A Prisoner to Spring is the first book in the Winter's Consort series by Brigid Collins.

Plot:
After Chelsea got left at the altar, she swore that she would never put on a wedding dress ever again. But when her best friend Jennifer gets married and asks Chelsea to wear a wedding dress the night before - an old family tradition meant to confuse fairies who might be looking to steal the bride - Chelsea agrees to it. What could be the harm after all? Well, much to Chelsea's surprise an actually fairy does show up and whisks her away to the Winter Queen's court to get married. The Winter Queen is the most gorgeous person Chelsea has ever seen, but Chelsea still doesn't want to get married. But dealing with a fairy is tricky business and Chelsea has to be very careful how to proceed.

A Prisoner to Spring is a nice, queer fairy tale (in the literal sense). It's got a nice premise that it executes well. While I wouldn't go so far to say that it is sensational, I really enjoyed it and I definitely want more queer/sapphic fairies in my life.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2022/04/07/a-prisoner-to-spring-brigid-collins/ ( )

I really liked this book. I want it longer but even as a quick read I loved the the imagery provided between seasons. I felt like I was there smelling the overwhelming floral aroma, hearing the ice melt, feeling the tingling of cold seeping in... I enjoyed the descriptions of the various fae. I liked Mortal Chelsea and that she finally got herself together. I only wish we had learned "her" true name. That bugged me. I enjoyed reading this, I will make a point to read the next one, and I couldn't find anything but the "name thing" to dislike. ( )

I don’t have much to complain about with this book. It’s a quick read, but not for lack of content. Chelsea, who swore to never wear a wedding dress again after being left at the altar, breaks that vow… to wear a dress that matches her best friend’s on HER wedding day. A family tradition, apparently, to confuse any spirits who may wish to steal the bride away. In short… it works. Chelsea is stolen instead of her friend. Meanwhile, the winter and spring courts in the Fae Realm are warring for control.
I’ve seen some low star reviews, but I’m not sure why. Sure, there are some cheesy parts, and some of the decisions the characters make are seemingly random at times, but overall the book isn’t bad at all.
I assumed this book would be kind of like a Hades and Persephone retelling, but it was not.
The pace of the book changes, from a fast paced beginning to a fast paced ending, separated by a slow paced middle. During the action, I was unable to put the book down.

I wanted so badly to love this, I was excited about an LGBTQ+ fantasy novel, but unfortunately the style just wasn’t really for me. I would have loved to see a bit more world building, the story itself has a lot of promise, but I couldn’t really understand it in the premise of the world it was set in. I think with a bit more of that background it could’ve been a really fun quick read! ( )

I did finish the book, so that pushed the rating up to 2 stars, but I can't say I enjoyed reading this. I enjoy urban fantasy and stories that play with folktales in a modern setting, but I want the human characters to feel real. None of the human characters felt authentic in their behavior or reactions to anything. The fae characters get a bit more of a pass on characterization, and I enjoyed the fae portions of the book a little more, but I was hard pressed to understand any of their motivations either. This feels like a romance novel, but there's no actual romance in this book (maybe to follow in the sequel?) and I can't find a reason to root for the couple. ( )