Level: YA
Recommended Age: 16+
Genres: Historical, Fantasy
Tags: Comedy, Drama, Magic, Paranormal, Regency, Romance, Royalty, War
Mature Content:

  - Mature violence: Detailed scenes with physical attacks, injury, and killing.

  - Moderate sexuality: Multiple cases of extreme sexist behavior, along with brief kissing and descriptions of sexual behavior.

  - Moderate language: Sexist and oppressive language, threats, and discrimination.

Lady Helen has been raised to manage a household, be a good wife and mother, and make everyone around her comfortable and happy. But when she suddenly develops an inhuman strength and agility, she turns to an unlikely source for answers. As she goes through her first season full of dress fittings, dances, and outings designed to find a husband, she must also juggle learning how to control her new abilities. Lord Carlston is reviled and judged by society, a thoroughly unsuitable companion. But he is the only one who can explain why Helen’s world has turned upside down. Propriety demands Helen be a lady, but the survival of mankind depends on her becoming a weapon.

Review:

The research that must have gone into this book is both very obvious and impressive. It feels like a regency novel from the era itself, though paranormal twists probably weren’t really a thing back then. This author knows how to write an entertaining plot with strong characters, all while keeping the reader from getting overwhelmed. The information about the dark days club isn’t dumped all at once, and the regency lifestyle, that is likely unfamiliar to most people, is also explained really gradually.

Helen is a fun character and strives to be strong and intelligent. She wants to do more than just plan parties and arrange flowers. Adventures aren’t considered feminine at this time but Helen certainly finds herself in some strange circumstances. She’s a great protagonist and narrator. Usually modern authors struggle to write period pieces without putting a contemporary twist on perspectives, but Helen is a regency lady through and through. She doesn’t see all of the flaws in her society because she was raised to believe in nothing else. She does question the way women are treated, especially when she gains more physical strength than any normal man. But she is devoted to church and following the teachings of the Bible. She wants to get married and have children, taking her place in society as a woman of good standing. However, she also feels a restless energy and yearning for more than what she’s allowed. Her struggle is just as much on the inside as it is on the outside, and it creates beautiful tension in a picturesque setting.

There is also some well-written tension between Helen and Lord Carlston, with a perfectly regency flirtation of smoldering looks and demure hand kisses. It feels very much like Pride and Prejudice, or even an edited version of Bridgerton. Because the romance is so subtle, there is more of a focus on the family and friend relationships. I especially loved Helen’s interactions with her maid Darby. Everyone seems to want or expect something from Helen, but Darby sees her for who she is and doesn’t judge her for it. She still has to adjust to Helen’s new abilities, but she’s made a commitment to her lady and she’s going to stick by her no matter what. Helen has friends and family, but Darby is the only person she truly relaxes around. It provides more insight into both characters and the time they live in.

This book includes amazing detail of regency life, especially the social season. The author describes everything from how they dressed and talked to what was expected on a normal day. It makes the book a little longer and slower, but it has more of an authentic feel. I appreciated the massive amounts of research, it painted a clearer picture that is easy to miss in shorter, more dramatic renditions of this era. Something else the author does not sugar coat is the brutal sexism and treatment of women. Helen’s uncle threatens to marry her off to elderly widowers, with gleeful hope that Helen will be beaten into submission as penance for her sinful gender. Women were seen as either pretty decoration or tools used to create heirs. And while Helen is by no means weak or insecure, she has to shake off that mentality that she is less. She discovers, slowly but surely, that she is so much more than what society expects of her. Helen has to learn to embrace this new version of herself and find a place in the world that she never expected – at the top.