Half a Soul

by Olivia Atwater

Ebook, 2020

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Atwater

Collection

Publication

Starwatch Press

Description

"Whimsical, witty, and brimming over with charm" (India Holton), Olivia Atwater's delightful debut will transport you to a magical version of Regency England, where the only thing more meddlesome than a fairy is a marriage-minded mother! It's difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you're a young lady with only half a soul. Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment--an unfortunate condition that leaves her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season--but when Elias Wilder, the strange, handsome, and utterly ill-mannered Lord Sorcier, discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into peculiar and dangerous faerie affairs. If her reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all high society, then she and her family may yet reclaim their normal place in the world. But the longer Dora spends with Elias, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love even with only half a soul.  Praise for Half a Soul "Whimsical but never frivolous, sweet but not sugary. I loved it." --Alix E. Harrow "Delightful. Half a Soul is the definition of a comfort read." --Hannah Whitten "I wolfed this down with great pleasure." --KJ Charles "This winsome, whimsical fantasy romance sweeps you off your feet." --Megan Bannen "Smart and subversive, Half a Soul will ignite your heart--and your hope." --Shelley Parker-Chan "A perfect historical fantasy romance: warm, sparkling with magic, dangerous, and delightful." --Tasha Suri  … (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member curioussquared
As a child, Dora was almost taken by a Faerie, Lord Hollowvale -- but her cousin Vanessa saved her with the touch of cold iron, and Lord Hollowvale managed only to take half of her soul. Since then, Dora has lived with one foot in and one foot out of faerie, with only half a soul in the human
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world. She is present, but she is strange and has trouble fitting in -- she often does not react appropriately to social situations, and her emotions seem to be a pale imitation of what they should be. Only her cousin Vanessa sticks up for her and continues to love her as she always did, so when Vanessa and her aunt make plans to go to London for the season and find a husband for Vanessa, Vanessa insists Dora must come along. London is strange, and Dora doesn't fit in with the rest of the Ton. But it soon becomes clear why Vanessa wanted Dora to come so badly -- she is convinced the Lord Sorcier, the rude and offputting Elias Wilder, can cure her cousin. Soon, Dora is getting to know the Lord Sorcier much better than she expected, and she begins to wonder if he is not quite so unpleasant as everyone thinks.

This read as a combination of Bridgerton and a lighter Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and I loved every minute of it. Really fun to read, and it had a surprise social justice angle that I thought was well done. I'm really looking forward to reading other books in the series. 4.5 stars.
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LibraryThing member aturhollow
A warm and charming book. The elements of a typical Regency romance but not superficial in any way. A perfect blend of fantasy and kindness. I look forward to other stories by Olivia Atwater.
LibraryThing member quondame
A Regency fantasy with a social conscience and a dash of humor.
LibraryThing member rivkat
A childhood encounter with a faery lord leaves the protagonist with half a soul, which manifests as neuroatypicality—limited affect, very little sense of what is socially appropriate to say; this is a significant problem for a genteel young lady. When she goes with her beautiful cousin to London,
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they meet the Lord Sorcier, who may be able to help, but he has trauma and secrets of his own. I thought it was fine but am not moved to read the rest of the series.
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LibraryThing member bookczuk
2022 pandemic read during a non-COVID illness. Regency plus Fairy Tales-- I like it! Light but fun reading.
LibraryThing member amberwitch
Light weight historical fantasy about a young woman who has been damaged by a meeting with a faerie in her childhood, and is struggling with fitting onto society as a result.
Meeting the royal sorcerer and his best friend led her on a journey to reclaim herself and get rid of the hold the faerie had
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on her.

The romantic element is pretty well handled even if the happily ever after might be a bit predictable, the author managed to make it new in a way that did not feel soppy or over the top. The whole aspect of faery was pretty fresh.
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LibraryThing member WhiskeyintheJar
3.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Half a Soul was a fantasy, magical realism story set in Regency England. When Theodora Ettings (Dora) was ten years old, Lord Hollowvale, a fae, attempts to steal her soul, claiming her
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mother sold it to him years ago. In the midst of stealing it, Dora's cousin Vanessa comes up behind him and stabs him in the leg with a pair of iron embroidery scissors. Iron to fae is deadly and while it gets Lord Hollowvale to run away, he does get half of Dora's soul. When Dora's aunt sees one of Dora's eyes has changed to grey, she knows Dora is fae-cursed and swears Dora and Vanessa to secrecy, so the family isn't shunned. The story then jumps nine years in the future and we see how only having half a soul has affected Dora.

Elias blinked at her. “I will admit,” he said, “you are proving to be far more interesting than I first assumed, Miss Ettings.”

This was a very soft and light magical realism story and even though there are evil fae, they are portrayed as exaggerated dandys, thinking they are better than the humans of the day but also trying to top their cultural norms; Lord Hollowvale wears five coats to show his wealth. While Dora is fae-cursed with only half a soul, it's still business as usual and since her cousin Vanessa is eighteen, going to London for the season is still a must. Readers begin to realize that Dora's aunt isn't the kindest to her and often calls her a puppet. Lord Hollowvale seems to have taken the emotional side of Dora and left her with never feeling anything. With the help of her cousin Vanessa, Dora learns how she should react in situations and after saying something, Dora often reads people's reactions and begins to tell that what she said wasn't right or “normal”.

And maybe Dora was imagining it, but she thought that perhaps Elias was thinking something similar – that he gained some small comfort from holding onto her, and that it would be difficult for him to set that comfort aside.

We learn that Vanessa agreeing to go to London was dual purpose, she hopes to get the Lord Sorcier, Elias Wilder, to cure Dora. While there isn't much world building, there actually doesn't need to be too much because this is magical realism and if you know about London in the 1810s, you know the world, with just added fae and magic interjected. Elias has a dangerous reputation, he seems to have come from nowhere, earning the title of Lord Sorcier after fighting Napoleon's army in France and with fear and suspected humble beginnings, society doesn't exactly welcome him. He has a friend Albert who he met in the war. Albert is a physician with titled parents, he saved Elias' life and Elias in turn saved Albert by creating a silver arm for him when shrapnel took his. When Dora wanders into a magical bookshop during a downpour and Elias comes up behind her, I felt that spark between them.

“Are faeries and magicians both afraid of scissors, then?”

Elias agrees to try and help Dora but he's also working on curing a plague, a sleeping plague that seems to mostly be affecting children. I love when magical realism takes a real world mystery (encephalitis lethargica, most notably early 1900s) and works to give it reason by creating a fantasy explanation. It's a great part of story-telling, working out those emotions that sometimes have nowhere to go. In fact, this story seemed to be an adult version of children's books where things not deemed “normal” in the real world were laid out to show that just because things or people are “different” doesn't mean that they don't deserve respect or love. Dora read coded as Autistic spectrum disorder to me, her not feeling emotions as other people or reading social interactions correctly. Thinking this throughout had me actually not anticipating the ending because I worried how her only having half her soul was going to play out. I don't want to spoil the ending but I'm going to tell you right now, it's handled perfectly in way that respects Dora and the messaging threaded throughout the story. Dora, rightly, was the star of the show but there was other messaging of war and economic inequality that added to that children's book style but with adults I mentioned.

Elias leaned closer towards her under cover of the dim starlight. Dora stared at him, entranced, as his forehead pressed lightly to hers.
“I don't want to wake up either,” he whispered.
She felt his breath along her cheek as he said the words. The whisper shivered its way into her heart, and Dora thought,
Oh dear. Because she was now quite sure that she was in love.


The romance between Dora and Elias had sweet moments, you're only going to get a true love's kiss, kind of off-screen at that, but I could still feel the something between them. This was a quick read, a little over 200pgs, and I thought paced out just right. Around 60% we learn a secret about Elias and then Lord Hollowvale comes back into the picture as Dora gets trapped with the fae, learns what happened to the other half of her soul (this part was a little wonky) and the sleeping plague comes into play in a big way. The ending doesn't wrap everything up in a perfect bow but with the resolution with Dora, like I said, perfect. When Elias tells Dora that he fell in love with her exactly as she was, I can see some readers getting a tear in their eye.

Very light on the fantasy aspects and angst, this was a magical realism story that cloaked its messaging in a sweet way. There were human machinations, mama's trying to marriage mart scheme, and fae evil doings. A great early October read to dip your toe into an otherworldly setting that was sweet and charming.
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LibraryThing member murderbydeath
A reading friend read this recently and called it a sweet, cozy read and my local library had a copy so I thought, why not?

It's definitely sweet, but I might call it closer to YA than cozy. I'm not sure I can explain why though - maybe because of the strong fairy tale parallels? Either way, Atwater
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is a solid writer who definitely has a moral to share in this story - one that comes across strong, and almost heavy handedly, to this reader, but might be right on target for younger, or less cynical - or more passionate - readers. For me, the message was better shared in the author's Afterword, when she tells the story about the little girl on the beach, throwing all the struggling, beached, fish back into the sea. (For those that haven't heard it: a man approaches the little girl and asks her why she bothers, the fish are going to die, it doesn't matter; to which she replies "it matters to this one".)

I struggle with nasty, mean characters that don't end up the centre of a murder investigation by the end of the book, so I struggled with the Aunt's treatment of Dora; treatment she faced no consequences for. I enjoyed the strong friendships though, and the satire of the British ton that was faire land was acerbic.

All in all it was a light read strongly focused on kindness.
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LibraryThing member macha
a fantasy of manners, because of the faerie part, but at its core it's just a garden-variety Regency romance. for those looking for that it's an entertaining easy read, and the writer is good at snappy dialogue (less good at history), but in the end it does exactly what it's designed to do - and no
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more. also includes the prequel novella "The Lord Sorcier".
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LibraryThing member stormyhearted
I'm a bit of a Regency history geek so there were a handful of obvious anachronisms that made me twitch, but really, this is just a fun little fairytale fantasy that doesn't take itself too seriously. I feel like this could easily work as a YA title as well. I'm looking forward to picking up the
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next in the series.
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LibraryThing member Herenya
Dora accompanies her cousin Vanessa to London for the Season, even though Dora isn’t expected to attract a suitor. Half her soul was stolen by a faerie when she was a child and ever since Dora’s emotions and sense of proper behaviour have been muffled.

I was expecting romantic Regency fantasy
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-- I wasn’t also expecting a story about characters deeply angry at the injustice they see in the world. But I think that this book isn’t just fluffy is actually what made it so delightful and satisfying.

I liked the bond between Dora and Vanessa, and I really liked the way the story explores how Dora experiences her emotions. Recommended.

“Oh, bother,” Dora sighed. “I am about to flout propriety, Lady Carroway. Do be kind to me, please.”
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LibraryThing member MickyFine
Regency fantasy romance in which the main character, Dora, had half her soul stolen by a faerie as a child and as a result never quite behaves as a proper young lady should. While Dora has no illusions that she'll ever be able to attract a husband, she cares greatly for her cousin, and so agrees to
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go accompany her to London for the season. What Dora doesn't immediately realize is that her cousin has plans to introduce Dora to the Lord Sorcier in the hopes that he'll be able to help Dora recover what the faerie stole. As Dora and the Lord Sorcier work together to solve her problem and a larger magical plague that is hitting the children of the workhouses, neither of them anticipate they might also find love.

I picked up this BB around LT early this year but I can't remember from whom, so whoever you are, thank you! A perfect read for lovers of Jane Austen and fantasy (there's a bit of a Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell vibe, in particular), which definitely includes me. The romance is sweet and gentle, the fantasy world fascinating, and I thoroughly enjoyed that Atwater explored aspects of the Regency era that don't typically crop up in novels set in the period. Enjoyed it so much, I immediately placed a hold on the second in the series.
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LibraryThing member foggidawn
Ever since a childhood encounter with a fae lord, Dora has been not quite right. She doesn't seem to feel happiness, or other strong emotions, the same way that other people do, and she has a hard time with social cues. When she travels to London with her aunt and beloved cousin for the Season, she
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knows that their goal is to find her cousin a good match. What she doesn't know is that her cousin is determined to find a way to introduce her to the Lord Sorcier, and hopefully get him interested in finding a cure for Dora. When Dora does meet the Lord Sorcier, though, many unexpected things happen...

I do love a good fantasy of manners every once in a while, and this is a delightful example of the genre. I thought the characterization was particularly well done, and the author did a good job of handling what I suspected was going to be a tricky issue at the end of the book. After getting to know and love Dora in her half-souled state, I wasn't convinced that she needed to be cured, especially since the Lord Sorcier fell in love with her as she was. Some of her mannerisms come across as neurodivergent, and I can see readers who identify with Dora being upset if she were to become "normal" at the end of the book. I thought that the way the story resolved was the best option for all concerned. For readers who enjoy a Regency romance mixed with magic, this is catnip.
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LibraryThing member SandyAMcPherson
Enjoyable, escapist comfort reading. Unusual plot combination: magical realism (fairy personae involvement) with a regency era setting. Main protagonists (Dora, cousin Vanessa, Albert, and Elias) from the British aristocracy. Aside from Vanessa, the other MCs have a keen sense of social justice,
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which was a pleasant development, if not very accurate for the period.

The narrative had generally good pacing, switching between scenarios smoothly when the characters are at fancy balls, stately homes, or coping with illnesses in charitable service at the dreadful workhouses. What felt off from time to time were two dominant aspects: Dora's behaviour as a less emotional, bland 'half soul' character who then evinces rage at the workhouse conditions or seems delightedly happy dancing with Elias; secondly, the author did not show much familiarity with regency manners, or use the vernacular of the day. As a result the conversations were too modern and Dora too liberated to be acceptable in her social circle.

I did enjoy the novel despite my niggles and overlooked the inconsistencies to rate it as a 4-star read. I'm hoping the next book is tightened up and that Atwater finds a good editor.
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LibraryThing member humouress
{First of 3 (+2 novellas) Regency Faery Tales; fantasy, Regency, parallel world, sorcery}(2020)

As a child, Dora's soul was claimed by Lord Hollowvale but her cousin Vanessa saved her before he could take all of it by plunging her embroidery scissors into his leg, since faery beings cannot abide the
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touch of iron.Lord Hollowvale jerked back from the scissors. Fear briefly clouded his face as he glanced down at them—a strange circumstance, since the scissors were only a little bigger than Vanessa's little fist, and their eyes were decorated with cheerful little roses. Vanessa drew Dora slowly around the faerie and back towards the manor, keeping her scissors squarely between herself and the marquess.
"As you wish, niece of Georgina Ettings," the elf spat finally. "I have full half of my payment. May you make good use of the other!"
Since then, Dora (Theodora Ettings) has always worn the scissors around her neck as protection against him returning to steal the other half of her soul but she has been unable to feel any deep emotions and knows that she doesn't react like normal people. Her aunt (Dora is an orphan) seems constantly exasperated by Dora's lack of emotion and her inappropriate responses; essentially, Dora has no filter and says what she's thinking out loud.

Now in danger of becoming spinsters at the grand old ages of 20 and 19, the cousins travel to London for the Season - where the Lord Sorcier, Elias Wilder, is also to be found as well as his friend Albert Lowe, a physician who happens to be the third son of Lord and Lady Carroway. Vanessa feels that the Lord Sorcier might be able to help Dora with her magical problem. And Dora might discover that she can feel emotions, even with only half a soul.

Though they are members of the nobility both Wilder and Lowe engage in charitable work, specifically trying to cure a magical plague affecting the labour classes in London. Atwater shows us a lower tier of society from those we usually see in Regency novels - though I don't know enough to attest to the accuracy or lack thereof of the workhouses and so on that she describes, myself. The medical angle was interesting and unusual and I did like the way all the loose ends were neatly tied up. I'm getting used to seeing discrepancies in small details of the manners of the period and the country in novels written now but set then (hardly a new gripe for me) but this is a parallel England where magic is used for the benefit of the nation - so it's easy to turn a blind eye in this instance.

I liked this gentle story though I did feel a bit like Dora; muffled in cotton and a little distant from emotions. I wondered, as I read, if the author wanted us to feel that Dora is on the spectrum (to coin a phrase) though that angle wasn't expanded on. It was nice to see things working out well for her in the end - because who doesn't like a Faery Tale to end happily ever after?

(January 2024)
3.5-4 stars
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Original publication date

2020

ISBN

9781777241728

Local notes

Regency Faerie Tales, 1

DDC/MDS

Fic SF Atwater

Rating

½ (144 ratings; 3.9)
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