Review: Brightly Burning

Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is a reimagining of Jane Eyre... IN SPAAAACE. Now, I've never read Jane Eyre, but I know the basic plot and totally expected the big twist... except that was only part of the big twist and it was actually much more complicated and delightful than I expected. I really enjoyed the story.

So why the low rating? Couple reasons, but mostly the romance.

I keep reading about how swoony the romance is. I'm not seeing it. Like, there are two other characters (three if Stella was bi, which I have no evidence of, but that doesn't stop me from shipping her and Bianca as enemies-to-lovers) that I think she had so much more chemistry with. I was genuinely hoping Hugo would die so Stella could be with George or Jon.
Hugo is nice... when he's alone with Stella and is the right amount of drunk, but for most of the book he's also a manipulative alcoholic who uses his power as her boss and access to books to effectively order her to spend time with him, even though he claims they're equals.
Forgive me for growing up with an abusive father, but I don't find any of that romantic.

And no spoilers on the specifics, but of COURSE the mentally ill character is dangerous and can't have a happy ending.

Also, not one damn mention of the cats after a certain point. We never even MET the rumored third cat. If there is a cat in the book, the safety and fate of the cat is all I care about for the rest of the book.

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