A review by thegreatmanda
Bright Spring by Emmaline Strange

emotional lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a very sweet love affair with some intriguing subplots, and I’m interested to see how all of those progress with the rest of the planned series.

The one thing that kept this from being a five-star read for me was that it lacked character development apart from Alexios and Auro. It could have been interesting to see more of a friendship between Alexios and Gaius Ursus, and how their geographical separation contributed to Alexios’s isolation, especially when Gaius writes back about the roads project. Dafina didn’t get much of a personality until near the end, Leofric got about half of one (presumably to be filled out in the next book), and Alexios’s parents were also rather flat.

I did enjoy the two main characters, as well as the descriptions of Auro’s magic and relationships with the living things of spring. 

Favorite Quotes:

How could he let his fear spoil the only thing he’d allowed himself to want in four hundred years? Perhaps Auro could never truly have Alexios, but he would be damned if he wasted any more precious time.

This was where Alexios was meant to be, thought Auro. Here, naked in the grass with the moonlight glowing off his skin.

“You make me forget myself,” said Auro. This was a lie, though. Alexios, in truth, made Auro remember.

“Auro,” Alexios said, and his voice rumbled low in his throat, low enough that Auro felt it in the bones of his own skeleton. “I have never wanted anything as badly as I want you.”
“Take me, then,” said Auro, breathless.

“You are mad,” she said, something akin to awe in her voice. “This has never been done before.”
Alexios looked her in the eye. “So what?”

I want the statue of you to recall the feel of me, so you wake up next spring and need me once more to feel whole.