Lady Helen 1: The Dark Days Club

Good book, love the atmosphere and the plot. Love the fact that the author gave an accurate portrayal of the regency era (minus the surnatural part). But it felt kinda slow, and I hope we'll have more details about the secret demon fighting society. The characters are okay, I hope the romance will be good and evolve in the next books that I will definitely read.

4.5 stars This would have got more stars but I feel a large amount of rage at the ending. I felt a huge amount of rage throughout but it erupted at the end. It was a wtf ending that had me raging at certain characters (one of them really who is a giant douche who should throw himself off a cliff and do everyone a favour. No one likes you!) So yeah. I won't write a full review until my rage abates but God damn I hated things. But I loved things and seriously couldn't stop reading so where do you go from there? I think I loved it more than I hated one characters actions so we'll go with that.

This is my second time of reading (and why did I not post my review here last time when I loved it so?) but I have to say whilst I really enjoyed this book, second time around I would probably feel compelled to rate it 4 stars not 5. This book was just as good as I remembered, don't get me wrong. I still had the same issues with the slower start but I adored the story itself and the premise of reclaimers. Once the story got going it was a fast paced plot which was written so intelligently. In reading again (and taking it a little slower) I found that I could recognise and appreciate the amount of research Goodman must have done to create the world in which she has. This is a regency era book and you can tell she's looked at historical dates and events in England and Europe at the time. The fact the date and the year were mentioned made me want to check historical facts because I just know she would have set this books during real events. She even put all the effort in with the clothing for goodness sake! I cannot fault the effort which went into the book and in a small way I feel like the level of research done may have hindered it as Goodman was so utterly accurate with the time. One of the things I love with historical romance is that there are occasional liberties taken to ensure the story remains fun (although, I don't dispute HR authors do a whole load of research too, I've heard all about it and they are little mini historians the lot of them). Anyway, for me, I felt like Goodman's dedication to accuracy meant this book felt a bit more stilted than it might have. Whilst I loved the attention to detail I did feel like Helen was trapped in the rules of polite society and it meant that the action had to happen slower because she couldn't always wonder off to meet a man with no chaperone. It was both logical and frustrating. Isn't it weird when an aspect you love of a book ends up being the cause for your annoyance? Anyway, I loved the book the story the action but the attention to detail did kind of grate, at times. I cannot wait to begin the next book in time for the weekend, though.

Why has this book not got more notice? I just randomly picked it up the other day and I haven’t been able to put it down since. This has my two favorite elements in a story: historical fiction and fantasy. I really enjoyed this book, as it was a light and fun read. Regency society meets demon fighting, what more could you ask for?

3.5