Dragon in the Mirror: Into Canonsland

A little girl named Jayden has a friend in the mirror; a truly good knight and his dragon. I don't need to remind you that all dragons are magical, do I? Of course not! This little girl is in particular need. The heat has just been shut off, their food is down to very little, and her father has been out if work for a long time. People don't have the money to hire a fix-it man.

When the good night knows of the situation, he sends help as soon as he can. Amazing, miraculous help! And his friendship helps the girl.

Years go by, and she again needs help. Her parents know about the knight and dragon (and pretend to see him in the mirror for her sake). But this time, she is convinced nobody can help. Something grim has happened, and if there is any magic in this world or the other, now is the time it's needed most!

Wyndham (the knight) is so kind, tender, and understanding. He has taken up the fight for hurt and helpless people; because it's who he is. But the kingdom in his world is in crisis.

Will the people in Wyndham's world allow Jayden to help them? Will Jayden step up and do what is needed?

I enjoyed this book, but I admit to being impatient with Jayden on several occasions. Maybe because she was an only child, she was treated differently, but her little fits and tantrums got irritating, and she absolutely would not be quiet! Even when lives were at stake, she would yell about something. Of course, the good people were overly understanding and patient. But someone should have cared enough about her to sit her down and explain that difficult circumstances at home don't make it okay to disobey people caring for you, or to put people in danger over ideas of self-importance.

Jayden learned many good lessons, and grew up a lot during her adventures, but I didn't like the attitude that she should be left to learn things on her own.

I also question the author's choices in several plot points, but that's more about my personal peeves than any problem with the book.

Although I wanted to rate this story higher, there was too much "telling" about things and not enough "showing," and switching points of view from Jayden's to someone else's with different chapters was confusing to the extreme. Typing the name just below the new chapter number (or lower) is a common remedy, and clears up all confusion. It would have saved me from pages of asking myself who was talking.

This is a good story that needs a story editor. I love independent publications, but this can be so much better with the right help!

3/5 Stars with potential for more with a great story editor!

Thanks to the author/publisher and NetGalley for the free preview of this ebook!

#DragonintheMirror #NetGalley

"The youngest of all of us, he fears nothing."
Penelope Hawtrey originally wrote this charming novel as a short story and she turned it into a delightful world that includes a dragon, a knight, and a dog named Bob, include me please. Jayden's young life had been filled with many bumps in the road, she overheard that her mom has cancer and there were several times when she did not have much to eat, plus the utilities had been shut off, Jayden's friend, who happens to be a knight, invites her to Canonland, where she no longer needed to worry about the stuff going on at home.
Hawtrey description are lovely and I could easily imagine the landscapes and its inhabitants. Osgoode's people of the Rumbling Town, were farmers and at one time they grew orangeberries, danstaud, redcorn, and danstudus, how cute is that? I could easily picture Enisseny and he would resemble the dragon in The Neverending Story, perhaps Enisseny and a little bit of Bob. I could spend a great deal of time in Canonsland which is found behind Jayden's mirror and I love that people guard the white dragon, perhaps because the dragon eternal life, in return, they keep the dragon safe from the hunters.
My only problem was that there were was a large number of characters and many were minor characters, so this made it difficult to follow along. The large number of characters did not reduce the charm of the book and I could easily imagine the characters voices. Although I read the novel as an ebook, I believe the story would make a wonderful audiobook.
I enjoyed this book so much that I plan on buying the finished book and a happy dance if the author writes more adventures in Canonland. I am happy to give this delightful novel a five out of five stars.

This was a nice story.

Unfortunately it was spoilt by the changing of characters points of view from chapter to chapter with no notification.

This made the story confusing at times and made it hard to follow.

This could have been so much better with a little bit of editing.

Maybe someone younger would not have noticed, but I think any age would be confused.

This book is phenomenal , I absolutely loved it . Highly recommend this book to anyone who loves middle grade books , this is definitely one you need to have in your collection.