I came across The Dark Days Club at my local bookshop at some point last year. They don't stock very many English language books, but I'm very glad they had this one. It was an impulse buy, but I adored the story. And I was left chomping at the bit, waiting for the second book to be released. 
 The Dark Days Pact is very different to The Dark Days Club. The rules of the supernatural side to life have been established, and the scene has been moved from London proper to Brighton. We're no longer watching Helen navigate high society, but rather learn to navigate the truths of her new life as a Reclaimer. 
 I love the attention to detail that you see in Alison Goodman's books. Her passion for history shines through, and I find that it affects me too as I'm reading. Alison brought 17th century Brighton to life for me, and the descriptions of the streets Helen walked and buildings she entered really helped in that regard. I especially enjoyed the parts of the story where Helen is exploring a shadier area of the town, an area outside of her comfort zone. 
 The story is just as strong in this instalment as it was in the previous one. There are differences, for example we don't get to see much of Helen's quick intellect, mostly because she's no longer in a setting where she feels comfortable and she's got to find her own legs again. We also don't see much interaction between Helen and Carlston, since Carlston is struggling with his own problems. But we do get to see the friendship between Helen and Darby (I love the interactions between those two characters), and we get to meet Delia (who played an absentee role in the previous book ). I also really liked the friendship between Helen and Mr Hammond. 
 Other than the obvious threat of the Deceivers, Helen is constantly finding herself struggling against men who, as products of their time, are constantly trying to steer her and interfere in her life. I enjoyed reading about her frustrations as she tried to figure out how best to get these men to understand that she is the Reclaimer, not they, and thus she is better equipped to deal with dangerous situations. At the end of the book, it felt like she'd come to a decision about how she would allow these men to treat her, and I'm very interested to see how that develops in the final book. 
 There are also some revelations made at the end of this book, which are going to have great influence on the events of the third book. I'm very intrigued to see how they will play out. 
 Now I just have to wait patiently for another year...