Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book!

The Crowns of Croswald tells the story of seemingly ordinary Ivy Lovely in the magical world of Croswald. Ivy is like any other child by getting in trouble with her friends, but still knowing who she is and going for what she wants. Plus here relationship with Rebecca and Fyi are adorable and had me laughing at some of their moments together. I really liked the world building in this book. The author does a great job describing the world, that it felt like I was really there. I loved all the little creatures that were featured in this book.
However this book fell flat for me with its ending. While I do love a good masquerade ball, I felt that the reveal was a little forced and there did not seem like there was much that lead up to it.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty good book. While originally I rated it a 3/5 ⭐️ I considered it from the perspective a middle schooler, the intended audience and gave it 4/5 ⭐️. I think this is a good starter for a magical series that any fantasy-loving middle school aged kid would enjoy.

I was asked by the publisher to read this book and give an honest review.

When I first heard about this book I was a little worried since it's a middle grade book which isn't something I typically read, but I was really impressed with it. The world of Croswald is such a magical one, filled with all manners of creatures. It really reminded me of some of the books I used to read when I was younger, which made it all the more enjoyable.

Ivy is such a sweet adventurous character and it was so wonderful to watch how she developed her power and relationships at her school. It was a little hard to get through at times but it was manageable and worth it. Overall, I'm so happy I was given the opportunity to read this lighthearted and magical book.

A fun, magical fantasy book for middle grade readers - caveat being that sometimes the magical systems got quite complex at times so suggest it for slightly advanced/older children.

It reminded me a lot of Harry Potter in it's whimsical, magical world and school.

Lovely escapism.

I got a little under 20% into this book before deciding not to finish it, after that I tried picking it up again multiple times but was unable to get any further in the story. While fantasy is probably my all time favorite genre, and I've read books ranging in complexity levels from urban fantasy to high fantasy, I found this book to be quite confusing. There is usually somewhat of a grace period of the beginning of the book where the reader may be confused and lost while getting oriented to the new characters and world building, but especially considering the age group this book is for, I found that it threw to much at you in the very beginning, overwhelming the reader. I was hoping this book would suck me into a brand new world, but instead it was more as if I was on the outside looking in. All this being said, I am giving this book a 3/5 stars (I will not be posting this review anywhere but NetGalley) simply because I did not like what I did read, but cannot give it a fully negative rating because it could have gotten better in later parts of the novel. This book was simply not for me.

What a magical world building! This kind of books reminds me of why I fell in love with reading fantasy novels🤗

Ivy Lovely is a sixteen year old girl living in a mundane world all her life. Going to Halls of Ivy, a boarding school where royals and future scrivenist master their powers has always been Ivy's dream. But, when she crossed the border to a magical land she received an invitation to the school, she eventually realize she wasn't the ordinary girl she thought she was. Ivy started to have her own adventure she dreams of having as she tried to uncover the truth about her hidden powers in order to save herself from the Dark Queen's threat that threaten the safety of Croswald.

The story was magical and there's a lot of elements that makes this a good fantasy story. There's magical creatures, unique magical power for each student, magical boarding school, hidden identity and "chosen ones" trope actually makes this pretty much similar to the plot and the world building in the Harry Potter series.
Honestly, the world building is unique and interesting, but at the same time the world could get a bit confusing at times and I wish there are a map to help envision this universe better.

Other than that, the plot is good because I keep wanting to read Ivy's adventure in Halls of Ivy and learning the truth about her past and her hidden powers. The story is pretty well written and the pacing is a bit slow at first but it eventually get better as the story progress.

Overall, this is a really good start of a series. A good introduction for the characters, world building and the magical creatures inside. I really wish I had the next book with me to continue reading the rest of the series!
Enjoyable, entertaining and recommended for young readers or a harry potter fan who love venturing on a magical land filled with unique powers and magical creatures!

Thanks to netgalley, D.E. Night and Stories Untold Press for the review copy in return for an honest review.

I am not even sure where to begin with my review for this book. I absolutely loved the story, the characters and the world in which it was written. I am so happy that I decided to read this book when I did with the start of school and fall right around the corner.

When I first started reading this book Harry Potter came to mind. The idea of the poor unwanted character who gets selected for a magical school without even realizing that they had magic within them. I also thought about the book Nevermoor The Trials of Morrigan Crow because of the journey that took place while discovering ones true identity. I have to make it clear though that while those two series came to mind I found this book to be completely its own story. The characters, creatures, magic and world were very different.

The journey through Ivy's story was one I very much enjoyed. It is full of adventure, mystery, magic, curses, friendship. and ultimately discovering who you are. I loved meeting the characters she encountered both human and magical. I loved her eagerness to not give up when she knew there was more to something than just what she was being told. Her eagerness to solve these mysteries often led to some interesting situations that Ivy and her friends found themselves in. I appreciated that each new mystery gave you just a little bit more knowledge but still left you guessing about what was to come. I would definitely recommend this book to kids and adults alike. I think that there is something for everyone to enjoy in this story including the cover because it is absolutely beautiful. I am very eager to carry on in this series especially since this book ended in what I would describe as a cliff hanger. I have to know what happens next.

I want to thank D.E. Night and Netgalley for gifting me this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions that I have written above are entirely my own.

3.5/5✨

A delightful and magical read. This book gave me major Harry Potter vibes in the beginning. The school plotline is very similar. But, ofcourse, there is major difference in the main plotline and the world building from Harry Potter.

I really liked the world building in this book. The world of Croswald contains all kinds of whimsical things to keep the reader engaged. I loved all the different and unique places like the slurry fields, the town, the forgotten room, etc. I also loved the magical creatures like the scaldrons, hairies, shorehorses, etc. The world building is definitely the best part of this book.

Coming to the characters, I liked Ivy and Rebecca but aside from these two I felt that the other characters were not explored properly. It definitely needs improvement in characterization.

To conclude, it is an engaging and adventurous fantasy and I am definitely looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

Wow. What a magical read! The story follows Ivy who has been invited to a seemingly elite school called The Halls for scrivener schooling alongside royals like her roommate Rebecca. The two, alongside other lovable characters, navigate their first year of studies and adventures, forgotten and not, amid mysterious events that culminate in startling revelations about Ivy’s heritage and future. Vivid descriptions and magical storytelling sketched this story before my eyes - I really enjoyed it and will definitely add Ivy’s other adventures to my TBR list!

I received a free eARC of this title from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I found this book to be a nice little read. The idea was a cool twist on magical schools and worlds where magic is utilized. I think I echo some of the other reviews by saying this is a lot like Harry Potter in the sense that students learn magic and get quills, but it differs with the aspect of royalty and crowns holding power. The magic itself, though, confused me a bit. I could not tell if Scrivenists could perform magic at will or if that was just the main character Ivy.
I also found the pace of the book to be a little too quick. Where some books tend to go on and on about the world and how magic works, this book glances over it, only touching on items important to the story like Glanageries. I would have liked to know more about classes and how magic actually works. It kept jumping between being able to draw quickly and accurately but then also something to do with a quill that aids in magic. I feel like there was just more to the world than we were given.

I would have also liked to see the characters relationships actually develop. It seemed like they just got together and that was that. On some level, I like books that leave some things out, however, this book felt like it left out what drew the three main characters together. It just felt like they magically all became friends and had inside jokes without any context.

With all that being said, this was a decent book. I would recommend this for a middle grade level reader who likes books like Harry Potter or the Bartimaeus Trilogy.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Crowns of Croswald is a middle grade fantasy that follows Ivy, a lowly teenage girl who discovers that she has been accepted to a school to study magic. The world that D.E.Night has created in this book is fun, quirky, and definitely magical.

While the premise holds many similarities to other magic boarding school stories (Harry Potter), the challenges that Ivy faces are unique to her and her world.

I found these things to be hard to look past while reading this book:

D.E.Night uses a wide vocabulary of made up words to describe people, places and objects, but I personally struggled to picture or imagine these things based off the authors descriptions.

My biggest issue with this book was one small sentence that I couldn’t forget about through my entire read.

In chapter 5:
‘She lived above and to the right of Mr. Munsons shop. However, her size would suggest she lived beside the town baker instead.’

Given that this book is intended for a middle grade audience, I felt that comments like this from the narrator were completely unnecessary and hurtful. I wouldn’t have had an issue with this sentence if it came from a character to make me like or dislike said character or to aid in describing their personality, but since it didn’t, I couldn’t find the point in including it at all.

I really enjoyed all the magic and adventure in this book and was gripped by the characters. Although I enjoyed the storyline, the audience of the book was slightly older than I expected, with some quite challenging vocabulary for kids.

This is the first of a four-part series that will carry readers to a whimsical world they won't want to leave.

This is story about a girl Ivy Lovely, who's all magic but she has no idea about who she is exactly, where she belongs or what her powers could be. She's sixteen lived an ordinary life as a scaldrony maid at a castle. She's still brave and curious about the outer world she never knew existed. She has a friend Rimbrick who looked after her supported her. Ivy always dreamt something unusual, later on she'll get to know what that dream is about.

One day she crosses a boundary and encountered a whole new world full of enchantment, magic, mystery, mythical creatures and dark magic.

The friendship between Ivy, Rebecca and Fyn reminds me of the trio from Harry Potter's Harry, Hermione and Ron which is adorable.
You'll get to know about Dark Queen, Winsom and most importantly about Derwin Edger Night.

There are few laugh out louds here & there, few tear jerking situations, few romantic moments and few dramatic actions. This book is a combination of everything fantasy! I loved it mostly how the author slowly developed all the characters.

Though the start was bit slower but after reading three chapters I find this book addictive, that much that I couldn't put it down. Every chapter left me craving for more. The more I was reading the more interesting it was getting. It almost felt like I'm living the characters' lives and I'm in some magical world myself. Definitely adventurous.

Overall, I loved this book and continued reading second book from the series. It's a first fantasy middle grade book series been compared to JK Rowling's Harry Potter.
So, if you liked Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Keeper of the Lost Cities, Narnia then you'll definitely gonna love this book too.

Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Thank you @NetGalley and mostly @daniellastoriesuntoldpress for both reaching out to me and for the #arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Crowns of Croswald - Review
⭐⭐⭐/5
“You, Ivy Lovely, are magic”.
NOTE: I was approached by this books’ publisher (@storiesuntoldpress) and gifted a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to @storiesuntoldpress @author.denight and @netgalley for the free copy.
.
QUICK LOOK: Middle Grade Fantasy, Female Lead, School of Magic, Fantastical Creatures, Potions, Adventure
NOTE: This is advertised as a middle grade fantasy. I thought most of the subjects/topics were middle grade appropriate, but the writing level and storyline might be a bit hard for a middle grade child to follow.
.
SYNOPSIS: Sixteen year old Ivy Lovely has grown up as a servant in the most unextraordinary castle. She knows there is magic in the world, but there is none to be found near her. When Ivy is turned out of her home and begins to run, she crosses a magical border and everything changes. Magic is everywhere.
.
Ivy soon receives an invitation to study at the Halls of Ivy, school of magic. Upon accepting, mysterious occurrences and so many questions begin to fill Ivy’s life.
.
WHY 3/5: There were fun potions and creatures, quirky teachers, and kind mentors. Ivy was a likeable character and I found myself rooting for her. Ivy and her friends share in some great adventures.
.
There were two main reasons for giving this book 3 stars:
1) I found myself very distracted throughout this book by how similar the story felt to Harry Potter. An orphan who is invited to attend a school of magic. A quirky shopping trip to find magical supplies and books for school. A lead character whose curiosity leads to breaking rules and finding adventure. A school bully. The chosen one. I wanted more of this story to stand out as different, but I just kept thinking about how similar it was. 2) This book felt a bit cluttered with side stories and info dropping. There were so many things mentioned, bits of information dropped, side stories, little adventures, etc. that did not at all feel linear. It became confusing and distracting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you so much to Stories Untold Press for sending me an e-copy of the book in exchange for a read and honest review.

First off, if you're into Harry Potter and/or Cinderella, then this is the story for you. The Crowns of Croswald narrates the journey of 16-year-old Ivy Lovely as she goes from a girl working as a maid in a mundane world to a scrivenist in training in a magical world protected by an enchanted border. It's a fantasy of fairy tales, magical worlds, and coming-of-age stories.

This is the first book in a trilogy and I personally really enjoyed the plot's trajectory. It was a pretty easy read (I'd say middle-grade fantasy) for me and also felt really nostalgic. Since this is the first book in a trilogy, expect it to be a lot of world-building as we're introduced to new characters, places, and concepts. So, with that said, it can seem a bit too slow for some at first. But it does get more interesting and plot-driven as the story continues to unravel and more pieces of the puzzle come together for both Ivy and the reader.

I did give it four stars though because a lot of things addressed in the beginning didn't really make sense until the very end of the book. I do get that it was part of the mystery but they could've been explained better earlier on.

Nonetheless, I do recommend this for young readers who love fantasy or just want a pretty easy introduction to the world of fantasy writing!

Plus it seems like there might be some romance 😉

This book has a lot of potential.

The premise was really interesting but I feel like the world building could have been done better.

It took a while for me to get into the book as it felt confusing at times, as if I was meant to have prior knowledge of this world before picking up the book.

I feel like I got a small insight into Ivy and the other characters, but I would have loved to have seen more development of their respective relationships.

I received a review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to Stories Untold Press and Netgalley for a free e-copy in exchange for a free review!

I loved this book so much! This review isn't going to be super detailed (because I've found out writing a lengthy review is exhausting) but here we go!

First, this book is a super cute and clean middle grade fantasy with strong Harry Potter vibes. while also leaning into the lost princess trope (somewhat spoiler, but not really because most readers will have figured the big twist out by the time it's revealed). The magical world is enchanting and very original. I was eager to learn about each and every new element that our main character Ivy came across with during her adventures.

Speaking of Ivy, all the characters are well-rounded and well written. Ivy's love for learning and adventure is so relatable and I wished I could actually be there with her along her journey. Even with what's revealed about her mysterious history by the end, there's enough yet to be revealed to get you excited about the sequels. Rebekah is a great best friend and I absolutely love the loyal and charming Fyn. The budding romance between Ivy and Fyn is downright adorable and I ship them super hard. The lack of information on the dark queen makes her ominous just enough to keep you excited for her final appearance, and then when she dramatically reveals just how terrifying she is it's hard to stop reading.

A small complaint is that I wish there would have been a bit more explanation of new magical creatures and elements. Ivy is thrown into the magic world rather quickly and she learns very fast, but the reader has to keep up a little bit. Some more discussion of Ivy's instinctual magic would have grounded the plotline a bit more too. But overall the plot moves fast enough throughout the school year's timeline to keep you entertained with enough slow moments to let characters bond and keep you intrigued in the mysteries surrounding Ivy. I also wish some non-magical elements of the story had been a bit more original, like the rich kid who bullies the main character and blaming them for problems rich kid caused, but this wasn't too much of a big deal or distraction. And the magic system and original magical creatures (DOG SIZED PET DRAGON!) make up for it.

I don't have too much more to say, but TL;DR: this book is so charming I'll be buying a physical copy and the next book in the series as soon as possible!

Shorehorses, Black Unicorns, and Hairies.
Finally a magical school I’d like to attend.

The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night is the beginning of an imaginative middle grade series, featuring Ivy Lovely whose curiosity leads her on a series of adventures.

Growing up as an orphaned scaldrony maid in the castle, Ivy’s life was rather mundane, until mishap with a scaldron dragon on Moonsday caused her to flee. She discovers an invitation to the Halls of Ivy, a school where students learn how to master their magic. Unaware of her source of magic, she tries to unlock the clues while trying to outsmart the Dark Queen.

I’m not going to lie. I’m not a fan of middle grade magic school books. I feel like it’s an overused trope- where it follows the same old rubric. And I’m here to tell you, that I enjoyed The Crowns of Croswald immensely.

It was my first NetGalley download, and I read it, surprised by my enjoyment. Bought the series directly from the author -her website is gorgeous by the way- and recently reread it to be sure. This book is unique and creative, and was clearly written by someone whose whole heart is in Croswald. It reads like a young girl’s dreamscape, fleshed out into a fully realized fantastical world.

I’m looking forward to reading this aloud to my kids soon, and continuing on with Ivy Lovely and her adventures.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to @storiesuntoldpress for the digital copy of The Crowns of Croswold.

What a lovely middle grade fantasy read. I had so much fun delving into this magical world and following along with Ivy as she learns about her own abilities and history. The magical boarding school, powerful quills, and cast of characters are all pure whimsy.

I read this one without the fam this time but I know this is something my daughter would enjoy as well. I will definitely be purchasing a hard copy (and the next 2 in the series) for us to read aloud together. Good news? The fourth installment is set to come out in January, 2022!

I was thrilled when the publisher @storiesuntoldpress messaged me to gift me this book for review.

The Crowns of Croswald by D. E. Night is a beautiful middle grade, fantasy novel. It follows a young maid call Ivy Lovely. At the age of 16, Ivy is throw out of the home where she was a maid and discovers that she has been invited to the Halls of Ivy to learn magic. As the story progresses, Ivy discovers more about her past and her destiny. I loved this book and can’t wait to read the sequel!

Rating: 4⭐️

The Crowns of Croswald is a fun read! I’ll be honest and say that the similarities to that very well-known boy wizard had me a little distracted at first. But after the first quarter, the story came into its own.
The writing is descriptive and atmospheric. I loved the creative ideas: the scaldron dragons – flightless, potbellied dragons who cook the food. The hairies – little fairies who live inside the lanterns and light up. The glanagaries, the Hollow Shaft – if you want to know what those are, you’ll have to read the book!
I enjoyed the world building. Ivy Lovely is a great protagonist, humble, brave and, well, lovely. Lovely by name, lovely by nature. I liked Ivy’s group of friends, Rebecca and Fyn. There are other great characters, some of which I wished I had heard from more.
I felt that the story ended a little abruptly, but in general, I enjoyed it. It’s a great book. Lovers of fantasy and magic will love it, young and old alike.
It’s a trilogy, and I will definitely be buying the whole set.