On the HahaFiction shelf
Half a Soul
Regency Faerie Tales · Book 1
Audiobook available
Dora Ettings enters the London Season with a disadvantage her chaperones can’t fix. A faerie stole half her soul in childhood, leaving her unable to feel ordinary fear or embarrassment. The court magician Elias Wilder takes an interest in her condition, and their search for answers leads into a sleeping plague that polite society would rather overlook.
From the publisher’s blurb
“It’s difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you’re a young lady with only half a soul.”Read the full description at Orbit publisher description
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What makes it funny?
The Fantasy Inn singles out Dora’s deadpan responses to Elias’s disgust with the tastes of wealthy English people. An ill-mannered magician and a woman who can’t be embarrassed make an awkward pair to invite into fashionable company.
The comedy at work
Etiquette depends on people caring what other people think. Dora’s curse interferes with that arrangement, while Elias seems happy to offend on purpose. Their exchanges turn rules of good breeding into something they can question together.
Try this if…
There’s particular appeal here for readers who want courtship and faerie magic with an interest in who gets excluded from the ballroom. Dora and Elias find affection in each other’s refusal to fit the expected mold.
Good to know
A magical illness affecting poor and vulnerable Londoners brings class injustice into the story alongside the romance. Start here for the Regency Faerie Tales series.
A few distinguishing details
- A Regency heroine without the usual fear of social disgrace
- A court magician whose manners are a liability
More funny historical romance
Sources & further reading
- Hachette product page for Half a Soul audiobook
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