Misguided

by David Meyer

Four kids. One buried secret. A Christmas town that will never be the same.

Welcome to Braxton—an enchanting, year-round Christmas town that tourists adore and eighth-grader Daniel Ford calls home. As one of the town’s youngest tour guides, Daniel knows every story and legend about August Braxton, the visionary founder who transformed a forgotten town into a holiday destination.

But everything changes the day Daniel discovers a century-old note hidden inside August’s mansion:

“Everything you know about Braxton—and me—is a lie.”

Determined to uncover the truth, Daniel teams up with his best friend Cindy, fearless climber Keeley, and muscular loner Adrian. Their search leads them deep into a buried mystery—through abandoned factories, forgotten chambers, hidden mechanisms, and coded messages. Each clue draws them closer to a dangerous treasure one man tried desperately to destroy.

And one that powerful forces would do anything to control.

As Christmas Eve approaches and danger tightens around them, Daniel and his friends must unravel a conspiracy powerful enough to shatter families and destroy lives.

Some secrets stay buried for a reason.
This one could tear their beloved town apart.

Perfect for fans of City Spies and The 39 Clues, Misguided delivers a twist-filled winter mystery where courage, friendship, and long-buried truths collide.

264 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 2, 2023

About the author

David Meyer is an author, marble-maze builder, sock puppet aficionado, wannabe cartoonist, a creator of some things and breaker of others, a yogi and martial artist, and the owner of the reddest hair you’ve ever seen.

He’s a man of few apps, but many books. Creatively, he prefers to work in circles, following “the pull” rather than pushing. He’s tried—and abandoned—nearly every productivity tool known to man. He likes new ideas, old stories, and the big picture. He dislikes small talk, busyness, and infinite scrolling.

He’s married to the wife of his youth, who knows his worst, yet loves him best. He’s also father to who just happen to be his two favorite children of all time.

Reviews

[Susan M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I’m a fan of the author and because I have a couple tweens who love mystery-adventures like Indiana Jones and National Treasure. I wanted to read it first to make sure it was appropriate for my (admittedly) sheltered kiddos. Not to scary, not too grown-up. I really enjoyed it and after a certain point about halfway through, I was shushing those tweens and sending them away so I could keep reading. Couldn’t put it down! The trio of friends are fun to get to know. I am most like Daniel I think - I love the idea of a town like Braxton where it is always good old (secular) Christmas. I like how the author rotates the chapters between the trio of teens and a few others. It helps highlight the little differences in the teens in amusing ways. For example, nature-loving Keeley is tired of all-Christmas all-the-time and describes a mural of a family trying to set up a Christmas tree that’s too tall for their room with annoyance. In the next chapter, the trio walks by the same mural and Danny describes it as a warm and loving scene. It’s also super interesting to see the story develop, and read about how each character would use the artifact - what their individual hearts’ deepest desires are. The third of the trio is Cindy who is the religious one (and the reason this book tops the Christian themes lists?). Personally, I am not religious and braced for a sermon every time she took the reins, but I was really pleased with how the author handles her faith. Religion and faith are not forced on the reader and the character artfully explains some things in ways that I never would have considered - the concept of the soul and hell for example.
I am confident my tweens will devour this story and I happily hand it over to them with a big thumbs up. I hope this author shares more middle age stories.