I’m going to start off by saying WOW!
I love a book with a magic school setting and The Crowns of Croswald was no exception!
The heroine of our story, Ivy Lovely, is an orphan working as a maid in Castle Plum, but she is so much more than that!
After an incident causes her to leave Castle Plum, she crosses a magical boundary and her life takes an unexpected and adventurous turn! She discovers magic she never knew she had, sees unexpected and wonderful new things, and makes friends she never thought she would as she attends The Halls Of Ivy.
Ivy is curious, smart, brave, and doesn’t let anything stand in her way! She’s an incredible role model for any kid and teenager and an excellent heroine for the story.
Wonderful world building, excellent pacing, meaningful characters, and an adventurous storyline make this a truly wonderful read for any age!
One of the things that makes the book so good, is that it’s paced incredibly well. There’s not a lot of time spent going into small details, but it doesn’t detract from the story as you still get all of the information that you need.
And while the storyline isn’t completely unpredictable, it still manages to hold a few surprises. It also allows you to figure out Ivy’s life with her even if you think you know what’s going to happen.
Overall I absolutely loved it, it was fun, easy to read and easy to get lost in!

Page turning young fantasy. A completely unique magical fantasy full of intrigue. On a par vibe wise with Harry Potter or the Chronicles of Narnia. Despite being an adult it still had me totally gripped so it is suitable for all, although ages 11 and up will probably love it the most (great for getting younger readers into fantasy). I was totally fascinated throughout by the world building, I just would have liked to understand the main character Ivy a little more.

As many others are saying, the story, world, and characters of The Crowns of Croswald are STRONGLY reminiscent of the Harry Potter series. My thoughts:

Pros:
-Ivy is a loveable protagonist
-The author was extremely creative in coming up with the names and creatures and magical elements of the world
-Some lines were absolutely, laugh-out-loud funny

Cons:
-Some dialogue seemed stilted and awkward
-Some sections of prose seemed clunky/unpolished

Overall thoughts: As a MG/YA author myself, I generally enjoy Middle Grades fiction, but this book struck me as best suited to an even younger audience. I would recommend it to young readers who enjoyed Harry Potter.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, D.E.Night, and untold press for providing me with this e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Crowns of Croswald is a book full of magic, there's no doubt about it. Ivy is a very likable character, and the characters within the school are also very interesting to read about. The book does start off a little slow, however once you reach the second act you do start to get drawn in to her world. The only thing I would have to nitpick about is the fact it doesn't flow as well as it could do, I found myself being pushed out of the world every now and then because it was a little bit jumpy here and there. I would say that this book would be best read by a younger age group (maybe 9-13) as a good way to get into the fantasy drama. However for any fans of harry potter, I would give this book a try.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review!

Crowns of Croswald is the first book in the Croswald series and I believe there are 4 books in total.

This was book was a fun, magical YA fantasy adventure. The main character, Ivy Lovely, is an orphan who, with the help of some allies, gets sent to Croswald, a magical boarding school.

There were a lot of similarities to Harry Potter that made it rather difficult for me to not compare the two. But I’m a huge fan of HP, so I didn’t find it all that much. I would have just enjoyed a different approach a lot more.

I enjoyed the world building and Ivy’s character very much. The author also creates a character in reference to herself and I thought that was incredibly clever. I would be interested in reading the rest of the series to see what direction it goes in.

I would definitely recommend this for YA readers!

The Crowns of Croswald by @author.denight was an amazing middle grade read! It would definitely be loved by all ages especially by ones who adore Harry Potter. Ivy was an orphan maid at a castle who found herself attending a magical boarding to become a screvinist. She soon finds herself solving a great magical mystery. The characters in the book were so descriptive. Definitely made me root for the good guys and roll my eyes at the bad ones(I’m looking at you Damaris!). The story was excellent. The world building was superb!i wanted to live and study with them! The only negative thing which isn’t very negative I had to say was it was really wordy! A lot of people love that, though, and definitely helps create the world!

Originally posted on bookstagram 7/13/2020.

I was very kindly offered a digital copy of the book to read in exchange for an honest review and I actually loved it!

I loved the magic that this book brings. I loved Ivy as a character and the world of Croswald. I found myself not wanting to put it down as I wanted to continue reading about her adventures. It makes me want to continue reading more about the story and so I will definitely look into reading the next book as soon as possible.

Would recommend to anyone who loves a magical fantasy that’s easy to consume and keeps you engaged from the beginning!

I'm sorry I just couldn't get into this book. I liked a lot of the aspects on the story but felt there was too much focused on food. The cover is beautiful and I may still give the rest of the series a chance but it seemed too young for me.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and author for letting me read the DRC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

And to be honest, this book is not for me.

For it being heavily inspired by Harry Potter I don't really mind as i'm very interested in magical fantasy. The book also has unique concepts that intrigued me. However, it wasn't executed very well. The writing style was too flowery and a bit all over the place to my liking. The settings and environment were overly described, but the plot, characters, and concepts lacked in description/explanation. Hence, it was jumpy, full of 2D characters that i couldn't care about, made we wish there was a glossary, and it was a bit of a chore to read. It was all telling less showing.

I feel like the book is not exactly middle grade but not YA either. The word choices were a bit advanced for elementary kids, but the plot and writing style was lacking in depth for older kids to relate or stay interested.

This book has potential if only the writing is well thought out and balanced. I might be too old for middle grade books. But I believe that any age group can enjoy a middle grade book if it was written well.

This is the first book of a series so it’s really about introducing the world and revealing the main character’s purpose, so the exciting part started around the middle of the book.
The world building was great, the story was creative, the writer had pretty good original ideas, even though I can see the influence of the Harry Potter series in it.
I really liked the heroine, Ivy’s character, because she wasn’t that basic girl we usually get, she was badass and had a great personality.
Maybe I’ve read too many fantasies, but the secrets were predictable for me, and I already have my suspicions for the next book.
Overall I liked the book about average and I’m looking forward to read the next books.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and her publicist for giving me the opportunity to read Crowns of Croswald in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but unfortunately I did not. I had to DNF at 35%. While im not generally a bug fan of reading YA/childrens fantasy, the premise sounded good and I was intrigued.

In what I did read, I sensed a lot of inspiration from the Harry Potter world. Ivy is kept secret from the magical world to suppress her powers and keep her hidden. When she crosses the magical threshold hiding her, her location is immediately discovered and shes tsken to Croswald to begin her schooling and education in magic.

For me, I was incredibly confused. I feel it is very important, when world building and introducing new terms, creatures, etc., the author needs to do so in a way that the audience immediately understands what it is, what it looks like, etc. I did not grasp many things. The writing felt basic and disjointed, it seemed as though the story jumped around from character to character and place to place without explaining the trajectory.

I wanted to push on to read more, hoping it would get better. But I am a firm believer if your attention is not held early on in the book, it likely will not be captured further on. This is why I made the decision to stop. Perhaps for less advanced readers this would be more enjoyable, but I fear my experience in reading older, higher level fantasy contributed to my disappointment in this book.

I was given a copy by the publisher for an honest review.

I gave this book my best shot at at 64% I DNF, something I very rarely do. It had promise at the beginning as we learn about Ivy Lovely, but the book felt so jumpy. I could not get into the writing style and struggled to follow the coherency of the plot because it seemed to jump around so much. The characters were interesting and the concept of magic portrayed in this book was refreshing. Overall, I just wanted more explanation on topics. It felt like something would be mentioned and then *poof* onto the next bit. I really wanted to give this a shot and support this author, but I couldn’t make it through. I saw another review describe the plot line as “cluttered” and I could not agree more. It felt like too much was crammed into a book to make it longer with no real conversation around it. To end on a positive, there’s definitely a whimsical feel to this book I enjoyed.

The first book of this series follows the story of a young girl who is just discovering her true potential. I enjoyed the characters and story line. While some twists were predictable (it is directed towards middle-grade readers), I really had no idea how it would all come together. I was on the edge of my seat towards the end. I will definitely be continuing the series ASAP and I am sure I will fly through them!

This Middle-grade book is an absolutely magical addition to your fall TBR shelves.

Wasn't expecting to love this book as much as I did! Perfect, quick, and filled with magic. This book is perfect for fans of Harry Potter, but it has it's own special flare.

What a magical world that was created! If you are a fan of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, you need to check out this series. It is a world full of unfamiliar magical things, possibilities, and people. It does take a little bit to start placing all of the magical terms and items, but overall a great story. I can’t wait to read the next in the series!

Ivy was just a maid at a castle surrounded by a field that dampened magic. After one too many incidents, she left and was immediately surrounded by magic. Join Ivy as she explores magic shops, goes to a special school, and goes on adventures that tend to get her into trouble.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author and her publicist (who cold messaged me on Instagram) for the free ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I honestly can not say much. I was so confused by this style of writing from the very beginning. I couldn’t comprehend it at all. I was very excited to be offered a chance to read and review this middle grade fantasy story and was looking forward to the rest of the series, but when I picked it up, I really couldn’t get into it and by 13% I decided it would be best for me to put it down for good. I usually love this genre, but I felt that if I continued to read this knowing that I wasn’t personally enjoying it, I would be less drawn to children’s fantasy, which is unacceptable. I’m so sorry. I really wanted to love this book.

Format: eBook via NetGalley

Disclaimer: Thank you to Untold Stories publishing for approaching me & offering me a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As a whole, I enjoyed this book. It's a coming of age fantasy novel that's perfect for middle grade/younger readers but still an enjoyable read for all ages. This writing style is great, and D.E.Night really knows how to create a magic system and world that is both original and interesting.

Throughout, Ivy grows as a character through her confidence and is a really likable protagonist. It's fun to read as she leaves her mundane life of a scaldrony maid to go to this school of magic where we're introduced to a wide range of new characters.

I also really liked the character descriptions throughout, for example: "His workshop’s slanted shelves were as crooked as his goggles and full of his finds. Five hairie lanterns, mismatched like his ensemble".

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Stories Untold through NetGalley.

This was a quick read, with a coming-of-age magical trope where the main protagonist finds her powers awakened on her sixteenth birthday. With similarities to Harry Potter with the school of magic and untold events and mysteries of Croswald, fans of HP would probably like this and enjoy the world building.

While I liked this book, it’s not the level of fantasy I’d usually read. I think this would be best enjoyed by younger fantasy readers, those just getting into the genre and are looking for another captivating magical adventure.
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The Crown's of Croswald is a magical middle grade, with adventure, an interesting magical system and very cute magical creatures. I wish I could give this one a higher review but unfortunately I just couldn't get into it. I found the pacing during the first half of the story to be a bit slow and I kept losing interest in the story. However, the protagonist Ivy, was a very likable character and was developed well throughout the story which is what kept me coming back to it. The side characters Rebecca and Fun, were also very endearing and I enjoyed the relationship between them and Ivy.

Although I personally didn't gel with the writing style, finding a lack of description and depth, I think it's definitely worth a go to see if it would work for you. If you liked Harry Potter, this is kind of a similar vibe, so there's a good chance you'll love it!

This entire book brought me so much nostalgia as I know it's definitely something I would have picked up when I was in elementary/middle school. That being said, I still found this an enjoyable read. The main character, Ivy, gets accepted into Halls of Ivy to become a scrivenist among royals (basically, wizards among mudbloods lol). It follows her journey throughout; getting accepted into the school, the classes she takes, how she improves in her courses, and the trouble she gets into/causes. She goes on a long quest only to find out what she really is and where she comes from.

The plot was similar to Harry Potter, but I didn't really mind since it's a series I love. All the characters are likeable, except for Damaris, we don't talk about her lol.
When I first picked up this book I was unsure whether I would like it or not because it's not a genre I typically pick up anymore, but I'm certainly glad that I gave it a shot. It's not a 5 star read, but I do believe it's a solid 4 stars. Honestly, if I had children, this is definitely something I would encourage them to read.

The first few chapters of the book I will admit that I wasn't SUPER into, but towards the middle and end I was completely hooked. There were definitely things I didn't see coming, but there were others that were predictable. I guess you gotta have both for it to balance out, which was good.
I only got the first book in the series, but now I want to read the rest of it to find out what happens.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy :)