The palette reads too dark and muddy — sullen rather than warm. Lift it: raise the background a touch to a warmer near-black (#1E1714), make the firelight gold brighter and more luminous for headings, links, and glows (#E8B04B, up from the current dull gold), and add a brighter warm-amber highlight (#F2C879) for hover states and key accents. Widen the contrast so gold genuinely glows against the dark instead of blending into the brown. Add real warm light-bloom around the hero and behind cards. Keep it warm and intimate — but it should feel lit by a living fire, not by dying embers

The scene illustrations are too dark and dim — they make the page feel sullen. Repaint them lit by a strong, warm, glowing fire: brighter flame, golden firelight catching the figures' edges and faces, warm light blooming into the room. Keep the intimate firelit mood and the consistent painterly style, but raise the brightness and let the fire actually glow. Faces and figures should be readable, caught in warm light — not silhouettes lost in the dark.