How I Magically Messed Up My Life in Four Freakin' Days (The Tale of Bryant Adams)

Book 1 in The Tale of Bryant Adams seriesFound Magic. Wizards. Witches. Fate.A magical awakening coming of age story that is similar to The Sorcerer's Apprentice meets Harry Potter. Battling in the dark to live in the light. The hero. The adventurer. The apprentice. The seer. All four tied together by fate."Knowledge is my only pursuit.""Life isn't fair. Magic isn't fair. And fate has definitely never been called fair."

What is the phrase, no good deed goes unpunished? Yep, that says it all. Imagine a geeky teen finding a cellphone in a cab. And rather than trust anyone else to return it to the owner, he decides to. The only thing is, when he opens the screen to see if he can trace the owner he burns down his mother's pride and joy. The school theatre is toast. His crush was watching and figures it out first. So, at his absentee fathers penthouse, they try again. Only this time the owner has tracked them and tries to kill them magically. Fate has different plans. As his father's penthouse is filled with purple fire, a giant blue flower grows in Central Park, his mother is in a cocoon guarded by zombie wolves and his home apartment looks like a bomb went off, Bryant and his friends go to battle. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, no truer words were spoken in this book. Good for any age. I enjoyed the characters, the world building and friendships formed by the characters.

I picked this book up expecting something lighthearted and funny... and ended up getting something more epic and genuinely GOOD than I expected. Not saying that it wasn't funny, nor that "funny" and "quality" can't exist in the same work. But what I expected to focus mainly on humor turned out to be a thrilling ride, with entertaining characters and an epic story about magic and mayhem in the Big Apple.Bryant mostly just wants to be cool like his best friend Devon, remind the girl of his dreams that he actually exists, and just avoid being dragged into his mom's theater productions. But when he stumbles upon a magic cell phone -- and almost burns down his school in the process -- he, Devon, and his crush Elizabeth are swept into a magical side of New York they never knew existed. Now if they can just get rid of the phone before it gets them killed...This book does a great job of balancing action and humor, and at building a world-within-ours and a magic system that feel believable and unique. The pace is brisk, the author does a good job at explaining things in a natural manner without resorting to massive infodumps, and while the book is technically YA it avoids some of the pitfalls that can make YA fiction eyeroll-inducing to read. The book pretty quickly quashes notions of a romantic rivalry and/or a love triangle the moment they start to crop up, for example...The characters -- at least the main characters -- are well-done as well. I found myself liking Bryant, Elizabeth, and Devon, and enjoying their banter and misadventures. Eric started out as a rather flat villain but became more interesting the further the book went on, and even minor characters like Bryant's mom and Eric's outcast witch friend were fun. The villains are pretty flat and one-note, unfortunately, but do provide a suitable amount of menace."How I Magically Messed Up My Life in Four Freakin' Days" is a wild and funny ride, an urban fantasy that's both exciting and hilarious. And while technically aimed at the YA crowd, it can be enjoyed by both teens and adults.

My 12-year-old daughter and I are reading these together and enjoying them very much. She is a good reader, but we both love "bedtime story time" so much that we've kept it up, just moving on to more complex "stories". This book is the first of a series about a high school boy who finds a "phone" that he can use to cast magic spells (his friends are unable to use it). The author is a female, and I am a female who has only had daughters, but the point of view seems believable and authentic to me. Maybe a boy might have a different take on it, I don't know. The plot moves at a good pace, the story develops well and logically. There is a fair amount of humor, and the sentence structure and literature itself is definitely appropriate to teens, making it a good read that is neither too simple nor too complex for that age group. My only criticism is that there is a fair amount of basic swearing - your usual sh**, da**, hell-level cussing - that I find unnecessary. I can understand the author striving for realism (we all know the average teen does a fair amount of cussing in their conversations!), but this is fiction, not reality. If we can believe only the one boy can use a magic phone to create magic spells, we can also overlook the lack of swearing. Kids understand that the characters portrayed in their media aren't completely realistic, and that's okay with them. It hasn't hurt Disney that they don't have swearing in their shows. If this was a grittier book, or for older teens, and there was other inappropriate stuff being portrayed, it might not stand out so much, but the swearing that is in the dialogue seems forced and, as I said, completely unnecessary. As I read this out loud, I often edit the swear words out, and it reads plenty smoothly without them.

The story was a cross between Percy Jackson and Harry Potter in New York. The story kept you guessing and it was very exciting. Not a bad read at all.

Bryant is a regular kid in New York, who stumbles onto a magical phone, and into a whole load of trouble.Bryant is weird enough without magic. He's the geeky, quiet kid at school. He sticks his head in the sand, happy to be invisible and ignored, watching the people he cares about actually enjoy life. His mum teaches Drama (roping in her son, of course); his best friend is the coolest guy in school; his dad is a millionaire (off doing what millionaires do); and his crush is simply being perfect.Bryant's life takes an odd turn, when he finds a mobile phone, dropped by a very pale-looking guy.Before he can see about returning it to its rightful owner, Bryant accidentally sets the school on fire with an app, then destroys his dad's apartment with a tornado.Suddenly things aren't as straight-forward, and he's joined by his best friend Devon, and crush Elizabeth. They have a mission to keep the powerful phone from falling into the wrong hands.On their journey, they learn about the world of magic beneath their feet, and the battle going on between the light and shadows.This story was somewhat kooky to start with, but by half-way I was really enjoying it.I was a little disappointed that Bryant did become just a sidekick - I know it mentions it in the blurb, and I know it's in keeping with his character to let someone else lead; but this was supposed to be his story, and he got relegated to a supporting player. Eric is basically in charge, and Devon was being pro-active, even Elizabeth stepped up and played her part. Meanwhile, Bryant was there to provide more fire-power.There's plenty of danger and action, and it establishes that even in this magical world, nothing is clear-cut. It keeps you guessing as to who are the good-guys/bad-guys/ambiguously-grey-guys.Overall, this was fun, and I look forward to the rest of the series.

I admit, I don't read a lot of urban fantasy, but the quirky cover got my interest. And I'm glad it did, because this is a fun, action-packed story with likeable characters. The protagonists are teenagers, but this is a book for all ages. Well-written, a touch of romance, never a dull moment, and a giant blue flower towering over New York. What more could you want? Definitely recommended.

This is a brilliant read.Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.Great suspense and action with wonderful world building.Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.Recommend reading.

I think this must be a young adults book because of the way it's written. Having said that, I enjoyed it! Good romp and engaging characters. I'll read the next instalment soon.

Gift for my Grandson who is very happy with this book