𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 -𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡, 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥.

This was my first experience with Bryn Shutt's writing, but it won't be the last. This is novella, so I wasn't expecting a whole lot, I would have been have with a nice quick story. But this novella delivered on everything!

𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐬.

First, the writing is beautiful, lyrical and so lovely to read. Everything about it is rich, and the themes are much deeper then I could have ever expected for a simple novella. The world feels very magical, the characters are mysterious and fun. I absolutely loved the musical theme that ran through the story. The heist was interesting, but its about so much more then only that. 

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞?

I absolutely recommend checking out Illuminare. It's clean, with no romance, but still super fun and rich!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘙𝘊, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.