This was a fun book to read! I tore through the first book, and I have to admit this took me a little longer to get through, but the story was interesting and I wanted to know what happened as I was reading. I will say that it borrows a lot of themes from books like Harry Potter. This isn't a bad thing, but it was a little distracting for me. If you liked book 1 in this series, it's worth continuing. There are new characters introduced, and The Town that's briefly alluded to in the first book is explored! It did seem like there were some things that weren't well-explained in terms of magic, but maybe they'll be explained later on! ( )

Thanks to the publisher/author for providing this book in exchanging for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book way more than the first one. We can really see how immensely did the author improved.
It's great that the book starts right after the events of the first book giving us the follow up without pausing the story.
I love that we have new characters that are part of Ivy's circle has it contributes to character development, specially for Ivy and Fyn. We can relate more to them now that we see them grow with each event happening, at the same time we see more of their background.
A few character I would like to have more knowledge about being Gretta (She has a major role, but we don't know how it started) and Derwin s>(his lack of confidence because of all that happened to him leads to him not helping Ivy in the right way).
Something I also loved was The Town. It seemed so comfortable, so full of magic and with so many opportunities to learn and experiment. However, I don't understand how the people were so oblivious to what was happening, shouldn't they have known the moment it happened?
The issues I had with this book: Quogo. I understand it and its role in the story, but just why?
The issues I had with this book: Quogo. I understand it and its role in the story, but just why?
Also the romantic plot that shows up randomly and it doesn't make much sense to me. It seems forced.
And the Selector, I do have a problem with that woman. She could be more helpful.
I'm so invested in this story that I just need to know how it ends. ( )

Great follow up book to The Crowns of Croswald. Fast paced read is hard to put down. I really enjoyed the world building in this series. The hidden town Ivy is spending her summer feels like a Diagon Alley permanently stuck in a winters night. There is still a heavy influence in my opinion from Harry Potter but again, not enough to dissuade me from thoroughly enjoying the story. ( )

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow will whisk you away to a magical world. I highly recommend reading book one to fully enjoy this book. Ivy is back with a new quest and a familiar enemy. Watching Ivy grow not only into her powers but her confidence just makes you love her more. A brilliant second installment you'll find yourself lost in the pages for hours. ( )

The second instalment to the Crowns of Croswald is full of adventure, suspense, and magic.

I was looking forward to reading this book so much! I loved the first book in the series and couldn't wait to read what happens next to Ivy and her friends.

It is super easy to get into this book now that I know the world of Croswald and all the magical things that can happen. This book is even more interesting than the first as it is action and adventure packed from the start. There are things that you guess at the beginning but that isn't a bad thing and the whispering shadow curse makes the book so much more interesting.
I really like that the Halls of Ivy are still the main milieu for this book. I really like the Quogo matches as well, it brings another level of magic into the book plus it totally brings up my Quidditch feels from Harry Potter.
I also like that there aren't too many new characters introduced in this book but that you get to follow your old "friends" in their journey to try and bring down the Dark Queen. Of course, Ivy is special, but I really, really like Fyn as well and I so hope that he is part of the third book. There's no way that he isn't :)

All in all, it was an interesting second book to the series. I now understand a lot of the things better and I cannot wait to read the third book!

*ARC received from the publisher via Netgalley ( )