Reviews

I picked up Half a soul because I was in the mood for some light romance and the combination of Regency England and a magical faery world sounded interesting to me. And „Half a Soul“ has delivered. It was exactly what I wanted, a light romance with a hint of mystery and magical touch.
The romance itsself was also really well written for what i expected of a light recengy romance, the affection between Elias and Dora developed nicely and there was just the right pinch of over-the-top-„cuteness“. I have to agree, that if you enjoyed the romance in Bridgerton you will also enjoy this.
The mystery took, as expected, the back-seat in this book. There is not much to say about it, it was neither done badly nor very well.
I was about to give the book a solid 3 stars, but then the ending was so abrupte and totatlly uncomprehensible to me that I had to change my rating.

Spoiler

I just felt like a lot of threads were not wrapped up nicely: Did Dora make up with her aunt?, Whz did Dora leave Vanessa after they were so close and moved to faery? Whz did she do that at all, had she not decided that she was fine with half a soul? The book left me confused and unsatisfied.

maddiemove's review

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hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

4.0

aworldshapedbybooks's review against another edition

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3.0

Overall: 3/5

Plots and Themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Attention Grabbing: 3/5

When Theodora Ettings was young, a faerie took half her soul. She has spent the time since trying to act normal when she is nearly entirely without emotion. She doesn't react the way young women are supposed to act, and her aunt is constantly trying to rid the family of her oddities. But then Dora meets Lord Elias Wilder, a sorcerer for England, she starts her journey to reestablishing those emotions she's missed for so much of her life.

I have a problem with these fae books sometimes. They just feel so disconnected from the actual characters, like I'm reading it through the lense of a dream. Also, this was advertised as a combination of Pride and Prejudice and Howl's Moving Castle and while it was definitely not a bad read, you might feel that way if you go into it expecting that. I liked Dora despite how difficult it might be to empathize with her as essentially robotic character- you do see the depth of her emotion though she doesn't technically think she has any. I don't think she and Elias had all that much chemistry, they weren't around each other all that much so it had the feeling of insta-love.

I do love a good historical book with magic infused into the plot. This one isn't my favorite example of that, but it has it's moments.