Hello lovely nerds!
What is this?! What is this?! Another review?!
In all seriousness though: this is being written the day before it is scheduled to be posted, so the head start I wrangled for myself over summer “break” with reviews has pretty much vapourized, but it is what it is.
Now: The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane. No joke, people – this arrived in the mail on Friday afternoon and I had started and finished it between COB and 9pm. It was sooo good. I am genuinely happy-bitter about it, because kids today (there it is!) have absolutely no idea how much choice they have compared to what I had when I was actually the target age range for middle-grade books. Regardless, this was an absolutely lovely MG mystery!
The protagonist, Emmy, is a twelve-year-old American sent to a boarding school in England by her career-driven mother. This book really has all the makings of an intriguingly great mystery for younger readers: secret rooms, secret societies, secret relics, secret family histories…..Look, I am twenty eight years old and I was hooked from beginning to end. And the other book I am reading right now is Cyber Strategy, so…. balance.
Julia Nobel has written a really great story: the only serious downside that I can see is that it was only released in February and I don’t know how long I have to wait until the sequel is published. And I didn’t even really intend to buy this: I legitimately was on Booktopia looking at their new Book Club release of the month and this popped up somewhere, I can’t even remember how. The logic went: “hmmm. Around twelve more dollars and free shipping. Plus, I’ll get Quantas points. Let’s have a look around I guess. Oh, that has a cool cover. Middle grade mystery? Cool. Sorted.” And that was how I decided to buy this book. I’ve never read one so quickly after ordering it. Literally ever.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book, for children of all ages 😀
Well worth a read, people!
Photo credit: my photographs of my copy of the book!
Categories: 2020 Reading Challenges, Book Reviews, Children's Literature
Printed Pages and Coffee 
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