The Dark Days Pact
Alison Goodman
3/5
After being basically thrown out of her home and thrown headfirst into the deep end of a shadow world she didn't even know existed, Lady Helen has to adapt to living a whole different kind of life. She also has to balance her growing feelings for Lord Carlston, who is still technically married and kind of being consumed by some dark demon mania. She's being pulled in ten different directions and the stakes are only getting higher.
I struggled with this one a bit because I feel like it dragged a little. I wasn't really feeling chemistry with her and Selburn or her and Carlston for most of it and it was being described as such a big deal. The last hundred pages redeemed most of the book for me because they were way more exciting and had more interactions between the protagonists. But a lot of this book felt like filler, which is the cardinal flaw for so many second books in a trilogy.
I do really love the world that Alison Goodman is creating though. When you add paranormal elements to historical fiction, it gets tricky to stay authentic to the other cultural elements of the time. I think that she does a great job of balancing how stressful it would be to turn your back on every single mandate that has been instilled into Lady Helen's head since birth. It isn't just the instantaneous need for rebellion, she's growing with the book.
I'm still pretty invested in the ending, like I feel a need to finish reading. I hope that the next one is more action-packed. There are also a lot of things that need to be resolved so I hope that everything can be tied up in the conclusion.
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