Review: Brightly Burning

Brightly Burning
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Seventeen-year-old Stella Ainsley wants just one thing: to go somewhere—anywhere—else. Her home is a floundering spaceship that offers few prospects, having been orbiting an ice-encased Earth for two hundred years. When a private ship hires her as a governess, Stella jumps at the chance. The captain of the Rochester, nineteen-year-old Hugo Fairfax, is notorious throughout the fleet for being a moody recluse and a drunk. But with Stella he’s kind.

But the Rochester harbors secrets: Stella is certain someone is trying to kill Hugo, and the more she discovers, the more questions she has about his role in a conspiracy threatening the fleet. 

I'm going to straight up tell you guys that Brightly Burning is a retelling of Jane Eyre and I had to read the original when I was in school....and I actually liked it okay!? So I was super eager to get my hands on this and I eagerly dove in and read it in one go. Because I have no self control, and it was really entertaining! 

I loved Stella immediately, she loves book, she's bold and she had a nice attitude. She wouldn't be walked all over and she was intelligent and I was fully on Team Stella. Hugo...I knew I was going to like him from his first line. He and Stella bond over their love of books, but he can't really handle his alcohol....not that you can blame him for drinking to be honest. He's also kinda relatable because he also prefers to be alone! Shoutout to Rori, the ships AI, because she was a brilliant touch! 

The other characters are an eclectic yet brilliant bunch, Iris, Sergei, Orion, Jon, Bianca (who I was prepared to hate and kind of did in the beginning but she turned it around in the end), I loved getting to know them and they brought some fun and life to the story. 

Brightly Burning is a brilliant reimagining/twist on Jane Eyre and I loved it, I dived in with high expectations and it exceeded all of them. I loved how things where twisted and changed and I loved anytime I spotted something or a reference to the original! I freaking loved The Rochester too, it had brilliantly creepy vibes at points. 

The world building was very well done and it was an intriguing world too, the set up with the whole "is Earth inhabitable? Do we go back down or carry on floating up here?" complete with a shady government dude. Which added a tonne of intrigue along with the mystery with the virus and the Rochester and so on. For me, it was an original/unique world and I liked the detail and depth it had, as did the characters. 

Brightly Burning has a fast pace, and there's never a dull moment. I got fully hooked and read it in one go, the plot kept me reading, as did the romance and the humour. It was a wild ride and it kept me fully entertained and I shouted at the books multiple times whenever a twist happened. Some of them may have been a smidge predictable, but it was still an entertaining and enjoyable read! I have to say, the story was beautifully wrapped up too....although I think there's room for a sequel, and I wouldn't say no to one!