely adore characters who are witty.Helen is a quick, witty, curious, loyal and strong. One thing I do enjoy about her is that unlike some heroines she is rational. She is just cautious enough, without having to be paranoid. Helen thinks for herself and is willing to entertain the ideas of the impossible. When she is revealed to have gifts she never dreamed possible Helen is forced to make a choice: choosing the life she's always believed she'd have or one in which she would be able serve a greater purpose but her life would be constant danger."Sometimes there is no right choice"That certainly proves to be true in Helen's life. Because no matter what choice she makes someone gets hurt. And finally Helen decides that she can only do what she thinks is right. Because she finally realized that in the end you cannot have everyone happy. It is a simple truth of life.Joining Helen we have a colorful cast of characters from the mysterious, dark, handsome and commanding Lord Carlston, to the witty, kind and loving Duke of Selburn, and the fiercely loyal, sassy, willful Darby.There are still however, many unanswered questions and the battle against good and evil is clearly just getting started.

i saw an ad for The Dark Days Club on Goodreads and brought it at once, read it at once, in one afternoon. I was very well entertained. Then I got to thinking. I am not a romance aficianado, but I recognize the cliches, the dark, brooding, possibly immoral hero, the innocent heroine etc. I know little or nothing of "Regency" fiction, except that it runs around inside another edifice of cliches and references, largely traceable to Jane Austen. This would be regency romance supernatural fiction.Supernatural fiction in something I like and have read a lot of. "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norel", and "Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London," both among my all time favorites, also involve good wizards in the service of the British government against forces of the supernatural. For that matter, if you put it that way, so does Harry Potter. But here, it was the very supernatural evil In Dark Days Club, the everyday persons with their glowing tentacles and vampirish feeding tubes visible only to the cadre of select predestined supernaturally strong demon hunters that lost me. I found them hokey and juvenile.When the author described her work as "Jane Austen meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer" the other shoe dropped. What she has done is incorporate yet another complex edifice of literary cliches, the "Buffyverse" into the mix. She's done it skillfully; the book is a page turner if you don't think about it. If you do, it's an encyclopedic mashup of cliches from three disparate sourcesFive stars means "Wow!" Four means "OK. but not perfect." Three means "I finished it, but would not read another." Two means I couldn't finish. One means I found myself seriously turned off. Here I was entertained once, but I see no reason to read a sequel.

Carino.Devo dire che non avevo grandi aspettative quando ho comprato questo libro, e invece mi sono trovata costretta a rivalutarlo interamente.Certo, non il libro del secolo, o la storia più innovativa che si sia mai sentita, però è stata una lettura semplice, simpatica e rilassante.

1) Regency!Image result for dark days club The novel is set in 1812, during the Regency era. Goodman has obviously done her research and it gives the story a great authentic feel. It's super interesting to learn about social customs of the time. If that sounds boring, its totally not! Don't worry, it's not like a school textbook on the Regency era, with lists and info dumps, you just read and afterwards think 'wow- I learned something cool there!'2) Romance! One thing that always niggles me in historical novels is when authors try hard to have their characters act like real people of that time would do. BUT, the romance will feel rushed so that it can lead up to an inevitable kiss by the end. I don't mind not having a kiss in the first book, I prefer for it to feel real and develop naturally. Goodman manages to brilliantly create tension between her two characters mostly through their conversations and body language. She adapts to rules such as women not being allowed to go out with a man (not from her family) alone and does it expertly.3) Demons! You might think 'oh, so basically the mortal instruments, set in 1812 - its just another infernal devices!' But you'd be wrong. The demons in this novel aren't anything like the ones in the Shadowhunter Chronicles, instead of ugly and grotesque creatures, these demons look human. And they feed on something very peculiar...4) Friendship! The novel features a wonderful female friendship between Helen and her lady's maid Darby. They both look out for each other and confide in one another. I'm excited to see if how their friendship grows in the next book.5) Fate! Often in fantasy novels, there's a 'chosen one' who finds out they're destined to do/be something and they're shocked but shoulder the responsibility and go on to be heroes. Harry Potter. Clary Fray. Frodo. They don't ever say 'yeah, thanks but no thanks. I just want to go on living my normal life.' Sometimes they might falter and struggle and wonder why they ever chose this path, but they don't really entertain the possibility that they don't have to accept the responsibility that is being thrust upon them, that could possibly kill them and will complicate their lives a whole lot. The Dark Days Club however...

Un très bon livre avec des personnages très attachants et une intrigue qui se construit et se complexifie petit à petit. La vie (des femmes) de l'époque est très bien dépeinte et semble assez réaliste. Un bon moment de lecture sans prétention et bien écrit.

Yes you read it right; it is a Supernatural story based in regency era. So on one page you have the world of ton, the balls, the etiquette and the dresses. Then in next, you have monsters, people inheriting Supernatural strength and power and of course secret society dedicated to saving mankind. This book is just waiting to be found by HBO.

Ich lese gern sowohl historische Romane als auch Geschichten mit Vampiren, Dämonen, etc. und daher war mein Interesse sofort geweckt als ich kürzlich über Alison Goodman's "The Dark Days Club" gestolpert bin.Das Buch spielt zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts, und erzählt die Geschichte der 18-jährigen Helen Wrexhall, die nach dem Tod ihrer Eltern einige Jahre zuvor von Onkel und Tante aufgenommen wurde. Wenn es nach ihrer Tante ginge dann würde Helen sobald wie möglich einen wohlhabenden und betitelten jungen Mann heiraten und Herrin über ihren eigenen Haushalt werden. Die intelligente und eigensinnige Helen ist von dieser Vorstellung jedoch wenig begeistert. Als eine Bedienstete aus dem Haus ihres Onkels und ihrer Tante plötzlich spurlos verschwindet und Helen anfängt dazu Nachforschungen anzustellen kommt sie mit dem mysteriösen Lord Carlston in Kontakt, und auf einmal wird Helen in eine Welt hineingezogen deren Existenz sie nie für möglich gehalten hätte --- eine Welt voller Dämonen und dunkler Geheimnisse.Für mich war "The Dark Days Club" eines meiner bisherigen Lese-Highlights dieses Jahres. Die Charaktere sind wundervoll gezeichnet, die Dialoge intelligent und voller Wortwitz, und die Geschichte ist von Anfang bis Ende interessant. Hätte Jane Austen Geschichten mit dunklen übernatürlichen Kreaturen geschrieben dann hätten sie wohl in etwa so ausgesehen ... ;)