Half a Soul
A woman born without the capacity for certain emotions finds unexpected belonging in a Regency-era world touched by fae magic. Her difference becomes her strength as she discovers she can move through fae lands where others cannot. A cosy, wholesome romance blooms in an unexpected place.
Everything You Need to Know About Half a Soul
As a child, Theodora 'Dora' Ettings lost half her soul to the faerie Lord Hollowvale, leaving her unable to feel fear, embarrassment, or much of anything else. In an era of strict manners that's a serious problem, so her family drags her to London hoping to marry off her cousin Vanessa before Dora causes a scandal. There she meets Elias Wilder, the ill-tempered royal magician, who agrees to look for a cure while he investigates a sleeping plague spreading through the children of London's workhouses. Dora joins the investigation, and both trails lead back to faerie.
Dora's deadpan narration is quietly hilarious, half a soul turns out to be a great comedic instrument. Elias is the rare romantic lead whose anger is aimed at social injustice rather than the heroine. The book has real teeth about Regency England's treatment of the poor without losing its warmth. And the romance lands precisely because everyone in it is so restrained: when feeling does break through, it counts.
Child poverty and workhouse abuse, portrayed critically but on the page. A child-stealing faerie. Emotional neglect of the heroine by her family. No sexual content, minimal violence.
The sick children's souls are being held by Lord Hollowvale, who bought them from a cruel workhouse master and is raising them in his warped imitation of English propriety. Dora's other half is there too. In the confrontation, Elias challenges Hollowvale to a duel and Dora stabs the faerie with the iron scissors she's carried since childhood. Her two halves stay separate: the faerie half claims the title Lady Hollowvale and stays to care for the children who can't go home. So the curse is never truly broken, and it stops mattering. Elias proposes, Dora accepts, and she opens an orphanage.
Regency romance readers who want magic woven through the manners, in the tradition of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell but far cozier and shorter. Great if you love a grumpy sunshine dynamic where the sunshine is deadpan instead of bubbly. Not for readers chasing spice or high-stakes action, this is a gentle, closed-door, character-first book.
Book one of the Regency Faerie Tales trilogy, followed by Ten Thousand Stitches and Longshadow. Each book stands alone with new leads, so you can stop here and get a complete story.
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