Small Miracles

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a b c Abbott, Alana Joli (November 24, 2022). "New Life for Old(er) Books: How Reprints at New Houses Find a Wider Audience". Paste. Archived from the original on November 27, 2022 . Retrieved March 2, 2023. a b Hamilton, Jenny (July 26, 2022). "How to (Not) Fit In: The Misfit Heroine and Olivia Atwater's". Tor.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022 . Retrieved March 2, 2023. Olivia Atwater writes whimsical historical fantasy with a hint of satire. She lives in Montreal, Quebec with her fantastic, prose-inspiring husband and her two cats. When she told her second-grade history teacher that she wanted to work with history someday, she is fairly certain this isn’t what either party had in mind. She has been, at various times, a historical re-enactor, a professional witch at a metaphysical supply store, a web developer, and a vending machine repairperson.

Were Pratchett alive, I dare to hope he’d agree with my rating, if he read the book, which according to Atwater, is somewhat of a homage to his “Good Omens”. needn’t feel bad for the chihuahua. Just as God created the platypus out of spare parts, Lucifer created the original chihuahua out of spare spite. There may be many greater evils in this world, but one would be hard-pressed to find a more concentrated form of evil than the average chihuahua.🖊️ It’s just that… I could swear that you were… weren’t you a woman before?“ Gadriel blinked. “Oh!” he said. “I forgot entirely. I suppose most people don’t just change that when they feel like it?”🖊️ So, this is my 5th book of 2023, and amazingly it only took me 3 days to read. In part because I spent nearly 5 hours on various trains, in part because it's short, and in part because it's a very easy read. And I don't mean that last bit as anything other than a positive. Can you tell us anything about any upcoming projects? Or can you tell us a few teasers for your sequel?I’m an American and even I noticed some inaccurate British terminology. I just don’t get why this had to be set in London — the story could’ve easily worked in NYC or Toronto. Again: this doesn’t personally bother me but I know it’s a dealbreaker for some folks. It wasn’t egregious but definitely present. Cozy fantasy, hot cocoa, knit vests. Yes, there are problems that can be blown out of proportion and tipped toward a more cosmic scale, but they can also be resolved through heart-to-hearts and cupcakes.

Being set in modern-day London, there isn’t much worldbuilding per se, and a lot of that happens in footnotes. Some might find that insufficient or annoying, personally, I enjoyed the added tidbits and religious references.I fell head over heels for Gadriel, Holly, and the characters in this book. Since for me, every great book begins with great characters and great characterization by the author, I was, pardon the shameless pun, in Heaven here. I have provided an honest review of this book –“Small Miracles” by author Olivia Atwater – below for purposes of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) Number 8 competition, in which this book is one of ten finalists. Before We Go Blog (where I am one of the judges) is assigned the book, along with the other 9 judging blogs, to help determine which one of 10 books will emerge as the SPFBO 8 Champion. When I first came up with the idea of Half a Soul , all I knew was that my main character had lost half of her soul, and that this caused her to be far less socially adept. I asked myself how best to set up a conflict around this, and obviously the Regency era seemed like the worst possible time period to be a woman who can’t read social cues. The Regency genre is also similar to classical faerie tales in many respects, with several Cinderella elements to it, so it made for a nice parallel. As soon as I’d decided on the Regency era, I bothered all of my old historical friends and found myself someone with a Regency thesis to consult—and then, the first book basically wrote itself!

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who likes smaller scale stories, warm cozy stories, and some wit with their prose. Wilson, Nigel Robert (November 25, 2022). "Ten Shousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater". The British Fantasy Society. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023 . Retrieved March 5, 2023.The writing is completely not my style, but there's nothing inherently wrong with it, it's just a conflict of tastes. I didn't like a lot of the humour in it, and particularly in the footnotes, which were annoying enough for me to listen to, without additional ones being added for unnecessary jokes. The change of tone to a snooty upper-class narration for the footnotes also did not work for me at all. The endearing, smart, yet somewhat naive and slightly fumbling and flawed Gadriel was a wonderful main character. Once she finds out she’s out of her depth in provoking Holly to acquiesce to sin, she resorts to something different, but Holly’s intractability also leads to Gadriel and Holly forming a great relationship, as they get to know one another better. I knew I was going to like this, but even I hadn’t anticipated how much. I’ve liked all of Olivia’s books in the past and so I just opened this one up without knowing what the inspiration for the book was. This isn’t usually my fantasy stamping ground. I frequently wade through rivers of blood and gore in the company of the most morally corrupt people that fantasy authors can create for me to read. But I have sometimes found that more upbeat reads fill a niche for me and, in general, this story did that.

Yet, true to her advanced sin metrics, Holly proves remarkably incorruptible, despite Gadriel’s initial efforts to inveigle Holly to live a little, and treat herself to some of the better things life has to offer. So Gadriel is forced to up his/her game, and use small miracles to achieve his/her ends. There’s magic and romance and plenty of faeries… but I think it’s safe to say that the nobility in the books are a bit more historically accurate, with their insular concerns and their callousness towards the lower classes.

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Gadriel is a fun and interesting character, and a flawed one as you might expect from a fallen angel. At first, I found it weird that everyone took it in stride when one moment he appeared male, then female, without asking questions much, then again, who are we to question how others want to appear? Ultimately, I liked that Holly, her niece and everyone else around them just accepted Gadriel as they are. Which is one of the messages of this book, although probably not the main one. Still.