Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

The Garden Just Beyond by Lindsey Leavitt is a third person-POV Middle Grade contemporary fantasy set in New Jersey. The Gartner family has a long history of bringing dinner guests to their home and serving them an elaborate dinner. When it’s Maggie’s turn to finally prepare her first dinner, she’s excited but also has to deal with secrets in the family long buried coming back.

As I read this, I was somewhat reminded of A Series of Unfortunate Events. There’s this off-beat, somewhat distant voice plus a plot that isn’t quite as straightforward, but everything that is happening on the page is showing the audience things instead of telling them. For instance, instead of saying outright that Maggie feels like her family is drowning her out, we see her large family constantly talking over her. It is on the slower end so a young reader who needs something faster paced might struggle, but a more voracious leader who wants something a bit quirkier and is going to challenge them might have a lot of fun with this book.

Maggie has a lot of struggles when it comes to actually existing outside of her family and being recognized by them at the same time. Her cousins and siblings are all given more attention (such as Corny who is deeply beloved by the entire town) or more accomplished (her younger brother was knighted when he was only five years old). The only person who really seems to remember that she exists is Graham, her new friend from school that everyone suggests is a romantic interest. When one of her cousins claims that Maggie has everything, Maggie gets indignant because, from her perspective, she has very little. I wouldn’t say that there is emotional neglect on the page, but I would say that Maggie disappears among the bigger personalities of her family.

The magic elements come in the form of a curse and the food. The garden that the Gartner family looks over has several very firm rules that they must follow, such as not pickling the produce the garden provides, and there are fruits and vegetables they can access that are out of season. Each item has a specific meaning that is sometimes tied to a particular culture and every dinner has a theme around a specific fruit or vegetable.

I would recommend this to young readers of MG looking for something a bit more challenging and readers of contemporary fantasy looking for a slower paced MG

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for this ARC.

Totally forgot about requesting this ARC... so imagine my surprise when I was last minute accepted for The Garden Just Beyond and learned it was to be published soon. Especially upon finding out it was a middle grade novel, which is not my favorite genre for fantasy but one I'm willing to venture more into. But boy howdy, was this a surprise! I feel the cover does not do the content justice: it's so full of whimsy in a way that reminded me of reading A Series of Unfortunate Events for the first time. The Garden Just Beyond is one of those books that makes you feel like you learned more about the world, while trying to escape it.

Upon first glance, The Garden Just Beyond feels a little on the older side of middle grade. I do not have much exposure to this genre, but to me this read like how I expect some authors to write 16 year old protagonists. As in, layers of emotional turmoil and introspection, but also someone that is still learning to grow. Maggie, or Magnolia, feels like a character who has ADHD and full of anxiety. She spends her time worried about when she will be called to make her first dinner-- a Gartner family tradition-- and join the family legacy. Hyper focusing on recipes that bring out the emotions, Maggie's personal relationships peter out before they begin. Lindsey Leavitt does an amazing job establishing Maggie's awkwardness with chit chat, and her inability to create friends. The reader can feel the inner turmoils of feeling like you are not good enough to match the rest of your spectacular family, and being left behind as a result.

Maggie's mind was such a joy to be a part of as we explored the mystery of newcomers into the town who seem to only want to get access to the family garden. Unlike most stories, although the garden is integral to Maggie's family and life, it feels like Maggie is more focused on growing as a person and discovering her identity outside of the family inheritance. She even makes her first friend who's ramblings ground her to the reality that she is a a child who is starting to grow up in the world, and allows her to open her eyes to the world around her. Without giving too much away, I am struggling to explain how beautifully executed the balance between plot and character development is in The Garden Just Beyond.

Leavitt's use of language is witty in how it makes even the most mundane, everyday comments feel like tongue in cheek comments. The prose drew me in, as well as the witticisms leading me to absolutely devour The Garden Just Beyond. I did not feel like I was wasting my time, but rather developing my worldview more. What was also refreshing was the inclusion of a female-male friendship that did not turn into a romance. Overall, The Garden Just Beyond felt like it matched what middle schoolers/ early high schoolers need: a time to reflect on who they want to be and learn to enjoy the moments as they come.

I was taken by the gorgeous cover of this book but sadly I couldn't connect to it. As much as I love an eccentric family, I mentally tapped out when one of the characters mentioned doing Snoop Dogg's cousin's nails.

While I was excited by the premise and cover of this book, unfortunately I couldn’t connect with it and chose to stop reading at the 20% mark. I think there’s a lot of promise in this story and I am curious to know how it ends, but I struggled a lot with the writing style. It felt very chaotic – lots of characters with nicknames, lots of side stories and family history, as well as a protagonist that felt equally underdeveloped. I generally enjoy an eccentric family tale, but it was a slog for me to even get as far as I did. That being said, I think fans of Lemony Snicket, The Swifts, and the Greenglass House series will find this an enchanting and colorful ride.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with a DRC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I never had this author on my radar until now, but wow, I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to read more from Mrs. Leavitt.

There’s something so whimsical and magical about the writing that makes it feel naturally enchanting and whimsical, like you’re living right in Humble Hollow with the characters. The humor is spot-on too, and at times it even reminded me of The Great Hibernation by Tara Dairman with its whimsical vibes. While the writing can be confusing at first—with lots of characters and family history thrown in without much introduction—I still found it captivating.

A magical garden with emotion-inducing produce, mentions of The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett, cozy mystery underlines… what else do you need? It’s not as atmospheric as I expected to be, BUT, it’s the perfect read to welcome spring and shake off that hibernation feeling.

The characters are definitely wonderful. I simply love Maggie. Her anxiety about doing things right is so relatable, and seeing her insecurities come through is so wholesome. She just wants to feel special and valued within her huge family, but she often feels lost and unsure of her place.

Graham (a.k.a. Mr. Everything) is another favorite; he’s curious, intelligent, and so matter-of-fact.

Also, Grandma Mara’s journal entries add such an intriguing layer to the story.

Again, the writing is beautiful, but it feels a little more mature for a middle grade book at times. The dialogue can come off as too serious, and some sections—like the dense family history portions—felt a bit heavy for the intended audience.

This book has such a beautiful message about heritage—how important it is to protect it because it’s basically who we are and where we come from.

"They couldn’t reverse the mistakes they’d made in the town, with the garden, or one another. They couldn’t change who they’d been.
But they still could change who they would become.
And they could still stall."

The ending was beautiful; such a heartfelt and nurturing conclusion, and I loved how everything came together.
Overall, I loved it. I’d totally recommend it to anyone who’s into middle grade books with a mix of fantasy and mystery. Or, If you’re into genre-blending stories, this one’s definitely worth checking out!

As a person who loves both gardening and cooking, this book really resonated with me. It had interesting characters, good world building, and a plot that felt both magical and universal. It was fun, mysterious, and compelling.

However, while I did enjoy this book, I had a few issues with its delivery. There are a lot of characters, subplots, scheming, and aliases, as well as journal entries from even more characters—the deceased (mostly) members of the two main families in the book. Sometimes it was difficult to keep track of who was who and who did/or was doing what. And those journal entries... They were fine, when they were a sparse scattering, but there was a point where there were a lot of entries. They distracted from the main story and read like information dumps.

Despite my issues with some of the stylistic choices of delivery, this book has a good story and a powerful message. At its heart, it is a book about family and family legacy, community, and second chances. And it reminds us all of the power and magic of forgiveness.

What I liked most about this book is the relevance given to cooking a dinner for the first time to her family as if it is a coming-of-age rite and acceptance ritual. There are lots of rules regarding ingredients, the garden, who can or can not cook from the garden, and what some ingredients signify, giving it all a magical realism and mystical feeling. At the same time, Graham is the kid in town who is patient to be a friend and grounds her to the daily problems of society more common to others.
It's a bit slow read but interesting.

Magnolia Carter lives in Humble Hollow, a small town in the New Jersey Pine Barrens where her family has lived for generations. They have an unusual calling; they serve magical dinners that change people’s lives because of the ingredients that they grow on the farm. They used to just invite friends and neighbors, but now hunt down customers willing to pay high prices in order to have a source of income. Maggie has not yet cooked one of these dinners, but has been studying the effects of various ingredients and planning her menu. She often hangs out with her cousin Clementine, and her brother Corny and cousin Bay also are very involved in the business. When former customer Miguel (who was fed an acai bowl that gave him self-confidence and a good work ethic) wants to take his newly earned wealth and buy the property next to the Carter’s, the family wonders if this will ruin their magical crops. The town has fallen on hard times, and Maggie’s family hasn’t been as involved in the community as they were in the past, but Maggie wants to participate in the yearly Factory Days celebration. She partners with classmate Graham, whose uncle Timothy has an odd connection to the town and is raising Graham after his mother was imprisoned for embezzlement, which the two claim was a miscarriage of justice. Maggie finds journals kept by family members, and learns secrets about the hereditary powers, even though she seems to be lacking in some of them herself.

This is a departure from Leavitt’s usual realistic writing, like her young adult novels Sean Griswold’s Head (2011), Going Vintage (2013) The Chapel Wars (2014) and middle grade books The Pages Between Us (2016) and North of Supernova (2023). It’s more of an allegorical fantasy like Cole’s The Empty Place or Walker’s Once Upon a Fever with a heaping helping of the magical cooking that occurs in Littlewood’s Bliss or Larocca’s Midsummer’s Mayhem.

My favorite character is Magnolia aka Maggie. I was shocked by the sudden twist with Timothy. I truly enjoyed this book. The plot was great and the characters exceptional.

The Garden Just Beyond was a combination of supernatural and humor. The story is about a family with a special garden, whose fruits and vegetables grow out of season at the whim of the garden and endow the eaters with special gifts. The family holds expensive and exclusive dinners for paying guests and take turns cooking the meals. Maggie, however much she wants to participate, cannot see the garden and cannot hold dinner conversations without many funny gaffes. There is a threat to the garden, old family secrets are revealed and lessons are learned. The book has a sweet message of not burdening oneself with hostility and letting go of resentments and feuds. It is squeaky clean and appropriate for late elementary ages on up.

I received an advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.