This is a story about a girl who finds out she needs to be at a magical school! This school is split between scriveners and royals. I am still a tiny bit confused about how the magic system actually works in this world, but I believe the royals get the magic from their crowns and the scriveners have some magic in their blood.
Our main character makes some interesting friends and a few enemies along the way.

This is a middle-grade fantasy with a lot going on! At times I think there is a bit too much going on, especially when there is dialogue things get a bit confusing. However, I believe this is a debut novel and there were a lot of the fantasy elements that I liked, and I am curious to see what the next book looks like. Overall I mostly enjoyed the book even if I got lost a few times, I wanted to stick around to find out what happens in the end. I think this book is very creative but could do with a bit more refinement and polishing.

2.5 stars

Ivy Lovely was a lowly kitchen girl, never allowed to do anything more – until the day she was banished from all she’d known and was taken to Croswald and the school which would teach her about her magic; how her powers worked and her mastering of all she was meant to do. Ivy was sixteen years of age. She was uncertain, immediately embarrassed and humiliated – although the nice teacher chastised the class – and wasn’t sure where anything was. And although she was aware she would learn, it was a hard beginning for Ivy.

The Crowns of Croswald is the 1st in The Crowns of Croswald series by D.E. Night, and the first thing I thought was extremely strange was the calling of a character by the author’s name! I couldn’t get into this book – I enjoy fantasy/paranormal and yes, magic – but this one quite obviously wasn’t for me. I liked Ivy’s character as well as Rimbrick but felt sad that I didn’t enjoy it.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

Thank You to Netgalley and the author for giving me the chance to read this book. It took me a month but it was worth every wait. Oh My God!! This was the exact same reaction after I had finished reading the last chapter. I loved this book so much. Brilliantly written. It had me completely hooked from the start. Must read.

I have and will always be a sucker for magic school settings and this one was no exception. Here we have Ivy our Cinderella type heroine who has spent her whole life as a scaldrony maid until she lands herself at the Academy to learn to harness her magic but of course things aren’t that easy. This is a fast paced, action packed story full of magic and adventure that will definitely leave you wanting more. This story is so creative, you tell that so work went into the world building and you also can’t help but fall for Ivy and her friends. Overall I gave this 4 out of 5 stars.

DNF at 57%

I want to start by saying that this is not a bad book. I’m also not the intended audience for this book, and if I was I would probably have enjoyed it a huge amount. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get past the similarities to Harry Potter (character sleeps in a cupboard, moving paintings and a castle magical school.)
For a 9-12 year old reader, this would be a fun, magical, adventurous story. Unfortunately I couldn’t get past the writing style and similarities to the Potter books.

Absolutely loved it.! It’s a hidden gem that has yet to be discovered. The mysterious world of croswald is absolutely amazing. Loved all the characters, the storyline, the plot, and the magical elements.
It’s a perfect blend of middle-grade magic and mystery.
The main character - ivy, did feel a bit younger for her age but maybe because I have read too much YA recently. I loved how the plot wasn’t dumped at the end suddenly, but the readers were given little hints in-between.
All in love loved the book and excited to read the remaining in the series.

This book has been on my tbr list since 2018 and I was excited when @danielastoriesuntoldpress offered me a free copy in exchange for an honest review a month ago.

So, here we go.

This book has been on my tbr list for a long time and I thought I would like it, but I didn't. I'm sorry.

I reread the Harry Potter series this summer and while reading The Crowns of Croswald I just kept thinking about how it is similar to HP.
(Too much)

Through the book, we follow Ivy, a girl who lived behind an enchanted boundary that separates mundane from magical and also grew up without parents. And then ✨she goes away to a magical school ✨. Pretty familiar, isn't it? Instead of Lord Voldemort, we have a Dark Queen. What a plot twist... There was more but I don't think it's necessary to write it, you've got the point.

The writing style wasn't anything special and I didn't like the characters. I found myself trying to figure out what the author wanted to say and not paying attention to the actual story. Although, the magical concept was interesting but sadly, not enough to make me forget about the whole HP similarity thing.

2,5🌟 from me

*Thanks @netgalley for the copy*

So I don’t normally read fantasy but I really liked reading this book. It’s something that I would enjoy watching as a movie as well-It has all the elements that a wonderful fantasy movie has..
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This book had the writing style of a comfort movie if that makes sense...it gave me cozy vibes and made me feel like I was watching a live action Disney movie with my family. I loved the characters, the plot was very detailed and the plot twist had me thinking really hard. Some parts were a bit confusing but that was mostly due to me not being used to reading a lot of fantasy books.
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I recommend this book for someone who wants an easy fantasy read (this is YA/middle grade) and to someone who likes the ‘chosen one’ trope. I don’t usually like this trope but this one was a breath of fresh air since the main character wasn’t annoying like most books in the ‘chosen one’ category.

The Crowns of Croswald is a magical work of fiction. If you are a Harry Potter Fan you are going to thoroughly enjoy this book. I can’t help but think that D.E. night was a huge HP fan at some point, cause this book is heavily influenced by it. That being said, this book is unique and different.
I loved all the new magical creatures from the hairie to the shorehorse all where mesmerizing. The world building was great, yes it has a lot and I mean a lot of information but that’s what happens when someone is creating a new world, creatures and terms, there need to be explanations otherwise people gets lost.
The idea of scrivenists and crowns is pretty interesting, I loved the concept of the book and the plot, also the descriptions where so on point I could imagine the castle, THE town, etc.
Ivy is a scaldrony maid, basically her job is to take care of a couple of cooking dragons and bake pie. She gets kicked out of the only home she’s ever known and then magic basically explodes and she gets thrown into something she never expected to be a part of.
The side characters are super Fun Rebecca is all sass and a great friend to have around, Fyn is an enigma so far, he is always at the right place at the right time but I have a feeling there’s something more there. I even enjoyed Damaris and she’s awful.
I can’t wait to read more and find out more about the Dark Queen and her army, she intrigues me and I love it.
This book is magic in every sense of the word, from the world to the writing style this book is designed to pull you in to learn more about the magic system. I would highly recommend it to small readers who love magic and princesses. My son read it with me and he really enjoyed it.

Entering a new magical world of Croswald was delightful. Croswald is a magical world full of royals, dragons and scrivenists full of adventures and creatures. Joining Ivy Lovely for the beginning of her journey from humble scaldrony maid to missing heir apparent for Croswald. She meets a few beasts, makes some new friends and awakens her powerful magic during her first year at The Halls of Ivy school for young royals and scrivenists. Of course there are some bumps and twists along the way with many questions to be answered.

This book moved along at a swift pace that was really easy to keep up with. Lots of care was taken to describing the few places that Ivy visited and stayed all building a delightful world. The characters met were driven, kind and interesting. I enjoyed the magic of scrivenists with their quills and sketching, as well as the stones of royals soooo much. What a great interpretation of magic. The adventures and excitement ran right though the book and I look forward to books 2 & 3 with Ivy Lovey and her new life.

3.5/5 stars
Thank you so much to the author and the publisher for this review copy! The Crown of Croswald is a fun, magical YA book and I enjoyed it a lot, though there were a few aspects that made certain parts a struggle to get into for me.

From the first page, I was super intrigued by this unique story. There was a very cool magic system and the details given about the world were entrancing. I think the author did a great job of worldbuilding and making this magical world a lovable place for the reader.

There were several times where I was pulled out of the scene a little and felt like it was hard to follow the reasoning for the main characters actions. This is mainly because I felt like the main character, Ivy, was a little underdeveloped and underexplored. I would’ve loved to see more of her thought processes instead of just her actions. The book was written in third person, so I can understand a little disconnect, but I felt a disconnect with Ivy that hasn’t happened to me in other third person novels (I actually love this pov normally).

If you don’t mind this sort of feeling with the protagonist you might love this book, but unfortunately it just didn’t work well for me as a reader. I’m very sad that I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would, but I’m still glad I read it!

If you’re looking for some magic and fantasy the Crowns of Croswald may serve as a good escape into another realm for a while. I received this book through NetGalley and was thrilled to get a copy.

In The Crowns of Croswald we follow Ivy Lovely in her journey into the world of magic and discovering the truth of the world around her. While I will say right at the top of this review that there are similarities between Ivy’s story (orphan, doesn’t know about magic, etc.) and that of the Harry Potter series the world of Croswald is it’s own world and the magic system was very fun. The easy comparison to Harry Potter and other stories of children in magical worlds (i.e. Pennroyal Academy series, The Uncommoners series and so on) doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of this story as D.E. Night has made this world her own. I will also say the nostalgic feeling was very strong and it probably increased my enjoyment of this book but again, that doesn’t mean the book itself doesn’t stand up on it’s own.

With a lovely cast of characters and wonderful world building and descriptions I found myself flipping through these pages quickly and looking forward to each new line of information. I especially enjoyed how not all people in this world have the same type of magic; some have stones with magical traits, some use their artistic abilities to express magic and we see how their type of magic shapes the characters too.

If you are looking for some nostalgia, a new fantasy world to escape into and a new series that will keep you entertained while not being such a heavy read The Crowns of Croswald is definitely a series you should check out. I will eventually be picking up books two and three for myself as well.

Thank you again to NetGalley, Stories Untold Press and D.E. Night for sending me a copy of this wonderful story! It was just what I needed towards the end of this crazy year!

Ivy has always loved magic, although she knew that the had no possibility to have anything to do with it. But, when she gets kicked out of her work as a scaldrons' maid, she gets out of the castle and suddenly discovers she may have the possibility to go to the Halls of Ivy, a magic school.

I have to say that there where a lot of similarities to Harry Potter, especially in the beginning, she doesn't have parents, the person who is supposed to take care of her is awful and she discovers out of nowhere that she has magic in her veins and gets send to Halls of Ivy (I know, having the school named after her is sort of confusing, it happened to me too), the Hogwarts of this world. But I think that the author made a good work making the book different without losing the special feeling we all get from a magic world.

The book is surrounded by mystery and a lot of twists, so you can't stop reading once you have started, there is a lot of information missing that Ivy discovers through the book and the magical creatures are adorable (although I would have loved them to have a little bit more of protagonism through the story).

An aspect I really loved about this book is that the most important character, the one Ivy is looking for information about during the whole book, is called Derwin Edgar Night (D. E. Night). Every time I read the name my mind was like "I know this name but where have I seen it?" Then I realized that the author's name was D. E. Night and I thought "This can't be a coincidence " and I went the whole book trying to look for clues what made me even more excited.

If I have to look for issues in this book there will be just two: Ivy's age (she is supposed to be sixteen but I always imagined her being around 12, because she acts like a child and not a teen) and the love story that comes out of nowhere (I won't say names to don't do a spoiler), there is no sort of flirt or chemistry between the characters, although I thought that there was a possibility of this happening, I think the book would have lost nothing without it.

My favorite pages of the book where the last ones, because a lot of magic happens and the pieces of the puzzle start to fit in together, Ivy's background is amazing and I can't wait to read more about it and know more about the secondary characters, which seem to have amazing stories to tell.

To sum up, I think it is a great read for middle grades (and even adults) to read because it is a tender and lovely story that I am sure will be even better in the next parts. I can't wait to read the second delivery of this saga.

This book has an amazing synopsis, but the writing is what threw me off. The writing was too descriptive and I often found myself focusing more on what the author means than the actual story. I dnfed this at about 20%. This writing is for some people just not me.

This book is amazing! I love the fantasy realm, Harry Potterish vibes. We see new Fantasy stuff - including Shorehorse, Hairies, etc. Ivy is a well detailed character. She's strong, dedicated and sort of badass too. From a maid to a Princess is almost like a dream for her. The writer explained the characters in detail, to the point i was actually imagining them. Myy fav character is obviously ivy, and her friend. Her new friends are interesting characters too, sassy at times and stand up for what is right. Together with ivy, they fight to discover the secrets that have been kept from them. The grammer is fantastic, well written plot and good pacing. I can't help but think there are a lot of LOTR, and Snow White vibes in it. The book is so detailed, emphasizing on lots of problems teenagers face, such as bullying which can be disastrous to their mental health. Definitely one of my best Fantasies!

This very much gave me similar vibes to Harry Potter in the way it made me feel as a reader. I really enjoyed the characters and the magic system.

Although the images weren’t as vivid as other books I have read like this I did really find it easy to get lost in.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an e-book copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

"The Crowns of Croswald" features the familiar narrative of a young orphan whisked away to a magical school, only to discover that they are the "chosen one" tasked with saving the world. While debts to the Harry Potter series are frequently in evidence, however, Night manages to craft a fictional world that brims with magic, mystery, and wonder. Night's imagination is impressive, and I love the many fanciful and original details that bring Croswald richly to life. The chapter title illustrations are, equally, a wonderful contribution to the vividness of the reading experience. Readers who like their fantasy whimsical and inventive, and their settings of the magical school variety, will find much to enjoy here. In particular, fans of the Harry Potter and Nevermoor series should definitely give this a try.

Nevertheless, this novel is not without its failings. I have two criticisms in this regard. First, while Night's world is rich in detail, her characters are rather under-developed; I struggled to form a solid impression of their personalities and physical appearances, which limited my ability to engage fully with them. Second, the writing is a little rough in places; in particular, Night's dialogue often feels stiff and awkward. As with my previous point, improvements in this respect would significantly have aided my engagement with the characters and their inter-relationships.

In short, this lesser-known middle-grade fantasy novel has shortcomings, but also is charming and enjoyable; as such, it certainly deserves to find a wide audience. (less)

I really struggled with this book. It honestly felt like it was trying to be like Harry Potter, but it didn't even come close to being as good. It was all over the place and I just didn't enjoy it.

I couldn't really connect with the characters, because this book was all about plot and I didn't get to know the characters enough.

And, even though it was all about plot, I didn't really think the plot was all that great either.

The last three or four chapters were the only ones I kind of enjoyed, but for me it wasn't worth the journey it took to get to them.

✅The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night (@author.denight)

First of all, thank you @storiesuntoldpress for giving me this copy in exchange for an honest review.📖

It really hurts when you remember what everyone else forgets.

This novel which is the first book in the series is about Ivy Lovely that got accepted to a magic school, Halls of Ivy after 16 years living in an enchanted boundary that separates magic and non-magic. Her power has awakened after she crossed the border. In school, she goes through a series of adventures and get to know secrets about her background and got threatened by Dark Queen at the same time.

One of my thoughts on this novel is “Ivy and Halls of Ivy? Her name and her school name is the same. Interesting.”. Truthfully, I have started reading this book earlier but I got hit by a reading slump, thus affecting my reading. I got confused by the prologue of the story but by succeeding chapters, the story has become clearer. The author also has coined a quite number of new terms and they make me confused for a while but that just me, I think. I got intrigued by the story and for me, the pace of the story is good even though sometimes I got confused by the writing. The worldbuilding is my favourite part of the novel, but I think the author has added more new things in the next books of the series. The writing shows that. For Ivy, in my opinion, her character and background story is okay but I hope she can grow more in the next books because it is not easy when your enemy is Dark Queen. In conclusion, I hope this story becomes better more further in the series. For this novel, I give it 3.5/5 stars. For fantasy genre lovers, you can give this story a try.

The Crowns of Crosswald was a fun, magical, and quick read. It is a bit predictable and followed a lot of tropes, but that's part of what made it fun. This book had a great atmosphere and I liked the school setting.

The beginning was unclear and there's little explanation to the magic system. There is also not much explanation as to what is going on and the story and characters move from one thing to another with little explanation, which made it confusing and hard to stay focused.

The main character was naive, and she and the other characters were flat. I didn't understand why the main character immediately had a nemesis after a small incident, it felt immature given that the characters are 16 years old. I think the story would have benefitted by aging down the characters.