Half a Soul - Olivia Atwater

I want to erase my memories so that I can relive this book. It's so fantastic, whimsical in some regards, and lovely.

Photo credit: Goodreads

I absolutely adored the main characters. They were genuine, thoughtful, and well-actualized. Through careful dialogue and beautiful sentence structure, I became wholly invested in the story as though I was a part of it. I felt engaged in the characters' experiences and could relate to their drives and motivations. Their passions, despondency, need, love, hope, etc., were executed so that I, too, would feel their sentiments as if they were my own; I was brought to tears one moment and then smiling the next.

"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."

Along with an entirely unique and fascinating narrative and group of characters, social critique was deftly interwoven in such a wonderful way; the characters and their relationship to the social issues were amazing and perfectly handled. It was this point that most struck me the hardest. The author never shied away from the darker topics of human greed and corruption, but it was combated with an overarching lightness; there was hope. As shown through dialogue and actions, I'm reminded that the little things can, too, galvanize change, and it is incumbent upon us to engage in the ways that we can.

I don't know what to say. I'm just enamored with this book. Please, please read this if you get the chance.

"There is such a thing as evil in this world..."

"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."

Book summary:

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!