I thought this was a great middle grade read! I loved the setting and characters. I also loved the twists and storyline.

I loved the setting of this story, a British boarding school with lots of history--especially fun to see how the mystery aspect ties into the school itself and its history. It was also fun to explore the friendship aspect of boarding school and how close kids get there, as the main character tries to learn more about her family and who she is.

Interesting and slightly twisty book perfect for fans of other similar boarding school stories like the Mysterious Benedict Society and even 39 Clues.

I loved this book and can't wait for the next book in the series. This story had every element I love... boarding school, friendships, mean girls and a spooky mystery to solve. The book follows Emmy, a daughter of "parenting expert mom" on TV who is very busy and decides to send her to a boarding school in England. Wellsworth School is a mystery on it's own and Emmy soon finds out her absent father used to attend the school. Emmy and her friends soon stumble on a secret society within the school called The Order of The Black Hollow Lane. I do not want to go into the story more as to not spoil it but I highly recommend it and I do plan on continuing with this series.

This middle grade book was a very fun read. I have seen some people compare it to Harry Potter minus the magic, and I can see why because there are three friends and it takes place at a school. However, this is more of a straight forward mystery than HP. The characters in the book are lovely or evil accordingly and the suspicion of who to trust is written well enough that until the reveal it isn’t obvious who is who. I would definitely recommend this book to any middle graders or to adults like me who just want a fun read once in a while!

The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane has all the markings of a middle grade read I enjoy: mystery, boarding school, secret-societies, missing parents, fun side characters, quirky moms. Everything about this story from the voice to the ending that left me wanting a second story, made me want to put this story in the hand of every middle grade reader I came across. The reader will love being in Emmy's head and making discoveries with her along the way about herself and the world she thought she knew.

What's not to enjoy in this book! Middle grade kids are going to love it! Emmy's mother is a self absorbed professional, her father has mysteriously vanished for about 7 years. Emily is sent off to boarding school to accommodate her mom's work, but before leaving she discovers mysterious medals in her attic which relate to symbols she's seeing all around her new school. She makes friends and together they work together to solve the mystery of her father's disappearance. Good mystery story! It has all the right elements!

I appreciate having had an opportunity to read and review this book. The appeal of this particular book was not evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review I prefer simply to advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.

Emmy is a twelve year old girl who lives with her mother. Her father has been absent since she was three but she has never stopped wanting to know more about him. Emmy's mother has a career opportunity which leads to Emmy being sent to the UK for boarding school. Along the way, Emmy starts to learn about her father, make some great friends and begins a great, dangerous adventure!
I will be adding this title to my school library. I am happy to note that there is no inappropriate language and the theme of the story, while being full of danger, is not graphic. I would be happy to share this book with my 8+ students!

This one, though, I really loved! Emmy’s dad is MIA, and her mom is so busy explaining how other people can be great parents that she never has time to just be Emmy’s parent. Emmy is crushed when her mom ships her off to a fancy British boarding school — until she gets pulled into a mystery involving a super-secret order that may involve her long-missing father. It’s true that I’m a sucker for a boarding school book, but this is the kind of middle grades book I like best: It assumes a smart reader who can connect the pieces, and there’s plenty of action to keep the plot moving and mostly likable, individual characters who make you care about what’s happening. I recommend this one!

3.5 stars. For a debut novel this is pretty good. Nothing super original here in terms of plot: girl sent to boarding school, makes a couple key friends, secret society (passage ways and all), bullying, absent parents, etc. Lots of intrigue, some action, tons of time spent doing homework, some soccer (football), and a good dose of mystery.

Characters
One of the stand-out pieces of Julia Nobel's debut is that the narrative of our lead gal is very strong. Right from the first couple chapters I felt like she had a dominant, prevalent voice. Her personality shone through and she felt very real to me. Sadly the secondary characters were all a little flat, even the two best friends. I'm hoping this is an area that Nobel's writing improves and evolves in. After all the world expects well written secondary characters since Hermoine and Ron entered our lives.

Continuing Story
This is a part of a series, and so not all of our questions are answered in this first book. However, enough of the mystery is revealed so as to not feel ripped off. The biggest thing that bugs me about the whole set-up, and what will continue, is our lead gals Mother. She's supposed to be a parenting expert; yet she's a really crappy Mom (not unlike Leonard on Big Bang Theory's mother). I'm not sure the choice to make her a parenting expert really made sense. I get the idea of her fame being in the way of parenting, and all that jazz; but I would have preferred she was just a movie star or something. Unless in the next book (or two?) we actually delve into the psychosis of having a mother who is a parenting expert. Given this is a middle grade book I'm going to say that is unlikely.

Overall
This is a decent read. It kept me occupied for a period of time and reads up quickly. There's not a lot of fancy vocabulary in The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane, which is good for a middle grade book. I feel if I went back and analyzed this closely there are probably some plot holes and issues; but I didn't have any jump off the page at me or get in my way of enjoying the story. Overall a decent debut by a Canadian author; and so I am rounding up my 3.5 stars to 4.
A tidbit of advice from this book that stuck out to me:
"...when you prepare for the absolute worst, nothing can be as bad as what you’ve imagined."

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

I adored this novel from the beginning. Not only a delight to read, I found it extraordinarily easy to empathize with the young female protagonist, Emmy (Emmeline)-shunted around and shifted aside by her career-chasing, child psychologist, Narcissist celebrity mother ["expert" at telling other parents what they do wrong, blind to her own child's needs.] Add on a setting eerily reminiscent of "The Secret Garden" and of "Another" by Yukimo Ayatsushi, delightfully Gothic, dark and brooding--and potentially dangerous. For all us "misfits" out there: what a glorious series debut! (This is Book 1 in the BLACK HOLLOW LANE Series. Book 2, THE SECRET OF WHITE STONE GATE, will arrive 1 March 2020.)

"Emmy's dad disappeared years ago, and with her mother too busy to parent, she's shipped off to Wellsworth, a prestigious boarding school in England. But right before she leaves, a mysterious box arrives full of medallions and a note reading: These belonged to your father."

-Super fun read. The book has a Harry Potter feel to it. I mean three friends who love to solve mysteries...sounds kinda Pottery to me, but it was a great story and total page turner! Give it a go if you are missing the world of Harry Potter.

What an absolutely stellar middle grade read! I enjoyed every minute spent with Emmy at Wellsworth, and I loved the fact that The Order of Black Hollow Lane was such a dark society. It's always a good read for me when an MG author doesn't shy away from darker, mysterious and sometimes even dangerous events. Emmy was well up for the challenge too, which made my heart sing. Following along with her, watching her uncover clues, it all was just too much fun. I can't wait for the next book.

Boy do I love a good middle-grades mystery! This one does not disappoint. The setting is wonderful, the characters very likable and the mystery was intriguing and kept my attention through-out. It reminded me of another recent favorite, Winterhouse.. Also, the cover is gorgeous!

I had high hopes for this one but it just fell a bit short.Emmy's dad disappeared years ago and it's just been her and her 'parenting tip' mother. Her mother is going to be staring in a new parenting show so she decided to send Emmy to boarding school in England. Emmy is not happy about this new idea that her mother has but she can't do anything about it. Before she leaves she gets a mysterious message about a hiding place for some medallions. It's the only thing she has of her father so they must mean something important.She soon finds out that her father had went to this school and that there is a secret society called Black Hollow Lane. With the help of her two new friends Jack and Lola she starts to investigate and tries to find out more about the society. She gets more strange messages and there are others at the school who are watching her. Okay so I wanted to really enjoy this one but I really thought it was a tad boring up till about 65% and normally I have DNFed before this if I don't like something. Curiosity kept me going and it did pick up and get interesting but I am not sure if it was enough to make me look for the second book when it comes out. They will need to really grab me with the blurb for book two and my curiosity peaked again. Now for a young child this might be very interesting as they would be more invested in the three young kids who are trying to figure things out. It might feel more mysterious to them and I think kids will enjoy it, I just don't think as an adult it was that great. It has  a 4.06 rating so clearly this was more my preference than others so I won't recommend it but I will not say not to try it as you might enjoy it more.

A cute and quirky read that will fit right in a MG library. This can be used as a precursor to introducing a reader to Potter, or something to fill the gap for stronger readers.

The thing about reading middle grade books as an adult (who does not typically read a lot of MG outside of horror or fantasy) is that, unfortunately, it's really easy to get bored! It's nothing against this book in the slightest — in fact, I think it will go over great with my kiddos at the library, and I'll definitely be adding it to the order form for them! — it just couldn't keep my attention enough for me to justify spending my time on it right now.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane is exactly the kind of book I wanted to read when I was in middle school - a gothic, spooky mystery with a smart, kick butt heroine and her best friends, set at a mysterious English boarding school. When Emmy's mom lands a television series as a parenting expert, Emmy is shipped off to Wellsworth, a boarding school in England, but not before she receives a mysterious note about her missing father. At her new school and with the help of new friends, Emmy uncovers clues about a secret society--one her father may have been a part of. Perfect for fans of Nancy Drew, Scooby-Doo, and The Mysterious Benedict Society.

This is a fun read. It's about Emmy, who is looking for a place to belong-she's been moved from school to school, following her mother, a parenting expert. She reluctantly ends up at a boarding school in England, where she starts finding clues to her missing dad. The story has a Harry Potter-ish feel to it, complete with a boy and a girl who end up being her best friends and an evil empire that seems to be after Emmy. I think the kids are going to like this one a lot.