Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

41 reviews

miss_berry315's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I spent the majority of this book with a stupid goofy smile on my face bc of how romantic it is. A brush of the hand, glances across ballrooms, and regency era courting rules between contrarian individuals will always make me giddy and hold a special place in my heart. 
Add in an interesting plot, some magic and faeries, and strong-willed women and it will never go below 4 stars. 

That being said, this book was going to have a 5 star rating from me, until the very last paragraph. Leading up to that, my cheeks were sore from smiling and I couldn't put it down, but I felt that the last paragraph was disappointing and took the wind out of my sails. 
I read the author's blurb on here for her reasons (which will spoil things btw), but I didn't feel it was necessary to the story, and took away from everything else that had been built up through the story. 


I will be happily ignoring the existence of that paragraph when looking back on this book. 🥰✨

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

celeste_golds's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

rhall19's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

folkofthebook's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

“I have known many human beings with a full soul to their name who do not have half so much compassion or practicality as you.”

oh this was a DELIGHT to read. the regency setting, a unique plot, the pacing, the banter, and the buildup of the romance... *chef's kiss* i'm really loving historical fantasy these days and this is easily one of my favorite reads this year so far, all genres included.

“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.”

“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.”

i loved elias. i will admit i was even put off a bit by his introduction bc of his attitude, but we learn about him quickly and it's impossible to not warm up to him. he is angry at the injustices of the world and wants to make it all better, but feels powerless to fix it all. dora is the perfect balance to him; she is calm and collected, but unintimidated to return his banter. watching this romance blossom had me kicking my feet and giggling in bed. très romantique!

side note, i did also adore albert. i'm happy he got his own happiness as well.

i will definitely be reading more of atwater's books, i can't wait to see what else is in store in this world!

“Was there anything else you were curious about, while we’re at it? Shall I take off my trousers and let you take my measure?”

“I did not come here only to dance. I came here only to dance with you. It is quite a different thing.”

“I think I am happy. What a lovely feeling. I am dreaming, and I don’t want to wake up.”
“I don’t want to wake up either,” he whispered.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

chichisode's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

if Pride and Prejudice had a baby with Howl's Moving Castle. finished this in half a day, best decision of my life. cured my reading slump.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

eatingfiction's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kbairbooks's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional relaxing sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was cute! I read this for my Bookclubs April pic and I really enjoyed it! I will say that I struggled with the split soul concept because if you replace that with autism you can see how poorly people with differences are treated. But I liked this book and how advocate-y it was for the oppressed and underprivileged.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

risten's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

micheala's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

This was such a cute romance. Like there was nothing ground breaking about it, but I'm such a sucker for a low angst romance. 

It was a particularly pleasant surprise as I had previously picked up Ten Thousand Stitches by the same author and read the first chapter and didn't really enjoy it. So I was a little nervous that this was going to be the same and it was just not going to be for me. However, once I picked it up I ended up really enjoying Dora. 

I loved that this looked like it was going to be an enemies to lovers situation, but Dora just refused to give Elias that energy back. It took a little while for me to like Elias, but as the story progresses he stops feeling like an ass and just starts feeling like a grump. 

I was also a big fan of how the ending was handled, I can't be anymore specific without spoiling it, but it was exactly what I was hoping for. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

blewballoon's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I had this book in my TBR for such a long time and kept putting it off, even though it sounded like something I would love. Maybe I was worried it wouldn't live up to the hype I had created for it, but I think it did. I had a delightful time listening to this story on audiobook. The narrator has just the right tone for a character like Dora and a story that is a sort of hybrid of a regency romance and a fairy tale. I was surprised at how much was packed into such a short book, and how it didn't feel like things moved overly quickly. I tend to prefer more of a slow burn romance, but even with the shorter time frame, I felt like Dora and Elias managed to spend enough moments together with meaningful conversation and shared experiences that the romance was natural. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings