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Genre: ✨ Light Fantasy | Age: 👧🏼 Middle Grade (8+) | Buy: Amazon | ⭐See star rating

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Ashton and his sisters, Drusilla and Zizi, get invited to audition for a scholarship at Overmorrow, a school where they get to master their ballroom dancing and musical skills. They get separated from their caravan along the way, discover magic, and learn how much they matter to each other.

🪧 Quotable Moments

My favorite part of this book was the writing. I thought the prose was perfect for a middle grade. It had a classic feel without being dry.

And there were SO MANY quotes that made me smile or nod my head or sigh with the satisfaction of words well placed. Here is one:

“What are you saying?” Zizi turned to face him in the dim parlor, her arms crossed. “That dreams aren’t worth dreaming unless they come true?”

Zizi is Ashton’s little sister, and she spends the majority of the book combating Ashton’s negative attitude about pursuing dreams that feel beyond his reach.

Here’s another:

Knowing what he knew—which was nothing— what was his best course of action?

I laughed out loud at that one. It is so relatable, even though I’m much older than the intended audience. A wonderful reminder that often we don’t always have to know the answer before we take the next step.

🪄 More Magic, Please

I think this was meant to appeal to an audience with a wide range of comfort with magic in their books, so it was pretty light when it came to magic. The magic had the essence of a fairy tale buried in the ruins.

Personally, I loved the magic aspect and was really hoping there would be more. At one point, Ashton finds his way to a mysterious tower that is so whimsical and cozy, complete with a library in the basement.

I would have loved for the books to come alive or the dishes to set themselves on the table or the paintings on the wall to start talking. Regardless of the amount of magic falling short of my expectations, I still felt the magic was fitting to the story.

👀 Left Me Wanting More

Ashton gets separated from the caravan at about the halfway point of the book. After that he meets a couple of fun and interesting characters and works through some intense situations.

I was having so much fun on that caravan journey that I was quite disappointed to have to leave it. So the second half dragged a little for me.

The ending also has a mild cliff hanger, and I definitely did not feel like the book had finished when it was over! I think the cliff hanger was intentional — it reflected the lessons being learned — but it was still unsettling to end the book that way.

Even with these minor complaints, I still really enjoyed this story. I don’t think wanting more is a bad critique for a book you liked reading.

🦉Who Would Like This Book

Fans of middle grade.

Families who want a read-aloud about sibling relationships.

Fantasy readers who want less magic.

Young authors who want to read another young author (this book was written when she was 18 and she wrote 2 other books before that!).

I hope you or your kids enjoy this one!

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🤖 Always written and edited without the use of AI.

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