*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.*

Unfortunately this one wasn't for me. I thought the premise sounded really cool- a mysterious old childrens show with a traumatic ending but nobody remembers what it actually was and there's no information about it? Sign me up! Unfortunately though this just fell flat for me, and I ended up putting it down around 40%. I knew that at that point I wouldn't like it and I have long since stopped reading books that I'm not loving.
For me, the problem was the pacing. It's very slow moving and it didn't give me enough information to keep me interested in the mystery, rather leaving me frustrated with not knowing anything. I felt more confused than intrigued.
However, I fully recognize that these are all me problems that don't necessarily reflect how much others would enjoy the book. I feel like if you enjoy slower novels with multiple mysteries and characters you don't know who to trust, you would thoroughly enjoy this.
So while I did not enjoy or finish this novel, I will still recommend it for people who I think could enjoy it more than me!

My immediate thought about this book, well, right after <i>what the actual fuck</i>, is how relevant it is to the current times we are living in. While it was truly only after reading the acknowledgment that I deeply understood that White has given us a story about the toxicity of some religions and the difficulty of getting out of those religions (I did not know White was Mormon), I also feel that Mister Magic can also be an allegory for how television and social media are programming the hearts and minds of people.

There is a quote that I will likely never forget that I roughly paraphrase here: "... great children's programming. Or as we like to call it, programming great children."

That slammed into my psyche, because is that not what is going on in the current political climate? News organizations and social media feeding us one lie after another (though, of course, what is the lie and what is truth?) and making us believe one thing or another. Its a terrifying thought, but its happening all around us.

However, Mister Magic is also very much about extracting yourself from something that is so deeply engrained in you that you feel lost without it, that you find yourself longing for it. I am not Mormon, but I think this is similar to all religions. We're given a set of rules we are supposed to live by, personas that we are supposed to inhabit. And if we stray from those we are <i>bad</i>. Something must be fundamentally wrong with us. You can see this so clearly in the character of Jenny. On some level I think she understands that the childhood she had on the show was not all that it was thought to be. But she misses the structure and the rules. She has modeled her own life after those structures and rules, but she is failing at making her own children perfect because they do not have the same influences that she had. She believes that in order to have the correct life, she must bring the show back into being and that is the only way her children will be saved.

How I missed the religious undertones, I'll never know.

The final circle of children fight against indoctrination. Somehow they were able to return to being their true selves after Val disappeared from the show and they are seen as being failures. But what they really are is happy. They weren't broken down to the point of no return, likely because their time on the show ended too soon. They were able to salvage the true pieces of themselves and go on to live as they intended, not as they were expected.

The premise of this book is outrageous, but its so layered and fascinating, I think every reader will find something else about this story that they relate to.

Thank you to Random House publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!

You know that feeling of nostalgia when you think of your favorite childhood tv show? The colors, the friends through the screen & the bond you shared with them, the songs you can still kind of hum today?
What if you were part of it?
What if *it* didn't want to let go of you? 👀

I loved every moment of this book. Literally at the end of the first chapter, I put the book down in my lap, grinned, and said out loud 'Oh, yeah. This is my kind of book.'
There are so many things I want to say about the characters, the plotline, the cult of False Happiness that people try to chase from the nostalgic glow of childhood's light... even if that glow comes from the dark light of an empty tv screen. But I fear I could easily say too much. It's better to go into this one as blind as you can.
The LGBT rep was a delightful surprise & a particular kiss made me cheer out loud.
I was concerned that the author wasn't going to stick the landing, so to speak, but the ending was so good and felt like a true conclusion.
If you want a book that will sink itself into your unconscious mind - in the shadows between waking and dreaming, in the darkened empty doorway, in every hum of the electronics that you can't see but you know are there because you can *hear* them - then READ THIS BOOK.

This book is everything. PHENOMENAL. It's horror, and without any true violence or gore, it's one of the most chilling things I've read all year.

The characters and their trauma were all fleshed out, and I found something relatable in each of them.

And the humor? So well done. The comedic timing to break tensions was spot on throughout the book. The various articles, reddit threads, and emails spread throughout to give backstory outside of Val's POV were the perfect way to tie the story all together and fill in some of the gaps while still leaving enough mystery to make this the epitome of an edge-of-your-seat page-turner.

Full of intrigue, suspense, cults, and maybe even some distant hope! Creepypasta fans rejoice!

Mister Magic is the newest horror book featuring that childhood show you can just about remember but can never prove and I loved it! This novel follows Val, our heroine, who was once a featured childhood star on Mister Magic. The only problem is she can't remember any of it and the rest of the cast wants her back for the reboot. Enter the rest of the cast of mysteriously disappeared show. How does one remember being a star when no evidence exists? This is all answered and more in this fantastic new adventure by Kiersten White.

Mister Magic was quickly paced and had me flipping pages until late in the evening. I needed to know what was going to happen and what had happened all those years ago. I've been a big fan Kiersten White's books for years now and I'll stay that way. The writing style keeps me hooked and doesn't let me go until the last page. In addition to this, she writes characters that become instantly lovable and redeemable despite hidden pasts, motives, or tragedies.

Run, don't walk to pick this story up on August 8th! You'll love it!

Read if you like:
👀 Suspense
🌀 Quirky Books
📺 Tv reunions
🔦 Creepy Reads

This book has the creep factor down! The story about six kids in a black room as the plot of the tb show with them in the room waiting for “Mr magic” while they say magic words trying to draw him out was absolutely horrifying and creepy AF.

To make it even more creepy no one knows who Mr Magic is and no one has seen him but they all agree he has an imposing size and shape.

And then when it can’t get worse, an accident occurs and only 5 of the kids make it out alive… now fast forward to a reunion of the 5 coming back together 30 years later stuck in a desert trying to identify Mr. magic after all these years.

If you want all the creepy vibes with a weird reading experience I highly recommend this one! Definitely a perfect spooky season read!

Thanks so much to Ballentine for my ARC of this one!

What if the most iconic, memorable shows of your childhood had no trace or proof of their existence at all? What if everyone remembered them, but no one could find even so much as a clip on YouTube or the listing of a production company?

This is the premise that Mister Magic presents – one that resonated particularly with me as a millennial and will resonate with millennials everywhere.

Val is living on a ranch, giving lessons to youth with her dad when she is sought out by three men who claim to know her from a kids' TV show they were on together. However, while Val finds the men familiar, she has no memories of this show or the time she spent on it. The entire cast is reuniting for a podcast and gala, and Val ends up returning to the former site of filming with the former cast members – Isaac, Marcus, Javi – and the podcast coordinator liaison, Jenny.

As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that Val is not the only cast member lacking memories from the show. Everyone begins questioning their own reliability and what actually happened during the time they filmed Mister Magic. As a reader, this definitely kept me turning the page. I wanted answers because the characters each desperately yearned for them. In addition to memories, it seems unclear what even was really happening on the show in the Mister Magic universe, to both the characters and viewers.

As I mentioned before, the coolest thing about this book is the premise, which I felt was executed very well. There have been times I've talked to friends about shows we mutually remember only to find minimal trace of their existence online. This leads to the question: What if there WAS no trace? What if The Big Comfy Couch was a shared hallucination between myself and other millennials?

Kiersten White's writing is clear and creepy, developing characters while also creating an unsettling atmosphere through setting and words. As a reader, there were times I found myself both metaphorically and literally yelling, 'Don't go in there!' while also wanting the characters to 'go in there' so I could get more answers. I also found the ending to be just the right amount of satisfying. Some may not, but as long as you can suspend your disbelief, you will enjoy the novel and the overarching plot.

I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially millennials and those who enjoy horror novels, psychological thrillers, or just weird books. This book is more suspenseful than scary and, in general, gives off unsettling vibes. It's a five-star read from me.

This review will appear the day after publication is set (August 9th, 2023) on Goodreads.

I loved Mister Magic and, yes, this review will have spoilers. At one level, this is the story of a parasitic, fantastical farce of a show and on another, it is the story of a parasitic, fantastical, cult-like form of parenting and socializing children. While the story is derived from the author's experience of the Mormon church, the implications go much further. Adults sacrifice themselves and other children for an unrealistic ideal of childhood-- an unbesmirchable idol to fresh starts and innocence-- without critically evaluating what is best-- not for ourselves, but for the actual children we hold in such high esteem. I can't explain this better than Kiersten White, so I simply recommend that you read this astonishing book.

Mister Magic by Kiersten White was something else. I loved her book Hide last year, about a competition where contestants hade to play a life or death game of hide and seek. I expected something similar in this story about a group of adults who once starred in a children’s TV show with the mysterious “Mister Magic.”

I expected a twist on IT, with a dash of Stranger Things. And while there is a general sense of unease if not suspense throughout the book and plenty of mystery, I was ultimately let down by what turned out to be an allegory of the author’s experience as a former member of the Mormon church. It overall did not work for me, though maybe had the author’s note been at the beginning of the book, I would have known better what to expect.

I wasn't sure what to expect after reading the summary but am a big fan of "let's return to the place where this awful thing happened" type of horror a la "IT." I really enjoyed the main character's POV and could feel the disconnection and anxiety about her lack of memories when her childhood friends resurface. I didn't find this novel to be scary, it felt more like a thriller where you couldn't quite put your finger on the twist. When it was delivered, I was pleasantly satisfied, and definitely not what I was expecting. #MisterMagic #NetGalley

Mister Magic was engrossing and unsettling and I could not put it down. The shift of the story to Utah combined with the "lessons" Mister Magic was teaching made me wonder if this was an LDS allegory and I was kind of right. I really appreciated the context added by Kiersten White's afterword.

First of all, I would like to express my appreciation for how this author transforms childhood elements like amusement parks and children's shows into darker and more intriguing stories, That for me is definitely an extra star right there! Her creativity and distinctiveness shine through brilliantly. The premise of this book is captivating, and while the plot didn't work for me personally, it offers a lot of thought-provoking ideas. This story contains moments of depth and abstraction, delving into underlying themes of genuine hope and human connections. Although it may have been marketed as a thriller, I believe it truly excels as a captivating horror novel. While I encountered some challenges with the pacing and the protagonist's choices, I enjoyed the character development. The idea of a creepy childhood show that abruptly concludes interested me, but I just wanted more from this story. Also, I appreciated the author's note, and I believe it would have been even more impactful had it been placed at the beginning, setting the stage for the story more effectively.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thirty years after a children's program abruptly ended, the remaining child actors want to get together to make a podcast to reflect on their former glory days. Val, however, has zero recollection of being on this show. Her father took her away to a ranch and she's been there ever since. What happens when the 4 other child actors find Val and want her to complete the friendship circle for the podcast?

The premise and plot itself are very good but the execution of the entire book is just not there. For the majority of the book I was bored and a bit confused. There is a lot of filler in this book that is just unnecessary to move the plot forward. The characters are very one dimensional for an adult book. The main character Val does nothing and kind of is just there most of the time. Every time she's in a situation and you're going Get Out! She doesn't and it makes the reader not care what happens to her. The pacing at the ending starts to get good but then just goes slow again. I do have to say this was marketed incorrectly as this is not a true mystery/horror novel. The author's note at the end needs to be at the beginning so people can know what this is truly about. Once I read the word god in the book I had a feeling it would be about cults but it was still about magic and things just did not blend well at all. I was very frustrated that I did not like this book as this is the fourth book I read from this author and I greatly enjoyed Hide. This was not for me.

There are a handful of genre tropes out there that have such a hold over me I can’t help but devour whatever media they come packaged in, no matter what the perceived quality of the project might be. Time loops? Yes, please. Secret libraries? Absolutely. Childhood memories of shows/movies that can’t possibly be real? I’m theeeeeeere. MISTER MAGIC teases a mysterious journey into a childhood fantasy that defies all logic and reason, and Kiersten White 100% delivers. But it’s a story that’s so much more than a creepy horror tale—there’s real love, true connection, genuine hope, and a gorgeous final act that left me breathless. (Nothing can prepare you for how the last quarter of the book speeds up and just never stops accelerating until it reaches that stunning finale.) I loved the premise, and loved even more what the book turned out to be—and that’s a cause to fling wide the doors and CELEBRATE. Thanks to #Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book early. What a treasure it turned out to be!

Mister Magic By: Kirsten White

“Mister… Shhhh we dont say his name.”

Val is just a farm girl giving horse riding lessons and working on a farm, teaching children about a simpler life. Life was all too simple until her father died and a few people from her past show up. She has no recollection of these men, who they are or where they came from. Val doesn’t have any memories from before she moved to the farm with her father when she was 8.
Val is an ex child star un-denounced to her until her fathers funeral. When 2 of her ex-costars show up after reading about the death in the news paper, Val went missing long ago and no one knew where she was. Why doesn’t she remember them, the show or her SISTER? With all of these other revelations she also finds out that her mother is still alive and lives in the town that the men are going to for the shows reunion. Val hops in the car with them without even a second guess.
Why have all of the clips of this show been deleted everywhere, Who is Mister Magic, Why will no one tell Val anything?

Who is this interviewer, Mister Magic is that you?

Enjoy the wild ride that is learning what happened to Val, Kitty, Jenny, Marcus, Issac, and Javi when they were on there kids television show. Who is Gloria really and how does she play a role in all of this?

I really enjoyed this book it literally kept me on my toes until the very end. Be aware of body horror being a thing if you are sensitive like myself. This is my first time reading from this author and I will be picking up more by her.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing company for letting me receive and review this digital reviewer copy/ Advanced Reader Copy of Mister Magic. In return for my own thoughts and opinions. This review will also be available on Goodreads the same day as posted on NetGalley June 14,2023.

I really enjoyed this one! I was wary going in because I wasn't a fan of White's last adult novel, Hide. This one is much much better, in my opinion. It's a very interesting concept and I was in suspense the whole time. If you've ever wondered what ever happened to your favorite kid's show actors, this book gives a fun and engaging answer. I thought the characters were well thought out and interesting as well. Definitely recommend!

I struggled a bit with this story early on - it’s well written, but it just takes soooo long for things to set up. It was slow until about the 70% mark. But once it hit the point where you see what’s actually going on, it gets really good. I’d definitely recommend this one to non-horror readers who are looking to dip a toe in the genre. It’s spooky without being outright scary.

It has an intriguing premise - a group of adults reunite for a podcast about a mysterious childhood show they were on called “Mister Magic”. The show ended abruptly after a fire and a cast mate’s death. Our main character, Val, was the main character of the show, but she’s lived the last 30 years in seclusion and remembers absolutely nothing about her childhood, or the show.

We spend 70% of the story with Val kinda moping around, not remembering anything, and getting very subtle clues.
There’s an attempt to examine childhood trauma, but it never really hits until you read the author’s notes at the end of the book, then I was like “ahh, I get it now.”

There are some big ideas that I wish we explored more regarding this particular location where the story takes place and some backstory of how it came to be. Honestly, I think I would have really liked this one with just a few tweaks and more attention to those details. We just don’t spend enough time on the parts I found most interesting.

I’d give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This one drops on August 8th.
Thank you to @delreybooks and @netgalley for the advance copy.

#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #horrorbooks #horrorbookstagram
#kierstenwhite #mistermagic #delreybooks
#horrorstories #horrorstory

I was so excited to get a ARC of Mister Magic after reading Hide by Kiersten White last year. This book had similar creepy small town vibes and thriller/horror genre pacing, but was a wholly unique read.
I won’t do a synopsis because that’s easy to find, but I want to talk about the book itself.
I loved it.
I loved the characters especially. Each one was so nuanced that they felt real. No one felt like an archetype, which is especially powerful given that the Mister Magic show treated them as archetypes (the leader, the troublemaker, the big brother, etc.) I loved how the characters interacted with one another. It really was like a family- some you are closer to than others, some you bicker with more, but the underlying love and devotion is powerful.
I also really enjoyed the pacing of the story, which kept me engaged the entire time. There was some genuinely creepy imagery in the book, but overall this story was centered much more around love than fear, and the process of the book showing that distinction was done so beautifully.
One of my favorite parts of the book was how it captured the spirit of living in Utah, which sounds strange, but as someone who has lived here since 2001, seeing a book set in Utah that isn’t about Mormons is rare and usually not done well. I could tell the author had, at the very least, spent a significant amount of time here. We have beautiful mountains that surround a large, flat body of land, and the towns were initially organized by LDS settlers that all had the same rubric, so there is a very distinct feel, and Mister Magic captured it so well. The cold desert night air, the beautiful red rock in the southern part of the state, and how it can feel to live in a town mostly made up of “believers” when you are not one. To be clear, this book is NOT about LDS people. The believers in this are those who believe in the message of Mister Magic, but the metaphor was perfectly achieved. Most of the time setting doesn’t matter all that much to the overall feel of a book, but Mister Magic manages to perfectly capture Utah-the beautiful and the ugly- and it’s really the first book I can think of that has ever done that for me. At the end of the book in the Afterward, White details a little of her personal history and how this book, though a supernatural thriller fiction novel, was largely personal and almost autobiographical at parts, and it made a lot of sense to me.
Overall I was a huge fan of this book, and I’m very grateful to have gotten an ARC for it! I will definitely continue to read her books in the future.

“This place taught me to closet myself before I even knew what I was…”

“This place taught me I would only have value if I did what I was supposed to.”

One of the hardest-hitting books I’ve read. I ugly cried through the last 20 minutes.

As someone who grew up with an anxiety disorder in a church with deeply-flawed leadership, this brought a lot of stuff to the surface. My brain was already making me *very* concerned that I wasn't doing things the way I was supposed to, and then the church's focus on inherent sin and how "wrong" we all were and how there was only one right way to do things...well, it wasn't healthy. And somehow Kiersten White has managed to take a creepy, captivating story about a kids' TV show and some sort of malicious presence and fit all of that religious trauma and dysfunction in without it feeling forced at all.

Quite possibly the easiest five stars I’ve ever given a book. I cannot imagine how difficult this book was to write but am so grateful to the author for being brave enough to tell this story. MisterMagic has shaken me up, and, as all the dust of the past settled, given me space to want and hope.

Note: I received a review copy of this book via NetGalley.

(This is the text of my Goodreads review. I also raved about the book on Twitter and plan to post on Amazon once the book is released.)

Through the beginning of this book, I would have best described it as sinister. It was weird and didn't make a whole lot of sense, but I was really enjoying the spine tingly sensation it was giving. As I got further along, I began to pick up on the strict religious/cult like symbolism and the book took on a whole new feel for me. As dramatic as it sounds, this book spoke to my soul. Then the author's note at the end just confirmed every feeling the story pulled from me. This book will stick with me for a very long time.