This is a story about the childhood show you loved, but can’t quite remember.

This book was WILD. I had no idea what to expect & I had so many incorrect theories- the actual twist was significantly crazier than I anticipated. I didn’t feel any real connection to the protagonist, but the narrative was interesting enough that it didn’t really matter.

Thanks to @prhaudio & @delreybooks for the e and audio copies!

"𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕟𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕪 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟 𝕝𝕖𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞."

This book felt like it was 'It' coded and 'Nope' coded. I could not stop making comparisons between this book and 'Nope' especially. I enjoyed my time reading this book, but over time I feel like it'll be fairly forgettable. The plot was quite weird and trippy, which I love. However, the happenings felt a bit wonky and overall it just wasn't anything that knocked my socks off. Great commentary on family and the importance of childhood. I did decide to raise my initial rating after reading the author's note at the end. The overall meaning behind the book made much more sense after that and I felt like it was an important story to tell that could hit home for so many people.

I really enjoyed this book! I read it in a day. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this!

This book was really difficult to get into. Most of the time I could not keep up with what was going on with the characters or the storyline, perhaps it was me. Lacking. A group of kids that used to be on a popular kids television show reunite for a podcast reviewing the show. Except. No one really remembers the show. Or can find a physical copy of any recording. And the house of the podcast filming is a little - sketchy. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This one is a DNF for me. I wouldn’t say it was bad, I guess it just wasn’t for me. The cover and synopsis made me so excited to read it but I tried and tried to get through it but it just felt like a chore and I couldn’t get into it.

This copy was kindly given to me by Netgalley and the publisher for review.

This one was just...weird? It wasn't spooky or scary in anyway, besides the hidden parallels that the book embodies. I was just hoping for so much more based on how much I LOVED her previous novel Hide which also was a paranormal thriller spooky with a much deeper meaning beside scaring us for a moment.

Do I think you should give this book a shot if you are interest in premise? Hell ya. White's books are fast and enjoyable, this one just didn't hit the mark for me compared to the one before that I devoured but I still enjoyed it

Solid 3.75

Mister Magic is an interesting and creepy outing in Kiersten White's writing, one that I honestly wasn't expecting. From the moment this book opens with the dedication to the very last page, including the acknowledgements you can feel the cathartic nature of the authors writing. What happens when you have a creepy children's show that no one can quite put their finger on in their memories and a group of child stars turned adults coming together for a reunion of said show? A whole slew of odd, creepy, tightly written and interesting storytelling. I really enjoyed this book, the tense nature of the story, the mystery of who these people are and what they survived. . .it wraps you up in a darkly compelling narrative. The ending was bittersweet and kind of perfect and that cover wholly embraces the story in all its creepy glory.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was filled with moments where I couldn’t quite figure out what was going on but it was done in such a way that made me eager to read more.

There was also so much of this book that I connected with but could not put a finger on why until I read the authors note at the end.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone with religious trauma and love weird stuff like Welcome to Nightvale.

"If you can't beat a small and petty god, become one."

Oooh maaaaan! This one had all the feels for me! You can really tell that Kiersten White put a lot of her self into this one and I can only hope that writing this book has helped her to heal and grow.

MISTER MAGIC was a long-running kids show that abruptly stopped 30 years before the story's present day due to a tragic accident. Now the last cast of the show, adults and estranged from each other, are going to a reunion of sorts but everything from their past seems a bit hazy. Can they solve the mystery of why the show was cancelled and who was responsible??

Ok - that is a very watered down version of the synopsis but I only have so much room here! This book was full of heart. It explores how we become who we are, how important it is you be our true authentic selves, and how to fight back when your identity and autonomy are threatened.

I know White was a former member of the Mormon church and this book was inspired by her journey from church congregant to ex-member. I could not stop making comparisons to the KEEP SWEET documentary while reading!

But the focus of the book is not on bashing Mormonism itself - it is about how we are told how to be and how to act from a very young age and when you are involved in a religious organization as a child, the "rules" about how to be can make kids feel badly about themselves if they don't fit the cookie cutter mold.

I loved this story that was full of found family vibes, lots of magic, finding yourself, exploring your personality and that it is perfectly ok to be different or quirky.

Some rules are oppressive and crush individuality not to mention that no one can be at their best at all times and questioning authority is not a bad thing- this is a book that captures the human spirit fighting for its ability to thrive! ALL THE STARS!

Thank you to the author, @netgalley, and the publisher @tornightfire for the e-ARC.

I was already on the KW train but this book has solidified her as an auto-read author for me! Do you have any auto-read/buy authors?

💚SMASHBOT💚

#bibliophile #bookish #booknerd #booksta #bookstagram #instabooks #booklover #reader #bookreview

🛁 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 🛁
Mister Magic by Kiersten White
“It’s a children’s show. And what’s crueler than children?”

Thank you to NetGalley and Kiersten White for an advance copy of one of my most anticipated thrillers of the year, MISTER MAGIC.

Mister Magic follows Val, a woman who’s mysterious life is blown wide open when her father passed away and she is found by her childhood friends, whom she was on a children’s TV show with until she was eight years old. Val doesn’t remember anything before her father secluded her on a ranch as a child, and is whisked away by her old friends to do a podcast about the elusive TV show they were all on but can’t be found anywhere recorded in history.

Mister Magic touches on the themes of youth, obedience, and the Mandela effect. Only certain people remember mister magic, and those who do, all remember it slightly differently. I loved this take on the phenomenon in the book. All of the now grown children remember their experiences differently as well, but they all remember one thing: the show ending suddenly and a lot of them blame it for the things that have gone wrong in their lives. I loved uncovering the archetypes of the children: the troublemaker, the dreamer, the leader, and exploring how those things translate into their adulthoods.

Misted Magic is a psychological romp ala- the creepypasta “Candle Cove” that will have you thinking differently about your childhood and its lasting effects on us as adults. Don’t miss out on this creepy popcorn thriller this summer!🛁📚✨📺

Really interesting and abstract, it felt like a Stephen King novel. I don't thin k it's for everyone but I enjoyed it.

kiersten white take all my money.

the books ive read from this author have been such a perfect mix of whimsy and horror and i’m so glad that’s continued in MM. def recommend!

3.5

very cool concept. i appreciated the afterward where the author explains that she [ left Mormonism, and writing this was her way of dealing with the trauma of leaving as well as growing up in that particular faith. though i was raised Southern Baptist, i could relate to the experience of struggling with a faith that seeks to smooth down your so-called "edges" at the expense of who you are as a person. (hide spoiler)]

i think this is going to be one of those books that i will think about a lot and grow to appreciate more over time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! The premise of this sounded so good, I was excited for a different kind of thriller than I typically read. I found the book to be interesting, albeit confusing. I had to pause and think or reread several parts - it was very abstract in some places. While this was intriguing and I enjoyed reading it overall I don’t think it will be for the average thriller reader.

In starting “Mister Magic,” I anticipated several potential themes based on her previous books. I thought there may be cults or religious fanatics, a reality TV spin, and maybe a little demonic element. All of these track to things to made “Hide” work so well for me.

White delivers a creepy and haunting atmosphere in spades. Between the characters and the setting, she nails it. I was hooked in the beginning, trying to piece together what on earth is going on with this main character. Through the first 80%, I was in. However, once the conclusion was building, it felt a bit too confusing and complicated. I wanted to love it, but there was just something missing for me.

In particular, I enjoy White’s ability to build interesting characters outside of the protagonist. Learning about the other children from the show rounded out the story for me.

I thought the authors note at the end was particularly helpful and necessary here. There were evident themes throughout the story, but having White shed more light on the inspiration helped clarify for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Del Ray/Random House, and Kiersten White for this ARC in exchange for my review!

Legitimately chilling and intriguing from the first page. A nice companion to the movie Nope in vibes.

What an incredible nostalgic paranormal thriller! I loved the premise, and the cast of characters. It got me thinking a lot about the lessons taught on the childhood shows I watched, like Barney, Arthur, Sesame Street, and Mr Rogers. Thank god none of them had the spookiness that Mister Magic did.

I loved the overall theme of self-acceptance, being enough, and learning to manage your emotions. I also almost full out cried at the ending. It had me super emotional.

This is by far my favorite book by Kiersten White and I hope she continues to write adult novels because they are far superior to her YA.

I really enjoyed Kiersten White’s Hide and was even more excited to pick up Mister Magic once I read its synopsis. Mister Magic was everyone’s favorite childhood show. Yet it’s shrouded in mystery… no recordings or any evidence of the show exist and it was shut down years ago after a tragic accident. Any discussion of it online mysteriously disappears. The last cast members reunite to uncover what happened.

This book hooked me. I found myself desperately curious to see where it was going. Unsettling descriptions set the tone and help create a slowly building sense of dread. Even before things get creepy you sense it will take a dark turn. Two of my favorites:

“No jewelry save a wedding ring, a dated solitaire that doesn’t shine or sparkle so much as sit on her finger like a forgotten weight.”

“Maybe memories have taken root there and she can tug them out of the dirt, see what’s wriggling beneath.”

I mean, come on! Her words convey emotion and atmosphere. These dark early descriptions are juxtaposed with equally gorgeous words conveying vivacious, playful light at the end of the book. Anyone else able to taste spring green?

Val is our protagonist and she has no recollection of her time on the show 30 years ago. We are on the journey with her to understand the mysteries of Mister Magic, which I loved. It made it really easy to relate to her and her frustrations. We feel just as in the dark as she is and are along for her ride. She has a bad gut feeling as things progress but her gnawing need for answers pushes her forward. This created great tension and propelled the story forward.

As with Hide, things get weird. Kind of trippy. The book’s aware of this and uses the word absurd. Even when I wasn’t quite sure what was happening I still found it compelling. It feels at home in the horror genre. There are a lot of deeper messages, which would make it interesting for a book club and helped me appreciate it on another level. It had me thinking about the rules and lessons we teach our children and the addictive qualities of TV.

I read a review that suggested reading the author’s note first but I completely disagree. While it doesn’t exactly provide a spoiler, reading it first did affect how I interpreted the book as I went along and I kept expecting things mentioned there to play a more direct role in the story. I found it out an interesting spin on how I thought of the book, but it’s one I wish I knew after finishing the story.

Ahhhh I loved this book! I wasn’t expecting to because I don’t really do anything in the thriller/horror genre a ton (also recently learned about so many sub genres of horror/suspense while reading and prepping for my review). Saw a few friends reading this and their reviews and was lucky enough to grab an ARC. I do admit that the cover alone was probably 60% why I picked it up.

Loved the prose, I just couldn’t stop reading. Following along at first it can definitely be confusing. I was lost and loving it for 75% of the book. The author’s note explains a lot, if you have never left a cult-cultish religion/deconstructed and I found a lot of people liked reading the author’s note first. I kinda was happy to stay in the dark and when I started figuring out what she was doing that really added to the payoff.

I love how she explores The Mandela Effect and other psychological effects of cults/cultish religions on their followers.

Another aspect of this booked are all the internet snippets in between the story chapters that added to the millennial nostalgia and added to the meta genre effect that this book has.

The setting was so good. The house really is a MC as well. It reminded me of the tiny towns in Idaho (there is actually a town called Bliss in Idaho and I kept reminding myself that they were in Utah 😂).

The one thing I will say is that the characters do feel cookie cutter in some ways and I did feel like they lacked the depth and nuance that would have really made this work better. I would say the same about the folks living in Bliss they are more of an entity and become just a plot device without any attention. Because of this I felt the dialogue especially between characters felt underdeveloped as well and almost juvenile, which could have been part of the point, but they are also in their late 30s/40s with kids and lives of their own so it just felt kinda off.

That said I did love it. I thought it was incredibly smart and I find myself recommending it often especially to other readers who have gone through deconstruction or left religion.

It’s out now! Thank you @netgalley and @delreybooks for the ARC!

#netgalley #MisterMagic

It’s been 30 years since the fun and creative kid’s show, Mister Magic, ended. Not a single episode has survived, and no one knows who ran the show, but everyone remembers the final cast known as the Circle of Friends. Now that the cast is reuniting for a special podcast, long-time fans are excited. Everyone but the Circle of Friends, a group of jaded adults who have been living with the horrors that their time on the show has left them with. Who exactly was Mister Magic, and why are they terrified of saying his name?

We follow Val, a woman with no memory about her life before she started living with her dad on Gloria’s property. She’s extremely sheltered and has spent her life living by her dad’s obscure rules meant to keep her safe. The only problem is that Val is convinced that he’s really keeping the world safe from her, but she can’t remember why. It’s just a feeling she has. After her dad dies, it turns out that her dad hid a lot from her and she’s now furious because they could’ve been living an entirely different life.

Of course, this meant that Val tries to avoid a Mister Magic reunion while also trying to get as much information about her past as she can. We get to meet the rest of the surviving cast members, only we never truly get to know any of them. Their roles in life are the same as their basic purpose on the show. Every time we get a glimpse of who they are beneath the surface, Val jumps back because they are suspicious in some way. However, she knows they were all close friends and that she can trust them. It’s just a feeling.

Honestly, I wasn’t feeling this book. There’s a lack of depth and character growth for the characters, which hinders the story as we get deeper into the story. It was also presented as a mystery, horror, and thriller novel. The mystery was there for sure, but I personally wouldn’t call this a horror or thriller. If anything, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop only for it to never happen. Sure, there were some light horror elements, but not enough to make the story fall under horror for me. Plus, there was a weird almost romance that was just beyond out of place and lacked chemistry of any kind. It was strange and felt predatory, though I’m still on the fence about whether or not this relationship was meant to be taken that way.

It also seemed like there was a huge piece of missing information all book long. I kept feeling like I was missing something while knowing that whatever that may be wasn’t actually shared at any point in time. When I got to the author’s note at the end of the book, I finally knew what that piece of missing information was. It turns out that this was a fictional representation of the author’s childhood religious trauma and lifelong healing journey. The book makes so much more sense once one knows this, which is why I wish there was an introduction that talked about this.

I wish I liked this book more; I really do. However, it was just confusing at times, lacked character depth, and even what little character growth that occurred was framed very strangely. I’m still not entirely sure what this book was trying to be, but it’s ultimately a fantasy mystery that was very disjointed at times. If you plan on reading this book, I highly recommend reading the author’s note at the end before starting so that you don’t also feel like a big chunk of information that’s integral to the story accidentally got left out as you read.