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A review by daiinty
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater
4.0
“‘There is such a 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.’ His fingers brushed through her hair, and she shivered. ‘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.’” — Olivia Atwater
this was such a fun read for me. this was very akin to india holton’s regency/fantasy series. while i think that the representation of autism/neurodivergency could have been handled a bit better, i do still think it was good representation in that dora is loved and accepted by her friends and elias for who she is. i really loved the romance between dora and elias, i was kicking my feet and giggling at the ending. i was a little skeptical about the book at first but i felt it really picked up when the workhouses were introduced. i feel like that conflict added the right amount of tension and suspense that this book needed to not feel overall silly.
i feel like the change in dora and elias’s relationship was very much a “blink and you’ll miss it” type of thing. i can see where it was very much inspired by pride and prejudice where the fmc hates the mmc until he does one nice thing (elias funding the orphanage / darcy helping elizabeth’s sister) and her whole opinion on him changes. i think one big difference between holton’s fmcs and dora is that dora seems to be very passive with what is happening around her. she never becomes an active character within the series.
i feel like this is more of a 3.5 for me, but it was a nice fun read that i would still recommend to regency fans or fans of holton’s work.
this was such a fun read for me. this was very akin to india holton’s regency/fantasy series. while i think that the representation of autism/neurodivergency could have been handled a bit better, i do still think it was good representation in that dora is loved and accepted by her friends and elias for who she is. i really loved the romance between dora and elias, i was kicking my feet and giggling at the ending. i was a little skeptical about the book at first but i felt it really picked up when the workhouses were introduced. i feel like that conflict added the right amount of tension and suspense that this book needed to not feel overall silly.
i feel like the change in dora and elias’s relationship was very much a “blink and you’ll miss it” type of thing. i can see where it was very much inspired by pride and prejudice where the fmc hates the mmc until he does one nice thing (elias funding the orphanage / darcy helping elizabeth’s sister) and her whole opinion on him changes. i think one big difference between holton’s fmcs and dora is that dora seems to be very passive with what is happening around her. she never becomes an active character within the series.
i feel like this is more of a 3.5 for me, but it was a nice fun read that i would still recommend to regency fans or fans of holton’s work.