Magical boarding school(check), Lost royal family (check), Curses and Prophecies (check), Hidden Powers(check). This book had the 4 tropes I've always loved.

Ivy is a kitchen maid who takes care of scaldrons, which are basically cute little dragons whose mouths function as ovens. She has been all her life stuck in a place that dampens magical power. However she keeps having dreams of an old castle an a stranger in the library. On her 16th birthday she escapes that life and as soon as she crosses a magical barrier comes across a carriage whose occupant tells her that she has magical potential and gives her the opportunity to attend a prestigious magic school where royals and those with magical blood hone their skills.

But on the first day a she is shopping for school supplies, strange occurences seem to be happening around her or to her. To top it all, the school castle is the one she has been dreaming about her whole life, but there is no sign of the stranger.

The world building and magic in this is very good and different. The pacing however felt a bit of a jerky ride. Slow at times and suddenly fast and then back again. I was very intrigued once Ivy recieved her Moonsday present and saw the author of the books. From that moment I was hooked, I wanted to know if there was Time travel involed.

There is a part in this book where The Librarian just sprinkles some magic dust over used/borrowed books and they return to their Brand new Condition!! now isnt that every book lovers dream? there are other such amazing things from a bookworms wishlist :D
There are many such beautiful and imaginative magical moments sprinkled in the book. Its one of the things along with the 4 mentioned tropes that kept me going.

I didn't quite connect with the characters that includes the main protagonist maybe because it was meant for middle school audience🤷‍♀️, though Rebecca was my favorite. The love interest Fyn is so cute and a good partner for Ivy.

I wish all three of them had just one adventure together before they became friends, the trio feels a bit forced. Because it felt like Rebecca and Ivy are friends and are in their bubble and Fyn and Ivy are in another.

Although so many things feel inspired from Harry Potter, this book follows its own path in the 2nd half of the book. I didn't like the abrupt POV change towards the end.

Overall it was a gun read and I'm intrigued enough to know what happens in the sequel.

Book Review 🌠🌙

The first in a series, this middle grade book gives off all the Harry Potter vibes. It’s a magical adventure I would love to be a part of. It is as if I was following Harry on his journey to learning he is a wizard again.

The story follows Ivy Lovely who has been stowed away in the slurry fields, which surpresses her magical powers, and raised as a scaldrony maid for 16 years. When Ivy leaves the slurry fields to attend the Halls of Ivy, the magical school where squinches and royals train to harness their magical blood, Ivy's powers are awakened. And we follow her into the world of Croswald on her journey to be a scrivenist. As the Dark Queen looms over, she soon learns who she is and what she is meant to do.

A big thank you to @storiesuntoldpress and @netgalley for reaching out to me and giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book was truly magical and I look foward to reading the next two books in the series.

Thank you to the Publishers for reaching out and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The book is in stores now, I highly recommend reading!
___
Title: The Crowns of Croswald
Genre: Middle Grade
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Recommend: If you love Harry Potter (I mean who doesn’t) this book is for you. Although it has some similar elements there are others that make this story completely unique and so much fun. It’s an easy read and readers of all ages could easily enjoy it.
___
Quick Synopsis: Ivy Lovely is a 16-year-old orphan maid who has been hidden away in the world of the Mundane. When she crosses the border to enter the school of magic her powers awaken. The story follows Ivy while she learns magic, makes friends and fights the evils that threaten to destroy the magical world of Croswald.

What an excellent start to an enchanting journey of Ivy Lovely. What a wonderful book. The reader is able to be pulled into this whimsical world of Croswald right from the beginning.

The pace of the book is a bit slow in the beginning and we don’t get to see much happening. Yes, the world-building is fantastic and the introduction to characters and everything else is beautifully written. It is the second half of the book where the real action takes place. I felt apart of Ivy’s journey and really felt as if I was apart of the Croswald world.

Things I liked:
1. Fyn, he’s such a cutie. I found him super cute and dorky and I can’t wait to read about him in the second book. Honestly, if you don't ship Fyn and Ivy are you really human? I thought their chemistry was great and am really looking forward to it developing further in the second book.
2. The world-building is fantastic. Magic was the frontline of the book and that’s what I LOVED! The reader really got to learn about everything right from the beginning. You felt apart of the universe.
3. The Magical creatures. The concept of the beasts was super fun.
4. Ivy, the MC, is a great narrator. Her journey through the book was captivating enough to keep me reading.

Beautiful friendships, the quirky magical world and school, the mysterious Derwin Edgar Night (DE.N? haha), and the entrance of the villain. The book was written so well and really had me gripped until the very end. The second half of the novel is where the pace picks up and where all the action truly is. It was packed with twists and turns and the setup for the 2nd book is amazing.

Things I didn’t like:
1. There wasn’t much about the book I didn’t like. There was only one flaw I found in the book and it was Ivy’s character as a whole. Yes, it was fun to go on this adventure with Ivy but I didn’t get to see much more from her. I wished there was more emotional depth to the character. A lot of times we didn’t get to know what exactly she was feeling
A. This could also be because it is a middle-grade novel and could be because the younger audience does not really care for small details like this.

Overall Thoughts:
I must say even though this is a middle-grade fantasy book I was intrigued and this book had me gripped until the very end. And though this novel may be suited for a younger audience and sometimes the plot is a bit predictable this book was so much fun to read. Although I was getting some Harry Potter vibes at times and some elements are the same there are many more differences than similarities. This book can stand its own ground and I loved how I was able to get lost in this wonderful enchanted world of Croswald. I def recommend this book!
___

4/5 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Stories Untold for sending me a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book with decently high expectations, as it had been described to me as a whimsical mixture of a classic Cinderella tale and Harry Potter. Unfortunately, the book just did not pan out for me, and I ended up DNFing it around the 50% mark after painfully forcing myself to slog through half the book while wishing I were reading literally anything else.

Now, I am a big fan of middle-grade fantasy. The first few Harry Potter books and the Starfell and Nevermoor series are my go-to benchmarks for comparison when reviewing a middle-grade book, and unfortunately, Crowns of Croswald just did not hold up to any sort of standard for me.

My biggest problem, right off the bat, was the writing. It was chaotic and oddly paced, with an overabundance of descriptions of every single new person and location and far, far too much telling rather than showing. By contrast, the world-building was almost non-existent, which made it sometimes hard to follow what was going on in the story - which is a pity, since it overshadowed some of the great ideas introduced in the first few chapters, like scaldrons, hairies and the storm-toting cabbies. The narration is also all over the place, with practically every other paragraph switching between the point of view of our main character, who is almost completely ignorant about magic, and an omniscient narrator who info-dumps bits of often unnecessary over-description about the current setting. On top of that, the dialogue was awkward, wooden and stilted, reminding me of a bad pantomime rather than actual human conversation.

My second problem was with Ivy, our main character. At sixteen, she is several years older than your average middle-grade protagonist, and yet she reads like an immature twelve-year-old; though she is interesting at the beginning, she quickly becomes passive, her initial personality tapering into blandness as she lets herself be driven forward by the story rather than the other way around. The other characters are not even really worth mentioning, as they all end up squarely in the realm of bland, unremarkable and completely forgettable.

Finally, my third issue was with just how similar this book felt to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It is okay to draw inspiration from one of the best books in the genre you are writing in, but the further I went into the book, the more I felt like I was reading a cheap carbon copy of Harry's first adventure. The main character spends her childhood sleeping in a cupboard and being treated as a servant, and is suddenly told she has magic a few chapters into the story. Following that, we have an acceptance letter that includes a list of school supplies only purchasable in quirkily-named magical shops, a street lined with said magical shops, a magic school set in a castle with moving portraits and ghosts haunting the dining room...and this is only in the first half of the book, when I finally threw in the towel and decided to DNF it. Which is saying something, since it has been almost a decade - and several hundreds of books read - since I have last DNFd anything.

Though the book does contain a few good ideas, the immature writing, bad dialogue, chaotic narration, poorly-developed characters and way too many similarities with the Harry Potter series heavily overshadowed the good for me. Perhaps young children might draw some enjoyment from this, but otherwise, I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to any mildly discerning reader over the age of ten. It was a 1.5 star review for me, sadly.

I just couldn't get into this - I tried twice because I felt I should be enjoying it. But it takes a while to get going, and there's a lot of time where you don't really know what's going on, so it didn't work for me. I felt like I was trying too hard to enjoy it without actually doing so.

This story had me captivated from the very start. Each chapter has beautiful sketches that match the theme which I felt added to the excitement.

I’m a sucker for a magical school setting, and this did not disappoint. I was invested in Ivy from the start with her far-from-ideal living situation. Seeing her swept away to the Halls of Ivy, shopping for supplies, and making friends was so fun and nostalgic.

The mystery of who she is and what happened to her family kept me glued to the pages. The action seemed abrupt at some points, but I didn’t mind it too much. That was the only pacing issue I had.

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Recommended for Fans of: Keeper of the Lost Cities and Harry Potter

DNF at 15 % - I was really excited about this book but sadly it didn't end up being for me. The main issue I had was the writing. The writing was very descriptive so much so that I had trouble picturing things because there was so much happening. I also felt that the author didn't need to describe as much as she did and it really just felt unnecessary. I did really like the dragons in this but we didn't get any explanation about the world which led me to be extremely confused. I do think that this might be for some kids around the age of 12-13 but it sadly wasn't my thing.

The crowns of croswald is a YA fantasy in which the main character Ivy, a young girl from seemingly low beginnings longs for escape and magic.
She gets whisked away by a mysterious man who invites her to a school for people with magic ability. There Ivy finds herself caught up in an adventure concerning her own past and future.

This book to me is definitely aimed at the lower end of the YA age range. The writing was simple and events transpire quickly. I felt like there wasn’t much bonding with Ivy and other characters before they became friends. And no real reason behind *spoiler* Ivy and Fyn having a crush on each other apart from bumping into him 2 or 3 times and him helping her out. It all felt a bit superficial. For me it just wasn’t enough, however I feel like for a younger reader this would be fully appropriate.

This book has similarity’s to Harry Potter. The start of the book Ivy receiving her letter for a magical school taking her away from a bad situation, Shopping for her supply’s, a grand entrance ceremony etc.
While this isn’t bad it certainly played on my mind whilst reading the first half of the book.

Night did have a really intriguing idea regarding the death of magical people *spoiler* they turn into books when they die, they contain all there life knowledge and people can visit them in a magical library. I found this concept fascinating!

I think this series has potential to be good going forward. This book was a good set up.

I would recommend this book for a younger reader who is jumping into fantasy reading

The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night is a fun, action packed novel perfect for young readers. It is filled with beautiful imagery, interesting characters and a page turning plot that will keep readers engaged and entertained. The world was interesting, building a magical world that was easy to understand and easy to follow. Our main character, Ivy, is thrust into a magical world with powers she didn’t know she had, leading to a fun filled adventure. The novel features fun magic, and an interesting magical boarding school to move the plot forward.

This novel was very obviously influenced by Harry Potter. Unfortunately, this isn’t necessarily a good thing. There were parts of the novel that felt almost identical – including the town with the schooling shops, and the school bully even having the same first initial as Draco in Harry Potter. The close similarities makes it hard to fully immerse yourself in the world that The Crowns of Croswald is in, because a lot of the time you’re thinking about the world of Harry Potter.

One of the biggest let downs of this novel was the lack of diversity. For a world set in a highly magical climate, you’d expect there to be better diversity in the characters. While it’s important to have good diversity and representation in other genres, I personally believe it’s vital for middle grade. Books are a great tool for learning, so if we begin educating children about different cultures and other forms of representation, we can allow them to grow into intelligent and educated teenagers. It’s just disappointing that a book so lovely to read and so magical wouldn’t include a more diverse range of characters.

Ultimately, this novel was an interesting and easy read. While I’m not the set target audience for it, I found myself enjoying immersing myself within this magical world and loving the characters. If you have children, or know children this age, it’s the perfect book to pick up and get them excited for reading.

Rating: 4/5

- I enjoyed it overall. It took me a while to get into but I was a bit preoccupied with university work but I think that if the circumstances were different I would be able to read it in one go.
- The writing style was enjoyable, a bit of an information overload sometimes so that concerns me if this is a novel for middle graders. However, if it is not then it is perfect.
- The characters were all so bizarre and I loved that about them in all their uniqueness. I also loved the way in which the author inserted herself into the story. It gave the book that extra something and gave me chills.
- I got a bit of Harry Potter vibes and I do not know if they were intentional but I'm glad that the author still managed to create such a different and loveable story considering the standards Harry Potter left.
- I would definitely recommend this to other fans of magical universes because it really needs to get more hype.

I received an e-book from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

The Crowns of Crosswald is a middlegrade about magic, dragons, fairies, and a magical school. It was whimsical, imaginative and perfect for anyone.
Ivy Lovely is the main character, a 16 years old orphan who is thrown out of Castle of Plum and doesn't know she has magic until someone finds her and she's sent to The Halls of Ivy. And her adventure begins.

I personally love magical school trope, it's one of my favourites, so this was quite enjoyable. It was very magical, reminds me a lot of Harry Potter. Ivy is a girl who's always in trouble, she doesn't listen and she wants to find everything about her past and why she can see or do or remember things no one else can.
The magic system is very interesting and fun, it's based on magic stonesand quills instead of wands. The pacing of the book is full of action, you don't have time to get bored, especially after Ivy gets to school. I think my favourite character is Rebecca, so glad she's not a snob. She's a real friend, even if Ivy doesn't treat her very well. I don't trust Fyn though.

Overall, it's an easy and fun read. It's perfect for children, even if the main character has 16 years. I don't usually read this kind of books, but sometimes it's good to take a pause from high fantasy. I think it's a promising start for the series and i'm curious of her next adventures. The ending was pretty good, i'm happy how things turned out in the end. I recommend it.

I received this book from the publisher @storiesUntoldpress and @netgalley I was swept away by the magic and fairy tale that it had. A magical school, different creatures what more could you ask for. This was a story that I wanted to know more. Young and old can enjoy this book- it could be a story for parents to read their children at night .

The world building was amazing and now I am wondering what happens next.


If you are looking for magical journey to escape the chaos of the world then step into the world the Ivy finds herself in and I promise you will not regret it.

I enjoyed this so much! This book was so magical from start to finish. It was very Cinderella-esq at the beginning but once the story picks up and Ivy is trust into a magical environment the pace really picks up.

I don't think I have felt so nostalgic reading a book with a magical school setting with different creatures since I read Harry Potter. Ivy is such a fun character and watching her get herself into more predicaments as more secrets are revealed was very entertaining. This book has everything a younger reader (and myself) is going to love. Adventure, mystery, a slightly dark academia vibe, friendship, queens and dragons! did I mention the dragons! I have been in such a middle grade mood lately and this book a was perfect addition.
Highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this book!! I absolutely adore the world of scribes and royals now and have actually already purxhased print copies of all 3 books - just waiting on them to arrive to I can continue!

The only reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars was that I was just so, so confused at the begining. Nothing about the world is explicetly explained and while some people prefer that to an info dump, it just made it a little hard to get into. All the info you need is eventually given, I just would have liked more overview into the entire universe the author is developing.

The book is filled with multiple twists and turns, some expected and some complete curveballs! I definetly enjoyed reading it. Thank you so much for the chance to read and review this book :)

The Crowns of Croswald is a perfect middle grade fantasy novel. It is quirky with a delightful main character. While it is reminiscent of Harry Potter and Nevermoor, (Ivy Lovely is an orphan and finds herself in magic school) the story has enough of its own world to stand alongside these two and not become just another magical orphan story.

The story is full of magic, fantasy and my favourite object - quills. After a particularly uninspiring and non-magical childhood growing up in the Slurry, Ivy finds herself at the Halls of Ivy - a magical school for scrivenists and princesses, with the youngest scaldron ( a dragon that uses its fire to cook food for the castle Ivy grew up in as a scullery maid) in her care.

I enjoyed this book. I also felt the author managed to create a believable disbelief when Ivy realises she's going to magic school. The story was captivating with interesting twists and turns, worlds within worlds, mystery and great imaginative story telling that sweeps you into Ivy's world. I particularly enjoyed the chasing quills- you have to read it for this scene, the floating cab that has it's own rain cloud and the friends Ivy makes at her new school. The characters had depth and I find myself wondering how the story will end, which is always a mark of a good novel, when you find yourself thinking about the characters long after you have finished the book.

'Crowns' is perfect for age 9 - 12's but if you are anything like me and like children's fantasy, I do believe you will enjoy it too. There are two more books in the series making this a delightful trilogy.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a middle grade fantasy story which follows a young girl who has lived a rather ordinary life as a servant in a castle until one day she has no other choice but to cross the enchanted boundary. Following this, she is invited to attend the magical school - Halls of Ivy, where royals and scriveners study the ways of magic. We then get to see her develop great friendships, discover dark secrets and fight for what she believes in.

What I liked was the magical element which I found quite unique. There are 2 types of magic systems– one depending on the stone colour which you are carrying and the other one depending on the magic in your blood. Needless to say, the talking books were my favourite as well as the magical creatures! Throughout the book there are many mysteries waiting to be unveiled – Ivy is determined to discover why her dreams are haunted by Derwin Edgar Night (I see what the author did there and I love it!) and how the two of them are connected or why are some books taken into The Forgotten Room and being erased from people’s memory? I liked the idea of Ivy and Fyn, I think they work together quite well and I enjoyed their teasing and constant back and forth.

What I think should have been done better is definitely the world building. I missed a bit of details here and there and I think this made the book a bit overwhelming at times. It starts pretty slow but towards the end I was on constantly on the edge and couldn’t put it down! Especially the ending was quite unexpected and I wish to pick up the next book in the series.

Overall this was a light and fun read. It reads very young so I was not the targeted audience but I’m sure I would’ve absolutely loved this book as a teenager. If you are a fan of Harry Potter or any whimsical story involving magical schools, I think this book will be to your liking. I can definitely see the resemblance but it still shines on its own!

This book was so good! It absolutely gave me Harry Potter vibes but it was also different so I didn't feel like I was reading something that I have read before. I love Ivy and her curiosity and I also enjoyed all of the other characters. I definitely have a lot of questions about the world and the events of the book but this is the first book in the series, so I can wait (maybe?).

I got sucked in by this book and I highly recommend!

3.5 stars.
First of all, a huge thank you to the publisher for reaching out and sending me this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was about a third of the way into the book when I really started enjoying it. My favourite thing about it is the way the characters are so unique and interesting. I had so much fun learning about the world and magic system. I wouldn't mind having a notical of my own!

This book gave me so many Harry Potter vibes. There's even a moment reminiscent of "but I'm just Harry.. JUST HARRY" and I loved it. We've got a magic room which felt like a different take on the room of requirement which I found really interesting.

I think the world building was a bit too info-dumpy in some parts but that's a sort of necessary evil in fantasy. Our main character, Ivy, felt younger than 16 to me but that might be because this books is middlegrade. I kept picturing her as a 12-year-old. In the beginning she just felt really passive and not at all like the angsty teen I'm used to reading about in YA. A lot of things just seem to happen to Ivy due to circumstance rather than by her actively going after something, but this is more prominent in the beginning as towards the end she really develops into a character whose decisions drive the plot.

As I said, it's reminiscent of early Harry Potter so if you're looking for something magical and fun for younger readers, give this one a shot.

16 year old Ivy Lovely is a scaldrony maid with no family, who spends her days serving a royal family and sketching. That is until she finds herself at the Halls of Ivy - a school of magic. She is a nobody but always seems to be at the centre of trouble. Ivy is just a young lady trying to figure out who she really is.

At first I thought this was a different version of Harry Potter however by the end, it was a very different story. Sure, Ivy is an underprivileged orphan and there is a school of magic but it certainly is not Hogwarts. However for those who enjoyed Harry Potter, I am sure they will love this. At times, the story was a bit clunky but I enjoyed this junior fiction read.

If you like Harry Potter-esque or chosen one / lost princess storylines, this is the book for you!

Ivy Lovely starts this book out as a unimportant servant, but as usual she is not what she seems. She crosses over from a non magical land she had been living in and gets invited to a school of magic. There she will learn everything she needs to in order to learn about her destiny, all while meeting interesting characters, and making friends.

I really liked this book and while it is written for younger readers, that in no way took enjoyment out of the story for me. I would highly recommend for middle grade kids.

I was sent this book on NetGalley for my honest review.