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letsreadwithcats 's review for:
The Stars We Steal
by Alexa Donne
Overall I enjoyed reading The Stars We Steal. I had some issues with it that kept me from giving it 4 stars, but I didn’t have any trouble getting through it. I think it is a better book than Donne’s debut “Brightly Burning.” I really love Alexa Donne’s YouTube channel about writing novels. I think I’ve learned more from her than anything or anyone else about writing. This is the main reason I will keep picking up her books.
I’m generally not too into science fiction, especially when it is more gritty/realistic and actually set on space ships, but in The Stars We Steal, I actually did enjoy the sci-fi feel. For pros and cons, it’s pretty easy for me to identify. I enjoyed the fluffy romance, Valg season activities and Persuasion retelling elements. I did not enjoy the political and water filtration parts of the story.
I read this book really wanting just a fluffy, fun romance. I really enjoyed a lot of the Valg dates, that were reminiscent of the terribleness of modern dating and made me laugh. The speed dating in different virtual locations, hilarious! What different people think of as a good activity for a date is inherently funny. I also loved the space walk, which was just so fun and perfect for the world and the game of Marco Polo in the pool. This was fun and romantic and was also a good setup for the climax.
I did not enjoy the political piece of the story. I thought it was too simplistic and not really developed well. I don’t think it was needed in the story either. Just have the conflict be around the romance.
Leo’s invention was equally meaningless to me. I think the main reason is the invention feels so disconnected from Leo and her internal thoughts. She does and thinks nothing in the book that made me think she had a scientific, inventing mind. How did she come up with the idea? Create and trial it? No idea. It felt very tacked on and forced to me. This book also suffers a bit from character soup. Lots and lots of characters. And Daniel’s secret was dumb. It seemed like a way to keep Leo from feeling guilty about her personal choices.
Overall, I liked the romance and Valg season elements. I disliked the political elements
I’m generally not too into science fiction, especially when it is more gritty/realistic and actually set on space ships, but in The Stars We Steal, I actually did enjoy the sci-fi feel. For pros and cons, it’s pretty easy for me to identify. I enjoyed the fluffy romance, Valg season activities and Persuasion retelling elements. I did not enjoy the political and water filtration parts of the story.
I read this book really wanting just a fluffy, fun romance. I really enjoyed a lot of the Valg dates, that were reminiscent of the terribleness of modern dating and made me laugh. The speed dating in different virtual locations, hilarious! What different people think of as a good activity for a date is inherently funny. I also loved the space walk, which was just so fun and perfect for the world and the game of Marco Polo in the pool. This was fun and romantic and was also a good setup for the climax.
I did not enjoy the political piece of the story. I thought it was too simplistic and not really developed well. I don’t think it was needed in the story either. Just have the conflict be around the romance.
Spoiler
I also hugely disliked the black market storyline with Elliot. He was stealing stuff from Leo and her family and selling it. And the characters explanation is basically, “I didn’t know those items were valuable to you, therefore it was okay for me to steal them.” Um, excuse me? Her mother’s dresses and personal heirlooms? But it wouldn’t matter if those things actually did mean nothing to Leo, as they are still her belongings. Stealing is wrong. It made it worse that Donne tried to make the black market storyline heroic and noble. It would have been better without the stealing element, just have people selling their stuff through the black market. And then that storyline isn’t even resolved. And Captain Lind was a laughable melodramatic villain. She did everything short of throwing a puppy out into space whilst cackling and twirling her mustache. As soon as Leo found the note, I knew Captain Lind killed her sister/Leo’s mother. But I wasn’t really invested in the storyline, even though the ending was exciting.Leo’s invention was equally meaningless to me. I think the main reason is the invention feels so disconnected from Leo and her internal thoughts. She does and thinks nothing in the book that made me think she had a scientific, inventing mind. How did she come up with the idea? Create and trial it? No idea. It felt very tacked on and forced to me. This book also suffers a bit from character soup. Lots and lots of characters. And Daniel’s secret was dumb. It seemed like a way to keep Leo from feeling guilty about her personal choices.
Overall, I liked the romance and Valg season elements. I disliked the political elements