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The Magician's Secret by Carolyn Keene Review

 Hello Friends :)

I pray today finds you all doing well, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.

Do you read on your breaks at work? I've been doing this honestly for as long as I can remember, but I like to stick with books that aren't too difficult to get through, just in case it's been a rough shift, and I end up not being able to devote all my time and energy to it.

My current favorite series for reading at work is Carolyn Keene's the Nancy Drew Diaries. I love how fun and nostalgic these titles are, but also that they're super easy reads, and don't take me that much time to get through.

I've read and reviewed quite a few of these on my blog already, which you can check out using the links below, and today I'm going to share my review with you all of the one I most recently finished.

Curse of the Arctic Star

Strangers on a Train

Mystery of the Midnight Rider

Once Upon a Thriller

Sabotage at Willow Woods

Secret at Mystic Lake

The Phantom of Nantucket

A Nancy Drew Christmas


Keep reading below for my full review.


The Magician's Secret by Carolyn Keene:



Source: Libby App

Publisher: Aladdin

Publication Date: January 20th, 2015

Genre: Middle Grade/Mystery

Series: Nancy Drew Diaries


Synopsis:


A major magic trick leads to missing murder evidence in this eighth book of the Nancy Drew Diaries, a fresh approach to a classic series.

When she attends a performance by master illusionist Drake Lonestar, Nancy is skeptical. Lonestar is known for his razzle-dazzle wizardry, but can the magician really make the River Heights library disappear?

As it turns out, he can, but that's not the only thing that goes missing. Key evidence to an upcoming murder trial disappears in the midst of the trick. And one of the trial attorneys just happens to be Nancy's father, Carson Drew, assisted by her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson.

Nancy, Bess, and George are quick to jump on the case, but not quite quick enough: Lonestar has vanished, too, and not even his closest friends know his whereabouts.

Magic is its own kind of mystery, but is this one Nancy can handle?

(synopsis from goodreads)


My Review:

The Magician's Secret is probably my least favorite title in the Nancy Drew Diaries so far, and I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as the previous books. I'm not personally a fan of magicians, so I think that probably hindered my enjoyment of it overall, but other elements were also not what I was expecting.

I do have to say that I thought the mystery was pretty well put together in this one, and even though the culprit was once again extremely obvious, the methods behind everything left me a little surprised. One factor I did enjoy in this one is that Ned was actually present in the story, instead of just being present in the form of text messages or phone calls like so many previous titles in the series.

Perhaps my biggest issues with this one though, is that it seemed like Bess and George were the ones solving the mystery, not Nancy. Nancy misses so many important clues along the way, and it just didn't seem believable for her to have done so.

I'm thankful this one did include genuine sleuthing, instead of just having the clues fall into her lap like in previous titles, I just wish it had been more of her doing the sleuthing, and not her friends being the ones to piece everything together. It just felt kind of weird and slightly out of place in a Nancy Drew title.

Final Rating: 3/5.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)

This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners. 

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