This is a great middle grade book - a little bit young for my liking, but I think young teens would love this.

It did remind me a little bit of Harry Potter - I haven't read the books, just seen the movies.

I loved the whole setting for this story and the creatures in it like the Hairies sounded really fun. I enjoyed the story but I knew from the very start of the book what would happen to the main character, but that may be because of my age, Kids maybe wouldn't click on straight away.

Great book for kids and I've heard the second book is even better

3/5 stars for me

This was an exciting youth fantasy. I loved that we followed a strong independent girl figure out things about herself and this new world she's in. I did feel that there were a few too many new words and concepts that weren't fully explained, but our main character was learning with us so it did often feel that it was intentional to not fully know. A great book for fans of Harry potter, to grow their vocabulary and stretch their inferring skills.

Fairies, dragons, magical schools and evil queens, what more can you ask for!!!

The Crowns of Croswald was such a fast paced story. We are introduced to our protagonist Ivy Lovely as she goes about her days as a simple servant. Always dreaming of becoming something more and living adventures of her own.

We meet Ivy's best friend Rimbrick, an ancient woods dwarf, who educates her and prepares her for what will be a chain of events that will change her life forever. Soon enough Ivy is catapulted into a world with magical schools, buried secrets waiting to be revealed and finding who she really is in the process.


The story was so lush and lyrical, I was transported into the City of Crosswald and its enchantments and swept away. I really enjoyed reading about the world building and it's creatures, and especially about Ivy. She's shy but very sure of herself and very adventurous.

Fans of magical schools, dragons, fairies and dark secrets will definitely enjoy this wonderful tale. The book had me gasping in the end with all the twist and turns.

I’m not much of a fantasy reader typically but when I got the chance to give this book a read, I jumped at it. If you love otherworldly creatures, magic, and fantasy this is an awesome read. It tells the story of Ivy Lovely, a bright girl who one day realizes she is far more magical than she ever knew (think Harry Potter, but not a wizard).

I felt like the book didn’t give a lot of background information into specifics of the characters and the plot. It throws you into this other world with mystical creatures and you kind of have to surmise a lot of what they are and what they do. But I thought the story was sweet, the characters enchanting, and the topic unique and fun. Perfect for young readers looking for an escape.

A great start to a new series!
I really enjoyed this book,was a nice easy read, though it did feel like it was setting up the rest of the series.
At the beginning I couldn't help but compare it slightly to Harry Potter! An orphan who doesn't know she has magical powers being invited to a magical school, being given a list of magical things she can get in magical shops. Though Ivy knows magic exists and has often dreamt of being invited to study to be a scrivinist. And on her 16th birthday this comes true! Though it seems that Ivy is destined to be more than just a scrivinist!
There's secrets and mystery Ivy seems to have a knack for getting into trouble (though if someone told her what was going on she wouldn't be running off trying to find out what's happening, but also the book wouldn't be as fun!
I liked Ivy's friend Rebecca and hope to see more of there friendship! I enjoyed the ending and Ivy wasn't who she thought she would be! I'll definitely read the rest of the series as it's a nice easy read and I want to find out more about who Ivy is and if she can beat the evil Queen!

The Crowns Of Croswald
By D.E. Night

I was reached out by the publisher, stories untold press for a copy of this book in return an honest review.

This book has it all, hidden passageways in a ancient library, a faraway castle filled with magic and many mysteries,
shorehorses that live in calm mist-covered waters, oh and that wonderfully placed plotline that makes it hard to put down.
(Ivy Lovely) is kicked out of her workplace as a scaldrony maid at the plum castle, the events that follow with the help of (Liond Ohlander Lugg) an admissioner who has been looking for her, Ivy ends up at Raven Shollow, where she will learn how to use magic as a scrivenists.
Ivy makes friends with a Princess named (Rebecca) who can turn into any animal, and a scrivenists in training called (Fyn), the class facilitator of sqwinches.
With an evil queen looming from afar, Ivy needs to try and piece together the clues left behind by Derwin Edgar Night without getting court by the selector.

This book left me with goosebumps; I highly recommend it to anyone who likes fantastic fantasy books.

Can I just.. live in this world? This was such a fun read and really dove in with my imagination and took me on an adventure. I love how this story involved princesses and dragons and magic! Fantastic fantasy story! Every single part of this book was really delightful! Can it be a movie!? Highly recommend!

I was reached out by the publisher, Stories Untold Press, if I would like a copy of this novel for a honest review. All opinions and comments are that of my own.

Review: When I was reached out by the publisher (Stories Untold Press) if I wanted to review this novel, there was no second guessing on my end. Although I do prefer mystery/crime novels, I also have been enjoy middle grade novels recently and nothing makes me feel cherished than an author/publisher reaching out to review their novel.

Therefore, I immediately jumped on to Goodreads to get a more in depth knowledge of this book and to see what other readers had to say. The common comment I saw was how this novel was a rip off of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. This kind of irritated me because it seems that any novel that is based on a magical school and has wizards in it is automatically subjected to criticism of it being a Harry Potter rip off. Were there some similarities to Harry Potter? Maybe (example: making a student confess). BUT the author took the time to create the characters and a beautiful world. You know how difficult that is?!? And D.E. Night did an excellent job at that - as well as the ability to create a world inside a world (inception, much?).

We as readers should stop comparing authors and pointing fingers of “copying”. You do know that stories are based off other stories, just rewritten to someone else’s likeness. Just enjoy the book (or not) but don’t bash the author.

With that said, I am definitely putting the series on my TBR pile (I just HAVE to know what happens to Ivy and the Dark Queen!).

Really nice world building - I didn't manage to finish the book, it was not the right time for it when I started reading it, but I think it might be a really nice book. I will give it another chance, because I liked the main character and the whole idea of the book sounded so amazing. I bet it's good.

Thank you to D E Night and Netgalley for a review copy of The Crowns of Croswald.

At the start of the novel Ivy Lovely, aged almost 16 is an orphan working as a kitchen drudge at Castle Plum. Employing a pretty unique method of cookery.... baking pies in the mouths of small kitchen dragons. Being a baker and a chef, I loved this wacky idea of dragons being used as ovens. Ivy is facing a future of kitchen drudgery, constantly berated by the awful woman who runs the kitchen when she is mysteriously choosen to attend a magical boarding school.

This book is mostly set at the boarding school which is in a Castle. The school is filled with wacky professors, magical creatures, an amazing library. Ivy is constantly getting into sticky situations, mostly through no fault of her own.


Croswald is ruled by the mysterious Dark Queen who no one seems to have ever seen in person and her creepy hench men.

There is something really strange going on. The images in the paintings on the walls keep changing. People keep forgetting things and for some reason Ivy is the only one who doesn't forget.

There is some big reveals towards the end and a fairly dramatic school ball and I'm looking forward to reading book two & finding out what happens next with Ivy and her friends.

This story is more middle grade than Young adult despite most of the characters being 16 & one character being 19 ish.

Let's talk DNF's!
I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. And for the sake of being honest, I could not finish this book. I try to avoid DNF'ing, but I just couldn't get into this one. That being said, I still believe this book needs some love.

This book reminded me of A Deadly Education. While I did not enjoy that book either, I know that a lot of people did! So while I did not finish this one, I believe that fans of A Deadly Education should give this book a go!

And can we talk about how beautiful this cover is?? 😍

I always find difficult to write reviews about books that I really love, because it’s hard to put into words that magic that you feel inside after reading a very special book… and that’s exactly the case of The Crowns of Croswald!

This book is book 1 from a middle grade series that introduces us to Ivy Lovely, the main character, and leads us into her journey from a scaldrony maid to an aspiring scrivenist.
All her life (Ivy is 16 years old), Ivy had lived in Castle Plum, behind slurry fields that kept her magic hidden. Until one day, a series of events takes Ivy away from this castle and into the Halls of Ivy, “the prestigious school of Magic where young royals learned to wield the magical stones in their crowns and young sqwinches practiced for the day when they would receive their own quills as full-fledged scrivenists.”
The plot is unraveled like a puzzle that Ivy keeps on assembling through her findings, until the great final reveal!
The world building is wonderfully detailed, from the magical creatures to the school subjects, and the story is well paced.
I only wished I had read it sooner! I’m picking up book 2, The Girl with the Whispering Shadow, right away! This is Magic at its best!

Ivy Lovely can’t have magic, and for sixteen years she grew up in a slurry field as a maid; but one night, she gets a letter from an old friend that reveals there’s more to her unknown past than she knows. Then being suddenly whisked away to a magical school, Ivy gets herself into all sorts of trouble and adventures. But the world isn’t all good magic; and Ivy searches for a way to stop the Dark Queen, and find more about her past along the way.

I really loved this book; such a fun, quick read. I am very much over the middle grade age limit, but reading this was still so magical for me as a reader.
D.E. Night creates this gorgeous world of Croswald – the quirky shops, creatures and characters were a delight – and that was so nice to read. The two magic systems were so unique, and I’m very curious to see how they expand on those in future books.

This book was a magical adventure. Ivy doesn’t know who she really is and is slumming away in a station that is not meant for her. Not really.
Throughout the book Ivy constantly gets herself into sticky situations and it is great to read how she gets herself out of them.

It’s a great book for young adults from ages 12 upwards. Give it a read and you will enjoy it.

I loved this book!!
AND it got me out of my slump!!
Basically it follows a girl Ivy on a magical journey and trouble is always following her, with the help of friends and mysterious notes, this book is perfect for Harry Potter fans!
My rating 4.5 stars

The Crowns of Croswald is a fun fantasy series for middle grade readers. It is quite similar to Harry Potter in many aspects, yet it has its own unique world and brand of magic. Like Harry Potter, Ivy is a young woman who has grown up in humble circumstances. She is treated poorly at the Castle Plum where she works as a scaldrony maid who cares for the dragons that heat the ovens of the castle. When she receives a mysterious invitation to attend a magical school, the Halls of Ivy, she begins a fantastical journey of discovering more about her true origins, meeting loyal friends, and encountering bullies, as well as a nasty villain.

Though the general story arc has similarities to Harry Potter, there are also differences that make it unique. First, the magical system is different. Royalty uses stones in crowns to make magic. Then, there are the scriveners who work for the royal families and use their quills to create magic. There are all sorts of magical creatures who live in this world, like haries (fairy like creatures who basically live in lanterns and provide the light). There are also some unusual locations like the Hollow Shaft that appears out of the water and disappears almost as quickly, as well as worlds within bottles called glanageries. There is a school master called the Selector who is a sort of Dumbledore figure, but is much more mysterious and it’s unclear whose side she is on. There is also an evil Queen who is followed around by her evil minions called the Cloaked Brood.

As a reader, this magical world was somewhat confusing. I felt like I was plunged into the world without much explanation. I think including a map of the world and also a glossary at the back containing information on the magic, money system, food, characters, etc. would have been extremely helpful.

There was plenty of action in this story and uses of magic. The one problem that I kept having was seeing a connection between events. It seemed a little disjointed and I wanted a bit more of an explanation for what was happening before being plunged into something else. It was because of this that it took me awhile to get into the book. I feel like if I read it a second time, I would find it more enjoyable because then I would better understand the world and see the connections knowing what’s coming.

I really enjoyed the side characters. I liked Fyn and Rebecca especially and I wished that they were explored more than they were. Unfortunately, I had a difficult time liking the main character Ivy. She seemed too self absorbed and cared little about how her actions affected her friends and other people. For instance, her friend Rebecca gets stuck in this forgotten room. Ivy knows where she is, but does little to try to rescue her from the situation. She involves Fyn in a scheme when leaving the school only to put him in grave danger with little thought to him. Hopefully, she becomes more likable and her character develops more in the next books.

All in all, I liked this book. I think Harry Potter fans who love the story and enjoy characters with a somewhat similar arc will enjoy this book. I recognize that I’m not the target audience for this book, but I think middle grade readers will like the magical world. This would be a good adventure to introduce them to the fantasy genre. I wavered between 3 and 4 stars, but ultimately went with three because of the issues previously discussed. I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and NetGalley for my honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not required to give a positive review.

Besides being adventurous this book is so different. At last, a new world, a new meaning for magic and fantasy. Most importantly, it keeps between its lines the values we all are craving for this, our real world, that is solidarity, loyalty, and kindness.

I really really wanted to like this book. I was given a free copy of the ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review. Every time I tried to get into this book I just couldn’t get into it. I kept losing interest. Maybe because it was a middle grade book.
Hopefully I’ll try it again in a few months and love it but it just didn’t stick for me.

This is the first book in The Croswald series.  A story of magical fairyland, fantastic beasts and enchanted characters.  The main character, Ivy Lovely, is 16 and she is an ordinary maid in the castle.  She just discovered she will be going to study to become a Scrivenist, a magical story recorder.  As she leaves the only world she knows, she finds herself in a new realm, where her magical powers are awaken.  Ivy begins to discover some secrets that somehow are all connected to her.

it's been quite some time since I read a good YA or Middle grade fantasy novel.  I realized how much I missed whimsical characters, magical creatures and a colorful fairy tale world.  This is a perfect escape into the magical universe so masterfully created by the author.  Although it took me a little while to get into the writing style, I enjoyed following the story, and the setting, which was my favorite part, ran my imagination wild.  Each character was so unique and well-written.  Just look at the Hairies on the cover of the book! How adorable they are. And I do now want my own scaldron (a small dragon that cooks your food).

All and all this is a great middle grade read, full adventure, valuable lessons and MAGIC! I would recommend it to anyone who is a fantasy fan or just needs an escape from the reality into the world of magic.

I'd like to thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this book. I understand why people compare it to Harry Potter. It has the same feel to it which also made the book have a nostalgic feel. It also felt similar to traditional fairytales, which added to this feeling of nostalgia. I do feel like this book is more suited to middle-grade readers rather than YA due to the characters, settings and writing style. Despite this, it was still enjoyable and made for an easy read.
The story was original and written well. Although the characters were likeable, it felt like they didn't have much depth to them but I understand if this is due to the target audience being younger. I would have also liked to see the main character, Ivy, interact with secondary characters such as Rebecca and Fyn more.
The magic system was a little hard to understand and there was some assumed knowledge. It was easy enough to figure out, though and it didn't take away from the book.
Overall, it was a good book. It did take me a while to get through, but that has more to do with reading on my phone rather than a hard copy of the book, which I usually prefer. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a quick and easy read or wants to read something similar to books such as Harry Potter, Narnia or Alice in Wonderland.