A sci-fi twist on Jane Eyre, with no shortage of romance, mystery and intrigue. I found this story to be captivating, as I struggled to put it down and was completely caught up in every word. Stella's tenacity against Hugo's charms made for an amusing yet swoon-worthy read, yet their struggles before, throughout, and even after the story show the depth of their characters and the strength of their resilience. I was absolutely swept up in Brightly Burning and strongly recommend that you make this your next read.

I have to be honest I've never read Jane Eyre - I however have read a few retellings of the story (including Jane by April Linder) and i enjoyed them all Brightly Burning included.
The story is fantastically written and even if I had doubt about the space set up as a ground for the story and I have been so pleasantly surprised. The back story is fantastic and along with the characters journey, the sci-fi feel of the book had a huge touch of originality – I am a fan. This originality helps with some of the unsurprising plot points (which is expected with any retellings) moreover the story still contained a few little things I didn’t expect and it was a great surprise.
The main character Stella is a such a fantastic character to identify with a love. She is so strong and selfless with a very strong moral compass.
I also adore her relationship with Hugo and it made my heart ache so many times. I felt so much along with them. God did I love them and I couldn’t help but crush so so hard on hot and tormented Hugo.
The story flows nicely and I never got bored with it.
In conclusion: Consider me a fan! It is my first Alexa Donne book but certainly not my last. I would definitely recommend this book to any YA fan.

Star 4/5

Brightly Burning is an exciting retelling of Jane Eyre, set in the future. This is a charming and delightful retelling with all of the tension and romance of the original, propelled by a new setting. Fans of Jane Eyre, romance, and science fiction will devour this unique recreation of one of the most beloved classics.

Absolutely MAGICAL. Styled as "Jane Eyre in Space" and it is exactly that. Just as clever, just as heartfelt, just as romantic, with a stellar cast of characters and inventive world building. Just enough science fiction to make this an utterly delightful space romance. Donne creates a logical set up in which groups of refugees from earth have spent generations living in space ships in orbit after a massive ice age, and now the ships are beginning to fail. Amidst that is one Stella Ainsley, engineer who would much rather be a teacher, who gets a job on the reclusive ship, Rochester, which orbits the moon all by itself.

Donne follows all the plot beats of Jane Eyre, but spins them all in a freshly romantic way that will please fans of the original classic, and those who have never read the book and are just looking for a sci fi romance.

Strong but flawed, Stella Ainsley is the perfect heroine to bring this high-stakes outerspace Jane Eyre retelling to life. Donne does an excellent job weaving a compelling cast with fresh twists on a familiar classic. I haven't read a retelling this clever since CINDER, and will definitely be recommending this to everyone looking for books set in space.

Whether or not you have read Jane Eyre, this was a great book and I would definitely recommend it. The book follows a lot of the same plotlines from the original, but with some modern twists that were definitely necessary. For instance, I appreciate that there is a lot less fixation on Stella’s appearance, and Hugo, while difficult at times, didn’t exhibit the same kind of douchey behavior that we see from the original Rochester. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. It’s one of my favorite books ever, but I appreciated the updates the author made in this retelling.

Also, while there was a lot of predictability, what with it being a retelling, there were still plenty of surprises!

All in all, this was great. I sped right through it! All the characters were interesting, I loved the setting, and the story was strong on its own and not trying too hard to emulate the original.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. My review is susceptible to changes in the final copy of this work.
Before reading Brightly Burning, I had no previous experience with books set in space. Also, I had no clue if I would like books set in space. Turns out, books set in space are fun, so much opportunity for fantastic world-building (ahem, space building) that I had not discovered before.
Brightly Burning tells the story of Stella Ainsley, a seventeen-year-old who lives on a big spaceship the Stalwart. She is eager to get off this particular ship and takes up a job as a governess at a fancy private ship the Rochester. Captain of the Rochester is Hugo Fairfax, with his nineteen years slightly older than Stella. He has a reputation that precedes him and is known for being drunk often and having severe mood swings. Almost immediately after Stella enters the Rochester, mysterious things start to happen and she gets more and more curious to find out what is going on. Fun to know is that the book is a modern retelling of Jane Eyre.
As we have previously established, this book made me realize that I adore books set in space. The world building was pretty cool and it really made me wonder how impressive the big spaceships like the Stalwart and the Empire must be, and I imagine the Rochester to be a really classy yet mysterious one. Stella was a lovely and well-developed character. Hugo was a character to my liking as well. Yet, his personage felt slightly less well established than Stella’s. The other supporting characters were interesting too, with Jessa and Xiao being my favorites. After the first few pages, I was dying to know how the story would continue and actually read the whole thing on my phone because I was too impatient to wait for it to download on my iPad as well.
There were two things I was less enthusiastic about. The first being part of Hugo’s character. In the book, he is often drunk, which makes him rude toward everybody around him. I guess this element is part of the book being a retelling of Jane Eyre, but I did not really like this. It just seems like this was not really necessary, and it could potentially be a harmful element for younger readers, furthermore, it did not really come to a conclusion. I felt that his alcoholism had just disappeared towards the end of the book? Secondly, the epilogue was a bit extensive. It was good, but just a little too much information to all be placed in the epilogue. This caused that I felt some elements in the epilogue felt a little bit rushed because they ‘needed’ closure.
All taken together I really enjoyed this book, and that made me really happy. I would rate it 3,5 out of 5 stars.

I cannot say enough good things about this book! I really adored it! This is a futuristic retelling of Jane Eyre that takes place on a space ship. The book follows Jane Eyre pretty closely and even though I knew what was coming next, it still had me feeling all sorts of feelings! I thought the explanations of living life in space was well done. Sometimes, with books set in space I get too bogged down with all the technical terms that are used. However, with this book, I was able to read through it quickly which was a good thing since I couldn't get enough. Stella was a fantastic “Jane”. I thought she was a really well done character. This book is perfect for anyone who loves sci-fi and Jane Austin retellings.

To start this off, I hate fake curse words. The word frex was used instead of the eff word which was annoying and made zero since. It means the same dang thing!!! Also romance was weird. For one, Hugo was drunk nearly the whole book or had a drink in his hand. AA anyone? Then he wasn't really there most of the time, and no real conversations went down between the two. Honestly, one of the characters named Jon would have been a much better fit.

I thought some of the side characters were great such as Jon and Jessa! George was cool at the beginning, but then he faded away. This was still one of the better YA space books I have read, because I didn't feel bored at all while reading it. I just needed better chemistry with the romance! 

Stella was a good character—she did always put people above herself, so she was pretty likable. There were some interesting reveals that I guessed one for sure, but one I didn't. Overall, this was a fun and quick read!

I was unable to review since it wasn't in kindle format - I'm so sorry!

Brightly Burning hit me like a wrecking ball (in a good way). It's one of those phenomenal books you don't see coming until you're knee deep in it unable to let go. I didn't even know about this book until it was up for request on Netgalley and it ended up being one of the best I've read this year. Its not quite easy to pull off retellings but Alexa Donne did so spectacularly.
Stella Ainsley is one of the occupants of the Stalwart, a spaceships filled with farmers and mechanics. Earth has been inhabitable for hundreds of years as it's frozen in an Ice age. Humanity to to space for survival.
Stella the main character is an Engineer that's quite good at her job though she wants to be more (i.e A Governess). After numerous rejections, her dreams finally come through when she's accepted to be the governess of a Private Spaceship called the Rochester which is uber private and no one has heard of. She leaves behind the place she's learned to call home and headed into the unknown.
Life on the Rochester feels heavenly, almost like it's too good to be true. Stella get more luxuries than she's ever had.
But Stella begins to notice odd things, secret classified places she's not authorised to access, ghostly laughs in the empty corridors at night and sabotage on the ship. One things that made the oddities worth it is Jessa, the pupil she's tutoring. The little girl is an absolute delight and as teaching is something Stella loves to do, everything worked out well. Another positive point is Hugo, the young and captivating captain of the ship who is also Jessa's older brother. Their first meeting is a little disastrous but thankfully, first impressions are sometimes overrated.
They tentatively form a friendship and bond over their love for reading (they're my kind of peeps).
The friendship evolves into something deeper, love. Their emotional bond was very strong as they understood and saw each other as no one else did. Stella's time on the Rochester is full of drama and many obstacles that threaten to pull her away from Hugo. More strange things did happen but I was very glad about the explanation eventually given as it makes total sense and gives closure to events of the past.
Terrible things happened before the ending and it was a whirlwind of action and life changing decisions. This book always reminds that it is Science Fiction and that is definitely one of it's compelling qualities.
I liked how it all ended despite the things that came before the end and the cost, It was a new beginning through which they can achieve a new reality. I commend Alexa Donne for writing it so well.
Everything about Brightly Burning is amazing, from the action to the hot romance to the SciFi tidbits. The book is very aptly detailed and vivid due to the lush and rich writing of the heavenly talented Alexa Donne (Yes this book deserves every bit of praise).
It's a stand alone but I certainly can't wait for the next book from the author.

P.S:That's cover is just so beautiful, I can't wait to have this in my bookshelf.