Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced audio copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

The monster in the lake is a super cute lower middle grade story about three friends with connections to magic. Kit is a wizard and Alita and Josh are her two best friends. The three are having a lovely day in the park when they realize that they can hear all of the animals talking which is *definitely* not normal. When they start to do some digging with Kit's magical advisor friend, Faith, the trio discovers that there's something in the lake that doesn't belong. This discovery leads them on a journey to Scotland with some mermaids, a magical book, giant rats, and chocolate tea.

While this wasn't exactly my cup of tea (pun intended), it was definitely really cute and I know lots of kids who would absolutely LOVE this book and other titles like it. It was fun, educational, and uplifting. I liked that so much of the story was about friendship, working together, and learning new things. It has tons of great messages, but is still super fun. I would highly recommend this for any 4th-8th graders (ish) in your life who love magical tales and are probably too young for Harry Potter.