Hello, everyone! I am here for my promised review of the soon-to-be-released The People Beneath the Petals by H.A. Yang! I enjoyed reading it and can’t wait to share more about it with you all!

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Book: The People Beneath the Petals by H.A. Yang

Genre: Middle Grade/Christian/Non-Magical Fantasy

Blurb:

Beneath the petals of a flourishing garden, Adelaide Everheart lives peacefully with her family and village, tending every creature and sprout that calls the garden home.

Everything changes when the Garden Folk discover they are not the only little people in existence. From the Dark Forest a strange and threatening people emerge, determined to claim the garden for themselves.

Adelaide and her guard, Thorne, are captured, and hope begins to wither. Fear ripples through the village, and the Chief orders an urgent evacuation into the forbidden tunnels below.

Yet when an even greater danger arises—one capable of destroying the garden entirely—both sides must confront a daunting question: What is truly worth fighting for?

Now, Adelaide and her five siblings must brave the shadowed tunnels and search for a way to restore peace before their beloved home is lost forever.

My Rating: 5 stars

Recommended Age: 10+ (or younger as a read-aloud)

My Review:

My Overall Thoughts: This was such a fun book! My favorite part about it was the world-building. The garden setting was so cozy and had a lovely cottagecore feel. I think that anyone who enjoys cozy, descriptive stories with strong Christian themes would enjoy this book, and it would make a good family read-aloud.

Plot: The book was a bit slow in the beginning, but after the first few chapters, the excitement started to pick up more, and the plot was very engaging. I enjoyed reading about the Garden Folk working together to solve the problems facing their garden. The entire world was so well-developed, and there were a lot of fun details, such as the Garden Folk riding snails and having snail races, using fireflies for light, using notches carved in tree roots for their homes, etc.

Characters: I really enjoyed the main character, Adelaide. She was a strong protagonist and showed good character. I must say, though, there were a lot of Everheart children and it was a bit hard to keep them all straight. I did enjoy Pip and his inventions. The parents were great, too, and I also really liked Thorne (actually, he was probably my favorite) and his quiet, steady ways. And of course I can’t forget Torch, the pet firefly! I thought that was really cute.

Writing Style: I personally really enjoyed the writing style. I thought all of the descriptions were lovely, and it was such a cozy, relaxing read. It definitely had an old-fashioned feeling charm to it. However, I think for kids who aren’t used to reading books with older books or books with a lot of description, it might get a bit tedious. I did appreciate, though, the large vocabulary used while still keeping it at an appropriate reading level for middle grade readers.

Themes: There was a lot of good Biblical wisdom woven throughout the story through the lessons Mrs. Everheart and Chief Everheart taught their children. There were also good overarching themes of valuing others and valuing Creation and working together.

Content Notes: A few mentions of blood and injuries. Some peril (two characters are kidnapped, etc.) that young readers may find scary. Some disobedience from the kids (always portrayed as wrong and there are consequences).

DISCLAIMER: I received an Advance Reader Copy from the author. I was not required to write a positive review, and all thoughts expressed are my own.

Exciting news: The People Beneath the Petals is releasing on September 8th, and paperbacks are now available for pre-order! The first ten people to pre-order paperbacks will get some fun goodies (stickers, bookmarks, and more)! Click on either of the images below to check it out!

E-books are also available for pre-order through Amazon and will be delivered on August 31st!

If you like cozy non-magical fantasy, make sure you check out The People Beneath the Petals! As a reminder, there will be no post on Monday, but I will have a special post on Tuesday (the cover re-design reveal for Amanda Tero’s A Strand of Hope and Faith Blum’s I Love to Tell the Story)! See you all then!