Night Shine

Night Shine #1

by Tessa Gratton

An orphan girl must face untold danger and an ancient evil to save her kingdom’s prince in this lush, romantic fantasy perfect for fans of Girls of Paper and Fire and Tess of the Road.

How can you live without your heart?

In the vast palace of the empress lives an orphan girl called Nothing. She slips within the shadows of the Court, unseen except by the Great Demon of the palace and her true friend, Prince Kirin, heir to the throne. When Kirin is kidnapped, only Nothing and the prince’s bodyguard suspect that Kirin may have been taken by the Sorceress Who Eats Girls, a powerful woman who has plagued the land for decades. The sorceress has never bothered with boys before, but Nothing has uncovered many secrets in her sixteen years in the palace, including a few about the prince.

As the empress’s army searches fruitlessly, Nothing and the bodyguard set out on a rescue mission, through demon-filled rain forests and past crossroads guarded by spirits. Their journey takes them to the gates of the Fifth Mountain, where the sorceress wields her power. There, Nothing will discover that all magic is a bargain, and she may be more powerful than she ever imagined. But the price the Sorceress demands for Kirin may very well cost Nothing her heart.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, LGBT, Romance, Queer, Lesbian, Fiction

397 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 8, 2020

About the author

Tessa Gratton is the author of adult and YA SFF novels and short stories that have been translated into twenty-two languages, nominated twice for the Otherwise Award, and several have been Junior Library Guild Selections. Her most recent novels are the dark queer fairy tales Strange Grace and Night Shine, and queer the Shakespeare retelling Lady Hotspur. Her upcoming work includes the YA fantasy Chaos and Flame (2023), and novels of Star Wars: The High Republic. Though she has lived all over the world, she currently resides at the edge of the Kansas prairie with her wife. Queer, nonbinary, she/any.

Reviews

[Melanie (meltotheany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC provided by the author

"I would destroy a thousand heart to find you, again and again."

Sapphic enemies to lovers romance, queer bodyguard and royalty romance, dark fairytale setting! Magic, gender and sexual fluidity, yearning! Demons, dragons, unicorns, lots of cute tiny creatures to love! Atmospheric, lush, purple prose perfection! Are any of these keywords getting you? Because I’m still ready to sell my soul for Tessa’s deleted scenes and notes! Okay, how about the Howl's Moving Castle comparison that completely is 100% accurate? This book is the book of my heart and dreams. Easily the best book I’ve read in 2020, so far.

At the very start of this story, our main character realizes the prince is missing and chooses to set out on a quest with another to try to locate them. Meanwhile, there is a witch who lives in seclusion in the Fifth Mountain, except when she needs to kidnap beautiful girls to steal their hearts, never stopping until she finds the most beautiful girl of them all.

I feel like I should just make a mini paragraph about demons, because this book is very demon heavy! There are so many kinds of demons in this book (from little ones, to big ones, to part demons like one of our characters), but greater demons live in places of power in this world! There is one in the Fifth Mountain and one living in the palace too! Also, there are other mountains (Second, Third, etc) where other powerful sorcerers live! But let’s get into our actual cast of characters!

➽ Nothing – queer, orphan who can’t remember anything from her past, not even her name, and the only thing she has as a reminder is a scar on her chest. She lives in the royal palace, where she is best friends with the prince.

➽ Kirin – non-binary, queer, crown prince, recently kidnapped

➽ Sky – queer, bodyguard for the royal family, demon-kissed

➽ The Sorceress Who Eats Girls – queer witch who lives in a mountain and waits and won’t give up

"Everyone is capable of being bound. By duty or love or blood."

And Tessa is being very deliberate in naming our MC Nothing (and the love interest the Sorceress Who Eats Girls)! Words have power, names have power, reclaiming things has immense power, what you choose to give to people has power! We are all products of our surroundings and circumstances, but ultimately only you get to decide who you are, and you get to choose all the parts of you, every single part of you. Sometimes it’s easy to just be nothing or a wicked witch, sometimes picking your own name is the most powerful thing in this whole wide world.

"Everyone can be bigger than they seem, hold more than their bodies are capable of holding. You have always chosen to grow."

Tessa normally doesn’t use actual terms in their books, but always shows constant multiple gender attraction and a lot of non-binary feels throughout. Honestly, everyone always feels pan in their books to me, but it could be me completely projecting. But we have main sapphic relationship (that is truly to die for), and a male and non-binary / gender queer character relationship (which also made my heart very, very full). But truly everyone reads queer and/or gender fluid, and we all know that gender and sexuality can be so very fluid, and we just love it here a lot. Also, like in true Tessa fashion, there are hints of polyamory and a constant beautiful light of how romantic and platonic relationships can be equally as important and… Tessa’s worlds >>>

"You decide what you are. You."

Also, all of these characters are flawed and make mistakes and can look villainous! There is a lot of ownvoices rep between these pages, and I think that Tessa perfectly executes villains who just also happen to be queer, instead of… queer villains, if you feel me. There are a lot of questionable actions throughout this book, maybe even some villainous acts, but it’s just done in a very realistic way from these characters and their circumstances. (Okay, maybe not Sky, who is a perfect angel always, imo!

This book does very gently talk about abuse and toxic relationships and how those things can be very hard to see when the word love is involved. Codependency is also something felt in this book, and how that can also be something that is very unhealthy. We also get to see a lot of power dynamics and power imbalances and how those things are not okay and can easily also become dangerous. But people who really love you, unconditionally love you, will not only wait for you on your journeys, but they will support you and respect your boundaries, too.

"I love you," the sorceress said. "What you are now."

But seeing Nothing become the person she wants to be? Despite her past, despite her current situation, despite an unknown future? So very beautiful. And to have someone showing her that she is worth the wait, that she has always been worth the wait, that she never has to be alone, and that she has never and will never ever be nothing. Please, hold me. Forever preferably.

"How strange, how thrilling, to be told your heart is half of someone else’s. A gift from a woman who loved you once."

The romance in this book is out of this world. The perfect one-liners that Tessa has laced throughout this book? Makes me a bit speechless to even think about. All of you who constantly say you love enemies to lovers, who want to viscerally feel yearning, who want the characters to go through hell and back together, and you want it sapphic? Pick this up! I promise you, Tessa has some of the most gorgeous prose to every exist, and the way they weave these lines together is something of magic. Also, I’ll never eat a pear the same again, on all the higher powers.

My only complaint is that some characters in this world can change their appearance magically, and in the ARC I realized that in the past one character had lighter skin, and now her skin is dark because she altered it that way. I am a biracial person with white skin, but it for sure made me side-eye a bit. But every other aspect of this book was absolutely perfect for me.

Overall, I truly believe this will be my favorite book of 2020, just like how Strange Grace was my favorite book of 2018. Tessa and their worlds, and their characters, and their writing just makes me feel so seen in a way that no other author does. This book means so much to me. Tessa truly gave me the romantic, sapphic, whimsical, love story of my dreams. This story is everything I’ve ever wanted, and I feel like I’ve wanted it for so very long. I also feel like Tessa maybe redefined the word “yearning” and their power is just unmatched. I just want to spend the rest of my life reading their stories over and over again and feeling seen, and happy, and in love. Forever.

"Everything poured into Nothing."

Trigger and Content Warnings: gore, violence, murder, death, blood depictions, self-harm, magical coercion, kidnapping, incorrect use of pronouns upon meetings someone (is immediately corrected and the character learns and corrects themselves) and war themes.

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[✨ Helena ✨]

I received this complimentary ARC from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

According to Tessa Gratton:

"A dark, queer Howl's Moving Castle. After a crown prince is kidnapped, an orphan named Nothing sets out to rescue him, and discovers all magic is a bargain.

The four MCs are three different dark love interest archetypes and a long-suffering bodyguard. Everybody is queer and/or genderqueer plus a fluid dragon, rival sorcerers, a tiny unicorn, and lots of demons."

YES PLEASE!

[Justina Ireland · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say about this book that will get you to preorder it, devour it, and share it with all of your friends?

*Queer Howl's Moving Castle. Yes. Exactly.

*That cover is terrible and the publisher did this story wrong. Don't judge this beautiful book by that ultra meh cover. Read the first twenty five pages and THEN judge this book (it'll be too late, you'll be reading the whole thing).

*Sapphic relationships in fantasy that aren't ultra male gaze-y get short shrift, especially in YA spaces. Let's change that! You can start with this book.

*Also, I will always be here for Tessa's discussions of gender, because they are nuanced and never feel like they've been shoehorned into the story like some books.

*My name from now on will be The Author Who Greatly Dislikes Everything And Is Mostly Made Of Salt. If this book doesn't inspire you to change your name you need to relook your life choices.

*Yes, I could make note of Tessa's gorgeous turns of phrases and poetic language, but I started with QUEER HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE so why are you still here?

GO BUY THIS BOOK.

[Maëlys · Rating 5 out of 5]

☆ 5 / 5 ☆

"I would destroy a thousand hearts to find you, again and again."

I am still very in awe that what will most probably be my favourite release of 2020 (and it has very tough competition) shares a birthday with me and it makes it feel a little extra special. I’m also still very in awe of what this book made me feel and how amazingly written it is. Even just going back to the quotes I highlighted made me feel emotional all over again, feeling everything like I did like the very first time.

It’s hard for me to pick a place to start with this review because there were so many aspects of this book that I loved so very deeply. What I will say is that this story is so much more than a queer Howl’s Moving Castle. It does have references and elements reminiscent of the story but it truly goes way beyond, in a league of its own.

Night Shine follows Nothing, an orphan girl whose best friend is Prince Kirin, heir to the throne. However, he gets kidnapped by the Sorceress Who Eats Girls who so far has only ever stolen the hearts of maidens. She then sets off on a secret rescue mission with Sky, Kirin’s bodyguard, but ends up experiencing and discovering more than she bargained for once she reaches the Fifth Mountain.


"Maybe it felt like this to be a mountain: the earth your body, bones of ancient crystals, blood like rivers of magma heating you up. Flowers and stones for skin and your mouth a lake."

Night Shine is about Nothing’s journey to find herself, discover her own wants and take agency for herself. This is the first time she is truly given choices, where her decision only matters and where she has power over her destiny. This is the first time she realises she can have a choice. Nothing never thought about her own wants before because she didn’t know it was even something she could have. This is the first time that option has been presented to her and treated as someone who is important and worthy.


"It has everything to do with what you believe you are. What you believe is right. What you call yourself."

Names in general are very important in this world, names hold power. Names here are supposed to truly represent who you are and the truth you are willing to show to others. And so this is how Nothing becomes nothing, a shadow, inconsequential. I really enjoyed how Nothing also uses her name in smart ways and with wordplays, how teeming with clever wordings this book is.

With the main character being named Nothing, there is obviously a lot pertaining to identity and self perception. This definitely delves into the power of the name you give yourself and the power of the names other people give you; how your perception of yourself can be molded by the perception of others. Nothing has diminished herself a lot through her life as a result of how others treat her. To others and herself she is nothing more but Prince Kirin’s possession, both protecting and alienating her.

The journey she goes through is one of embracing yourself, for yourself, despite of others, finding someone who will embrace all the parts of you, the old and the new, the possibility of what you could be, just everything, as you are, as you want to be.

While the book mainly focuses on Nothing and her journey to understand her own identity and coming to terms with all the parts of herself, Tessa Gratton also weaves in Kirin’s journey with his gender identity. It is seamlessly and tactfully presented, and while it is shown as difficult to explore due to his role as a prince, both Sky and Nothing are supportive.


“This spirit was one of Nothing’s only friends. She had a few because once Kirin had told her it was safe to make them, so long as she never loved any more than she loved him. So she didn’t.”

This book also explores many relationships and their different dynamics. Nothing has only ever known life at the palace, life by Kirin’s side, only wanting what he wanted, or doing what would be good for him, without really ever acknowledging or thinking about what she wanted for herself. The book slowly unfolds this friendship, showing its power imbalances and how it has affected Nothing’s image of herself. It never takes away any of the love they have for each other but does question where this love comes from and if love can really exist without choice.

All the relationship dynamics in this book are layered and complex. We get to see Kirin and his bodyguard Sky explore their own relationship, how it is rooted in complete trust and making that choice to be together whatever the hurdles, over and over again. Sky and Nothing have that open-hearted / begrudgingly becoming friends dynamic where Sky slowly let’s himself show outwardly that he cares about Nothing and they share a lot of very cute and heartfelt moments.


“It’s all real,” the sorceress said.“My body. All the shapes and colors. It’s all me.You are asking for what I was before, when I was not entirely myself. Because when I was only a girl, I was not entirely myself.”

I would lay down my life for the Sorceress Who Eats Girls. I mean, who wouldn’t? She is charming and flirty, a little monstrous, feared by the whole kingdom for stealing hearts, powerful, passionate, and loyal.The Sorceress used to be only a girl, but she was a girl who went after and took power for herself, setting aside what had been decided for her. This power gives her the freedom to make her own choices, and that is something even more threatening than her magical powers because she can’t be restrained and she can’t be controlled. The Sorceress lives outside of the norm, that is also where her power lies, where the power of the main characters of this book lies. She made herself into who she wanted to be, not who she was supposed to be and found endless power in that.


“Judge me for my weakness too, and give me a life of my own to ruin at your side. That is what I want, more than I want to devour the whole world. If that is not love, what is?”

This sapphic relationship… I was swooning the whole way through. There was a constant tension and chemistry between the two of them, from their first meeting until the very end. The circumstances they find themselves in brought on so much yearning, it was truly through the roof; it was excruciating and brilliant. You can definitely tell the want lingering there, but there are still so many decisions standing between the two of them.

And then their first kiss? It was perfect. The quotes I picked up from that moment alone, the culmination of this endless longing and feeling the passion pouring into it: “Everything poured into Nothing.” It truly took my breath away and made my heart feel so many things.

This relationship is not “soft” and it is not constrained in the usual mold of f/f book relationships. Nothing and the Sorceress still have a strong sense of mutual respect and understanding, but their love and want runs deep and is very consuming, it is almost visceral. They also just fit together, and while they are both whole people separately, they share a heart.

I honestly just loved every interaction they had and The Sorceress Who Eats Girls is perhaps the first person to give Nothing a choice, a true choice, one unburdened by obligations and lifelong bonds, a choice coming from her heart and own desires. The Sorceress gives Nothing power without a second thought, she loves Nothing in all her aspects and owning her power. Nothing might take time to warm up to the Sorceress, to truly understand if she wants this, wants her, but it is how deliberate this choice is that makes it all the more powerful.

2020 has also been the year of me realising how much love and any kind of relationship that survives different iterations and lifetimes affects me and it truly might be one of my favourite tropes now.


“She thought of stars and the night sky, that vast feeling of infinite strength cupping the Fifth Mountain. She thought of the stars as butterflies and remembered [...] how the stars inside her had popped and swooped and fled just like a scatter of butterflies.”

I’ll also quickly add that the writing is wonderful and the constant imagery brought up throughout the book is stunning. It describes nature and the backdrop of the story beautifully, it makes you want to lie down by the lake of the Fifth Mountain and walk the hallways of the castle. The surroundings of the characters are often used as metaphors for their identity and feelings and it felt really immersive.

I also really enjoyed what we saw of the lore of spirits and demons in this book, how their magic works. It felt especially important to me as Nothing makes a lot of connections with the spirits and demons she encounters, way more than with the human characters, and the interactions she has with the magical beings of this book are very precious. I’d like to make a special mention of the great demon of the palace who likes to be tickled and has a very special bond with Nothing, it made me really really soft.

I think I (willingly) left half of my heart with this story and I’ll cherish it for a very long time. It was enchanting and heartfelt and everything I didn’t know I wanted from a book.

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Buddy read with Melanie ♡

All quotes are taken from an arc and aren’t final. Please refer to a finished copy.

[Nicholas Perez · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 out of 5 stars. The best YA fantasy I've read in a long time.

What is Night Shine by Tessa Gratton? Let me give you a hypothetical/alternate world situation: Imagine Ursula K. Le Guin sitting down with her notes for her forthcoming novel A Wizard of Earthsea. She's got things ready, the thing with true names is there, magic, a connection to the natural/material world, and the duality of things such as light and dark, man, and woman, etc. Now, imagine this: Le Guin decides she wants to go on vacation for a bit. She's done a lot of writing up to this point her career, but she wants a break, but she simply can't let this story go.
"Maybe I should have someone else write this," she says. "Someone different."
She flips through a phonebook that magically has every SFF author's contact info and bibliography (it's magic, it can do it), including those not yet published. She stops on one name.

Tanith Lee. Not yet published when Le Guin is working on A Wizard of Earthsea--The Birthgrave isn't out yet--but that magic phonebook shows all that weird and beautiful bibliography from the future. Le Guin rings Lee up. "Want to write a young adult fantasy novel using my notes?" she asks.
Lee says yes.
Le Guin goes on vacation and Lee writes that alternate A Wizard of Earthsea book, throwing in her weirdness, her lush prose and descriptions, the flirtations with the darker side of things, and the queerness. Oh, yes! The queerness! For you Earthsea fans about to "um, actually..." me, I am aware that the later books contain some small queer things and that The Tombs of Atuan is considered a trans metaphor by many, but this is not a comparing or contrasting between Le Guin and Lee's queer content; Lee was just more bolder with hers. Lee finishes the book, she finishes this alternate A Wizard of Earthsea book and it is glorious and beautiful and thought-provoking--not perfect, but great. In that alternate timeline, that book would be called something like "A Demon of Earthsea," but in our world it is called Night Shine.

Sorry, for the long introduction, but that is simply the best way I can describe this beautiful, underrated piece of YA fantasy. There's a lot of oversaturation in YA fantasy these days, but Gratton manages to weave and pin a story that avoids the near-constant "teenagers fighting or overthrowing an oppressive society" plot present in today's teen books. No, this story is a journey. Not a hero's journey, but a journey of discovery, finding love, embracing and loving the dark and monstrous within you, and find your place in the in-between.

The story follows a seventeen-year-old girl literally named Nothing, a servant and friend to Kirin Dark-Smile, prince of the Empire of Five Mountains. Nothing only has sneaking skills and a flower marking over her heart. When she was a child, she and Kirin looked at each other and into each other's heart. Kirin declared that a heart has many petals and they became friends. Nothing lives mostly within the shadows and smoke ways of the palace, mostly watching Kirin and his love interest The Day the Sky Opened, or simply Sky, a young man from a demon-kissed family (more on that later). Kirin is supposed to remain pure before he partakes in the investiture ritual that he must go through to inherit the throne and accept Moon, the Demon of the Palace. However, his lightly physical and repressed romance with Sky threatens that purity--not because they are both boys, there's no homophobia or heteronormativity here, but simply because Kirin must remain chaste before he takes the throne. There's also two other issues with Kirin. One, is that the current Kirin in the palace is revealed to be a fake, manifested by the Sorceress Who Eats Girls during Kirin's summer travels with Sky. The second, as we later learn, is that Kirin is more than just a boy which led to his capture.

Nothing and Sky set out for the Fifth Mountain, where the Sorceress Who Eats Girls resides and has taken Kirin. Originally, like the other Four Mountains, the Fifth Mountain held a spirit, a magical being from the aether, a kind of unseen force and world where witches draw magic and their familiars from. However, the Fifth Mountain's spirit "died" and became a demon, a spirit that has no house or body of its own and must root itself to something else. Moon is the demon of the royal palace and thus anchors itself to the palace and royal family. The demon of the Fifth Mountain was once the wife of the Sorceress Who Eats Girls, but then the demon vanished and the mountain begun to die. So the Sorceress, true to her name, hunted maiden's for their hearts to power the mountain. And that's why she took Kirin, for he is both a maiden and a prince.

Nothing's journey will bring her face to face with the Sorceress Who Eats Girls and revelations that will both give her purpose, but also enrage her.

This book! Where do I begin? Let's start with the characters.
Nothing's journey was a wonderful thing to experience. She goes from a mere, mostly quiet, but cunning servant to a young woman full of wonder, insight, and power. While her journey is one of self-discovery, common to YA, it is done with such and nuance and set in a lusciously, beautiful world that it makes it more tender and compelling than most. She is no seeking power in order to overthrow someone or challenge them, rather she is seeking power to know her true self and her true name. Basically, the Sorceress Who Eats Girls reveals something to her. I won't describe in detail; I don't want to spoil it so you can read it for yourself. The Sorceress Who Eats Girls reveals to Nothing that she is more than a girl and that her true was willingly hid from her by Kirin. In fact, her true name is right under our noses the whole time.

Speaking of the Sorceress, she is a very interesting character who starts off mysterious and antagonistic but blossoms into someone with her own turmoil and goals. She has her reasons for doing things; while I wouldn't call her a rebel necessarily, she clearly has no desire to follow any rules except her own. She's not very remorseful about stealing and killing other girls for their hearts and when Nothing confronts her about this she questions her about what is truly good or evil in the world. To quote the Sorceress herself, "...the world is made of shadows and luck." And it's after this that we slowly learn what's up with Kirin's plans and the Empire's. I will say that the Sorceress is never really punished for her actions and while she gets her happy ending I wouldn't say her actions led to that result, that was mostly Nothing's doing. This may bother some readers, but I found it fitting given how everyone and everything ended up at the end. What could anyone do the Sorceress? The other sorcerers and palace witches tried to bargain with her the past, but nothing came of it and she doesn't willingly attack the Empire itself. Either way, I grew to like her.

And then there's Kirin and...man, do I have some thoughts. He's a complicated character, not only because of his actions but because of his gender identity. His is genderfluid and given that's something that violates the dualistic worldview of the Empire, it's something he has to keep secret, except from Sky and Nothing. Kirin has his reasons for doing what he does, but they might make you angry as they did for me. Like the Sorceress Who Eats Girls, he isn't exactly rewarded for his actions. Punished? In his own private way and between him and Nothing, at least. If anything, I applaud Gratton for giving complex and morally-grey queer characters like Kirin and the Sorceress, because there are some out there that don't quite make the mark for me. Kirin isn't a dictator or abusive, but I will say his desire for everything to be his way, even without him being totally truthful with other things, does make it challenge as to weather you like him or not.

Sky is very present throughout the story, but he doesn't get as much stage time as Nothing or Kirin. As I said before, Sky is one of the demon-kissed, his hair and eyes and blood have a blue hue to them because his family was cursed by the Queens of Heaven long ago. He is Kirin's close bodyguard and lover and Nothing 's friend. Again, he didn't get as much focus as Kirin and Nothing, but he's still fleshed out. He cares for Kirin and Nothing both deeply and wants the truth of all things, though he cannot always handle the truth but knows that it needs to be revealed. In a way, Sky becomes a bridge between Nothing and Kirin as their friendship frays under suspicions and the Sorceress Who Eats Girls' influence. Sky wants the best for everyone he holds dear, but knows what he and they must bear if it cannot be done. I liked him and liked that he Nothing may have had deeper feelings towards each other.

Other character include the spirit of the Selegan River, Kirin's parents, and The Scale one of the sorcerers of the Four Living Mountains. They're all interesting minor characters, I like Selegan and The Scale more because of what we see of them, but Kirin's parents get very little page time.

I think the best part of this book overall was the prose. It is so beautiful! The way Gratton describes the world and its details is so colorful and flows naturally and beautifully. Seriously! The colors she uses as descriptors and way she describes nature and clothing are such delights to the senses. I will say that sometimes she repeats details a little too closely together, such as the Sorceress Who Eats Girls bicolored eyes. The descriptions are still beautiful, but you don't need to describe the same that close together. One of the best parts of the prose is no info-dumping. Gratton explains the magic and world in simple, short sentences that do not rob the story of its narrative beauty. Every since I read Le Guin's essay From Elfland to Poughkeepsie on prose in secondary fantasy worlds, I've been on the hunt for YA fantasy that can keep me in "Elfland." Plenty of Adult fantasy stories do this, but I'm hoping to find competent YA fantasy like Night Shine that does it too. Now, I think some will find the prose a bit too much, but I don't think so. Gratton never strays into purple prose.

The magic and world are quite interesting as well. I've seen some criticisms saying they don't like it or how it's--or the magic, at least-- shown. I think it's perfectly fine and it's succinctly explained. Aether is the magical force that permeates the world that only witches, spirits, and demons can see. Spirits are shards of the aether and demons are spirits that died and need a new anchor. Short, sweet, and to the point. I honestly don't understand the criticisms toward this, because there are older fantasy books that have a magic system akin to the aether. But again, this is just me.
What I think is most important about Night Shine's, what I've touched on above, and that sets it apart from further Earthsea comparisons and probably more closer to Lee's Tales from the Flat Earth series is its handling of dualism.

"Good and evil are both shadows."

In Earthsea, influence by Daoism, what is dualistic and opposed has to find balance, hence the plot and revelation of the first book. I wouldn't say that Night Shine disrupts or overthrows balance necessarily, rather it queers it and seeks refuge in the borderlines between the dual opposing forces. Everything from Kirin's gender to Nothing's ontology and to the magic and heart of the Fifth Mountain. At the novel's end, dualism still exists in the Empire of Five Mountains, however the fertile seeds of potential change are present. In a beautiful, poetic moment at the conclusions between Nothing and the Sorceress Who Eats Girls make bare those borderlines and revel in it as they both reach a conclusion.

Balance may not always be maintained in this world and while the borderlines can be unstable and dangerous, they are far less stringent than housing oneself within the opposing forces themselves.

I cannot wait to read the sequel Moon Dark Smile! This was one of the best YA fantasies in a long ass time. I hope Raybearer will be too!

[human]

i don't love the cover, but dARK, QUEER HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE??

AJSLKJALKDJASKJDALSKDJLAKSJDLAKSL—

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, thank you to reviewers who opened by asserting that this cover is not at all representative of the book, because this was fantastic and I would almost certainly have ignored it otherwise, assuming it to be yet another generic YA aimed at girls who want to be beautiful and marry princes. This is not that: this is for girl who want to be ferocious, see the world, and (eventually) marry inhuman sorceresses. The cover should be something like a collaboration of Kinuko Craft and Remedios Varo. (If you know artists that would fit that, drop a name!)

I was sold on this by the "queer Howl’s Moving Castle" comparisons, and while I can see that, it reminded me more of Patricia A. McKillip, especially in terms of prose style. Both authors tend to have extensive elaborate and beautiful descriptions of scenery, food, clothing, magic, everything. I did think Gratton were very well written, although sometimes excessive for my personal preference. It also reminded me of McKillip in that there's a plot involving magical or political power, but the impetus of the story is self-discovery and determination.

[Acqua · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book: this mysterious, possibly evil character is known as The Sorceress Who Eats Girls
Acqua, immediately: 👀

Night Shine is, more than anything, a story about the importance of having a choice.
It follows a girl known as Nothing as she goes on a quest to rescue Kirin Dark-Smile, the prince and her closest friend, after he has been kidnapped by a Sorceress.
Hearing this premise, one might think they already know this story. They don't.

The first thing you should know about Night Shine is that it is, from the surface to its heart, a very queer story. I'm not only talking about the characters, though of course that's a major factor; I'm talking about what it prioritizes as well. Night Shine is a story that says, you should get to choose. Your name, over the one that was given to you. Your relationships, over what has been forced on you either through magic or norms. The way you define yourself, over an assigned gender or other kinds of restrictive roles.
For a story, having this kind of priorities means trope subversion, and this book is full of it.

Maybe the girl and the prince love each other, but not the way one would think, and maybe the girl is going to rescue the prince with the help of the prince's secret boyfriend, his bodyguard Sky, and maybe the prince is charming, genderfluid, and also the most beautiful maiden of the realm, and maybe the sorceress is hot in a very gay way. Consider!

I always love to find new books to recommend to other gay villain romance fans, and Night Shine might be my favorite F/F example so far. The tension between the main character and the Sorceress... to give you an idea, I had to pause many times because I felt like spontaneously combusting, and that's why this took me five days.

That's far from the only reason this book deeply appealed to me, however. Another, maybe the most personal one, is that the main character's arc is about understanding who she is and can be, and the first step in that is learning to want things. I was drawn to "Nothing" from the moment I met her, because I know the appeal of being functionally invisible and haunting the place you live in, unpredictable and unseen but more than anything unassuming, never-bothering, never really even occupying space if you can. And maybe that's what you think you want, or maybe it's a coping mechanism because the world is cruel, and it's not all there is to you.

Then there's the portrayal of intimacy. Back in 2018, Gratton's Strange Grace was described by many as "full of kissing", and I can say that it applies to Night Shine even more - people kiss! A lot! For different reasons and with different results! Like most binaries, the line between platonic and romantic isn't a concern to this book, and this is particularly clear in the dynamic between the main character, Sky, and Kirin, which was so fascinating to read. They all love each other, it's clear, but there are power imbalances and things turn sour - the relationship between Kirin and the main character takes a clear controlling bent, especially when contrasted with how she and Sky grow close without forcing any expectations on each other, allowing themselves to be surprised.

About Kirin specifically, I loved how he was portrayed. I know I've talked many times about the importance of portrayals of queer villainy, and queer flawed characters, from queer authors - and just like we get to have a sorceress who eats girls' hearts and is a lesbian and a love interest, we get to have a genderfluid prince who is charming but also entitled and jealous, and portrayed sympathetically. We understand the reasons for his actions, and that's why they hurt even more to read. I'm always here for books that understand that good and evil exist in shadows.
(Kirin is also not the only non-binary character who appears. The narration also uses he/him pronouns for Kirin, so that's what I did, while it uses they/them for the other n-b character who appears.)

Another fascinating part of Night Shine are the names. Every character has a full name which almost reads like poetry; for example, Sky is The Day the Sky Opened, and another example is Sudden Spring Frost - and since we were on the topic of Kirin, it's said that the main character starts using different full names depending on what he says about his gender that day, among which "Neither Kirin", which is... so cool of a name. Then there's the matter of "Nothing"'s name, which is... plot-relevant and I'm not going to say more.

The writing was dreamlike, and yet I could see the setting so clearly - because this book knows the balance between giving enough descriptions to make everything feel real and bright but not too much to still leave some mystery and distance. In a world of sorcerers, demons, spirits and dragons, it only feels right - and the meticulous attention to detail helped, as usual for Tessa Gratton's works.

I loved Night Shine a lot, maybe even more than Strange Grace, and I think it might be a new favorite book; I can't say that for sure right now, but we'll see in a few days.

[mwana]

It's a sapphic villain gets the girl.

Meh.

The villain is called the sorceress who eats girls

TO THE TBR

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

studio ghibli vibes, evil sapphics, genderfluid princes and their gay himbo bodyguards, adorable spirits, beautiful writing - what more could you want!?!

[Stephen Robert Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 1950s C. S Lewis created the Nania books to teach children about the joys of Christianity. Here Tessa Grafton has created a fantasy world series for young adults transgender in brilliant way.
This a book about Nothing yet it turns into something that was not expected. Of love and a man who is woman. Just like Lewis had a lion we have The Sorceress who isn't all you want in evil. Eating your heart eating your love.
Prince Kirin or is that Princess Kirin is not a nice person, but have to read the book. There is sequal out next year

[Starr ❇✌❇ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Nothing is good at only 2 things: being invisible to the rest of the palace, and being a good friend to the prince. But when something returns, tricking everyone else into believing it is the prince, she must call attention to herself to show them its falsity and get the prince back. It's a quest full of danger and secrecy- for they're heading to the Sorcerer Who Eats Girls, a powerful magic user who could kill any of them in an instant, and whose interest in Prince Kirin might cost him the throne, if any knew.

I do love the rep in this book. I love Kirin being genderqueer (or, at least, somewhere under the umbrella of nonbinary) and the simple ways he's supported by Sky and by Nothing. I love Nothing's own inherent queerness that never gets called into question. I love the fact that the relationship between Sky and Kirin is only taboo because of Kirin's position, and not because of homophobia. It's still really refreshing to see worlds created both with queer characters and without mountains upon mountains of prejudice. Yes, there is some prejudice technically with Kirin's transness, but even that is only ever implied to be the expected judgement from the people of his kingdom, and everyone who actually interacts with him and knows him as not cisgender is very nice and casual about it.

I love the lush world building and its subtleties. The different castes, the different spirits and demons, they all breathe life into this world. I wasn't sure if the comparison to Howl's Moving Castle was meant to be to the movie that's more popular in the general consensus, or to the book- and it's definitely the book. They both have a very structured, plotted sort of characterization with both story and world, giving you each thing with steady brush strokes but also making you wish there was more to play with.

This is also a surprisingly romantic book! Not exactly in the way of swooning and falling slowly for each other, but there is a strong connection between the characters, especially in Nothing's romantic arc, and you can feel the compulsions between them. I was rooting for Nothing's romance when I 100% did not think I would be- but the exploration of the characters, as well as the slow and steady understanding of context and of the true feelings involved, made it impossible not to see how much they needed to be together.

The themes of this book are gorgeously wrought as well. The binary metaphor throughout knocked me flat when it was brought back to the surface, as an echo of the relationship they hold with gender, and the relationships between what is known and what is not, what is good and what is bad. So much gray area! And that refusal to simplify is fantastic and such a strong stake. The answer to power in this book is, over and over again, to step outside of where you are expected. To not stay in your place, or choose between options A or B, but to make something new for yourself.
The other major theme, seems to be in consent, which, when it struck solidly enough, felt both important well done. The whole idea of having control over yourself, not giving away your power, and love not asking for ownership or mastery over the other, is honestly fabulous when it's done completely straight with a little less of that gray area.

See, the main thing that kept me from truly just enjoying this book was the characterization of Kirin and his relationships. It's clearly an unhealthy relationship between Kirin and Nothing right from the beginning, and while there's a better understanding of that made as the story progresses, I don't think it ever reaches a point of satisfactory closure or brings the lesson full force. Kirin consistently does increasingly worse things, even at his tamest clearly being self absorbed and self righteous, and the soft redemption by the ending felt completely unearned and bothersome. He's an abusive person who makes the wrong choice over and over again, and he deserved worse.

As much as I love the romance and Nothing herself, and her character arc, and enjoyed the parts of the world shown, it still felt a bit flat for me, because there wasn't much world exploration. It felt more like a folktale, which does, of course, have its charm, but with so many details of the different types of magical beings and the possibilities in the world, I needed to see more, and felt kind of cheated by not being able to.

This is in fact a dark queer fantasy, full of self actualization and embracing self questioning. I love what this book does, and respect what it tries to do. I'll be thinking about this one for a while at least.

Initial review underneath
"A dark, queer Howl's Moving Castle" WHAT DOES THAT MEAN. HOW IS THAT LEGAL. WHY DON'T I OWN THIS ALREADY.
Update! Ya boi got an arc! So expect to hear a LOT.

[Lea (drumsofautumn)]

EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS SOUNDS PERFECT I NEED IT IN MY HANDS RIGHT THE FUCK NOW!!!!!

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[Stefanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Tessa Gratton is a great writer, but Gratton writing their own fantastical weird sexy queer books is always top-tier reading. This one in particular goes out to all the enbys out there - something I heard said about this book but didn't fully understand until reading it. If you've ever felt like maybe your gender is "mountain," this is the book for you.

This books dips the reader right away into a world of palaces, witches, demons and spirits. A young girl who tries to go unnoticed, aptly calling herself "Nothing," is the treasured companion to the prince, Kirin Dark-Smile. When he goes missing during a summer walkabout with Sky, his bodyguard (and secret lover), Sky and Nothing must team up to try and find him. All signs point to the Sorceress Who Eats Girls who lives on the Fifth Mountain...because as Sky and Nothing know while no one else does, sometimes the prince is also a maiden. The book is a journey of discovery for Nothing, and also a journey of figuring out who she can trust.

One of my favorite things about Gratton's writing is the emotionality. You can really travel with Nothing in her confusion, in her fear of change, in her first realizations of love and attraction. Another favorite thing is the pure imagination of the world created: it's so boldly visual and untethered to any strict rules of magic. (Though folks who are familiar with xianxia will recognize the vibes.) I also loved what Gratton did in terms of playing with the idea of who's the villain of the story - we start with one understanding, and flip to another, and then circle back around again. Very complex!

Also, Gratton writes trios/triads really, really well. Which is a huge selling point for me.

If I have any critiques at all, it's that sometimes I felt that there were scenes missing - character backstory, or further detail - that would really have filled out the narrative. But maybe that's just me wanting more of this story that I loved.

I am very excited to carry onward with the second part of this duology, Moon Dark Smile.

[Julie - One Book More · Rating 4 out of 5]

Night Shine is an interesting fantasy story with an immersive setting, dynamic characters, and poignant messages. The world-building is incredible and lush, with a unique caste system and fascinating supernatural beings including witches, demons, goblins, and more. It is a captivating read, one that I was quickly caught up in. I also like the strong messages about being true to yourself, standing up for what you believe in, and fighting for those you love.

The characters are richly developed, especially Nothing, the protagonist. I loved her progression throughout the story. A girl who is usually ignored and invisible, she is the only one who realizes that the prince is not really the prince. She is a sharp, intelligent, and astute person who is vastly underestimated, as she proves time and again on her journey to rescue the prince.

Overall, this is a good read that I recommend to readers that enjoy YA fantasy. Thanks so much to Netgalley for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts are my own.

[Cami L. González · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this arc from the author herself. So thank you so much, Tessa, for give us the chance to read your new book. English isn't my first language, so sorry if I can't write this review well.

This book is weird, but honestly is what I expected it to be, I think. Full of magic, and representation of non binary and queer characters.

Nothing just appeared in the castle. She doesn't have parents, only Kirin, the prince and he gave her the name of Nothing. When he was take away from the Sorceres Who Eat Girls, she and Sky will go in a mision to rescue him.

Is really hard try to explain this book, but the other one I read from Tessa was the same weird and fascinating kind of story. Is like a fairytale, a twisting and a little bit darker one. Full of demons, whitches, sorceress and promises.

I totally loved the things with de names, the importance of the names, just because someone gave it to you or because you chose the name. That was beautiful. And the differents names we can read in here, the meaning of them, so so so great.

Other thing I totally loved was the relationships between the characters. The way Sky and Nothing became friends or something more and complicated and beautiful was my favorite one. The relationship between Kirin and Nothing, so weird, so intense, so demanding sometimes, but still so pure. Same with Kirin and Sky, the love between them was wonderful and a little bit sad. The only relationship I wasn't really into was with the Sorceress. I'm not sure why, but it didn't work for me. I didn't hate it, or the character, but it didn't give me the feelings the others. And that was sad, because it was beautiful, and I loved the way Tessa wrote it and how it was growing little by little, but I couldn't feel it.

I really like the book, the characters and the world, but the story was a little bit of simple. It felt like nothing is happening, I spend the most part of the book waiting for the story to begin. I know it was most a story about characters and people who find them self. I know. But still I would love a little more. The world and the story have a lot more to give. I enjoyed reading the book, but it cost me a lot to find the willing to seat and read because because I wasn't thrilled to know what was going to happen now. My feelings while I was reading were always so calm and relax. I enjoyed the travel, yes, but when I wasn't reading I didn't think in the book.

The last thing I want to mention is about Kirin. I like the character, the dark parts of they and that they were the climax. This books hasn't have a villain as such and I like that. And I like the thing about that Kirin have to be pure, always is about women be pure. It proof that it was the same foolishness that with women, and I enjoy that. It silly, a detail, but I like it.

To finish, I enjoyed the book and the characters. It wasn't that exciting like I was hoping for, but it was good and weird in the most beautiful way. I love so much the way Tessa writes, and how she imagine the same stories we all know, but without the heteronormative restrictions of the society. It feels so liberating.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

BOY did this live up to the pitch. It’s like Howl’s Moving Castle meets Princess Mononoke with some Spirited Away vibes, tbh. The worldbuilding is incredible and gorgeous and so unique. The characters are fantastic and complicated. And it’s beautifully, unapologetically queer.
//
Original reaction:
soooo this has been pitched as darker, queerer Howl's Moving Castle?? uhm heLLO??!!!!

[Sierra The Book Addict · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was a buddy read with @biancareads94 on twitter and biancareads on YouTube.

This was interesting, I liked the characters but I felt that the plot was middle range, I felt like it lacked something plot wise. The concept was cool I just felt like the delivery was very off.

World building was cool, but I felt like there is still a lack of what it could have been.

As for the relationship aspect of the book I enjoyed it was interesting and dynamic.

Overall it was enjoyable but I don’t think I’ll be continuing on with the series.

[Misago · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a really difficult choice to make.

About 80% through the book I was already making plans to praise this book to high heavens. I thought about recommending this book to everyone I know who reads, and getting really excited about how to rouse their interest.

There's so much to like about this book. The world building, the way spirits and magic work, the main character, the way she interacts with the world, the way she grows and changes and what she becomes, and her love interest. The diversity and the way it is woven into the story, allowing for a wide variety of LGBTQA+ rep without it feeling forced or anything else.

However, I ultimately cannot support the messenge this book presents me in the end, and it all comes down to the prince.

Now, I am fully aware that "the kinda selfish and arrogant, but well-meaning at heart prince" is kind of an understandable and common archetype. For a lot of the story, I went from being intrigued by his personal issues and wanting to learn more about him to finding him an annoyance, taking away screen time that could be spent on the main character and her pretty-villainess-dragon-lady gf, to being mad at what he did, to seeing him as outright abusive and toxic.

At first, the way he bound the main character to himself, making himself her best friend and person of focus could be put down to the prince thing again. Even him being the one responsible for her name, Nothing, which she identified with in a number of ways, at first seemed innocent. But later on, when it came out that the main character was, first unknowingly to them both, then knowingly by the prince until Nothing found out, bound to her by a sort of true name magic situation, gains really toxic connotations by the actions of the prince. Even after acknowledging how he is taking her free will through their bond, he STILL uses the power he has over her to manipulate her feelings, then make her forget about them, driving a wedge between her and her love interest. In fact, a lot of the conflict in the story is caused by him being a selfish p**** who uses and abuses others for his benefit. At the end, his actions nearly cause Nothing's love interest to be killed. I really, really hated him, and the fact that in the end, the main character just... basically forgive him, after telling him to his face not two scenes ago that she never would.

Overall, a lot of their relationship, with the prince demeaning, manipulating, isolating and just generally tying Nothing down, it feels a lot like an abusive boyfriend. The more I thought about it,
the creepier the whole thing got. And now this selfish bastard is in charge of the whole empire. Super.

By comparison, the love interest, who is a villainess (they call her a murderer, but it is a bit more complicated), is a complex, powerful and so much kinder and more supportive to Nothing. She courts her overtly, but she never acts crass, is open with her feelings and wishes, and she gives Nothing all the space she needs. In fact, her desire to not force Nothing into anything is so big that it ends up nearly killing her.

If this story had been just about Nothing and the villainess, or the prince had been treated and ultimately punished like the **** he is, I'd have no qualms giving this story a perfect score and recommending it far and wide, but this just doesn't sit right with me.

Powerful sapphic enemies to lovers couple helping each other grow and being supportive is basically my idea of a perfect story setup, so this really had a long way down.

The other main character, the prince's lover and bodyguard, is less obnoxious, just kind of bland, and I am not sure why Nothing likes him. Starting to suspect (as she probably did) that that true name thing from the prince forced her to.

THe rest of the supporting cast was really good. I loved the unicorn, the river spirit, and even the sorceror the Scale was really interesting in the short time we saw them.

I hate to give a not-quite-good rating because of the ending, but it and the context it gave the rest of the story just makes this a bit like propaganda movies. It may have a great story, acting and directing, but the message behind it just ruins all my enjoyment I could have taken from it.

[Izzy]

this book did not deserve this monstrosity of a cover

[Nai's books · Rating 4 out of 5]

La Sonrisa el Demonio es un libro de fantasía juvenil autoconclusivo creado con cariño, detalle y mucha sensibilidad.

“Nada” un personaje que se define como el mismo nombre que tiene, junto a Firmamento, deberá rescatar al príncipe heredero de una bruja devora corazones. Será en este viaje en el que se plantee toda su vida, si lo que era real lo es así y si de verdad es “Nada” o es “Algo más”

Un bonito libro de autodescubrimiento, donde los debates filosóficos respecto a la identidad de género están presentes durante toda la historia.

Lo que más destaco del libro es la ambientación. Es pura magia, se respira fantasía. Me dio la sensación de estar inmersa dentro de un mundo mágico con espíritus, dragones, brujas, criaturas extrañas que planteaban acertijos. La autora describe los lugares y las sensaciones a la perfección por lo que era imposible no ver lo que ella quería mostrar.

Por otro lado, la representación LGTBIQ+ me ha parecido maravillosa, porque nos movemos en una historia puramente queer tratada con naturalidad, respeto y cariño. Creo que leer este libro es importante porque plantea en más de una ocasión las dudas y los miedos que personas del colectivo pueden tener a lo largo de su vida y se resuelven de una forma que no puedo más que tildar de maravillosa.

La trama y los plot twist también me han gustado, ha habido bastantes cosas que me han sorprendido y espero que también os sorprendan a vosotres cuando leáis el libro.

Creo que me han flojeado un poco los personajes, especialmente une que me ha parecido egoísta e interesade. No tengo claro que la autora pretendiera que nos diera esa sensación, pero le he detestado casi en todo momento. Los demás personajes, aunque estén mejor construidos tampoco se han dejado conocer como merecía esta historia.

La pluma de Tessa es preciosa, cuidadosa y detallista. Aún así tengo que ponerle un “pero” y es que en bastantes ocasiones se iba por las ramas en las descripciones de cosas que finalmente no eran relevantes, especialmente en la parte del viaje de los protagonistas. Esto creaba una sensación de “no avance” de la historia que se me ha hecho un poco pesada.

¿Lo recomiendo? Pese a los puntos negativos que le doy al libro la respuesta es: SI.

Porque es una historia de fantasía pura y dura con un mundo cuidado y precioso.
Por la representación LGTBIQ+ tan bien llevada.
Por los debates internos que tienen los personajes y que plantea al lector.
Porque al terminar el libro, la sensación es de “paz”.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, I am now screaming about this book and need to start diving headfirst into more of Tessa Gratton's backlist.

Spoiler-free Review: https://amberinoface.wordpress.com/20...

I received an ecopy of this book via Netgalley; however, my opinions are my own.

[Gretal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was really frustrating. The initial pitch was super exciting, but alas I came to realize fairly soon after I started this book that I just did not care at all. It was super atmospheric, but altogether too plotty for my liking. And I really didn't like much of the plot.
Nevertheless, I think this is a well-written book, and I'm sure many people will like this so much more than I did.

[Erya Writter · Rating 1 out of 5]

⛰️Cuando el príncipe Kirin es secuestrado por la Hechicera que devora doncellas, Nada y el guardaespaldas de él emprenden un viaje en su búsqueda hasta la Quinta Montaña.

Allí, Nada, huérfana, amiga de demonios, descubrirá la magia, la historia de la Hechicera y secretos que ni siquiera imaginaba.⛰️

☄️Debo decir que esta historia no ha sido para mí 🙈 sé que el otro libro de la autora causó sensación. Yo no puedo comparar.

☄️La trama se me ha quedado pobre. El viaje a la Quinta Montaña es rápido, allí nos mantenemos más de medio libro hasta que por fin se van.

☄️Los personajes se me han quedado en nada. Y la protagonista, que parecía tener potencial, al final, se queda justo en eso; en nada...

☄️El worldbuilding me ha costado comprenderlo, y sobre todo verlo. Las descripciones se me han hecho tediosas. La narración en sí no me ha atraído nada.

☄️Y los nombres... ¡Algunos eran frases! Sí, muy original, pero jolín cómo me sacaba de la lectura.

✨💖✨

[Izzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the opportunity to receive an e-ARC of "Night Shine", and it is GOOD. It was one of those books that's going to stick with me, because in a beautiful and lyrical way, Tessa Gratton showed me a quietly powerful perspective on gender I hadn't considered before. I'm grateful for that.

Gratton kept the energy and tension up throughout, and I loved every character and the overlapping relationships between them. They were intriguing and messy and very real, and all a little bit in love with each other. The whole thing was lovely and haunting, about learning who you are and the power in defining yourself. Definitely a strong recommendation from me!

[linnea h. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Releases 9/8/20 and you REALLY should go preorder it I am JUST saying.

I rarely have adequate enough words for a Gratton book, but this one might be vying for my favorite, and I feel whole and molten and all of the best things.

[bia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really thought this was gonna be a 5 star for me but here we are

[Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful story about Nothing turning into something that really stands out and shines.

A really awesome story about change, character driven, with real characters whom you will absolutely love and absolutely, totally, incredibly, hate, with all the might you can muster.

[Huck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure if it’s a 4 or 3.5

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is EVERYTHING! Tessa Gratton’s writing is just stunning and her books are like nothing I’ve ever read before 💜