Half a Soul
Reviews
He sent her flowers with the colors of her eyes. And then he says he’s not a gentleman
magnificent. it wants to be a regency fairy story and it is exactly that. characters are delightful, plot is coherent and touching, prose is clear but not utilitarian. delightful read
I haven’t read a straight romance book in a while so it is every fortune that i picked this one to be my first in a long time. It was so lovely!! I loved the writing, the humor was very charming, especially in the dialogue and not just between the main couple (i feel i need to inform you that there is a character who is the “baroness of mourningwood” and i find that extremely hilarious because i am 12).The story was interwoven with a magical plot, which i think was handled very well and gave the book a very good amount of whimsy to go with the regency aspect. Just a perfect whimsical romance story that had me kicking my feet and giggling, i loved it!!
I decided to try a slightly different book from my normal (not a big fan of magic/fantasy) because I could feel a slump coming and I’m happy I went with this book. It’s a nice, easy read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I don't think I've ever read anything more delightful, or more personally touching. Every moment was a joy. I wish anyone who's ever felt lost when faced with the darker parts of human society could read it. 10/10
i really really enjoyed this. i found myself giggling and laughing the entire time. what a sweet, tenderhearted story about class division, war related ptsd, loving someone for who they are, magic, and empathy. also i loveddd the historical elements of the regency era.
IM GONKA EXPLODE THIS WAS SO WHIMSICAL AND FUN AND IM SO HAPPY
The ✨ banter ✨ in this book is excellent. It was a very fun twist on the regency-era London marriage market romance. Kind of fairytale Bridgerton-esque. Really enjoyed all of the characters, but of course especially Elias.
What a silly little book…
this was the first regency novel i’ve read in a long while and i just don’t know if i enjoyed it all that much 🥹 the twist was cool and i enjoyed the love story but i felt like the plot was lacking in another aspect that i can’t quite name.
this was actually really really good what
No words can describe how thoroughly I enjoyed this book. Utterly lovely and magical. I especially loved how the heroine never abandoned her beliefs. Even when others tried to change her and make her conform to society's rules she stayed true to herself. For me that was what actually elevated the book to 5 stars. The author really has knack at writing delicate and warm relationships that feel real and charming. In addition, the conversations between the characters were witty and really fun. Had a blast reading them.
Pleasant and cosy. I found that it flowed quickly and easily enough but that also made the plot and the romance feel a little underdeveloped. I guess it kind of comes with the genre, though it seemed like even for that this would be on the shorter side.
It was adorable
A warm hug in a book.
A regency era romance with faries and magic. This book was a quick read that left me feeling cozy. I really enjoyed this more than I thought I would. A delightful read
A regency era romance with magic and faeries. This story was cozy, sweet & whimsical. To me, the way that the relationship developed between the two main characters felt similar to Pride & Prejudice (even tho the stories themselves are different). It is the kind of romance where first impressions are wrong and the characters slowly grow to appreciate & love each other.
I think you could poke some holes in this book if you tried but it's the kind of book that’s better to just be enjoyed rather than analyzed. Perfect to cozy up with this winter.
A lighthearted, quick, and simple read. For me, it shares very similar vibes with “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Flowerheart.” It has a fun uncomplicated premise, and the characters are all well rounded. Sometimes, the writing came off flat for me but besides that it was well written.
3.5. Sweet, slow burn romance.
If you like regency balls, faerie trickery, justice for workhouse orphans, and just a hint of romance, grab Half a Soul immediately!! It’s enchanting and whimsical and a quick read. Dora and her emotional stuntedness was SO relatable. There’s 0 spice, just one slightly disheveled grump of a golden-eyed sorcerer.
This was a sweet beautiful read: a faerie regency mystery and romance. The characters felt very real and the interactions between them all sucked me in.
4.75 stars Definitely my favorite summer read by far, love the romance and magic ✨
Someone on tiktok said this book feels like howl’s moving castle meets pride and prejudice and though I wouldn’t go that far, it was highly enjoyable and evocative of the magic of both of those stories! I liked it a lot! Such a feel good vibe
Highlights
“sometimes, when you cannot force the world to come to its senses, you must settle only for wiping away some of the small evils in front of you.”
Excerpt From
Half a Soul
Atwater, Olivia
“I do not believe in such a thing as love,” Elias scoffed. “Perhaps attraction, or companionship, or friendship. But so many men act as though love is some special sort of magic. I feel that I am qualified to say it isn’t so.”
“Well, but you have just described love, I think,” Albert replied in bemusement. “Attraction and companionship and friendship. Is there nothing special about those things, especially if they are all together at once?”
Generosity should be given without expectation of gratitude.
“We must choose little things to fix where we can.”
“I must stop thinking of myself apart from everyone else, as though I am watching you all make mistakes. I have made mistakes as well."
The aristocrats never failed to thrive-and still, they continue to thrive.
“How the world can be so heartless. It is this dastardly need to remain calm and composed and polite that has left us all feeling so alone."
"Everyone gives what they please-and certainly not without plenty of self-congratulations for their miserly gestures. With one hand, they raise grain tariffs, muster soldiers, and create the workhouses. With the other, they deign to save a few poor souls from the very hell they made. This country is mad. It's rotten. It's unthinkable, and none of you can see it.”
"I cannot eat a fine meal while some poor girl lays dying. It is not in me. But I suppose it is in you."
CLOCK ITTTT 🗣️🗣️🗣️
"What good would it do to have all of my feelings again, if I must use them only to look on all this misery?"
"There is no such thing as evil in this world," Elias told her quietly. "It does not help to look away from it. It does not even help, necessarily, to look at it."
"But sometimes, when you cannot force the world to come to its senses, you must settle only for wiping away some of the small evils in front of you."
"Pleasant-mannered people do not speak of ugly things, after all."
"Pleasant-mannered men will not tell you of that side of the war, because it is distressing. Pleasant-mannered women, like the countess, will not hear of it in their presence. As a result, the ugly parts are largely not thought about by those who did not cross the channel."
"I cannot help but feel that if we had fewer pleasant-mannered people, then perhaps there would also be fewer of these hideous wars."
"Pleasant-mannered people are simply the worst sort of people. Decent people become properly angry when presented with miserable injustice, but pleasant-mannered people never do."
He is her favorite because he is broken. She feels she must make up for that with extra love.
"Being offended at yourself so very often," she said. "That seems a sad way to live."
So many beautiful things were also ugly on the inside.
"I am sure that every evil man believes himself to be charitable," she told him. "In that respect, at least, you are a true Englishman."
She had little effort to spare for making unpleasant men more comfortable.
She’s just like me
It was a shame, she thought, that so many beautiful things were also so ugly on the inside.
“…You can tell that I am important, for I am wearing many expensive jackets."
lolol
Pleasant-mannered people are simply the worst sort of people. Decent people become properly angry when presented with miserable injustice, but pleasant-mannered people never do.
It was a shame, she thought, that so many beautiful things were also so ugly on the inside.
There was a small part of her, however—very deep down—that added the comment to a longstanding pile of other, similar comments. That pile gave her a faint sinking feeling which she never could quite shake. Sometimes, she would find herself taking it out and examining it in the middle of the night, for no particular reason she could discern.
This book appears on the shelf Psychology & Self-development
This book appears on the shelf Psychology
