The Bachelorette meets sci-fi in this gripping story about a young girl caught in a world of royal intrigue and lost love in her quest to save her family from ruin. Perfect for fans of Katharine McGee, Melissa de la Cruz, and Kiera Cass. Engagement season is in the air. Eighteen-year-old Princess Leonie “Leo” Kolburg, heir to a faded European spaceship, has only 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 who 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. Fans of Katharine McGee and Kiera Cass will be dazzled by this world of lost love and royal intrigue.  “Donne’s complex characters...are deeply flawed and human....Similar in spirit to Brightly Burning (2018), which staged Jane Eyre in space, this novel takes its cues loosely from Jane Austen’s Persuasion with shimmering success.”— Booklist    “[R]omantic intrigue will keep readers turning pages.” — School Library Journal   “A thrilling romance.” — Kirkus    “[R]eaders may sigh over the well-crafted romantic storyline and strong chemistry between its leads.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books “This bold new take on a classic love story crackles with romantic tension, delivering a twisty ride full of secrets and betrayals.”  – Elly Blake, New York Times best-selling author of the Frostblood series   “Alexa Donne whips up another irresistible combination of sparkling romance and savvy social politics. An original and inventive retelling, readers are in for a treat.” —Jessica Cluess, author of A Shadow Bright & Burning series and the forthcoming  House of Dragons    “A rich, swoony adventure bursting with wit, this book doesn't just steal the stars - it'll steal your heart!” —Emily Suvada, award-winning author of  This Mortal Coil  series Alexa Donne is the author of young adult thrillers The Ivies , a YALSA Teens’ Top Ten Winner, and the Edgar Award Nominated Pretty Dead Queens , as well as young adult sci-fi romance retellings Brightly Burning and The Stars We Steal . By day, she lives in Los Angeles and works in television marketing. The rest of the time she contemplates creative motives for murder and takes too many pictures of her cats. You can find her in most places @alexadonne. One THE EXTRAVAGANCE MADE MY TEETH HURT.       Fractures of light bounced off diamonds set into tiaras and other baubles that were as impractical as the silk frocks and dress jackets swimming about the room. Champagne flutes and vodka shots flew by on trays lofted high by servants dressed in simple black bodysuits, casting the partygoers into even more ridiculous relief. This wasn't an imperial ballroom in a great royal palace in Sweden'it was just modeled to look like one. The aim was to forget where we were and why. Everyone accomplished that beautifully.       I retreated farther into a gilded archway I'd made my temporary home, shuddering to think about the cold vacuum of space that hung ominously beyond the confines of this cushy spaceship. A woman in an elaborately tiered and poofed ball gown waltzed past me as she let out a high-pitched laugh. Pain shot through my jaw. Unclench your teeth, Leo , I scolded myself.       I glanced down at the name tag on my chest and felt everything go tight again. All the champagne and dancing in the world couldn't erase the reason I was here, why I was hiding in the back corner of a ludicrous ballroom in the center of a ludicrous spaceship.       Tonight was the start of the official Valg Season, a barbaric courtship ritual we engaged in every five years so the rich could avoid marrying their cousins.       All the eligible girls and boys wore name tags to the opening ball so that we could better check out the specimens on offer. Mine read: Princess Leonie Kolburg, 19, Prinzessin Sofi. Title, name, age, ship of origin'all the relevant details. What it should have said: Princess of Nowhere because we're in space, not on Earth; Leonie Kolburg, 19, from a ship rapidly falling apart, honestly a bit destitute, seeking a wealthy spouse by order of her father . But that would have been too wordy.       Cornflower-blue taffeta silk spilled over my hips, the floor-length fabric whispering over the pointed toes of matching heels. My hair was twisted up into a braided crown, my face painted to simulate the flush of sun-kissed health. At least I had refused the tiara my sister had offered up. Despite what my father, my sister, Carina, and my name tag insisted, I was no princess. Old-World royal titles are meaningless in s