I really struggled with this one. I came close to putting it aside and marking it as “did not finish” several times, but I believe that I need to finish any ARCs I receive for review (even if I am years late completing them).

The first half of the book was incredibly slow and there was both nothing happening and too many plot lines happening in Otter’s life. After the halfway point, things started to improve and move at a better pace. And I actually enjoyed the ending, which bumped the rating from 2 to 3 stars.

The book is told third person, predominantly from Otter aka Mike’s POV, but there are a couple of chapters here and there told from his best friend Lika’s POV. They add an extra layer of understanding, but altered the rhythm a bit.

The main plot point, which everything else hinges on, did not make sense to me and I took an almost instant dislike to Otter’s mom based on her choices. I understand her not wanting Otter to go into foster care when she died, but why push for this 15 year old to be emancipated, knowing he didn’t have the finances to survive, when there were other options? Lika’s family would have been happy to take him in.

Don’t get me started on the social worker, a more unlikeable character I have never met. There are other unlikeable characters as well of course, but none worse than she is. She is definitely in the wrong field of work.

Otter makes a ton of mistakes; he’s 15 and grieving, so that is only to be expected. And he breaks two of the promises he made to his mother right off the bat, which only exacerbates all of his problems. At the heart of the matter though, he’s a good kid with no clue what he’s doing.

Something that I liked about the book- the community that rallies around Otter, including his friends, Lika’s family, his neighbors and his cousins. I also enjoyed the bit of magic involved in the box of items Otter received from his grandfather.

While this book didn’t work as well for me, you may enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book through Net Galley on behalf of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have to admit that I never made it the end of this one. I don't think it was entirely the book's fault as I started it just before lockdown and it was saved on my work computer, and I lost access to it. When I returned to it I just couldn't get back into it unfortunately.

The beginning was very promising. I really felt for Otto. The love and understanding he had over his mother's illness, and his following grief was heartbreaking. Otto's only outlet from then on was music but having to fend for himself put a strain on that too.

I really loved the premise of this book, but whether it was circumstance or not, it fell a little flat for me, never quite keeping my interest enough. Sometimes I felt like there were weird transitions in the story which I couldn't always follow. Maybe my heart just wasn't in it, so I think it's still worth giving it a go as it has the potential to be a great YA read.

This book was not what I expected. Well, part of it was: the teen drama, romance, grief etc. What I didn't know was that there was a magical element. While the title is actually really descriptive of what the book is about, I didn't think too much of it, and I also didn't read the brief of the book, I wanted to start reading with an open mind. So at first I was surprised at the magical element, and as I'm usually not a huge fan of it, it took some time for me to appreciate it. But it works really well and contributes nicely to the character development. Overall an enjoyable read which I finished in two sittings.

15-year-old Otter isn’t doing very well since he lost his mother to cancer and then he inherits a box of seemingly useless junk and ends up on a magical trip back through his grandfather's past.
While reading this story I must say that I found myself comparing Otters situation to mine when lost my grandmother as a young teen. Because while I had my mom I still found myself spiraling out of control with bad crowds and depression much like Otter did.
But Just like Otter, I was lucky enough to have people who did want to help me.

If you want to see the rest of my thoughts check out the full review on my blog Lynn's Tidbits

a beautiful story of music and how it can bring people together for the best parts of their life, a story where i continued thinking about it for weeks after

I enjoyed this but it isn’t a favourite. I enjoyed how the story revolves around music and family history. I might be one of the only ones that enjoyed the magical objects as it was a creative way to learn about the characters history. I felt that the only side character that was developed was Lika. Everyone else I feel like we didn’t get to know at all. Especially since one of the characters is a love interest I felt that we never got the connection between Otter and Amber that we should have because we never really got to know Amber as a person.

Thank you Netgalley for this copy for an honest review!

I felt really bad about what otter had to go through. But I did like his character and his growth through the book. I liked that he still had people there for him despite what all he went through.

When Otter's mother dies of cancer and his grandpa dies shortly after a lot of things change and a lot of things don't.
He still loves music, he is still poor and he still plans to make it big in the music business.
But now he also has to (rather unsuccessfully) juggle school and making a living, dodge child protection services, grow up real fast, and find use in the only inheritance he got from his grandfather: a box full of apparent junk.
Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams is a magical realism YA book that combines almost whimsical magical objects with some really heavy material. Otter isn't your typical YA protagonist: he is poor and struggling to not end up homeless, in a cruel foster home or in jail. Not only does he have to deal with this, he also has family secrets to uncover and realise that some people cannot be trusted.
I want to emphasise two important parts of the book that I haven't seen in YA before: children being groomed into white supremacist organisations and the problems of the child protection service and foster care system.
Overall a very enjoyable but heavy book. The romantic subplot was not my favourite but I can understand why a teenager would use a crush in those hard times to focus his energy on something less difficult than not knowing where his next meal comes from.

I liked this book a lot, there's a lot of music and it does feel like a love letter to music and to follow your dreams.
It started a little bit slow, but is worth.

Otter ~ “school..is a waste of time, just like every other day of school”
Mom ~ “school is never, ever a waste of time “

I was hooked. This sounds like too many conversations in our house.

Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams by T James Logan is about a 15 year old boy who dreams of making it big as a bass guitarist. His love of music comes from his single mother but when she dies his whole world is forever changed.
Shortly after her passing he receives a box of “junk” from his estranged grandfather. The box is full of anything but junk! It’s full of his grandfather’s memories-literally!
Between lifelong friends, an unsavory neighbor, his band, his boss and the memories left by his grandfather Otter learns some hard lessons. He learns the value of family, friendships and forgiveness. To ask for help and to not give up on your dreams!

Thank you to #netgalley and #bearpawpublishing for the eARC in exchange we an honest review.

_The e-arc of this book was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review on my request._

I couldn't complete the book.

The book is about Otter who receives a some "junk" from his grandfather, after his grandfather's death. The story continues from there as Otter realizes that these are his memories.

I didn't really like the racism in the book. Otter is a racist, which I really hated. Also the insta-love is not something I like.

Maybe it was just at the right place at the right time, but Junk Magic and Guitar Dreams was a novel I couldn't put down. Otter's (the recently-orphaned protagonist) struggles really resonated with me, and the creative use of music throughout the novel brought his angst and growth to another level. Logan's skill with prose really shines when he describes the protagonist and his band's performances, building emotions and memories that show his passion for music. If you manage to read those descriptions and not remember when the perfect song fit the perfect mood that you swore would never end and never change, you probably were never a teenager. This is a book that I'll keep in the back of the shelf, but know that whenever I need to relive those glory days (now I'm writing in lyrics, that's how infectious this book was), I can reach for it like an old friend.

This was one of those frustrating books where I really liked part of the story, and found another part of it just didn't work for me.

Otter is a fifteen-year-old boy whose mother has just died from cancer. Before she died, she made sure he was capable of living alone and made the arrangements for him to be emancipated so he wouldn't have to face foster care or a group home. Now Otter lives alone in a trailer park, struggling to keep the lights on and himself fed on what he earns working part time at a car wash.

Life is pretty grim, but Otter keeps himself going with the dreams of what might happen once his band hits the big time. They have their first big gig coming up, so it's possible... And in the meantime, there's his biker neighbor to hang out with when things get too much to take. The biker neighbor who starts pressuring him to join his group called Odin's Warriors.

Just when life is complicated enough, Otter falls for the new singer who joins the band. Falls hard and fast. But Amber doesn't seem to notice his epic crush. Or if she does, she doesn't care.

When Otter receives a box of stuff his grandfather has left him, he doesn't think much of it. He had to miss a day of work to schlepp downtown to pick it up, and when he opens it, it's full of garbage he probably won't even be able to pawn. But when he picks out an item from the box, he's suddenly overwhelmed by memories. And they're not his own.

I liked Otter as a character. He was both tough and vulnerable, stubborn and impressionable. I wanted to adopt him and bring him home to live with me. He made stupid decisions and was too proud to ask for help even when he desperately needed it. His life was so hard, but a lot of that was his own doing because there were people trying to make things easier for him all the way through. He just couldn't or wouldn't see it.

What I didn't like about the book was the magical way the objects in his grandfather's box gave him memories. This book was so gritty and realistic in depicting Otter's life, the sudden appearance of magical memory-giving artifacts didn't really gel with me even if the memories did give Otter a deeper understand of his family and who he really is.

It's probably just me, because I'm not a huge fan of fantasy or magic. There was nothing really wrong with the memories or the information they gave Otter about where he came from, but I just didn't really buy the magical way this information was provided to him. But like I say, that's probably just me...

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this one in advance.

This ARC was provided for review, but in no way affects the following impartial and unbiased review:
•
3*
Pros: Fantastic description and narrative style. Focus on being a young musician. Loved the band aspect and the love and passion in finding what you want to live for. Interesting take on magic, based on family and nostalgia. Important PoV into poverty, dealing with loss, struggling to stay afloat in all aspects.
.
Cons: Racist and ignorant protagonist. Insta-love. Melodramatic lead, that led to multiple headache-inducing eyerolls.

"Sometimes, all it takes is one person to tell you that your dreams are worth pursuing, that the world needs your unique, creative energy. It does. The world needs music, poetry, stories, beauty, now more than ever."
--T. James Logan

I started this book expecting that it was just another sad contemporary, but it was so much more than that with a dash of magic.

Pros:
Otter's character development. He went from someone who thinks he doesn't need help to someone slowly learning to accept and ask for help.

The chapter titles *chef's kiss.

Cons:
The POV was a bit confusing at times (or I'm just dumb idk).

It could've been a little longer because so much was happening all at once so we didn't get to explore the other events as much.

TW: racism

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to review Junk Magic & Guitar Dreams.

Overall I enjoyed the story and the topics discussed especially the topic of grief but I didn’t connect with the characters as much as I thought I would. And found myself skimming certain parts because they dragged.

As a music person, I absolutely loved the music references!!

I struggle somewhat with this book. I think it's well intentioned. It highlights the struggles of kids in poverty, of marginalized communities. We see how stress and grief break a person down, make them fail to use logic, makes them make bad choices. We see how families and friendships fall apart is stages, seldom all at once. How each choice, each moment, builds on the ones that came before. I also think that the major plot points are obvious, the resolutions over simplified. I understand wanting to show how a vulnerable teen, especially a young man caught up in grief and feeling lost, can be radicalized. This is a very real problem in our society and worth discussing. BUt this particular presentation struggles with some logic issues.

This was an interesting book. I wasn’t ready for all the feels I’ll admit but I was pretty cool. You know it’s going to be an okay book when a single character pisses you off.

I mean you Zeke!


I had a bit of an issue with the fact that Mike was sorta reliving his grandfather’s memories and I felt like that would have made a very interesting story. If it had been fleshed out a bit more it would have made for such a great element.


All in all I would recommend to a friend. Death is a hard thing to deal with and I like seeing stories where people find different ways to deal.

All in all 3.75/5

Otter has to grow up quickly after his mother dies. Even though she has taught him how to continue on as an emancipated teenager, he is after all a teenager, insecure and error prone. Otter gets unexpected help after his estranged grandfather passes away and bequeaths to him a box of junk that has the magical power of transporting him into his memories, which subtly or explicitly relate to his own problems.

At the same time, Otter's band, in which he plays bass and contributes key repertoire choices, starts to take off, and so does his romantic interest in their new lead singer. Meanwhile, his longtime friend Lika, the drummer, starts to develop interest of her own in Otter. Complicating matters further are racial tensions in his trailer park, family secrets that bubble to the surface, and an overzealous child services representative.

All of which makes excellent raw material for a YA novel -- magic and realism, romance and rock music, and hard lessons learned from difficult choices. Adults like me who have encountered some of these devices before may feel like author T. James Logan has not broken any new ground, but young readers may find it fresh -- I recall a discussion I once had with a teenager about a movie I felt had been done too many times before, and he put in me in my place by observing that he was too young to have experienced that.

But quibble all you want over the originality of these ideas, I find that Logan has handled it all with enough subtlety and originality of his own. I liked it, so much so that I immediately went out to see what else he has written, and discovered that he has an even more extensive body of work as Travis Heermann, which I plan to sample as soon as possible.

And what's not to like about a book about rock music and guitars? As a guitarist myself, it was the great cover art of a guitar head stock that drew me in, and though there is some divergence in musical taste (I'm not an AC/DC fan), I cannot resist a good guitar metaphor.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The story has so much promise. I loved all the music references and the plot is very interesting. I enjoyed the magic that Otter got from his grandfather's "junk".

However, I read over half of this book but could not bring myself to finish it.
It had lots of promise but I felt as if I could not make any connections to any of the characters in the book or any of the plot points. Some minor parts of the book were overly descriptive while other, more important parts fell flat. It felt as if the story moved forward without any real explanations.