Book about a girl who visits a library and is forbidden to leave her kingdom

Question

So there's this book that I read years back (like 4th grade). Loved it to death, put it down, never picked it back up (also unfortunately never finished it). I forgot the book title and it's been years since I've read it, so please bear with me as I describe this book in the most horrific way a person could ever describe a book. (I also want to note that I have never actually met anyone who has heard of this book but maybe I'll get lucky here.)

I'll start with the cover, there's a girl in the middle of a forest (front facing) holding a candle🕯 (?? I think. Whether or not she was holding a candle is a little is still a bit of a blur) and I think the book may have come out between 2010-2014.

The small details of this book that I can remember are there is this girl and she has a cat (I think there were either 1 or 2) which stayed in like a library place that she would always visit...they may have also been talking but don't hold me to that minor detail.

In the back of my mind I want to say she is royalty...like her dad's a king or something but I'm really not sure if that's how the book actually went (her dad/mom may or may not have died. It was one of her parents, either mom or dad).

Anyway, she is forbidden from entering a forest/leaving beyond the castle walls but she really wants to so she does it anyway secretly. I'm pretty sure a book also plays a pretty large part in it, one that she finds from the library with the cats I THINK??? (Edit: by miracle I remembered. She discovers a book in the library with a map in it that helps guide her to the heart of the forest)

There's this one specific scene that I remember vividly though. She keeps this kaleidoscope that she got because one of her parents that either died or she can't see anymore gave it to her, and this boy that hates her breaks it.

This was an awful description, and it's highly unlikely many of you have even heard of the book, but SOMEBODY. ANYBODY. PLEASE HELP ME. I'm pulling my hair out.

Answer 1

It’s The Dark Hills Divide. From Wikipedia:

After going up to her room, Alexa uses a spyglass, stolen from her mother, to look over the walls from her window. She is interrupted by Pervis Kotcher, head guard of the Turlock gate, who takes the spyglass from her. Fortunately, Warvold comes just then (Pervis hides the spyglass) and takes Alexa for a walk which, as shown in the beginning of the book, ends in his death. Before getting help, Alexa takes a silver key from the locket around Warvold's neck. During Warvold's funeral Alexa sneaks to the library. While there, she drifts off to sleep in her favorite nook. She is awakened by Pervis, who breaks her spyglass before returning it. At dinner, Nicolas (Warvold's son) tells Alexa about his mother Renny's interest in the art of Jocastas. That day, when Alexa is in her favorite nook again, she discovers that the medallions which the library cats Sam and Pepper have hanging from their collars, have Jocastas etched on them.

Later on, Alexa uses the silver key to open a passageway hidden behind her favorite nook. At the end of the passageway, outside the wall, Alexa is greeted by a short man named Yipes, who seems to have been waiting for her. Alexa follows Yipes up Mount Norwood and comes to a glowing pond. Inside the pond, she finds a green stone.

The cover matches: