Overall I enjoyed this book, although it took me a while to really get into it. The storyline was great: piracy, mystery, adventure, friendship, and a little young love. Where it lacked was in actual writing. Sometimes it seemed a little too simplistic, and I also felt like it spent too much time going into detail about things that really didn’t matter, such as exactly where the friends went at all moments of a given day.

Despite that, the storyline won me over, and I really hope that there will be more of these books! I’ve already been talking about it with some students and described it as Harry Potter-like, but with piracy roots and no magic.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley (thank you!) in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my thoughts in any way.

The book in a few words: Boarding school. Pirate treasure. Mysterious hunt. Beautiful friendships. If that does not intrigue you at least a tiny bit, then I'm not sure this book's for you.

The Secret of Dinswood follows a group of students from Dinswood Academy in their quest to save their school from financial troubles by hunting for Lord Dinswood's hidden treasure. For a school that's been struggling financially, Dinswood Academy is so freaking extravagant! This is exactly the kind of school I would've dreamed of attending during my childhood.

Emma and her friends only went on this hunt to save their school from crippling financial troubles. They go on and on about how they must save the school because it means everything to them despite only being there for, what, a few months? Granted, they did meet their best friends there but is going to separate schools really that awful to risk their lives on the hunt?

The main character here is so well-developed; I love her so much! At the start of the book, I could really feel Emma's insecurities and anxiousness of being out of place in Dinswood Academy. Since it's a prestigious boarding school, only accepting the richest of the rich, Emma could only afford to go there because of her scholarship. Despite the best efforts of her friends, she can't deny that sometimes, she feel alienated among the wealthy crowd of students. I absolutely sympathize for her because I, personally, know that feeling which made me love and understand her better.

With that, I'd like to mention that Martha, Emma's best friend, is the epitome of a great friend. She has always been there for Emma from the beginning, and she has never let the superficial things like financial status get in the way of their friendship. However, although Martha has been a wonderful buddy to Emma, she hasn't been much help in the treasure hunt and frankly, she's a bit repetitive too. In another time, and in another story, I really would have loved her more.

The pacing was a bit slow at first, which allowed readers to fully get to know the main characters and get accustomed to the school. Unfortunately, I think the book could have done with a little bit of a faster pace in terms of the mystery since they only discovered a substantial piece of clue at around 72% of the book, and they were still clueless up to that point.

This is a great book and I would really recommend it if you don't mind a slower pace in mystery and if you love stories in boarding schools as much as I do!

A Cozy Middle Grade Mystery In A Boarding House School

Oh, how I loved this wonderful adventure! The Secret of Dinswood is just the kind of book I wish I had read more of when I was actually in my middle grade years. There’s just something empowering about a bunch of kids solving mysteries and riddles, and potentially getting themselves in trouble, skulking around dark caves and castle hallways! Even aside from that, there’s the whole allure of kids in a boarding school, especially one in a castle! I absolutely loved The Secret of Dinswood, and I sure do hope this book will have a sequel. The little number 1, stamped on the cover, gives me hope! As does the ending. I hope it won’t take long till I can read about this fun bunch of adventurers again.

It's About...

Emma is lonely. After losing her mother and with her father having started a new family, she feels alone and abandoned. That’s why she decides to look for a new place to belong. The solution comes in the form of a boarding school – and not just a simple one, but one with a rich history and situated in a beautiful castle. Being bright, Emma wins the scholarship and settles straight in. But she’s worried she won’t be able to enjoy the company of her friends for long, because rumor has it that the school is struggling financially. However, rumor also has it that the school was built by pirates on top of a big treasure… And it’s up to Emma and her friends to find out whether that’s true or not.

Just The Right Amount of Mystery, Adventure and Tension
The mood of The Secret of Dinswood is just right! It’s exactly what I imagine a middle grade adventure should be. There’s got to be a certain amount of mystery – but not to much, because what you expect from a good middle grade adventure is… that you’ll be able to crack it before the characters do (…or is that just me..?) You’ve also got to remember that most of its readers will be younger than you! So if you’ve cracked it, it will probably be enjoyable to them too, and may even be challenging, depending on a readers’ age. I loved this mystery – it had all the prerequisites! Let’s count them out:

- an old, romantic castle with secret passages and riddles
- pirates! PIRATES!!
- some actual baddies that pose the right amount of danger: they might get you, but you’re also probably safe cause there are adults around
- and… where would we be without good friends to fight your battles with

All of that makes a wonderful adventure, at least for me! It had the right amount of clues to still leave me guessing sometimes – which is just the right amount of mystery I enjoy as well. (But keep in mind, I am a gullible reader. However, that probably means your middle grade reader will enjoy the mystery too!)

Along with a good recipe for a nice adventure, The Secret of Dinswood also has nice, uncomplicated storytelling. I like some nice flowery prose, but sometimes I just want a story that doesn’t beat around the bush either. The Secret of Dinswood is told in a simple way, so the story flows along well and is easily readable. You don’t need to concentrate too much or work at it. Just sit down and let it entertain you.

There’s Just Something About Boarding Schools In Books…
I wonder what it is that we like about boarding school stories so much? I think I am far from being the only one who enjoys boarding school stories, despite never having lived in one, or, god forbid, ever wanting to live in one. What is it that so appeals to us in these settings?
Well, for one thing, I guess a school in a castle already presents a setting that has the promise of all sorts of secrets lurking around the corner. But I don’t think it’s just that – I think what also appeals to us is the way human relationships can be explored in depth in such a setting. Students live with each other, eat their meals together – essentially, they become their own little world. Strong relationships are natural in these contexts, and I think we enjoy seeing them develop in front of our eyes.

The Secret of Dinswood, while not a magical boarding school, was still no exception – we see budding relationships as well as friendships and rivalries form in the school. Although the book is written more from a girl’s perspective, it gives a lot of attention to the boys as well. The story centers on Emma, a poor kid in a rich people’s school – and how she finds friends and adapts. Although we only ever see everything through Emma’s prism, the story is told in third person and gives a lot of attention to Emma’s best friend Martha, as well as their friends Doug and Sebastian. What I found the most adorable in the whole book was the budding affection between Emma and Doug – innocent and only on the friendship level for now, but so sweet, genuine and lovely. The reason why I love romance (or, like, pre-romance?) in middle grades as opposed to YA is because there is just so much less angst about crushes in middle grade books, and things just somehow work out. I’m aware that this mostly isn’t the case in the real world, but come on… Let me dream?

But It Also Does Heavy Topics
However, The Secret of Dinswood doesn’t just paint everything pink and flowery. There are quite a few heavier subjects that are dealt with in the book. For starters, there is the theme about the loss of a parent – both Emma and Doug have lost their mothers, although in different circumstances. They get a chance to share their burdens and talk these painful subjects through, helping each other deal with it. And not just that – they are also teased about it and have to learn to cope with how unfeeling the world can sometimes be to another person’s pain and loss.

Besides that, there is the theme of snobbery – the clash of the rich and poor, and prejudice that comes from it. Emma and Doug both come from simpler circumstances and are in the school through a scholarship – they had to work for it and they know where they stand. Meanwhile, most of the other kids comes from affluent families, some of which are completely unaware of their blessings. Worse than that, of course there will be “rich or poor” altitudes in a school like that. Emma and Doug get teased about being poor as well as not having a full family. The reader gets to see multiple attitudes – the people who think less of them because they aren’t rich, and the people who don’t. Ultimately, the message is that you can always choose your outlook and someone’s circumstances shouldn’t change their position in your eyes.

Overall, I really really enjoyed this story. The Secret of Dinswood is somewhere in between of mysteries for children with young detectives and young adventurers looking for treasure. It was just the right kind of amusing, cozy mystery with a great ending. I enjoyed it very much and will be impatiently waiting for the sequels!

I thank BHC Press for giving me a free copy of the book in exchange to my honest opinion. Receiving the book for free does not affect my opinion.

This is a fun, middle grade adventure novel set in a castle boarding school. Fans of Harry Potter who like the aspects of adventure with a group of friends in a boarding school location should enjoy this. There is no magical element to the adventures and most of the action happens toward the end of the book. The boarding school is a Christian school but the author is not heavy-handed with the religion. The book models positive values like patience, persistence, and being there for others. I would recommend for middle grades and older readers who enjoy books in this style.

Thanks to NetGalley, BHC Press, and the author Ellen Alexander for an advanced electronic review copy.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of The Secret of Dinswood by Ellen Alexander. I voluntarily read and reviewed this copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

While studying at the Dinswood boarding school, four teenagers become friends and discover that a treasure hidden by the school's founder could be what they need to save their school from financial troubles. In order to find the treasure they must solve all the riddles before someone else does.

The Secret of Dinswood is a story full of mystery, adventure and most important of all, friendship. The friendship between Emma, Martha, Doug and Sebastian is the foundation of this great story and flowed strongly throughout the whole book. The mystery never felt dragged on. The switch between heartfelt and dialogue chapters and the adventure and action chapters felt very natural. As a reader I was fully committed from the first page.

The transition between different POV's was confusing at times. Maybe because of the E-book format, but quite a few sentences needed to be reread in order to determine that the POV had changed.

All in all, a highly enjoyable book full of adventure that I recommend to readers of all ages.

I would rate this book somewhere around 2 1/2 stars. It's not poorly written, it's just not all that interesting or original.

If a non-magical Harry Potter and Goonies had a baby it would look something like this book - but it wouldn't quite live up to the legacy of its parents. I think the biggest problem with this book is that it was somewhat difficult to care about whether or not the characters succeed. In this day and age it is hard to feel bad that a (pretentious) school which caters to rich kids might have to close - and readers are expected to believe that in the modern era this school operates with no computers or education-based technology? That's a stretch. Also, is the board of directors made up entirely of the parents of current students? Another point against it.

The four main characters aren't overly interesting either. Emma's father and stepmother are presented as so awful they lose some credibility as realistic characters. The entire part of the story involving the school dance was little more than filler, made very little sense, and did nothing to move the plot forward. It also seemed as though the author wasn't sure what she wanted Clarice to be as a character - the way she's presented throughout much of the novel doesn't fit with her part in the treasure hunt. The big bad bully of the story is a cliche and the fact that this school was made for someone like him makes you care about it staying open even less. I don't want to include any spoilers here, but the way in which an adult uses the children for his own amusement (under the guise of having them prove there are students worth keeping the school open for) is troubling.

This is the first book in a series, but I'm not sure there is enough to sustain it through multiple books.

A note on the covers - the front cover looks like a Disney theme park castle and the picture on the first page looks like Hogswart. It would have been better to have an artist create something original to prevent comparisons to other works.

I really wanted to like this book. Hidden treasure, a misfit heroine, boarding school: what could be better? Sadly, this book just did not deliver for me.

The writing style was unpolished and amateur. There was too much summary, and huge chunks of time would pass with barely a sentence’s mention. We barely get to see Emma’s first month of school after hearing about how amazing and unique Dinswood Academy is. Upon arrival, Emma reflects that she’s going to have trouble making friends, but a few sentences into the next chapter, she already gets along with all of her roommates. I also found the characters flat and unbelievable (especially Clarice and Reggie). The dialogue also didn’t ring true to me; the book is a little vague on its exact time period, but its contemporary feel doesn’t match the somewhat archaic, formal conversational style of the students. The entire time I was reading, I also felt like I was reading a rip-off of Harry Potter rather than an original story.

The mystery should have been intriguing, but it arrives so late in the story, and is then bogged down in a bland, slow-paced writing style, that I found myself simply not caring where the treasure was, who the bad guys were, etc.

The ending does feature a few nice plot twists, and I will always be a sucker for a boarding school story, but overall the vague style kept me from enjoying or becoming invested in this book.

It was too juvenile for me. And believe me, I love a good middle grade read. Sadly, this wasn't it.

The writing was all telling and no showing - too much backstory and too much over-explanation for and about everything.

To me, it felt like a slight rip-off of Harry Potter, but that is just my feeling. From the exact replica of Hogwarts and Hogsmead to teachers.

The dialogue was silly and I didn't care for any of the characters, the least bit about the main character, Emma.

To me, this was a pale shadow of what a good middle grade looks like.

The only part I enjoyed very much was the prologue - about the captain that wanted to re-invent himself as a decent, rich and highborn member of a society. Although even that felt like a slight riff off the Princess Bride and Dread Pirate Robert.

Alas...I wish it was better, it just wasn't.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC.

This book is an adventure book about four students who meet each other during their first year at a prestigious school that was once a castle. I read it with my nine year old daughter and she was quick to point out similarities between it and Harry Potter. However there is no magic in this book's world, and the adventure centers around discovering a pirate treasure that could save the future of their beloved, financially challenged school. Emma, the main character, is a very likeable twelve year old, and I am glad to see an adventure book with a female lead that isn't a fairy, witch, or princess. The book moves pretty slowly at first, but the action definitely picks up at the end. My third grader enjoyed the book, although she was a bit bored in the beginning and wasn't interested in girl/boy relationships. Emma developes a crush on fellow student, friend, and adventure seeker, Doug. It is a very sweet and innocent crush. No "gross" kissing, as my daughter would say. I felt it was an appropriate coming of age story. I would recommend this book for kids a little older. 11-13. It is a good book for young readers and as an elementary librarian, I think it will be popular with our 4-6 graders.

I really enjoyed the plot of this story and wanted to know what happened with the mystery and adventure aspects of the novel. The story was fast-paced and intriguing with interesting characters and plot twists that I didn't expect!

I felt the writing style was a little "old-fashioned" and some of the ways boys and girls were described felt like the book had been written a number of years ago.

This was such a fun read! A group of boarding school kids trying to solve riddles and mysteries is always something I find entertaining. I feel like if you enjoy mystery with tons of fun, a good cast of characters and school setting then this will definitely be a hit for you.

Even though I enjoyed this book, I can't say that I loved it. Nothing was wrong with it per se, but I guess I just wanted something more in order to fully love this story.

I really enjoyed my time reading this. It was a fun and quick read. Loved the mystery. Could have done without the romance though.

Definitely has a classic feel to it, and is entertaining from start to finish. I felt connected to the main characters and their hunt for treasure, then their hunt to beat the others to the treasure, all so they can save their boarding school. Definitely a great adventure.

I loved this book! It's written with teenagers in mind, but I enjoyed it as an adult woman. This is a nice adventure story with mysteries. The start reminded me a little of Harry Potter, but without the magic. A few chapters in the story gets less HP-like and more into it's own style. I found some parts actually exciting, even though it wasn't very realistic. The parts describing the castle were very livid and I could imagine myself seeing it. Not too young-adult so no obvious romance was in this book. I also liked that the writing style was not too childish.

A great fun read about making friends and adventure. This is really enjoyable and easy paced. The characters are really relatable (even though I’m no longer a teenager) it’s aimed more at the early teen market and I feel would be a great read for them, although I’m older I still enjoyed it, but a younger reader would have more in common with the books. Lovely feel good factor. Really enjoyable.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

A group of young students strive to save their school from financial ruin by attempting to solve a series of riddles to find hidden treasure in Ellen Alexander's The Secret of Dinswood.

After working hard to earn a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school located in a castle, twelve year old Emma is excited to leave her less-than-desirable home life, where she feels unwelcome, to head to Dinswood Academy. Becoming accustomed to the new routines and rules of the school, Emma enjoys her surroundings, time learning, and making some new, close friends. When she and her friends learn that the school might be facing financial troubles that would cause it to close, they try to find a way to prevent that from happening. The rumored treasure of the eccentric Lord Dinswood would certainly help keep the school open, but there are riddles keeping the treasure hidden; solving them will require the skills of each of Emma's friends, some quick thinking, and bravery aplenty if they want to earn the treasure and save their school.

Reminiscent of The Goonies and Harry Potter, the story of the students' adventure to solve the mystery of the hidden treasure to save Dinswood is familiar yet entertaining all the same. There was plentiful description throughout the narrative that seemed an effort to demonstrate a touch of writing mastery; however, some of the details provided for nonessential events and locations could have been pruned back to keep the story from being too bogged down with extraneous information, thus lengthening the novel unnecessarily and slowing the momentum of the narrative. There was quite a bit of overt moralizing through the thoughts and actions of the characters that I found to be a bit much, which pulled me out of the story, but as a middle grade novel a basic level of lesson teaching is expected as an edifying element, and it might not feel as overt to younger readers. Though much of the story is virtually timeless, I was still a bit confused about when this story is meant to be taking place as there were contemporary technologies and activities mentioned, such as computers and video games, but the language used for the children's dialogue was more evocative of something more stereotypical of the 1950s, creating a feeling of anachronism.

Overall, I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

This book is a middle grade adventure novel. The four main characters (2 boys and 2 girls) were 12 years old. Most of the book was a typical boarding school story: making new friends, learning their way around the school, special events like a dance and athletic competitions, and a little bit of romance. They learn about both the school's need for funds and the hidden treasure near the beginning of the story, but little progress was made after an initial failed attempt to solve the clues. The last 20% of the story gets them on the right track, and they solve riddle after riddle to overcome dangerous challenges.

The characters were likable, and the riddle sequence was very exciting (especially as Bad Guys were following after them). The school sequences were enjoyable, but I'd expected the book to be more focused on the mystery than on social challenges. Actual tweens (as the intended audience) will probably find this more emotionally engaging than I did. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this fun story.

The frontpages of the Secret of Dinswood name an editor, but I have a hard time believing it. There are numerous errors throughout that an editor should have helped from, ranging from grammatical errors to sentences that leap wildly from one narrator to another. The story is swiftly progressing and yet somehow still manages to be bogged down in endless unnecessary detail. An editor is badly needed (or, possibly, the author needs to actually LISTEN to their editor).