The Dark Days Deceit by Alison Goodman (Website, Twitter, Facebook)Also by this author: Lady Helen and the Dark Days Pact
Published by Penguin Young Readers Group on November 20th 2018
Genres: Girls & Women, Historical, Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 544
The thrilling, genre-bending conclusion to Lady Helen's demon-hunting adventures, set in the glittering Regency world.
Lady Helen has retreated to a country estate outside Bath to prepare for her wedding to the Duke of Selburn, yet she knows she has unfinished business to complete. She and the dangerously charismatic Lord Carlston have learned they are a dyad, bonded in blood, and only they are strong enough to defeat the Grand Deceiver, who threatens to throw mankind into chaos. But the heinous death-soaked Ligatus Helen has absorbed is tearing a rift in her mind. Its power, if unleashed, will annihilate both Helen and Carlston unless they can find a way to harness its ghastly force and defeat their enemy.
In the final book of the trilogy that began with THE DARK DAYS CLUB and continued with THE DARK DAYS PACT, the intrepid Lady Helen's story hurtles to a shocking conclusion full of action, heartbreak, and betrayal.
The Dark Days Deceit is the final book in the Lady Helen series by Alison Goodman and if you haven’t read the first two books yet, I’m not sure we can still be friends…just kidding…kind of. I really do wish more people I know would read these books because I love them, and they will be on my favorites shelf forever. For those of you reading who have not read the first two books, please know that I can’t promise not to spoil but no spoilers ahead for the final book…I promise! With that said, don’t hate me when I don’t tell you ALL THE THINGS.
This book picks up where we left off with Lady Helen and Lord Carlston now bonded as the Grand Reclaimer, but they are still trying to figure out how it works. Now in Bath, the Dark Days club are searching for the Grand Deceiver and oh yeah, Helen is preparing to marry the Duke of Selburn. There are just a few things going on in Helen’s life and things are definitely not easy.
I will truly miss these characters – of course Helen and Carlston are my absolute favorites and I can’t even tell you about all the things that happen with these two because Goodman put so many twists and turns into this book that just when she had me thinking one thing, something else happened to make me need to put the book down and regroup. Of course, since Helen is getting married, the tension between them due to their feelings for each other is something else.
Helen has been through so much in this series and she has grown so much since the first book. No longer is she the sheltered, young girl who only wants to make a good marriage match. She has a purpose and by the time this book starts, she is determined to do whatever she can to protect those around her. One of the keys to this story though is the people who surround Helen and help her because she never would have made it this far without them all. Of course, there is Carlston but from Hammond and Lady Margaret to Darby, Delia, Quinn, and even Pike – they all play key roles throughout the book and in Helen’s life and help shape her to become who she needs to be in this final book.
As Helen, Carlston, and the club get closer to figuring out who the Grand Deceiver is, things don’t always go as well as one would hope. I’m not going to lie, there are a lot of ups and downs for the characters and not everyone makes it out of this story, but you’ll have to read it to see just how things end up for everyone.
I would also like to call out that Goodman had to have done a crazy amount of research for this series as everything related to the Regency era and even the locations these characters inhabited felt real and while I’m not an expert, it felt authentic to me.
That’s it – I can’t say anymore without potentially giving something away, so I am going to stop here. I will close with saying that if you enjoy a book that is a combination of paranormal, magic, danger, and deceit, you need to pick this up as soon as possible. This book had everything I wanted in a final book and while I am sad this series is complete, I loved it. This will definitely not be the last book I read by Alison Goodman, that’s for sure. With this series she has made it on to my favorite author list and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!
Thank you to the publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review.
About Alison Goodman
Alison Goodman’s most recent novel is The Dark Days Pact, the second book in the Lady Helen trilogy of supernatural Regency adventures, and winner of the 2016 Aurealis Award for Best YA Novel. The first book in the series, The Dark Days Club, is a 2017 CBCA Notable Book for Older Readers, a 2017 Bank Street Library Best Book and an NPR Best Book of 2016. Alison is also the author of the award winning and New York Times bestselling duology EON and EONA, Singing the Dogstar Blues and her very adult thriller, A New Kind of Death.
Alison can dance a mean contra-dance, has a wardrobe full of historically accurate Regency clothes and will travel a long way for a good high-tea. She lives in Australia and is currently working on her PhD and preparing for the release of the third and final book of the Lady Helen series – The Dark Days Deceit – in November 2018.
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