The Leaning Pile of Books is a feature where I talk about books I got over the last week–old or new, bought or received for review consideration (usually unsolicited). Since I hope you will find new books you’re interested in reading in these posts, I try to be as informative as possible. If I can find them, links to excerpts, author’s websites, and places where you can find more information on the book are included.
This week brought a few books, including the first couple in a new series by Alison Goodman. I quite enjoyed her Eon duology, especially Eona!
The Dark Days Club (Lady Helen #1) by Alison Goodman
The Dark Days Club was first released last year, and the trade paperback edition became available earlier this month. It was selected by NPR as one of the Best Young Adult Books of 2016, and it was also an Aurealis Award finalist in both the Best Fantasy Novel and Best Y.A. Novel categories.
The publisher’s website has an excerpt from The Dark Days Club (link is below the cover image).
From the New York Times bestselling author of Eon and Eona; a Regency adventure series starring a stylish and intrepid Buffy-esque demon-hunter
London, April 1812. On the eve of eighteen-year-old Lady Helen Wrexhall’s presentation to the queen, one of her family’s housemaids disappears-and Helen is drawn into the shadows of Regency London. There, she meets Lord Carlston, one of the few who can stop the perpetrators: a cabal of demons infiltrating every level of society. Dare she ask for his help, when his reputation is almost as black as his lingering eyes? And will her intelligence and headstrong curiosity wind up leading them into a death trap?
The Dark Days Pact (Lady Helen #2) by Alison Goodman
The second book in the Lady Helen trilogy will be released on January 31 (hardcover, ebook, audiobook).
The publisher’s website has an excerpt from The Dark Days Pact (link is below the cover image).
Sequel to New York Times bestselling author Alison Goodman’s acclaimed The Dark Days Club—a smashing combination of Buffy and Jane Austen!
Summer, 1812.
After the scandalous events at her presentation ball in London, Lady Helen has taken refuge at the fashionable seaside resort of Brighton, banished from her family and training as a Reclaimer with the covert Dark Days Club. She must learn to fight the dangerous energy-wielding Deceivers and prepare to face their master, the elusive Grand Deceiver.
As she struggles to put aside her genteel upbringing, Helen realizes that her mentor, Lord Carlston, is fighting his own inner battle. Has the foul Deceiver energy poisoned his soul, or is something else driving him towards violent bouts of madness? Either way, Helen is desperate to help the man with whom she shares a deep but forbidden connection.
When Mr. Pike, the hard bureaucratic heart of the Dark Days Club, arrives in Brighton, he has a secret mission for Helen: find the journal left by a mad rogue Reclaimer, before it falls into the hands of the Deceivers. Coerced by Pike, Helen has no choice but to do as ordered, knowing that the search for the journal may bring about Lord Carlston’s annihilation.
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