Lord Blackthorn was a fun character and I loved seeing the dynamic of him and Effie since the two were so different. Okay this might’ve taken some of the pep out of my step after loving book one so much but there was still a lot of good in this Cinderella-but-make-it-angry-and-an-eat-the-rich story. At around the halfway mark, I decided there was an ending I wanted, which would have felt more satisfying than the one I thought the blurb was setting up, and lo and behold that was the ending I got.

Lydia mentions that a servant named Lucy was dismissed after Lady Culver discovered she was pregnant.Lord Blackthorn was everything that is endearing, being a very good-hearted faerie but very ignorant of basic human facts. Lord Blackthorn is a very interesting character because he’s kind of Effie’s magical fairy godfather but at the same time faeries can also be tricksters.

Details like accents were on point (one character’s accent changes as the book goes on, and we find that she actually switched it with another character later on who has her original accent – things like that). This is why Effie feels such inordinate relief when she leaves the house with Lord Blackthorn and feels the sun on her skin. For all reviews, the source of the book I’m reviewing is identified in the details section at the start of the review. We start of hating Lady Culver because of her extremely harsh treatment of the staff, but we also slowly get to see why she came to be that way - not that it elicits much sympathy towards her though coz she still takes out her frustrations on people who can’t talk back. Effie is such an easy character to cheer for, since she is in such a position that she doesn’t deserve to be in.

Given how expensive all clothing was during this period, maids would indeed wear these old gowns during their work for lack of other options, and were watched suspiciously for signs that they had grown too fond of their fancy clothing. Not even the wonderfully knowing foreshadowing could quite convince me of how it could end in the way it had to. But the way this story progresses and makes a point for solidarity between the working class people and how their unity can be a big factor in them being able to change their circumstances, is written in a very meaningful way, and while it may seem a bit too hopeful and fantastical, the message conveys beautifully.

Rather miserable being a maid due to awful working conditions and treatment at the hands of the noble family, Effie is even more discontent after a run in with the family’s handsome son, Mr. This was a really fun twist on the Cinderella story, and it gave me all the warm fuzzy feels I was looking for.

It seems that Effie is out of luck until she stumbles into the faerie realm of Lord Blackthorn, who is only too eager to help Effie win Mr Ashbrooke’s heart. Once again Atwater highlights the injustices of the time in her regency historical romance, but with a faerie twist, and our magical godmother of the time is actually a faerie lord looking to reward virtue and punish cruelty. I loooooooved the first one and I knew this didn’t follow the same couple but hoped it would still be as charming as the first. Effie, on the other hand, was the perfect vehicle for the series' overarching themes of anger not as a moral failure but as an essential tool toward righting systemic wrongs: an ethical person in an unethical society MUST be angry. Pick up TEN THOUSAND STITCHES, and dive into another enchanting faerie tale set in Olivia Atwater's charming, magical version of Regency England!

Regency era servants (and servants as far back as the medieval era) often used nursery rhymes to time their tasks.

I'll say this : Half a Soul felt like it was written with a reader like me in mind, as it features a few tropes/character types that I hold dear.