The Stars We Steal
by Alexa DonnePublished by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on February 4th, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Retelling, Romance, LGBT
Format: ARC
Source: Kindly provided by the Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
Summary from Goodreads:
Engagement season is in the air. Eighteen-year-old Princess Leonie “Leo” Kolburg, heir to a faded European spaceship, only has one thing on her mind: which lucky bachelor can save her family from financial ruin?
But when Leo’s childhood friend and first love Elliot returns as the captain of a successful whiskey ship, everything changes. Elliot was the one that got away, the boy Leo’s family deemed to be unsuitable for marriage. Now, he’s the biggest catch of the season and he seems determined to make Leo’s life miserable. But old habits die hard, and as Leo navigates the glittering balls of the Valg Season, she finds herself falling for her first love in a game of love, lies, and past regrets.
Review
The Stars We Steal is a retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion with a dash of The Bachelor set in space.
Humans now fly in spaceships throughout the galaxy, with nobility having greater access to the luxurious ships. On board The Scandinavian, Leoine's family is on the verge of becoming penniless. In order to save her family's fortune, Leoine alongside her sister and cousin all take part in the Valg, an extravagant match-making ceremony that will enable them to meet and wed those with their necessary requirements. However, the last thing Leo expected was to come face-to-face with her childhood friend and ex-fiance, Elliot, who left her angry and heartbroken. Now that he is back as the captain of a ship that manufactures whiskey, Leo can't help but to want him still all the while wishing that she didn't. Trying to keep her mind off of Elliot, Leo focuses on endeavouring to establish a deal for a new water filtration system that will save her family without making it necessary for her marry as well as investigate strange things occurring on the ship itself.
I enjoyed a variety of things from The Stars We Steal. From its very concept to the incorporation of science fiction throughout the book, which was pretty light and nothing extreme like space opera, it really draws a reader's attention and hold it from beginning to end. I also liked seeing how Leoine, the protagonist, was an inventor and how the plot fit around her filtration designs as well as her relationship with other women - though she is often jealous of her sister and cousin, it does not head into girl hating and/or shaming. It was nice to see the influence Persuasion had on this new tale, though one can see how difficult it must have been to merge Victorian and modern sensibilities to create a cohesive story.
With that being said, I wish there could have been a bit more action involved, instead it was a bit too slow in my opinion with a focus more based upon the romance between the characters. I normally don't mind romance heavy books but I didn't really enjoy the amount of will they/won't they regarding Leo and Elliot relationship. The story was also a bit predictable, especially regarding the villain, and fell rather flat for me. I think it was mostly due to how it was written and how the story progressed. Overall, The Stars We Steal wasn't perfect but was a nonetheless okay book to read.
Rating
★★★
About the Author
Alexa Donne is a Ravenclaw who wears many hats, including teen mentoring, college admissions essay consulting, fan convention organizing, YouTub-ing and podcasting. Her debut novel, Brightly Burning, is a YA retelling of Jane Eyre set in space. Her next book, The Stars We Steal, is Jane Austen meets the Bachelor, and is set in the same universe as her debut. When she's not writing science fiction and fantasy for teens, Alexa works in international television marketing. A proud Boston University Terrier, she lives in Los Angeles with two fluffy ginger cats named after YA literature characters. Visit her at www.alexadonne.com or on most social media spaces @alexadonne.
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