The Dark Days Deceit: The Lady Helen Trilogy, Book 3

In this third installment of Regency England house party with demon-fighting secret society, we have Lord Carlston and Helen bonded as the Grand Retriever dyad, fighting off feelings as Helen is about to get married to Lord Selburn.But in the last book Helen also got tangled up with a powerful dark force that causes her to lose control of her powers somewhat.Hmmm….lots of waiting around in this one. Lots of going from London to Chenwith (Lord Selburn’s estate) or sending of aides or relatives one place or another. Lots of talking about a dark force bursting through Helen’s mind while she simultaneously is pressured to quite the Dark Days society entirely.Lots of protective men for some odd reason being okay with various women putting themselves in mega danger with the excuse of “I understand.”It was slow. And a bit repetitive until finally the Grand Deceiver makes a move. (they also find an old and wise deceiver in Bath who apparently ……doesn’t attack them? Is willing to give them info against its own race? what?)So didn’t enjoy this one as much as the prior books. I felt like the author had to manufacture alot of running around for just one secret reveal, really, that if you are a romance fan, seemed like it had to be obvious for a happy ending.

From my Goodreads review:What a fantastic ending to a wonderfully well-written series!Throughout books 1 & 2 I had my suspicions about the Grand Deceiver and I loved how in book 3 Alison Goodman kept me second guessing with false leads.With the same sort of set-up as book 2, book 3 has a lot of hanging about in Bath with Selburn and Carlston at each other's throats (the tension of which, was super fun, and Alison Goodman's writing is never boring). + I loved how Helen's Aunt kept unintentionally sabotaging the work of the Dark Days Club for propriety's sake. She knew what was up with Helen and Carlston. ;)Darby is just so friggin loyal and perfect. She plays Alfred to Helen's Batman & I totally support strong women helping strong women...Even if it means interrupting her own personal life/possible happiness with Quinn.I don't want to spoil anything, but I just have to say that the ending worked out perfectly. I was totally nervous for everyone's lives, and it just worked out so perfectly. Sometimes, the easiest route for the plot (even if it's easily guessed) is the best for the readers.And though the ending worked out nicely, I wish this wasn't the end. I want to see more Dark Days Club adventures with Helen, please!!2 additional points:I both read and listened to this book & I can easily recommend both. To audiobook listeners, Fiona Hardingham does a wonderful job reading! For the book readers, you get to see all the silent eye communications between Helen and Lord Carlston. <3I think I wrote this before in my review for The Dark Days Club andThe Dark Days Pact, but I think it's worth writing again: Alison Goodman is a superb historical writer! Yes, this book is all about monsters/demons, but it's obvious that Goodman did extensive research to write this book and make it feel like a Regency-era novel first.Super fun & well written!

This is the third and final book in the Dark Days series. This was by far the slowest book in the series. It ties everything up decently but was a bit of a slog to get through. In general I was disappointed and thought it could have used much better editing.Lady Helen is preparing for her wedding to the Duke of Selburn and training with Lord Carlston as part of the dyad that is supposed to defeat the Great Deceiver. It’s a lot to take on and the Duke is constantly pressuring her to start taking on household duties in addition to her duties for the Dark Days society.This book was very very slow. It really doesn’t pick up until the last 15% or so. The characters spends a lot of time traveling from place to place and dealing with day to day Victorian necessities. While I don’t mind some of that, I found that very little else happened in this book and it was very hard to stay engaged with. This is the type of book where you could skip 10 or 20 pages if you wanted to and not miss anything of import.I also got very tired of Lady Helen’s wavering back and forth. She basically wants everything without making any compromise and this made her very exasperating as a character. In fact most of the characters in this book were very frustrating to deal with and read about.The story is decently tied up and the end of the book is well done. The writing style is easy to read, but the story just drags.Overall this was my least favorite book in the Lady Helen series. It was just way way too slow; this book could have been half the length it was and been much better. Additionally a lot of the characters got very wishy washy in this book which was frustrating. I would tentatively recommend this series if you enjoy Victorian fantasies. However, be prepared to fight through some lackluster and boring scenes.

I loved the setting and the characters, especially strong willed Helen. She was expected to take care of the household, but instead she kicked deceiver ass.The book could have been shorter, a lot of the book is just them trying to find answer's, but they rarely get ones that will tell them who they are looking for.But Alison Goodman is an awesome author and I love her writing, and how she research so much before she publishes her books

I should have seen it coming. After a plot twist I always realize that I’ve been too trusting of too many characters. I enjoyed this conclusion to the trilogy about the same as the middle book of the series.

Love love love this author and this book. It’s currently doing the rounds amongst my family and friends

I really enjoyed the first two instalments of this series, yet found myself struggling to get through this final act. As with previous stories, this book aims to merge two very different literary styles - a Regency era Romance with a fast-paced tale of demon slaying. Unfortunately, this time, the balance is totally off.Around 80% of the novel is devoted to planning this time around. Despite the fact that the hunt for the Grand Deceiver should be forefront in everyones' minds, so much of the novel is used to simply plan for Lady Helen's impending wedding to Selburn. Meal planning, becoming acquainted with the Duke's family, selecting fabrics for wedding dresses. If you are legitimately reading this novel for the historical accuracy, perhaps you would get more enjoyment out of this than I did.To make matters worse, Selburn actually goes out of his way in this novel to prevent Helen from doing her duties as a Reclaimer. And, despite the fact that he is now sworn into the Dark Days Club, everyone just seems to go along with this. While I found the (admittedly accurate) attitudes towards women frustrating in earlier instalments, this novel made it worse still. How many times does Helen have to prove herself before the male characters in the novel will trust her to actually do her job?I also found the novel's twist to be a little frustrating. I must admit that I had figured out who the Grand Deceiver was in the previous novel. However, I can't understand why it took the characters in the novel so long to come to the same conclusion. Even in the climax, Helen is surprisingly slow on the uptake even though there is only one character present who actually fits the prophecy. I also felt that everything drew together in the end too neatly. While it's always been obvious who Helen will end up with, the way that the novel allows this to happen without scandal felt a little too convenient.In terms of character, this novel largely shared the same issues that I already had with the previous instalments. Despite her strength, Helen is a frustratingly passive character and prefers to internalise her problems rather than acting on them. While I do still love her relationship with Darby, I wish that Helen would just take responsibility for her own life at times, rather that waiting for others to do it for her.With the exception of Hammond, I also found myself frustrated by every male character in the novel. While Carlston was a bit less frustrating this time around as he has grown to respect Helen, every other male character seemed to exist to remind her of her place. While this was true to the time, this still angried up my blood and made me struggle to get through this story.So, all in all, I was left disappointed by this series. I was really excited to read this final instalment of the trilogy, but found it to be a lot slower than previous instalments. While the climax was exciting, this was too little too late. Unfortunately, it means that this isn't really a novel that I would recommend unless you're looking for a Regency era novel with a bit of a twist.

Picked up this series as a total blind buy based on Amazon recommendations and became absolutely addicted. Just finished the third which is just as emotional, exciting and excellently written and researched as the first two.Alison Goodman has a fan for life! I hope she writes more on this universe. If you're looking for a sign as to whether to try this series, here it is. Read it. You won't regret it.

Really enjoyed this book as I have the previous two in the series. The plot, the setting, the characters and the action all work well together to produce a very effective story and the depth of research that has gone into getting the details of the period correct is impressive and a definite plus. However, I would like someone - anyone - to explain why this is classified YA. How is it so different from , say, Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century stories (tone and themes not actual story obviously) that it requires a label that is bound to put off some potential readers?