The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane by Julia Nobel

I think that really speaks to Nobel’s ability to write her characters and express the emotion from Emmy when her mother says these things.

I even wanted to throw the book when her mother told her she couldn’t play soccer. I sympathized with Emmy and felt so bad for her. Right from the beginning, everything had to be for the good of the mother, and Emmy’s feelings, thoughts, and opinions didn’t matter. I felt the mystery of the Order fit right in with the setting.Įmmy’s mom was barely in this, but I could not stand her. It was a bit of nostalgia I didn’t know I was looking for. The setting felt and reminded me a lot of Harry Potter with the old-ish buildings and the common room with the two different dorms. I adored the boarding school setting in Black Hollow Lane, and I don’t think I’ve read a boarding school setting story since the Gemma Doyle series about ten years ago. Soon, the Order takes interest in Emmy and she finds herself tangled in mystery and danger as she comes to learn more about her father and the history behind Wellsworth. After spending some time at Wellsworth, Emmy discovers there’s more than one mystery for her to solve, and Emmy and her friends learn about a mysterious Order that seems to have a presence at the school. These messages lead her to a box that belonged to him filled with several medallions that Emmy doesn’t know the use for. Her father disappeared when she was three, but she suddenly starts receiving messages from him before she is sent off. The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane follows Emmy as her mom sends her to a prestigious boarding school in England named Wellsworth. After reading The Girl Who Drank the Moon, I had lower expectations going into middles grades because I was missing a depth to the characters that I like in YA and adult books but, this one pleasantly (and a bit unpleasantly) surprised me. I know I keep saying this, but I really enjoyed this one more than I thought I would. I don’t want to hand out five stars to every book I read, but these books really deserve it.

Apparently, I’m in a phase where I love every book that I read because I’m currently finishing City of Ghosts and I really love that one too.

This was my first book for Believathon in order to unlock the key, which was to read a mystery.

The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane by Julia Nobel