August 28, 2016

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman

The Dark Days Club

This book sat on my nightstand for weeks. Months, even. The cover is so fantastic. Please admire the beauty of this cover. I planned to get to it, but it kept getting put off, so its beauty adorned my room for a really long time. I started it, and then the 24 in 48 readathon happened, and I put it down again. Well, I finally got through it. I enjoyed it while I was in the act of reading it, but when I put it down for the day, I didn't really feel like picking it up again the next day.

Lady Helen is in her debutante year in London, 1812. Her parents are dead and she and her older brother were raised by their aunt and uncle. Her brother is several years older than her and no longer lives in their household, but he is very concerned about her marriage prospects and her propensity to be unladylike. Suddenly, their cousin Lord Carlston returns from the continent. He is thought to have murdered his missing wife, but there is no body, so it remains a rumor. He keeps showing up at society functions and helps Lady Helen realize that she has some supernatural powers that she inherited from her mother, who is considered a traitor to England. After learning about her heritage, Helen has to make a choice between accepting the responsibility her powers give her, or turning her back on that world and settling down to the life she was born into.

There is a lot of not knowing who to trust and people trying to get her for their various nefarious desires. There were a few exciting and adventurous scenes, but there was also a bit of hand-wringing which annoyed me.

I liked the story. Even reading back over this review, I like the plot. I liked some of the characters. It just didn't leave me feeling super happy when I finished it. I was glad it was done, because it was almost 500 pages. But I didn't hug it, or anything.

6/10 bookmarks.