I am writing on behalf of my daughter, who is 11 years old. She has an IG account (@paige.s.reading), and thanks to Stories Untold Press, she received a free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5, she loved it and wants to keep reading the whole series.

Plot: Ivy Lovely is an orphan living in Castle Plum as a Scauldron dragon maid. One day she is kicked out of the castle with her Scauldron. They wind up in the Halls of Ivy, a magic school. Ivy is curious about an empty journal that she found at the school, but she is forbidden to read it. Will she find out the truth behind the journal?

Feelings: I was curious and Anxious at the end of the book because I am afraid that Ivy might get in trouble, and I want to know what happens next! It is written with magic and mystery; that’s what kept me reading the book. It also reminds me of Harry Potter.

Fun Facts: This is my second book on kindle (on my Ipad). I enjoyed reading an ebook for a change. It also has an electronic bookmark.

Recommendations: I highly recommend this book if you like fantasy or magical worlds or Harry potter.

First thank you to the publisher Stories Untold Press for offering me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I so badly wanted to love this book. With boasts of Harry Potter meets Alice in Wonderland, I couldn't say yes to this book fast enough. I was fully anticipating a quirky storyline filled with magic...which don't get me wrong, readers get that, but it just fell short for me and I just saw too many crossovers for my personal liking.

As an avid lover of Harry Potter, I struggled to not compare the characters and atmosphere of CoC to HP. There were direct lines to a majority of our main HP characters and toss that in with some of the funky Alice creatures and the "Queen of Hearts/Evil Queen" I just struggled to give this book its own voice.

Now on the other hand, if you were the target readers (middle grade) and have not read as much fantasy as I have, this would most likely be a fantastic read for you. It would have a better opportunity to stand out on its own and allow younger readers the chance to experience a beautiful world of magic. The author did do a wonderful job with the description/world building and it had a great storyline to it. This wasn't a "bad" book, it just fell short of the mark for me personally.

*Overall, it would be a great choice for a new fantasy/magical world reader and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this series to a middle grade reader.

I am unsure if I will continue on with the series or not. Maybe if I am looking for a simple cleansing read after one of my heavy fantasy books???

3,5/5 🌟

Firstly, I'd like to thank the author and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review, I'm so so thankful.

Before starting with the actual review, let me just say just how beautiful this book is!! The cover is cute, yes, but the inside??? Gorgeous!!!!!

Regarding the book itself - before starting it I browsed through some of its reviews and found some pretty mixed feelings about it. Normally when I do that, I get a pretty good sense of what I'm about to get myself into but in this case, I didn't have a clue.

One of the most recurrent opinions stated that it was really similar to Harry Potter. Well, it is, but I don't actually mind that. I've read pretty good HP knock-offs in the past and I loved them.
TCOC is similar in its core, but it does have some of its own interesting bits, namely its world-building and magic (I loved loved that the author gave the mysterious character - Derwin Edgar Night a twist with her name, so clever).
I did find it a bit confusing, in the beginning, tho because I wasn´t really getting any answers so that made the reading process a bit difficult. I did get them in the end so I'm curious to see what's next for Ivy.

The writing style is also really enjoyable, so if you're a HP fan, then this is the book for you :)

Ivy is an orphan girl that works as a maid until she is invited to come to a school for magical children who are called sqwinches and royals. The discover that she is a sqwinches only leaves Ivy with more questions and mysteries surrounding her heritage and magic.

This book had a lot of crazy cool ideas and elements to it! I loved the magical ideas of the sqwinches and royals and creatures like the scaldrons and shorehorses. With that being said, this book could have been a lot better. The series of events felt very sporadic and not transitioned well. I also felt like there was too much of pattern of describing larger sized characters as mean, dumb, or as only caring about food. For example, one character was described in the book in this way, “She lived above and to the right of Mr. Munson’s shop. However, her size would suggest she lived next to the town baker instead”...Or another was described in this way, “The ticket booth was filled almost entirely with a corpulent woman, the ticketing agent...Derwin could smell her breath, sickly sweet from too much pie.” Maybe I’m being over sensitive about this, but there are multiple other similar descriptions throughout the book. I’m just not sure if I would want to expose my child to that type of viewpoint/attitude.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book has a great story and a great pace. I adored the creativity in the world building. It has new creative concepts added on to the familiar world of a magic school with magical creatures , an evil queen etc.

However, I was yearning for character development. Though it is targeted for the middle grade readers, getting a glimpse into the protagonist Ivy's thoughts would have made me root for her more. I felt quite disconnected with her and failed to feel any emotion for her. The other characters too, did not leave any mark.
Also, I felt that the writing could have been smoother and the copy I recieved was filled with typos and grammatical errors.
I have finished sixty percent of the book and I will complete it to see where the story goes.
But I am not so sure that I would be recommending it or continuing with the series due to the above points.

The story and the ideas presented here, have great potential but the book left me very disappointed with its execution.

This is a very whimsical, fun, magical, middle-grade story. I loved the way the story of Ivy and how she went from being kicked out of the castle to finding what she was truly meant to be. Her art was so intriguing and lovely to read about. But the story isn't just as simple as that. If you enjoyed the adventures of Harry Potter, I'd say this story will appeal to you. Maybe made for a younger audience than Harry Potter. There's magic, there's mystery, there's fun and lively escapes. Thank you to DE Night for allowing me to read this book for an honest review.

It took a bit of time for me to absorb this new world. I suppose it's my age! I have no doubt young kids are better able to appreciate this magical world. Fans of Harr Potter are sure to like this book.

Thank you to the publisher for pre-approving me with an e-copy of this book via Netgalley.

“You are she, the one all of Croswald has been searching for. Waiting for, whether they knew it or not.”

An orphan girl. A magical school full of mysteries and secrets. How this could end?

Ivy will meet her new friends, her new family not by blood, but by choice. And, certainly, will know more about her lineage and her parents.

Ivy Lovely is such a brilliant character. I wouldn't be able to describe her in a word, because she's many things at once, many good things. This book has so many great characters. Fyn, Rebecca, Derwin, and more but I don't want to make spoilers so I won't say a thing about those characters.

I loved how the author writes. It was such a delight to be able to read this book because of this. I want to say that I haven't connected a lot with this story as I was expecting, although I did connect with Ivy since the very first page. But the way the book is written, how wonderful is the world-building, and the characters' interactions kept me reading.

One of the things that matter to me the most is the way the book is written, and how. I mean, the descriptions, the dialogues, etc. The dialogues in this book were fluent.

Maybe one of the things that I disliked were when the author gives too much information at the beginning. I feel like it was just not the time to tell all of that.

The classes and the creatures of the school were so interesting and funny! I loved that!

If you're into or you want to get into this trope of magical schools this is the right book for you! It's a light reading full of magic and mystery, and I'm sure you'll love it!

P.S.: Amazon doesn't let me post a review of it!

#TheCrownsOfCroswald #Netgalley

When I read the book description I was really excited because I always enjoy magical coming of age story. In the book we follow Ivy who has recently discovered that there is so much more to herself than she could have ever imagined. Ivy is forced to learn about magic that resides in her blood and about harnessing her powers in order to save her new home.

I really enjoy reading about magical schools with mysterious villains and a lot of secrets, so this was a great read. The main character Ivy was such lovable and curious character. She regularly showed how aptitude for kindness even in times that it got her in trouble. The book is truly as magical as the cover. I found myself getting lost in the town of Croswald while reading. The author, D.E. Night gave such vivid descriptions that I felt like I was watching a movie as I read. The ending definitely left me wanting more. I can't want to pick up the others.

I enjoyed this, it was a quick easy read with a bit of a different take on a magical story.
I liked Ivy the main character & it was a great setting. Worth a read

The Crowns of Croswald by D. E. Night is the first book in a middle school aged fantasy book that literally transports you to a whole new world where magic is real and the quest to find who you are is very real. Ivy was one of my favorite characters. Just the way she never gave up, her energy and how resourceful she was during the tough times made her one of my favorites, I was rooting for her the entire time I was reading! I loved the alternating POVs. It helped give me a sense of who the characters were and gave more information into the world.

I would like to thank Stories Untold Press and NetGalley for sending me an ebook copy of this amazing book by D.E Night in exchange of an honest review.

The Crowns of Croswald is such a thrilling book, perfect for fantasy lovers with a heart for adventure and discovery of magic that’s quite different from the one we know. The protagonist, Ivy Lovely, is the sweetest girl, she’s so brave and intelligent, I absolutely loved her. Ivy’s story, her discovery of her own magical blood and mysterious past is so fun and amusing, everything that happens to her and the trouble she gets into is so exciting and intriguing, and her friends are simply the best!

Discovering this new scrivenist world in which Ivy is now part of, the magic stones, quills, fun and different magic creatures (Humboldt the scaldron and the hairies are my absolute favorites!) and even Ivy’s chilling encounters with the mysterious and evil Dark Queen were such an amazing adventure.
I adored the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter, they’re gorgeous and such a nice addition to all the adventures and magical places.

Although I really enjoyed all the mystery and intrigue we got from the first page I did feel like everything got such a quick answer towards the end and it turned even more fast-paced than it already was, but it still was so much fun to read and I loved all the characters and their different personalities, even the ones that suddenly got suspicious.

The way everything worked out at the end, all the new aspects we got to know not only about Ivy’s life but the whole magic system in Croswald was amazing and simply epic.

I highly recommend this book, it’s such an easy and fun read, full of disaster and excitement. I have so many theories and questions yet to be answered and can’t wait to read the next one, the girl with the whispering shadow.

I loved this magical book , Its written in a very fairytale-esque way and the intruige as high all the way true.
Its about Ivy a maid who may go to a prestige magical school. Her past is very miysterical and Ivy tries to find out who she is..

There is a good villain in this story and i loved the friendships.

If you like magical schools , the chosen one trope ( done right), and an atmospheric read i highly recommend this book!

Well excuse me im of now buying the next two books. Thank you so much to D.E Night and stories untold press for gifting me this e-arc i enjoyed it so much.

Tried my best to get through this but it just didn't keep my interest. I was hoping to recommend this for our hi-lo readers and while I do see the similarities to Harry Potter, it didn't keep me engrossed.

THE CROWNS OF CROSWALD is a middle grade fantasy that follows 16 year old Ivy Lovely as she discovers her powers and uncovers secrets of her past at a magical school.
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I wanted to like this one more than I did. I went into this book excited for a magical middle grade read, but this story was just too similar to the plot of Harry Potter. It became a game to see how many similarities I could spot, but eventually I stopped counting because it was just too much. The pacing was rough for me. At times I didn’t even want to continue. I was looking forward to finding out more about the mysterious Wandering Family, but I feel like we got nothing exciting out of that until the very end of the book. The last few chapters were great— the action was exciting— but I truly didn’t enjoy my time reading until those few chapters. Had I read this as a kid when I was desperate to get my hands on anything that reminded me of the magic of Harry Potter, I probably would have loved this. Unfortunately I’m just not the right reader for it now.
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2/5 stars, THE CROWNS OF CROSWALD by D.E. Night is available now.
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Thank you to Stories Untold Press and Netgalley for sending me an ebook to review.

In Croswald, the only thing more powerful than dark magic is one secret….

For sixteen years Ivy Lovely has been hidden behind an enchanted boundary that separates the mundane from the magical. When Ivy crosses the border, her powers awaken. Curiosity leads her cashing through a series of adventures at the Halls of Ivy, a school where students learn to master their magical blood and the power of Croswald’s mysterious gems. When Ivy's magic and her life is threatened by the Dark Queen, she scrambles to unearth her history and save Crowald before the truth is swept away forever.

If you love HP series you will definitely love this book, it has a magical world and unknown powers one may have. It also has a little fairytale love story intwined in it. It was such a lovely book and brought me back to my youth reading this book.

Ivy, I absolutely loved her and all the side characters made this a fun middle grade/young adult book. I gave this 4.9 cause it was a little slow for me at first but definitely worth reading cause the ending was great and I can’t wait to read the other books to find out the rest of the story.

Thank you D.E. Night for writing such a wonderful book and thank you for allowing me to read this book on NetGalley for my honest review.

This was a really interesting story. I heard that it was similar to Harry Potter and I totally agree. There were so many elements that reminded me of Harry Potter but with D.E. Night's own twist to things. I thought the concept of scaldrons was fascinating but I would never want to eat food cooked by a scaldron since it's cooked inside their mouth. The concept of glanagaries was so neat and it would be so cool to experience that magic in real life. There is a ton of worldbuilding in this book, but there were so many elements about the magic system and world that I felt overwhelmed and at times didn't know what was happening. It is a LOT to take in especially in the first 100 pages. There was also a lot happening that I ended up skimming a bit and found it hard to focus on the story. This book is marketed for middle-grade but if an adult is having a hard time navigating this book, then I imagine it would be even harder for a child. It's a very imaginative story which is great and the bare bones of the plot is super interesting, but mix it in with all the descriptions and dialogue and it turns into a very confusing book. I also didn't see Ivy as a 16-year-old girl because her tone was a lot more childish. Also I don't see her relationship with Fyn happening because he literally just appears out of nowhere whenever it's time for them to have a moment to interact with each other.

Overall this story has a ton of potential, but it's a little too jumbled and overwhelming with all the info-dumping and Night's writing style, so I don't think I'll be continuing with the series.

2.8/5 Stars

The Crowns of Croswald was a lovely book. I really enjoyed the way the magic was shared through this world as well as how the plot catches the reader. Ivy Lovely was a very entertaining character, very well thought of, and really easy to follow. It was really nice and refreshing to have a world where women were in charge and played roles such as being "the chosen one." I made it exciting to continue reading.

Additionally, as it has been pointed out in other reviews, if you like Harry Potter, you will most certainly enjoy this fantasy book.

That being said, there were a few things that felt out of place, or not fully developed:

- There were a bit too many moments in which this book reminded me of Harry Potter. It felt like the world-building was lacking a bit of work and both the plot and the world were relying on the readers being familiar with an already existing fantasy world.

- Fyn wasn't a fully developed character. It was never clear what he was doing at specific times. He didn't have a voice of his own, unlike Rebecca, and this was especially evident during the ball scene.

- The book had one major POV change that didn't make sense whatsoever: the scene where Ivy is about to enter the ball. The entire book we see things from Ivy's point of view, but suddenly, we're thrown into Fyn's POV, except that, other than his name being there, it sounded exactly like Ivy. This was very distracting and pulled me out of the story, to where I had to go back and make sure I had read correctly. POV switches should be carefully used and very intentional. In this case, it didn't feel that way.

- I wish the supporting characters had been better developed. They always felt incomplete to a certain extent, just making cameos every so often. I also wish the threat of the Dark Queen and the Queen herself had been explored and described through the eyes of supporting characters more, to give it more life and credibility.

All in all, this book was enjoyable, and definitely left me wanting to find out more about Ivy's journey as she discovers her true identity.

Thank you to Stories Untold Press and Netgalley for my copy of The Crowns of Croswald. This is an enchanting fantasy and coming of age novel for young (and old) readers.

I think, for the target audience (ages 8+) it would be a spell-binging adventure with Ivy and her friends at the Halls of Ivy School. However, maybe for older readers/adults, it may not hit the mark entirely.

The characters are well written and I enjoyed reading about them and what they were learning at school. It is hard not to draw similarities to the world of Harry Potter and comparing common aspects of the book. However, I think this book does stand in it's own right and has it's own unique aspects. It would be perfect for young fantasy lovers everywhere!

I- ok I want to preface this by saying that 1. I was asked to read this book and give an honest review but I don’t think I’m necessarily the target demographic and I will explain why, and 2. this might be shorter than my usual reviews because again I don’t think I’m the right audience for this book and it shows.

I had quite a bit of trouble reading this book at first, mainly because I got it on Netgalley but I couldn’t access it on my Laptop for some reason so I had to read it on my phone which I struggle with because I can’t look at my phone for too long. Another reason was that this book, at least for me, started a bit confusing but also rather boring. Now, this is where we come back to me not being the right audience. I am 18 and if I had to guess I’d say this book was more written for middle-graders. I’ve seen a lot of people compare it to Harry Potter and since it also has the whimsical magical boarding school theme I can see that comparison, but I do think there is a lot more whimsy and fantasy in here. Also just to be clear I read Harry Potter as a child but in no way, shape, or form support J.K.

Now in Crowns of Crosswald, we follow 16-year old Ivy Lovely as she discovers a magical universe full of mythical creatures like dragons, magical quills, and of course potions. It is a journey of self-discovery as she learns about her hidden past and magical powers as well as makes friends that will last a lifetime. Now of course to stick with the theme there is a larger evil force at work against all the good and Ivy will have to try and defeat it.

With its aforementioned themes of whimsy, magic, and friendship it is a good story for younger kids but I had a hard time really enjoying it and therefore don’t feel like I can go into too many details.

Overall I just kind of got the feeling that maybe the author wanted to write a more Young Adult series, which is why Ivy is 16 but I just don’t feel like it really worked out. But that’s just my personal opinion, and if this sounds like something you’d enjoy definitely check it out!