The Magic Misfits

Neil Patrick Harris is releasing his first young adult book series November 21, 2017.  For those who love YA, you can get through this book in a few hours.  What I love about this story is how a young boy overcomes bad circumstances to find a family of his own.  Carter is an orphan who is sent to live with a family relative, a conman who uses magic tricks to con people.  When his guardian tries to force him to steal, he decides to do the right thing.  He returns a stolen necklace to an old lady that was kind to him and runs away from his guardian.  He stows away on a passing train, waking up in a New England town.  A carnival run by criminals happens to be in town.  Carter takes a look around, running into a real magician who sees magical potential in him.  He doesn’t believe magic is real, but he then discovers a group of young magicians who practice real magic.  Carter’s life begins to change.  Even though he is homeless and afraid to tell anyone that he has no family, this group of friends takes him in and shows him the time of his life, all the while trying to stop B.B. Bosso and his cronies from stealing a precious diamond.  If you liked the Lemony Snicket series, “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” you will like this story.  After all, it is befitting to use the Baudelaires as an example, because Neil Patrick Harris plays Count Olaf in the Netflix series.  Looks like he took some inspiration from Snicket and created a new magical world for an orphan looking for a family of his own.

[Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review.  This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive compensation.]

Similar Posts

  • Wizard for Hire

    This book is unlike any other YA book I’ve read in the past few years.  We live in a world where we leave the fairy tales in the books or up on the movie screens.  But what if magic was real in the world around us?  After Ozzy’s parents are kidnapped, he is left to…

  • Sour Heart

    An incredible debut novel from Jenny Zhang.  This book is a collection of stories from Chinese immigrants in Queens, New York.  This is not for the faint of heart.  In our political climate today, there is a bit of arrogance that goes along with the immigration experience.  People assume all immigrants (both legal and illegal)…

  • The Japanese Lover

    At the end of every year, Isabel Allende knows what she will write about when she begins her writing season.  It was closing in on December 31st when she was out with a friend, walking around in Brooklyn when her friend was telling her about her mother and her Japanese gardener.  They had been friends…

  • Round Midnight

    A story of how four women’s lives are intertwined in a Las Vegas casino.  One woman falls in love with a jazz singer.  Another is a mail order bride who gets lucky in the casino one night.  Another has a mysterious past she is trying to find answers to.  And one woman finds herself entrenched…

  • Princesses Wear Pants

    Today Show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie has a new book coming out on September 12, 2017 and if you have a little girl, you must include this book in her library.  Princesses wear gowns and tiaras, but some also wear pants.  I loved this story, because this princess is me in a nutshell.  When I gave…

  • Anansi Boys

    In curating my library, there is one thing that is certain, Neil Gaiman’s stories are ones that are meant to be kept in hardcover and never given away.  In his epic novel, “American Gods,” we are introduced to Anansi (the spider god).  In Anansi Boys, we are introduced to the trickster’s sons: Fat Charlie and…