Brightly Burning was a Blast!

I picked this book up for two reasons: 1) I follow the author, Alexa Donne, on Youtube cos her videos are fantastic and 2) it has a sexy concept: Jane Eyre in space- yes please! And I’m happy to say this ended up being an addictive, rompy romance, full of humour and plenty of fun.

As a retelling, this was brilliantly executed. Sure, if you know the story, you’ll get most of the plot points, but equally if you like the original, you’ll get a kick out of this. While there were some points that weren’t totally for me- highlight for spoiler: sorry, George should have stayed dead, bringing him back gave me whiplash– however the tempo  generally worked well and the main twist was stellar!

What I especially appreciated was how Donne got the creep factor down. That gothic vibe in space really succeeded for me and made it stand out from regular YA sci fi. Using more sci fi tropes to achieve this was very cool.

The characters did what they were supposed to. I particularly liked Stella and Hugo- though perhaps this is cos I like their original counterparts so much 😉 Honestly, aspects like this made me feel like it’s hard to see where one story ends and the other begins. The two books are so well blended that I felt a little like I was rereading Jane Eyre, without actually having to put in the time commitment 😉

Ultimately, this does exactly what it says on the tin and I very much enjoyed it for that:

Rating: 4/5 bananas

 

So have you read this? Do you plan to? And are you a Jane Eyre fan? Do you like the idea of putting this story in space? Let me know in the comments!