Crowns of Croswald is book one of a series. Protagonist Ivy Lovely is an orphaned maid living in a dull castle until she unexpectedly discovers that she has magical powers. As she embarks on her training to become a sorcerer and advisor to royalty, Ivy and her new friends find themselves at the center of a centuries old mystery.

Crowns of Croswald is a classical example of a coming of age story with Ivy discovering her magic and her family’s history throughout the course of the story. The atmosphere of the story is very whimsical and reminded me of the fairytales of my childhood. Having a dragon companion and the idea of using a quill to do magic definitely appealed to my inner bookworm. My one complaint was that at times the pace of the story was slower than I would have liked.

This is not a book I would typically gravitate towards but if you are a fan of the Chronicles of Narnia or the Percy Jackson series then I think you’ll enjoy this one.

I just love a middle grade book and know I would have absolutely devoured this book in middle school! This brings me back to my childhood while I read Harry Potter with my mom in our old recliner.

This book was full of imagination, whimsy, and a magic school which I am a total sucker for. I enjoyed Ivy's character and loved reading about her as she discovered her many talents. The world building was great and I loved learning about the magic system and Croswald overall.

This is a great book for a younger audience and I would absolutely recommend to anyone who enjoys a little magic in their life!

Thanks to the author and publisher for sending me an e-ARC copy of this book.

I gotta say that although I can see this world has the potential to grow, it just wasn't my cup of tea. There were plenty parts of the story where I got really bored and it made me struggle to go further. I would recommend my fantasy-lovers friends to give it a try still.

Thanks for the opportunity anyways. Wishing the author the best.

I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher Stories Untold in exchange for a honest review. I thank them for the opportunity to do so.

Now I have to be honest there was far too many similarities to Harry Potter in this book. The summary does say it’s aimed at people who liked Harry Potter. To name a few:

1. You have Ivy who grew up poor and orphaned not knowing she was magical
2. She was hidden so that nobody would know she lived until the time came
3. She buys all her school supplies from some weird little shops in town
4. At the school there are pictures that move
5. Ghosts in the dining room
6. A bully at school that hates her (for some reason)
7. Two best friends
8. Dark Queen who nobody has seen or likes to talk about
And many more.

The dialogue between characters felt forced. The plot had a lot going on with nothing making a lot of sense or being resolved until the ending.

Some good things:

1. The magical creatures were interesting
2. The book itself is very descriptive
I wish there was more that I could say that was good. I think if the book would have been more focused on the few things that were original it could have been a lot better.

Firstly, there are a few similarities to other magical worlds, but I definitely believe there can never be enough books that allow imaginations to run wild and magic to grow. This is middle-grade, but I did find some bits quite confusing with lots of characters and fast moving events. I also thought that Ivy didn't seem like she was 16, then again she has been sheltered from life in Castle Plum so maybe that is why. Perhaps I am more used to the UK school year system that meant I kept thinking of her around 11 or 12 years old rather than 16/17. That said, some of the imaginative scenes and quirks (I loved the idea of the hairies!) where really endearing and I am sure that many young readers will become emerged in Croswald and its mysteries.

I was very excited when I was asked to read and review this book! I found it to be compatible to a lot of magical books I read growing up for sure! It has a lot of neat magic systems and world building detail. If I picked this up in a book store when I was 10 or 11 I would have loved it for sure.

It’s compatible to Harry Potter or Howl’s Moving Castle. The plot is fun and the characters are witty and amusing. I really enjoyed reading it :)

3.5 stars for me!

Thanks to D.E Night for the opportunity to read this lovely book!

It wasn't easy to rate this book bc even if it was enjoyable I felt it was not for my age hahaha I'm 30yo! Anyways it was quite a adventure with Ivy (the main character), as I see everyone says, this book reminds a lot Harry Potter series and I have to agree.

I love the magical creatures in this book, the main character has this lovely mini dragon that goes with her to the school its called the Halls of Ivy, she is destinated to become a scrivenist, a book packed full o magic and spell and adventures!

I highly recommend if you love fantasy middle grade books!

“Helga was as unfortunate looking as a scaldron’s back end. Perhaps her horrid personality had seeped out and shaped her appearance.”

I was approached to review this book honestly, and so here are some thoughts. The story follows a young girl, Ivy Lovely, who finds herself with magic as soon as she crosses the magical boundary. There are A LOT of comparisons to Harry Potter. Sensible given it’s a coming-of-age story set in a fantastical world. I love that aspect of it, and what the author does really well throughout is to build a really special world with really cool magical tricks up its sleeve. The plot isn’t bad either, but where the book does stumble a bit, is in character development, pace and dialogue. Ivy doesn’t feel real at times and I think fleshing her out a little more would’ve made a big difference. So some parts could've done with a little bit of polish, but if you look past that, The Crowns of Croswald is an easy, whimsical read. 

Read if you like magic, whimsy and some downright goofy (but very fun) imagery.

The first thing I thought going in to this book is how heavily influenced it is by Harry Potter. This is a delightful YA fantasy story involving a young lady with magical abilities and a magic school where she finds herself belonging.

I got the opportunity to read this book thrue netgalley in exchange for an honest rewiev.

Are you a Harry Potter fan? Then this book is totally for you. Though it has alot of recemblance to Harry Potter there are loads of things that are quite unique to this story.

I have to say it's part HP and some Alice in the wonderland and little of sleeping beauty, (mostly the evil queen 👑 part) mash into this amazing bok of adventure and magic.

I just loved this. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
The characters the world building, the atmosphere, the magic. And the main character Ivy was so likeable.
I was pulled into this so fast I read halv the book in one setting. 😂🙈

I will definitely read the other books in this serie. I can truly recommend reading this and disaper in a wonderful magical world and go on an adventure full of wonder.

I absolutely loved this book! It has been awhile since I have read a middle grade book but after starting this, my worries of whether or not I'd enjoy it disappeared. This book is perfect for fans of Harry Potter as it takes the magic and adventure we all love from these books and builds on it, giving us a whimsical world I enjoyed way more!
The world building of this book was absolutely fantastic. From the scaldragons to the hairies, the creatures were innovative takes on classics and helped add even more magic to the books! D.E Night's character building allows you to fall in love with the characters easily and keep wanting more!
Overall, this book was a great middle grade and a nice read if you want to dive into a new, whimsical world!

I received this e-book free from the publishers, Stories Untold, and NetGalley and I would like to start by saying that a 32 year old woman is not the target audience for this book and that is the only reason why I am rating it higher than 2 starts. Because if I read this when I was younger, I may have loved it.

What I would have loved about it is the strong, independent, relatable main character who is thrown into a school of magic without any knowledge really of what is in store for her. And yet she thrives. A Harry Potter like story with a female lead, I would have been all over it.

But as a 32 year old woman with an English literature degree, not so much. The writing was severely lacking with major run on sentences full of useless information and immature, stiff jargon. I just could not see past this authors writing style to be able to get into the story. And while some aspects were over explained, the world building and character development was still lacking.

If you have a child between 10-15 this would be great for them. But as an adult, it leaves a lot to be desired.

I looked forward to reading The Crowns of Croswald and diving into this magical world.

Here are some things I loved:
- Ivy is a fun main character, I enjoyed her journey of discovering her identity
- The magical creatures were so much fun. I especially love the shorehorse!
= I loved the interactions with Fyn, he is by far my favorite character.

Things I didn't like as much:
-The whole first half of the book felt WAY too close to another beloved series. A young person, clueless about what they really are. A magical school. A village with magical shops. Etc.
-Many parts were confusing, and I really had to force myself to keep reading. I would say that I didn't start enjoying the story until 3/4 of the way through.
- The characters were good, but not flushed out enough to get me really attached to their stories.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves magical worlds and groups of friends who have magical adventures.

Thank you to NetGalley, Stories Untold, and D.E. Night for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

More like 3.5 but I don't feel like rounding up to 4, sorry.
Well, I requested this as the cover is just GORGEOUS! I guess I get drawn to covers that are blue/purple with some flashing light, dunno why.
The idea and premise were nice, but I'm not sure about the plot really.
It was quite messy, at times it went too slow, but most of the time it was way too fast-paced, and a lot of things were rushed, which wasn't very nice for a fantasy series, as I couldn't keep up, or I was way too forward in the whole 'finding her family and true self out' journey, whatever it's called.
Anyway, here is the plot. It's about this orphan girl Ivy who works as a scullery maid in this boring castle and she loves to sketch and drams to become a scrivenerist. But then this brat lady tells her to go away, and she does with her small dragon friend (which interestingly isn't even mentioned much later on, like it's not part of the adventure or anything, it's like a pet who is just there) and then they get into this magical school for royals and future scrivenerists called Hall of Ivy which is an old castle where once upon a time some royals lived. And then it kinda feels a lot like Harry Potter except that it's not that detailed in the description and how classes work etc. They're just touched briefly because the author probably thought it would be too long or boring. And hey, it's weird that this is the first time I wished a fantasy book went more detailed. And her friendship with Rebecca was kinda nice, but Ivy and Finn just felt weird. Also, this book is written very much like a Middle Grade one, but the ages of the characters are 16 and up (Finn is 18) but they don't even sound like that, it's weird. I mostly complain about teens sounding like adults and now it's the exact opposite issue, wow, I'm a brat am I?!
Anyways back to the plot, so Ivy has to fit in into this new world, but somehow she seems to be the weirdest one and all kinds of things happen only to her, she also gets in trouble a lot. SO she wants to find out the truth as she feels that people are for sure keeping secrets from her. There's also a villain who's the Dark Queen who nobody has seen as she stays hidden, and no one knows what to think about her.
That's pretty much all I can say without spoilers, but it wasn't a bad book. It just didn't work with me much. The setting was cozy, but I guess the writing style didn't work, I don't know. Some things were pretty obvious but Ivy was kinda slow to get them. She didn't really have much of a personality which is a problem for me. But I believe the series keeps itself together better, but I'm not sure I wanna continue, not yet, at least. I wanna take a break and finish those other ARCs which are expiring first..

Wonderful middle grade book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and seeing the transformation of Ivy was wonderful.

Thanks to NetGalley and DE Night for the gifted copy of The Crowns of Croswold.

My girls adored this book. With a real Harry Potter vibe but with a feminine lead, this book is packed full of magic, spells and a dark queen - we fell in love with Ivy - a girl who has been locked away for 16 years only to discover she has magical powers. Heading off to the Halls of Ivy (a magic school), Ivy has to learn how to use her powers without drawing the attention of the dark queen.

The girls now desperately want to read the next!

I received this book as an ebook from the publisher (stories untold) in exchange for an honest review. I would rate this around 3.75 if goodreads allowed decimal points. I found it hard to get into although that might be due to it being an ebook rather than the story writing in itself. However, once started, the story was so magical, thrilling, humorous, it carried me effortlessly til near the end. The bit just before the ending seems a little convoluted, maybe due to the excitement of me trying to finish it before nursery run, I had to tell myself to slow down and really read it to “untangle” it.

I also found certain bits familiar although not the same as the writing of Harry Potters series. I can see that it is published in 2017, I would say it is probably inspired by the magical world. It has been a long time since I last read anything fantasy, I wouldn’t find the familiarity off putting as it is bound to happen, just like within romance/ chic lit/ crime novels.

However, I suspect the much younger version of me (which is the target reader of this book) would totally enjoy it because the adult me is looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.

Thank you @author.denight and @storiesuntoldpress for this digital review copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. The world building was lovely and I felt like the use of many magical objects really added to the story without getting confusing.

It did give some Harry Potter vibes, which I enjoyed because who doesn’t love HP?! Ivy’s character was whimsical and adventurous and easy to become connected to.

I felt that the writing was perfect for the intended Middle School audience. It was exactly like the fantasy books I enjoyed reading at the age. Overall, lovely read ♥️

This would be such a great read for a Harry Potter fan! I found the world intriguing and full of interesting characters and creatures. It was fast paced, but easy enough to keep straight.

The Crowns of Croswald follows the story of Ivy Lovely, a 16 year old who gets thrust into a world of magic after learning who she really is. This is a charming sort of coming of age story about Ivy finding her power, and her place in her new world,
This is a fast paced book which I like when it comes to fantasy, however the world building left a lot to the imagination. I felt a bit detached from the fantasy world and more into the characters. Ivy and her group of friends are really great to get to know throughout the book, and following Ivys journey as she discovers her powers and place in her new world is really fun.
There were a lot of parallels to Harry Potter, some of which were very close parallels, however I don't feel that any of that took away from the story. What I like the most about this book is that even though it's marketed as middle grade I feel like people of all ages that enjoy fantasy will enjoy this book. It's very charming! I have 2 kids that will really enjoy this book, and I'm very excited to share it with them!

Thank you stories untold press and Netgalley for my copy of this book!