I liked this second book in the Crowns of Croswald series by D.E. Night better than the first one. Maybe it is, because I am more familiar with the characters and the world, but I think it is because the book is just deeper than the first one.

I still feel like I am missing a lot of world building information, such as the political system, the royals and the squinches, though we do get to know more about the scrivenists at least. We also get a lot of in depth information about Quogo, the main “sport” in Croswald, which is very magical and entertaining. There are of course many other magical things that are interesting and beautiful, such as starfishing and the creatures the characters run across.
I loved how funny many of the scenes were, such as the potion fight, and the shadow of doom not always looming over the characters. It was still much darker than the first book as Ivy now knows she is being hunted and that the future of Croswald rests of her shoulders, which leaves her constantly worrying and like she is not doing enough.
I like her character arc in this book, she relies heavily on her friends and while she does not ask grown ups for help, she is always willing to rely on her friends (who are much less qualified, but still somehow manage). But seriously, grown ups can help you, use their knowledge! You don’t have to do everything alone.
The characters in general feel a lot more three-dimensional than in the first book, showing their own interests, feelings and fears. I also enjoyed getting to know Ivy’s new friend group, I think a lot of the characters there have a lot of potential and hope the author uses it in the sequels.
Another positive note is that parts of the prologue are mentioned within the first chapters and you can start putting together clues and figure out what’s going on – much faster than Ivy of course, so you have to wait for her to figure it out as well.
The plot itself ties neatly together, there is a red string you can follow through the whole book and pick up a lot of additional information along the way. Still, there are many scenes that give you a “breather” from the main plot and show the characters in new lights, which is also important and makes them feel more alive.
Many things are still very obviously inspired by another franchise, but the author puts a new spin on them, making it a very enjoyable read.

I was SO excited when I was asked to review the 2nd book of The Crowns of Croswald! Thank you Netgalley, D.E. Night and Stories Untold for this Ebook.

Ivy is in Belzebuthe, a secret town where scrivenists go for protection. Until she's invited back by a mysterious letter to the Halls of Ivy, this is where she lives, works and does school work. When she's back at the Halls of Ivy she keeps running into situations with a shadow. She's also on the main quest to find the second piece of the Kindred Stone. Between secret quills club, the secret town, invisible creatures, spells, and battles with the Dark Queens doings, The Girl with the Whispering Shadow is sure to keep you on your toes!

This book was so magical! It's really something when your mind is able to set the scene. Nothing short of amazing.

My favorite character in this book has to be Ivy this time! She's just so cool. She's got such a beautiful soul. She is a great friend, loyal, adventurous, and brave.

If you need to escape from the real world and really love magic, spells, secret battle clubs, giant invisible creatures you use for transportation, and an all around exciting adventure then snag this book up!

The Girl With The Whispering Shadow
4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Loved this book, this was the perfect second part of an intriguing series. The story gets more and more intriguing as we go, we get more information and more characters to love. Ivy is proving to still be a badass queenly heir. I love Rebecca and how the author is showing her growth as a character as well. Fyn and Gilstle's interactions killed me. I love how the author ends every book, it is just the perfect type of ending, it's not quite a cliffhanger but it is enough to leave you stated waiting for the next one but also excited to start it. This is the perfect book for all ages, it may be advertised towards middle age but as an adult, I am saying it's a wonderfully whimsical story that any age can adore.

Such a great fun sequel! I loved all the much and they whimsy feeling of it! Can't wait to continue on with the 3rd book before the 4th one comes out!!

I enjoyed this more than the first book in the series mainly due to the fact that I knew the characters and how they were all linked. I felt that the story flowed really well with some great descriptions of not only the characters but the places and events as well. s I character I like Ivy Lovely and was pleased that we got to know more about all the other characters and how they are all connected. Thank you to Daniela at Stories Untold and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this magical book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Stories Untold for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow is the second book in D.E. Night’s The Crown of Croswald series. It starts off hours after Ivy has discovered that she is the fulfillment of the Moonsday promise, and has she is whisked away to Belzebuthe, ivy must set out on a mission to uncover the Kindred Stone while avoiding the Dark Queen’s wrath.

This was a great sequel, with lots of world building and character growth for Ivy. I especially enjoyed how the author wrote the Dark Queen’s character, she was realistically scary and didn’t feel like a fictional foe. I sometimes forgot that this series is middle grade, as the writing was vivid and kept drawing me in. Overall, an excellent continuation of book 1!

If you like, brave female main characters, lovable side characters that constantly have you smiling, an easy. To understand but intriguing magical system, and beautiful world building, then this series may be for you!

THE GIRL WITH THE WHISPERING SHADOW is the second installment of the Crowns of Croswald series, and I was just as taken in with this as I was with the first! Another ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 middle grade read for me! Maybe a young YA? I am 45 and I liked it, so what do I know about reading age appropriateness!

This story has Ivy in her second year in the Halls, but for her safety, she must stay in the Town since the Dark Queen is after her. After getting a welcome letter to attend, Ivy does return and finds it was all a ruse. The danger really increases as her group of friends move deeper into the year. Ivy finds her quest to find the kindred stone pieces is renewed with a urgency she didn't have before and it might cost her.

This story explored the role that fear can have on us. It highlights courage in the face of fear and how friendship can help our hearts be strengthened. I loved the message. I also loved all the glenagerie adventures! This is my favorite fantastical element that I so truly wish was real. (It is an imagined "world" inside a bottle that is not supposed to hurt the adventurer!) I enjoyed Ivy's growth in the story, and I am excited to keep going in her journey!

Thank you so much to @NetGalley, @danielastoriesuntoldpress
And @author.denight for this digital copy. I would have loved this story from middle grades and still do, so...! You should read this if you have any ounce of magical wishes at all.

After what happened at the Masquerade Ball Ivy Lovely learns the truth about her identity and is in danger of staying upon the Halls of Ivy so to keep her safe from the Dark Queen she must stay at the Town while finding the second Kindred Stone.

After spending time in Belzebuthe, she is summoned back to school only to find out what mystery and danger awaits her there.

"A slurry girl turned royal, an orphan denied her family’s right, with the magic of the moon settled inside her."

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow is the second installment in The Crowns of Croswald series, and the story did get better than the first book. It got me hooked from the first chapter; this book is so entertaining I can imagine how the characters had fun, especially the Quogo parts of the book!😍

Great illustrations as same as the first book! Full of fun and surprises.

(I hate it that I can't talk much about the scenarios in the book without spoiling it; hence the short reviews about this series)

Best series to bring me back to fantasy books🥺💗.

Thank you NetGalley and StoriesUntold for the copy!

This book gave me all the feels - it was so good to get to explore the world more and step away from the school. This book felt more confident and I am so excited to read the next two. These will be going into my mini library at school.

*NetGalley, Stories Untold and the author provided me with the ebook in exchange for an honest review*
Honestly, although I’m not the “target audience” for this book as it’s a middle grade fantasy, I still enjoyed it immensely. I find that the second book in a series tends to be better than the first, or the worst of the bunch and can tend to act as a filler. In this case, this book ended up being better than the first in my opinion, and I’m excited to see where the series leads.

I found this book had so much more originality than the first. As mentioned in my previous review, I didn’t dislike the use of other commonly used fantastical elements, but it was refreshing to see some more of that originality come to light. I found that I liked Ivy more in this book than the first as well, and her character building was more prominent.

The thing I probably enjoyed the most was the storyline. I didn’t except some of the plot twists, and we got to explore more of this world than I found we did in the first book. I loved the character relationships Ivy had/developed, and it made me attached to them whether they had an extensive role or not.

Again, if you’re into any kind of whimsical, atmospheric fantasy, I definitely recommend picking this up! Thanks again to the author + Stories Untold for this ebook!

I absolutely loved this book. This book brought me deeper into the fictional world that I love dearly. The adventure was gripping, the characters endearing, and overall unputdownable. It is the perfect book to escape from the world and slip into a magical adventure.

“I’ve got to figure out how to get a cabby the normal way”
“Let me show you Belzebuthe!”
“I’m thinking about calling it The Girl with the Whispering Shadow”
I thought book one but good but book two was great !!!!!
I absolutely loved every minute of Ivy’s story and I can’t believe I already finished it !!!
A story of friendship, family, mystery, dreams and the endless potential of magic. A book where instead of magicians with their wands we have scrivenists with their quills !!!!
Everyone can hold power in their hands but that’s the way they use that power that changes everything !!!
Ivy is a great character: curious, strong and kind, with a huge weight on her shoulder. Thankfully she has amazing friends who are part fo her life and keep standing on her side even during the hardest moments.
They are there both to fight alongside one another against their worst enemies, as well as having quill’s matches as the QQC (Quality Quills Club)!!!!!
And the time Ivy spends with Derwin is priceless !!! It felt a lot like the moments between Harry and Dumbledore while they experience the power of visiting memories and act of them !!!
A beautiful, magical city is the background of this second book and I felt enraptured by it !!!!
I’m so grateful I had the chance to read this second book and right now book three cannot be between my hands soon enough!!!!
“That’s the farthest star out, Star Solo”
“One of the most powerful abilities of scrivenists is that of spelling”
“You can be trapped in a castle, trapped in a scaldrony. Trapped by people. But the worst is being trapped by fear”

Thank you to at NetGalley and stories untold for giving me the chance to read read this.

I enjoyed enjoyed this first book so wanted to read this one as well. This one is my favourite of the 2. A great fantasy book that continues right were the first book left off. Ivy is trying to workout what she is to do next after finishing her first year.

She’s going to spend her summer holidays in Belzebuthe, in a town with a secret name. I loved all the magical elements in this book. The dark queen still being after Ivy and seeing how that all plays out.

Thanks to the author's P.A. for reaching out and sending me a copy of The Crowns of Croswald book 2- The Girl With The Whispering Shadow

This is my honest unbiased review on The Girl With The Whispering Shadow.
I was hesitant in reading this second book, the first reminded me so much of another popular magic school based series.
However, I went in open minded and eager to find out what happened next.

Ivy who is now the rightful Queen, has left the halls for the town of Belzebuthe
to continue to find the other pieces of the Kindred Stone. The Kindred Stone is the one thing that will be used against the Dark Queen. Upon her return Ivy and her friends have to battle Shadows and Shades.
Ivy has grown since Book 1 and is no longer the shy, clumsy girl. She is a strong character and the supporting characters have come into their own too. The Dark Queen is written as scary as possible for this age appropriate novel.
The writing is definitely stronger in this book compared to the first. The world building and the creativity grows more vivid.
The journey takes you on a real adventure.
I thought it was an enjoyable read

I received an e-book thrue netgalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to read the second installment of this series. 😍😍😍🤗🤗🤗

We are back in the magical world of Croswalds and the Halls with Ivy and her friends. And the battle with evil has truly began.

The second book takes of directly after the first one ended. And it was soooooo amazing 🤩🤩🤩

The description of the town Belzebuthe and all the shops and stores, and al the food 😋😍 the atmosphere of the town, the people and everything about it, you can literally see and feel it.

In this second book Ivy's battle with the evil queen 👑 is more intense. And this book is quite darker than the first one.


I would love to se a movie done with this concept like yesterday. 😍🤩

I can't really say if I did enjot this book than the 1st because I had a fair share of like, okay, huh in this one and also some confusing parts that really didn't made sense for me?

This book is kind of bland as well as pretty much a fair share of forgettable aspects and points that totally made no sense for me?

I'm pretty sure I'm discontinuing this series because I just don't' get the appeal any more.

Thankyou so much for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review. I found this one a lot more easier to read than the first one therefore I got more into it and the book flowed so smoothly and was much easier to read. I loved how D.E. Night really made the town come to life through words and it did wonders to my imagination. Thankyou again for the opportunity to read this

Firstly thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc!! 🥰❤️

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow is definitely a step up from the first book, it’s so much meatier!! There’s a lot more depth to everyone and I enjoyed getting more from the plot and being with Ivy. I enjoyed learning more about the magic system and moving on with the story with everyone. I did find it a little predictable but I loved it none the less, the second half of the book was so crazy I just couldn’t put it down!! ❤️❤️

I enjoyed this book just as much as I did the first book. It has the same familiar feel to me (There are lots of similarities between this series and a certain other middle grade book…) and as an adult I would definitely recommend it to fellow adults who like reading middle grade as well as middle grade readers themselves!! 🥰🥰

Wow! This 2nd book of the series is full of adventure, danger, thrills, emotional rollercoaster and leaves me in cold sweat sometimes. Even now 5 minutes after reaching the end of the story, I can feel my heart thumping rapidly in my chest. The cover page is enthralling too, drawing me into this magical world in the book. I can’t wait to read book 3, and I can see book 4 is being published in 3 weeks!

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow, is a well written middle school fantasy book. I loved the continued world building, adventure, and meeting new characters.