A sweet, honest story about a 7th grade boy and how he, his older brother and mom move on after the death of his dad, a Vietnam vet. Taking place at the start of the Gulf War, Justin is navigating the uncertainty around his dad's death, the war and middle school. I loved the relationship between the brothers, the look into the coping of all three and the friendship that sustain.

DISCLAIMER: I received an e-ARC of LIKE NOTHING AMAZING EVER HAPPENED from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was outstanding. I cried about 4 times in different intervals reading this wonderful book.

CONTENT WARNING: death, loss of loved one, PTSD, alcoholism, talk of suicide, bullying

Justin doesn't know a lot of things. He doesn't know how to talk to Jenni without getting nervous, why everyone is staring at him in the halls, how his best friend is a literal genius, why Benny H. wanders around town talking to ghosts, how his mom loves church, if his brother go back to baseball, or if his favorite team will go to the playoffs. He mainly doesn't know why people pretend everything's okay when it's really not. When his father dies in a train accident, Justin doesn't know how it happened. Did his father really die in an accident, or did he kill himself?

LIKE NOTHING AMAZING EVER HAPPENED was set in the 80s (around the Gulf War). The book has lovable characters. You're gonna root for Justin, Jenni, and Phuc. Justin is in tender relationships by the end, and it's very bittersweet. Throughout the book, Justin happens to get closer to finding about the history of his family with little miracles. The plot was rather slow, but well thought out.

I can't wait to see what else Emily Blejwas comes up with!

Do I recommend this? Yes.

I had a real hard time reading this book. I felt like the sentences were just streams of thought. Very slow. It just did not appeal to me. I was really hoping to enjoy this book.

I really, really enjoyed this book. As a child of the early 90s I related to this a lot with the little bits the author added. However, there aren't too many so children of today won't feel like they can't relate. It is well-written, funny, sad, and thought-provoking. Watching Justin on his journey to discovery is a time hopeful and sad. He is a very relatable 12-year-old, who has typical teen problem (family, friends, school) but with the added stress of a deceased father. He does, however, have a very supportive family, which was really nice to read in a middle grade novel.

I always take note of books that I sit down and read through in one setting since my life is chaotic enough that it doesn't happen as much as it used to! This one is one of those that I did, and at the end of it I set it to the side thoroughly satisfied.

Set during the early 90s, Justin loses his father, and must cope in the aftermath of that including questions about how (and why) his father died, questions about war (his father was a Vietnam vet, and the story is set during the first gulf war), economic issues, and even the first beginnings of figuring out dating.

The first thing of note about this book is that it felt incredibly emotionally authentic. Each one of the characters felt believable to me and lifelike in their interactions. The girl that Justin crushes on could border on Manic Pixie Dreamgirl from his perspective, but because that relationship isn't the focus of the book, because she isn't the one who helps 'save' him from the existentialist crisis he's going through, instead it just reads like teenager who has a crush. Instead relationships with multiple characters have import throughout the text, his closest friend, his older brother, his mother, his father, an old elementary school teacher, his friend's mother - these characters weave in and out, not necessarily huge pieces of the story, but providing moments of revelation or self-discovery for Justin, in a way that very much mirrors real life. I loved this about this book.

I also liked some of the subplots - and the way that they also seemed to support themes of self-discovery within the book and the importance of knowing your own history.

Generally, this is a book that covers and touches a lot of deep areas, but in a way that is hopeful and supportive, and I feel like it's an excellent contemporary literature book on this subject.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed reading this. An interesting story with fun characters. Well written.

There are events in our life which are challenging to overcome. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to lose a parent when you are in middle school. That's exactly what Justin is experiencing in this novel. But it isn't just the unexpected loss, but wondering if the parent committed suicide.

Beautifully told story with aspects of a coming of age novel. I also enjoyed the layer of learning more about your hometown, something Justin does in the novel.

This is a story that kind of creeps up on your. Yeah, it is about death and dying, Justin's father has been hit by a holiday trolly, when he was out for a walk. Justin's father was a Vietnam war vet, that never really recovered from that. But he was there. He loved his sons, and his wife, and though he rarely talked, you knew he was listening.

So, when Justin is faced with the loss of his father, he keeps returning to the spot, by the lake, where his father died. And there he meets Benny H. who teaches him there is more to this town, then this moment that they are living in.

It is when Justin begins to realize this, that the story, well, doesn't take off, exactly, but points the way that it is going.

Who was here before us? What did they look at every day? What did they think of the lake and the stars? Are we the result of our environment, is that what makes home? What happens with all that we had is taken from us?

A well thought out, slow story, but it all works. Recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Loved the main character but the story seemed a bit preachy and rambling. Author notes explained that she didn't know where the story would go and that helped a little.
Loved the ending.
Will definitely recommend it to my young library readers.

Emily Blejwas’ Like Nothing Amazing Ever Happened is set in the 1980s. Not the hipster version on the Eighties that’s all page boy haircuts and calculator watches, but the quiet Eighties that bore the children of returning Vietnam veterans. Children who show the scars of a war they weren’t alive to directly witness.

Blejwas' coming-of-age story tells the devastating impact parental death has on one young family. Not just the concrete ways team sports and school clubs are traded for after school jobs, but the more abstract damage of how unsteady first humor and first love feels balanced against the remnants of grief.

This book will have a special kinship appeal for young teens who experience the lost of a parent.

This captivating and poignant story of a young boy finding his way through the grief of losing his father will make you cry. It hit particularly close to home, having lost a parent very recently, there were moments that I understood completely, the loss of possibility is particularly inconsolable- questions to that parent that can NEVER be answered because they are gone. I loved the change in the relationship with his other family members, bonds grow stronger through such hardship. I really felt this story on a deep level.

Emily Blejwas's debut middle grade novel explores the themes of family, grief and fitting in after the worst has happened. Justin spends a cold Minnesota winter searching for answers to his father's unexpected death. Justin's mother and his brother Murphy work hard and sacrifice to keep the family going. And Justin works hard to understand how he fits in with his remaining family, friends and school life.

Poignant and sad but with a uplifting ending. I look forward to reading more from Blejwas.

Like Nothing Amazing Ever Happened by Emily Blejwas was a beautiful story told through grief and trying to make sense of the middle school world. Justin's dad dies tragically, and it leaves Justin with so many questions and emotions. He misses his dad, while realizing there is so much he didn't know about him (but wants to), and finds he especially wants to know more about what happened on the last day of his life. Along with him, Justin's brother and mom are also navigating their new normal as a family of three. This is complicated as they are each grieving the loss and trying to figure out how to contribute to their household. Finally, Justin is a middle schooler, and with that, there's all the middle school things going down as he struggles to find his place and his people. He is particularly hesitant to engage in activities that remind him of his dad, and that is hard for others to understand. For a middle grade read, this packed an incredible amount of punch related to emotion. This is set against the Gulf War, and Justin's dad was also a veteran suffering from PTSD, and both of these things drive the plot and associated emotions in different ways. Thanks to NetGalley for the early look at this April 2020 release. This is one of those books that will stay with you in its feels and characters for sure.

OMG, beautiful and sad. Life comes hard at times and it’s amazing what can get you through. Loved this book. Recommend to everyone

I received an arc from netgalley.

I was hoping to like this one more, but it was just kind of boring for me. Readers who like a more slow and sad book may like this one.

This contemporary middle grade follows Justin, who has just survived some major life changes. His father died in a public train accident, and his mom and older brother are trying to keep the family afloat financially. Justin wants to figure out what really happened to his dad - was it truly an accident, or did he commit suicide?

Justin decides that he will never get the chance to truly know his dad, who suffered from PTSD and alcoholism after the Vietnam War. But little miracles happen to bring him closer to his existing family (and through them, to the memory of his father), and Justin develops tender friendships at school. I found the ending of this novel particularly poignant.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This was such a hauntingly beautiful story. I love how well we got to see Justin dealing with the tragedy in his life and how he maneuvered through school, family, and relationships. I also loved how contemplative he was. Although it wasn’t a main point, I really appreciated the inclusion of Dakota history. I hope that kids will read this book and become inspired to search for other instances of hidden or forgotten history.

There's a haunting stillness to Blejwas' novel that is unlike anything I've read before in YA lit. Rather than being frightening, however, it's delicate and beautiful -- like a prism, perhaps, or a memory frozen in time, both of which the MC so often reflects upon. I'm new to this author's work and will, on the strength of this novel, explore her back catalog.

This book was received as an ARC from Random House Children's - Delacorte Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

At first I did not know what to expect from this book but while I read the first few chapters, I could not help but to get a Stranger Things vibe and also a Super 8 vibe and that made me keep reading. Everyone has questions about everything and a lot from what is happening around them. We all experience the amount of curiosity Justin has throughout the book and mainly all he wants to know is the mystery behind his father's death at the train tracks. All is good when he starts looking for answers but as they say, things do not always appear as they seem and some questions are better left unanswered. Fans of Stranger Things will enjoy this book and I know a lot of our teen patrons will not get enough of this book.

We will consider adding this title to our JFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.