About

Half a Soul is Olivia Atwater's debut novel.

This standalone book is part of the Regency Faerie Tales series.

Half a Soul book cover

Blurb

It’s difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you’re a young lady with only half a soul.

Ever since a faerie cursed her, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear, embarrassment, or even happiness—a condition which makes her sadly prone to accidental scandal. Dora’s only goal for the London Season this year is to stay quiet and avoid upsetting her cousin’s chances at a husband… but when the Lord Sorcier of England learns of her condition, she finds herself drawn ever more deeply into the tumultuous concerns of magicians and faeries.

Lord Elias Wilder is handsome, strange, and utterly uncouth—but gossip says that he regularly performs three impossible things before breakfast, and he is willing to help Dora restore her missing half. If Dora’s reputation can survive both her ongoing curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world… but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.

Pride and Prejudice meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this enthralling historical fantasy romance, where the only thing more meddlesome than faeries is a marriage-minded mama. Pick up Half a Soul, and be stolen away into debut author Olivia Atwater’s charming, magical version of Regency England!

Review

I have read romantic 💖 fantasy before, but I do not typically look for such books to read. As part of the /r/Fantasy/ bingo challenge, I was looking to juggle my books around to avoid more than one novella in my card. So, when 'Half a Soul' came up as part of HEA club and had awesome reviews already, I picked it up. I ended up using the book for Canadian square though.

This was quite a lovely book. Finished it in less than a day. Characters, setting, plot, pacing - all of them combined well to give a delightful experience. The banter was awesome and felt natural.

The prologue didn't catch my attention much, but by the end of the first two chapters, I was turning pages in a hurry. Lot of secondary characters getting their due and focus was another aspect that I loved about this book. In hindsight, this was evident from the first chapter itself, and this continued to be such a refreshing feature that it left a big impression on me.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

What others are saying

From Weatherwax Report blog:

I think the banter was probably one of the best parts of the book, the dialogue was witty, fast-moving, and believable. The writing style itself was light and breezy and made for easy listening. I found the narrator to be a great choice with a nice tone for the story and lightly done voices. The pacing was extremely quick despite the lack of action sequences and things of that nature. It was a quick book, coming in around 250 pages it took me just a few short reading sessions to finish it. I could have been done in one go if I had the time.

From superstardrifter blog:

All told, I had a wonderful time with the whole thing, and I recommend it to anyone that likes a fantasy romance, a regency romance, or a fantasy of manners. This one combines pretty much all three of those things into one delightful package. I had 5/5 stars of a good time with this one! I can’t wait to read the next story in the series!

From Dianthaa's review on /r/Fantasy/:

This was a HEA bookclub read and it was delightful. Short, sweet, funny, charming, everything I look for in a Romance novel, I couldn’t put it down. The dynamic between the romantic leads is so fun and bantery, I couldn’t get enough of them. I loved the way only having half a soul affected Dora, she was still sweet but very emotionally detached from everything. And of course, what made her awkward in society made her a perfect match for the love interest, cause she wasn’t taking any of his bullshit. The book also featured faeries, which I always love. I liked how even though it’s a fluffy romance, it didn’t shy away from the harsh realities of the times, and how that was something that brought the main couple together. I was very happy with how the book tied up loose ends for the secondary characters too.

Bingo

/r/Fantasy/ 2020 bingo categories: