Nutcracker: A Briarwood Sanitorium Novella

by Sybil Knight

They called her the nutcracker.

Go on, get your laughs in. I sure did the first time I heard it. But that was her nickname. The quack with the pretty eyes and the distant stare. And they weren’t wrong.

Dr. Olivia Winters went around cracking all us nuts. In some form or another. Figuring out what made us tick or breaking us so hard it didn’t matter anymore.

Not today, though. Today she was the one who was under the microscope, and I was the guy sitting across from her, just waiting to see which one of us would crack first.

Nutcracker is a dark standalone novella and a spin-off of The Renegades Series. The focus is dark romance so please heed the trigger warnings at the beginning of every book.

Kindle Edition

Expected publication November 7, 2026

About the author

Sybil is a career-driven Philadelphian native. A crime show enthusiast by day, and a BDSM club hopper by night. When she isn't working or writing, she is talking about working and writing. She is a single mom to her beta fish (Fish) and way too many dead houseplants.

Her stories range from gray to black, with darker themes throughout. She prefers heroines with a kick-ass mentality and the heroes who know how to rein them in. The mental and medical aspects of her books are well-researched, though they are given a humanistic approach and diagnoses aren't the focal points. She believes her characters don't need to wear labels in order to get her messages across.

Her books are mostly standalones, though her characters may interact and intersect worlds. Additionally, she works closely with and writes alongside author Dahlia Reign and some characters will appear in cameos in each of their publications.