Thanks to the publisher and author for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

Just wow!!! I was given the opportunity to read this amazing book and I have to say, I'm blown away! Not only did I love it, I had to order the next book cuz I want to read more. Very well written and the way it flows its just amazing.
"Let's start with the basics. You, Ivy Lovely, are magic."

This world is so magical it made me feels like Harry Potter vibes honestly. I definitely recommend it, and specially for kids! It's just so perfect.

This is the first book in a four part series that follows the story of Ivy Lovely. A sixteen year old that is thrown into a world of magic, where she not only needs to get to grips with her powers to pass her classes, but also had to fight to keep her freedom from the Dark Queen.

I was approached by the publicity team to take a look at D E Night's work. Initially, I was sceptical of reading this book. Being someone who grew up dreaming of receiving my Hogwarts letter, it’s hard not to draw comparisons when reading within any magical school setting.

However, I really enjoyed this book. The writing was so incredibly descriptive that it was very easy to imagine all the magical and mythical elements of the story.

Even though this is classed as a middle grade book, as a 32 year old I was hooked on the story and read most of the book in one sitting. I will certainly be reading the rest of the series to find out how Ivy’s story ends.

If you're a fan of fairy tales and Harry Potter, then this one is for you.

We have a 16 year old girl who suddenly finds out she has magic (and a mysterious heritage), a boarding school for magic, blooming friendships, a dark queen and a whole lot of questions. Of course, it wouldn't be much fun unless our heroine was also both inquisitive and a little bit of a trouble maker.

The world building was delightful - it took very little time to fall into the world of magic Night was creating. At first, I felt like there were too many questions but as the story evolved, tidbits were released. I would have liked to see a little bit more character development, especially a few of the secondary characters, and a little more depth to some of the friendships BUT there are three more books so I think there's room for it to develop.

Year one of our heroine's magical education is complete. She knows a little bit more of who she is. She has some faithful friends (aka sidekicks). Looking forward to the next one.

Audience:: For the middle grade reader.

Thank you to Net Galley and Untold Press for my e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this fun, fantastical story! This one started off a little slow for me, and I worried that it was a little too similar to Harry Potter. As an avid, HP fan, I was making a lot of comparisons. Eventually, the story picked up, and I began to enjoy the unique, magical elements of this story. I was impressed by some of the witty details and connections woven throughout. I was hooked by the end and found the twists and turns fun and exciting. I am curious to know what happens next on Ivy’s journey and will probably have to find out!

This book will likely be added to my classroom library, and I would recommend it to kiddos who are a little young for Harry Potter or kids who have finished Harry and are looking for something similar. The fact that it’s a series is a plus for young readers (especially the ones I know)!

My initial thoughts of this book was that it was going to be an adaption of Harry Potter as they share many of the same elements. Once I got a couple chapters in, I realized that this book was something entirely it’s own.

This book follows Ivy Lovey, a young girl from the slurry, as she is invited to study at The Hall of Ivy - the school for all young princesses and scrivenists to learn their trade. During Ivy’s first year she makes new friends (and enemies) and, most importantly, learns that she is not who believed she was.

This story was truly such a comfort read for me. As much as I enjoyed this book as a college student, I know this would have been an absolute favorite of mine had I read it whilst in middle school. While yes this book did remind me of Harry Potter, there was something else about this book that felt tremendously nostalgic for me; like coming home in a sense.

This book is categorized as middle grade but I would recommend this one for anyone who enjoys a whimsical fantasy world to escape to for a while!

I had the publisher, Stories Untold Press, reach out to me via Instagram on behalf of the author, D.E. Night. They asked if I would be willing to read and review this book, and after reading the synopsis, I happily agreed.

I found this book reminiscent of Harry Potter, Sorcery of Thorns, and any story that has royal and academia vibes. It had heavy thematic elements, including creating a large and comprehensive magical world, complete with new creatures, magical tools and unique lore.

I found the writing to flow easily, for the most part. The way the author describes the atmosphere, environment or the physical representation of characters and situations provoked my internal-mind to conjure up exciting images. I did find that some scenes that included a lot of action sometimes became hard to follow. Some parts of the story jumped around a bit and I found myself re-orienting from time to time.

I will say the similarities to Harry Potter were uncanny, particularly the "chosen one" trope, the trio of friends in a magical school, the classes and tricks, the magicked portraits and even the eerie parallels of the side of evil: the Dark Lord and his death eaters mirrored by the Dark Queen and her Cloaked Brood. However, that being said, there were pieces that set it apart from these common themes that give this story the potential of becoming wholly original.

I really enjoyed the ample pieces of foreshadowing and connections. Things like the Halls of Ivy, and their ultimate link to the titular role. The play on words with D.E. Night (the author) and the ever-elusive scrivenist, Derwin Edgar Night. Also, the visualization of the after life for scrivenists is something notable: their souls essence entering a tome to be held in a limitless library.

As I expected in a middle-grade novel, romance wasn't the forefront - and that's okay! I truly believe stories that focus on friends and self-discovery are so important for young minds to devour. The story touches on friendships and companionships between Ivy and others, including Fyn, Rebecca and the incidental character of Humphrey, the scaldron she saved. I would've loved to see further development into these friendships, as well as expanding on the actual school setting, as the story jumped from her bedroom, the classroom and the library without much transition between.

I would've loved to dig deeper into the lore - to understand how the crown stones worked and how the royals and scrivenists worked together. I'm a bit of a history nerd, and this doesn't stop at fictional worlds. Give me ALL the worldbuilding and you would create a perfectly content bookworm. Maybe this is something we'll see in the next few books in this series?

All that being said, I am truly interested to see where the rest of Ivy's story goes. The end of this book set the scene for an epic quest of discovery, investigation and piecing together the past!

Ivy Lovely is a young girl destined for magic after being thrown out of her kitchen duties she embarks on a journey of finding herself. This is a middle grade book so I personally found it hard to get into. I would love to read it to my daughter one day, though. The world building is pretty and the descriptions of creatures really peaked my imagination. I wouldn’t recommend this to adults but would to a younger crowd.

The Crowns of Crowswald by D.E. Night is an enjoyable, magical middle-grade romp. Our main character of Ivy is full of curiosity and an unknown past. We begin our story with Ivy being kicked out of the only place she’s ever known and stepping into a magical world. I always enjoy a magical school setting and this one was just unique enough to make it special. That and the magic system made this a very whimsical read. At times the plot was a little clunky but it smoothed out by the end. I expect the second book will be just as enjoyable and I can’t wait to read it to find out more about Ivy!

Thank you to Untold Stories Publishing for offering me a free copy of this’d work in exchange for an honest review (via NetGalley).

4 stars.

Summary:
Ivy is 16 years old and has no idea of her magical powers. She’s grown up as maid without any family. When she is fired and kicked out -she begins school at a magic boarding school. Ivy gets into all sorts of adventure and trouble as she discovers who she is. There’s so many mysteries and secrets at Croswald that Ivy is itching to explore. But as Ivy grows closer to discovering her heritage, she also discovers that there’s a Dark Queen in power ready to destroy everything Ivy has grown to love.


Review:
This was a middle grade fantasy which is a tad out of my bubble but I was instantly sucked into the story.
While reading it- I thought to myself how it felt like a combination of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, and Harry Potter. There were a few action scenes that I was confused, trying to understand what was happening. But overall- a really good read.
I loved Ivy’s adventurous spirit. This felt very coming-of-age, and as this is a series, I can see there’s still so much to be explained and explored. I honestly see myself reading the remaining books in the series because I want to know what happens with Ivy, Fyn, and Rebecca. If you love magic and fantasy and adventure- I definitely think you would enjoy this book. As a kid- I know I would have loved this one.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for this ARC.

I heard about this book from a friend and she could not have sung its praises any higher so I just had to read it for myself!
The story reminded me of Harry Potter which I have also really enjoyed so it was easy to get into. The magical elements were very creative and the way the author described it all made it easy to picture everything as if I was there.
I love this type of story and am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Very reminiscent of Harry Potter. I must admit I almost DNF’d this because the plot was very confusing and I couldn’t follow it for the life of me. But once we reach the Hollow Shaft scene, things really pick up and get interesting. I loved the magical elements in this and the world created (after Hollow Shaft) and wish things got more exciting sooner in this.

Rating 3/5

A magical school with a magical adventures. Wonderful characters and a well written story. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it for anyone that likes fantasy.

The Crowns of Croswald follows Ivy Lovely as she ventures outside her small world of kitchen work and into the Halls of Ivy. Who is Ivy and what makes her so important that she’s attracted the attention of the Dark Queen?

Armed with a porcupine allergic to ink and a kitchen dragon (scauldron), Ivy finds herself facing a mysterious and magical world where she herself possesses powers she never knew of.

Other reviewers have made the connection to Harry Potter and I definitely see it! I do feel that this book fell a little into the same trap HP did with ugly=bad. This isn’t something that was very overt in this book, but I first noted it with the character Helga.

As someone who has worked with animals, I also tend to dislike when animals (magical or not) are used as tools to the point of it being mistreatment. This is common, I think, in middle grade books. What is more magical than a dragon that cooks your meals? I’m probably being sensitive to this due to my background in animal welfare.

What I think this book got right was a sense of whimsy that is fun for younger readers (my kid called it ‘wild!’) and an adventure full of possibilities. The magic system is very reminiscent of Harry Potter, but with its own touch that sets it apart.

Still, you’ll find bottles that remind you of a pensive, quills, and interesting magical creatures!

Ivy is a kind hearted character with a bit of a backbone and the ability to roll with the punches and keep going. She’s curious and brave with a thirst for knowledge that catapults her through the story as she solves the mystery of who she really is.

However, I do feel that the plot needed some separation from Harry Potter as it felt so heavily influenced. The world building is great, but you may feel as though you’ve read this plot before.

I think that would mostly matter to adults reading this though. My daughter has not read Harry Potter and therefore obviously didn’t make any connections. She found the book to be a lot of fun and enjoyed all the different creatures in the book.

My kiddo and I discussed it and we are going with a 3.5 star rounded up to 4! We received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

It is super obvious that this book was inspired by HP, which isn’t an issue, but it has some very noticeable similarities.

The world building here is fun and really easy to picture whilst reading and the magic system is unique and intriguing.

This book definitely reads middle grade, which doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the story, but it isn’t usually the type of book I read.

Parts of the story dragged a little bit for me, but overall I did enjoy the plot.

The Crowns of Croswald is the first in a four book Middle Grade/YA fantasy series. Overall, I really enjoyed the story and the magical elements of the book! There were so many unique and interesting magical creatures, and I love the concept of a written/drawn magic system.
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One of the pieces that missed the mark a little bit for me was in the pacing. It felt a little too fast paced throughout and there were areas that I felt could have been fleshed out/slowed down a little. Some side characters felt rather one dimensional, and a few of the mini conflicts felt rushed/easily resolved.
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Overall, the story did keep me interested and wanting to read more! I’ve heard that the series only gets better as it goes on, so I am looking forward to reading the next one :)

Thank you very much to D.E Night, Stories Untold and Netgalley for providing me with a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, I made the choice to DNF this book at the 31% mark.

This book is about 16 year old orphan Ivy, who discovers her magical family and powers, and is invited to attend the ‘Halls of Ivy’ magical school.

At the start of the book, we are thrown into an extremely complicated magical world, however, the book’s world building in the book was far too vague and over-complex, meaning I was left very confused throughout most of the book. This was not helped by the overly simplistic writing.

I found Ivy’s character very bland with no discernible traits, which meant I found it impossible to root for her. Her dialogue felt unnatural, and she spoke and acted more like a 12 year old than a 16 year old - throughout reading the book, I was surprised at reminders of how she was my age! Since this was a middle grade book, it was probably more suitable to have the protagonist be roughly the same age as the target audience (the general rule of thumb for middle-grade, YA and NA books). I speculate that Izy was made 16 to avoid too many comparisons to Harry Potter.

As a writer and artist myself, I understand that all pieces of art are in some way or another inspired by others, which is perfectly fine. However, the inspiration this book draws from the Harry Potter universe does show very heavily in this book, so bare that in mind before reading. I think this book is a definite example of how Harry Potter influenced the middle-grade fiction scene - whether the influence was ultimately for better or for worse is debatable.

Some of the plot points and twists were very spoon-feed - although this book is aimed at youngish audiences, I think a lot of middle grade books don’t give their audience enough credit, and the plot is told in unnatural explanation dialogue, rather than shown in the story.

Although this book is written in 3rd person, scattered throughout the book are random, unnecessary and harmful comments negative comments about how people’s bodies look, including a ‘comedic’ line about how one character’s face was as “unfortunate looking as a [dragon’s] back end” because it was full of scars. These horrible and negative views aren’t the sort of views we want to teach children. Scars are not ever something to be ashamed of. I have a lot because of my physical disability, and that’s fine!!! They are my battle scars.

If this line as a one-off occurrence, I would have been happier to overlook it as an error in wording, but it is accompanied by a range of overtly fatphobic comments, disguised as ‘comedy’. I’ll include some hear, as I cannot describe them myself. “Helga was the type who considered eating the best sort of bodybuilding.”

To conclude, I had to DNF this book for a variety of reasons. I mean no disrespect towards the author or publisher, these are criticisms combined with my personal taste in books.

Just finished this middle grade book by D. E. Night called The Crowns of Croswald. I was really excited to read this book when the author’s team reached out to me to read and review this first book in the series. I have middle schoolers and older elementary kiddos so I am always open to new books they may love.

This book is about Ivy Lovely who was found as an orphan and raised as a scaldrony maid. But when she comes of age and crosses out of the Slurry she discovers a world she didn’t know existed. Full of magic and awe Ivy attends a magical school, making friends, learning about the Queen, her past, and abilities she didn’t know she possessed.

Unfortunately, this book was not a good match for me. I was excited to read this book, though I felt it was too similar to another well known magical series turned movies. The similarities at times were too much for my liking. Additionally, I felt that there were some inconsistencies that were bothersome while reading.

The parts of the story that were original in nature were magical and fun! The creatures that were in the story were described well and were unique in nature. The main characters Ivy, Fyn, and Rebecca were a great dynamic as well!

I am rating this book 2.5 ⭐️s.

The story does give off those Harry Potter vibes. . My favorite part is the little dragon creature. Not to give away any spoilers. I read the second book recently and realized I never made a review on the first one. The world building is my favorite and just the imagery of the scenes with the ship really capture my imagination.
I love that the story does focus on the friendship between the main character and her friend Rebecca.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review* Let me start by saying the cover art is beautiful and gives a peek in to the world between the pages. The Crowns of Croswald is the first book in a four-part middle grade fantasy series. Book 4 looks to be released soon. It follows the journey of 16-year-old scullery maid, Ivy, who unbeknownst to her, has been hidden in a castle behind a magical boundary which suppresses magic. A boundary which has kept her past and her destiny a secret. When Ivy breaks free of the castle, a magical world awaits for her on the other side. The story is fast-paced, delightful and imaginative. Some reviews have said it is a cross between Harry Potter, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland. The imagery the author creates in this world is vivid and enchanting. It does not end on a cliff hanger but does leave you excited to see what happens next. Even though the MC is 15-16, it is definitely geared towards middle schools readers, not high school or YA. This review was written with the intended middle school demographic in mind.

The Crowns of Croswald was a magical, whimsical tale that made me nostalgic for the types of books I read as a child. I felt the reminiscent feelings of the Tamora Pierce and Deltora Quest vibes that capivated me in my youth, coupled with more sophisticated writing that helped me to feel like this was a book worthy of my current age.

I would love to continue this series, it has left a few things hanging open which I would love to read more on!

I received a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.