This type of science fiction isn’t exactly my first choice when it comes to reading fiction however I was reached out by the publisher so I decided to give it a shot & I actually found myself enjoying it. It’s a middle school grade reading level & since I have a 12 year old sister her and I read it together. We really enjoyed Ivy’s character the best. The poor girl went through SO MUCH & found a way to persevere through it. I thought that she was a good role model for young readers (even though she technically got kicked out of school! LOL) I also enjoyed the magical concept behind the story line, it gave the whole book a “Harry Potter” kind of vibe but still kept it original with certain qualities such as the magical stones. Overall, I think kids would really enjoy it!

Happy Reading everybody!

*I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Thank you so much to Net Galley and Stories Untold, the publisher, for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this book 3.7 stars.

y grows up as a maid and is constantly mistreated by her supervisor her whole life. However, at 16, she escapes the castle where she worked and finds out she has magical abilities when she's given an invitation to enter a famous magical school, where she's meant to unveil many secrets and mysteries.

I saw this as a late middle grade/early YA fantasy story.

The writing style was appropriate for the target audience and sometimes gravitated towards the lower end. It made this book a quick and easy read without being too simplistic.

The story is full of well-known tropes, such as "the chosen one", "the evil queen", "the servant that ends up being the heir", etc., which makes the plot quite predictable although you never really know what's going to end up happening until the last chapters. This may be biased given that I was expecting something completely different or the previous information to be misleading.

However, I did enjoy reading this and it took me back to my adolescent years. I would have given the world to have a female chosen one badass heroine's story for emotional support and validation. Ivy is not perfect; she makes mistakes and is too sassy at times, which gets her into trouble, but she's real and doesn't really need a partner's love to succeed, but friendship.

I feel I still need an explanation to how certain things were too easy they didn't make sense even in a fantasy story, such as her friendships and her winning over the bully.

The world building was quite well done and I could vividly imagine every character and place described throughout the story, including the colours.

If you want a fast-paced, tropey, and beautiful fantasy story with a happy ending, this book is for you. It warms the heart and puts a smile upon your face.

Let me know in the comments if you're interested in reading this, what was the last ARC that put a smile upon your face and what you think about books like this one.

The Crowns of Croswald

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as I sunk into Ivy’s world, discovering the magic as she herself did. It was such a comforting book which I cannot wait to share with my daughters.

The main character Ivy really does have a talent for mishaps and misunderstandings which makes for such an interesting story. Especially as she has such a kind heart with genuinely good intentions which makes me hold my breath hoping she will find a way out of each experience.

As I move through the story I crave more information about the other characters in Ivy’s world. For most of the book, I don’t feel like I know them and following Ivy without sharing the experiences she would be having with these characters feels like I’m missing out. She is such a likeable girl that she would surely have some amazing friends around her. As I move through the final chapters I’m excited to start to get to know Rebecca and Fyn more.

I really enjoyed the unfolding of the storyline in little puzzle pieces as each time I learnt a little more I felt a buzz of excitement. When Rimbrick left at the beginning of the story I wanted to know more about where he fit in, and as I neared the end of the story he finally returned leading me towards Ivy’s true identity.

It is not often that you find a series of books that you just know will be regular comfort re-reads. Thank goodness for The Crowns of Croswald, our family loves a good magical story and with a strong, caring and kind female main character we have found new book friends.

The Crowns of Croswald is a fun adventure and magic-filled story for middle-grade readers. While I have seen a few listings calling this YA Fantasy, I would put it firmly in the middle-grade category. I enjoyed this fun trip to a world filled with newly discovered magical abilities for Ivy Lovely, whose story begins while she is working as a scullery maid for a large house. The blending of a Cinderella story retelling with a magical world not unlike Hogwarts was a nice twist on combining "something old and something new". I liked the distinct character development of Ivy and her new friends at school, as well as the cast of supporting characters. The plot was filled with fun adventure with perils for the heroine, but nothing too scary for younger readers.

The pacing was a bit slow for me but I think would be fine for younger readers, especially if this was a book being read to them. Following Ivy's journey from kitchen maid to student of magic, and navigating all of the twists and turns to unveil the mysteries and unknown details made for an engaging read. This is a series I would recommend to friends with kids, with a great first book to kick off the set.

This book gave me Nevermoor vibes from the start. It was a fun ride, with plenty of whimsical descriptions.
While I enjoyed The Crowns of Croswald, I simply don't think I'm the target audience for this one, but I did but a paperback copy for my daughter to read, so I definitely appreciate the story and characters, and think a younger audience would love this one!

The Crowns of Croswald is a YA/middle grade book filled with fantasy, magic and a good plot. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story grabs you from the very beginning. The magic, the creatures and the story itself were fascinating to read. The descriptions of the different settings were well done, it felt like I was standing in each moment of the story. This book was fun to read and gave me some major Harry Potter vibes, in the best way. Definitely a good choice for a middle grade fantasy lover.

The Crowns of Croswald was a fun read that young fantasy lovers are sure to enjoy. It started out slower and took me a while to really get into it. The pace picked up and there was action and adventure that had me hooked, I thought it was quite fun.

I'm intrigued by the world and magic system. I like all of the characters but the side characters were my favourites.

I will definitely recommend this to younger readers.

I really feel like I'm not in the right audience for this book. 12-year-old me would have been obsessed with this, but to 20-something me, it was fine. Nothing extraordinary, but nothing terrible either. The world was intriguing, the characters were fun, the magic system was cool. The pacing felt weird, the decisions the characters made were a little baffling, the dialogue felt awkward at times. But if I ever get asked to recommend a book for someone in the 12 to 15 age range (particularly if they loved Harry Potter), this will definitely be at the top of the list.

3.5 stars from me!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sending me the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Crowns of Croswald is a Harry Potter -esque fantasy book that follows main character Ivy, an orphan who goes from slumming it in a kitchen to living at an amazing magical boarding school. It's fast paced, full of action, and a dragon here and there.

The writing style of this book was pretty fast, but easy to read. The book was definitely written for the middle schooler/young teen age category, but you can still enjoy it no matter what age you are. I read it by myself, and with my younger sister who is in middle school. As much as that is the age advertised to, she found the vocabulary a little much (for reference she’s 11)

This book would be a lot more enjoyable for someone who loves fantasy books, as someone who reads fantasy rarely, it's not completely my cup of tea. What I did enjoy was the side characters, who carried the story. The main character, Ivy, was a little hard to bond with but her friends were fun and easy to enjoy.

The beginning of the book is a little slow, but once she arrives at the school everything picks up. If you're looking for the same sort of magic nostalgia that comes with this type of story, but are looking for something other than Potter, this is great for you!

This book is a great target to the young audience and if I was a middle schooler, I would love this book and I did love it when reading this book. This book had so my description of new and fascinating creatures and terms that I could imagine the whole scenery as I read this book. The main character's (Ivy) curiosity and her character development is what caught my attention and loved how Ivy's world was portrayed as. Definitely a binge worthy book and hope everyone has the chance to read this especially if you are in a reading slump and don't know what to read.

Beautiful world, fun vibrant story, characters with unique magic, and some great generational literary references! Thank-you so much for the excellent read D. E. Night!

Thankyou publisher for the copy of this amazing master piece. The first thing that I would like to highlight here is that, I basically read mystery suspense genre more than any other genre. BUT THIS BOOK CHANGED MY PREFERENCES. This book, for me has changed my mind set and has influenced to the deepest of the layers.
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I never ever read something so magical. I read through the book, I could see things happening at the back of mind- lanterns of hairies, castle of the dark queen, the dark and evil queen.
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I am speechless. First in thr trilogy The book revolves around Ivy Lovely, set in a magical town, who goes to the school called Hall of Ivy- school for magical abled children. On the other side of the story, is a dark queen, who possesses all evil magic, superior to everything and has lived more than any other magical creature.
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But why is this dark queen so interested Ivy? A tale of magic, love, friendship, family secrets.
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I adored this book more that any other fantasy book ever. Now that I think about it, why did I not read this one earlier. I am very grateful to the publisher to have provided me with a copy of this mind blowing book. I would really love to explore the other two in thr trilogy.

I was transported to my middle school years myself and can guarantee that the audience it is intended for is going to love the book.

The book is about Ivy Lovely, who finds herself in Halls of Ivy, a school for fellow scrivenists and royals for learning about their magic. She goes from being a scaldrony maid to an eager sqwinch who learns a lot more than she ever expected.

It is full of magic and new terms and creatures that I was wide-eyed with imagination of the setting of the book. The book is an experience which I had with all the curiosity of the main character herself.

The book is not over explanatory with its world-system and rather focusses on what the audience of the book might be interested in. It is entirely up to Ivy and her curious mind as she lands herself in one trouble after the other. The best part of the book, was that the situations were so dangerous, that it was also comical that it was happening to a girl, who is just a child.

Ivy’s life has made a complete 360 degree turn but her friendships with Fyn and Rebecca always bring us back to her innocence and yet lays emphasis on her determination to know everything about the secrets that she is turned away from. In fact, the entire story is full of secrets that the readers will love to uncover in the entire series.

The Crowns of Croswald is a story that should be placed in every library of every school and should be enjoyed by every child who dreams of adventures not possible in real life.

Fantastic! Marketed as a middle-grade read, I find this first book of the series to have the emotional development of an adult novel, but with the fantasy & young, relatable characters of a YA book. The imagery puts you right into Ivy Lovely’s world & I didn’t want to leave! I will be ordering the other books in the series to continue with Ivy’s story.

Okay, I finished this book AWHILE ago, after it took me quite some time to actually get through it. I guess it was the fact that I felt like it was literally just Harry Potter being told as if he were a girl. I am a massive Potter fan, so this sounded great for me! Until it was practically the same exact story line. I get that retelling a are supposed to be similar.. but not to the point of using the same lines but just a bit tweaked. Not to the point of it feeling like the whole thing is plagiarized. There were parts that would keep me a bit interested, but after that, it would die and I would be heavenly reminded of why the book was upsetting me. I will not be reading on in this series.

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't able to finish reading this book, the world building was a little too middle grade for me and I was difficult for me to enjoy it.

This was a very whimsical middle grade novel. It gave me Harry Potter meets Studio Ghibli vibes. I do like the occasional middle grade series (like Percy Jackson, Sisters Grimm, Fablehaven, and Harry Potter), but this one just wasn’t the right fit for me. I’d recommend it to my 10-year old niece, though! She would enjoy it more than me.

The Crowns of Croswald follow Ivy Lovely, an orphan maid who lives in a magical dead spot and when she is kicked out discovers she has magical powers and is picked up to go to a magical school.

The story starts fairly slow but really hits its stride at about chapter 4. The plot as you get further along in the story does get really interesting as weird things keep happening to Ivy and you can sense that people are keeping secrets from her, however, I find the timeline to be a little confusing and time skips don't feel very jarring.

Ivy as a character is fairly charming and I don't mind her as the narrator but you don't really find out much about her character really making her feel a little flat, the 2 main side characters, Fyn and Rebecca, have so much potential and personality but their relationships with Ivy are never fully developed on the page, and it feels like there should have been more info given about them to really sell their relationship with Ivy.

This series has potential and although I see some issues I enjoyed the characters and plot, I'm not entirely sure if I will read the second book but as a Middle-Grade Fantasy book it has potential and the storyline is interesting.

**I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**

⭐️2.75/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley, Stories Untold, and D.E. Night for the opportunity.


I want to start off with middle-grade books aren’t really my thing but as a homeschool mama I thought it would make a great addition to our read-aloud books. Unfortunately, I found that this went completely over my daughters head with certain words and scenes that far surpassed what I would consider middle grade.

She is also reading Harry Potter and she felt like it was another version of that book - I can’t say that I don’t feel the same.

Overall, I couldn’t get into this book at all. There were many areas in the book that either weren’t explained at all, were overly descript, or large info dumps - this took me out of the world she was creating. I had to DNF this one and I absolutely hate doing that but rather than forcing myself to read it and give a fully lackluster review, it was for the best.

I think this would be a great read for those that enjoy middle grade and YA but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Don't you just hate it when you have to write a review for a book you loved so much, but don't really know how to put it in words? The Crowns of Croswald is one of those. What a magical story! And with magical I mean the whole spectrum of the word: Fantasy, suspense, strong characters, legends, princesses, queens, dragons, mirrors, secret doors, potions and the most imaginative creatures you can think of.

Meet Ivy Lovely, 16 and a scaldron maid. No, you don't know what a scaldron maid is, because you don't know what a scaldron is. It's also not even almost a scoundrel, if you were wondering. I believe scoundrel will always refer to a person and a scaldron is non-human. A scaldron is a kitchen dragon and the Croswald version of a Hogwarts owl.  Seeing that I am a cat, I can write this whole review only about the magical creatures we've encountered during our adventures at the The Halls of Ivy and Ravenshollow. But my Mommy says we should rather focus on the scoundrels, I mean the humans.

As most fairytale heroines, Ivy is an orphan with a secret past and no idea that she has magical powers. Of course she is also not aware that she is most probably a princess or a queen or something very regal in the world of fantasy. As most fairytale kitchen maids, who are actually bound for higher purposes, it's the last place she should have been placed in the palace to begin with. It didn't take her or her sickly scaldron, Humboldt, long to be kicked out of the palace by a dreadful scoundrel.

All fairytale heroines always have non-conventional friends, like frogs or geese or snowmen or dwarfs. Ivy's only friend in the whole wide world, is one such creature. Rimbrick, an ancient wood dwarf. Luckily for her, Rimbrick is old and wise and he told her all the old tales of deep magic and spinning yarns about trolls and dragons, princesses and castles, scrivenists and their quills. (These are all very applicable in our current fairytale, so pay attention in class!). So when Ivy got cast out into the big, bad world for an hour or so before the got caught up in her new magical reality, all she had with her, was her scaldron and the books on magic Rimbrick gave her, written by Derwin Edgar Night. (See what the author did here? D.E. Night??). And as we know, books contain knowledge and knowledge is power. Especially if you love to sketch and have a photographic memory (once again, very applicable information. Please take notes in class).

Our story really gets going when Ivy receives an invitation to study at the Hall of Ivy, a school for magic. No, I don't think they play Quidditch against Hogwarts and I do not know who was the Inter-school Spelling Bee Champion. Upon accepting her invitation, the magic begins. But so does all other mysterious occurrences and the questions get piled up.

As in most schools, magical or non-magical, friendships and allegiances are quickly formed and students are unfortunately labeled as to where you originate from. In our world, it's which side of the track you come from, in Hogwarts is Muggles against Pure-Bloods. In the Halls of Ivy, it's royals and sqwinches.

There was a clear distinction between the royals and the sqwinches: the former were bejeweled and becrowned, and the latter seemed to carry their own weight in books.

Both me and my Mommy loved the characters in The Crowns of Croswald and although it really is very easy to draw similarities between this tale and other tales of magical schools and long forgotten princesses, this truly is a unique tale in a whimsical world of its own.

The only thing that bothered us ever so slightly, was the pace of this fairytale. In some places, especially the start, it was dragging a bit. In other places it went too quickly and we felt as if we had a glitch and missed a few things. But I am sure it will come together in the rest of the series and we are already searching for book two, The Girl with the Whispering Shadow.