As with all of Jeff Strand's books, I like this one. He has a crazy good way of writing snappy dialogue that begs to be read out loud. His books are also very good for reluctant readers. Be ready to giggle and get some feels. I also have to say, his books would make great movies!!! Super fun!

I swapped my kindle back in 2018 and am unable to recover this title. I appriciate the opportunity that was given for review but sadly can't complete it for this title. Many thanks.

Official rating 2/5

I felt this book was below my typical reading level, and while YA can include middle grade, I think this was an instance of mislabelling. For me, this story fell flat but I could see how this would be a book for those who are wanting to transition from middle grade to YA.

I’m honestly not even sure where to start with this one. I wish I could say I loved it. Stranger Things Have Happened is the strangest story where nothing really happens that I have read in quite a while. The concept of the story is what caught my interest initially but the execution fell flat. Actually it all was very flat, the plot, the characters. That being said I did enjoy the magic tricks which is what kept it from being a one star for me. They added an element of fun to what was otherwise a very disjointed and dull read for me.

DNF. This book was a fail for me. I liked the premise, but found that the story itself did not deliver so I gave up on it.

This book is not for everyone, but I loved it. It's completely ridiculous and over-the-top--when you think things can't get any crazier, the plot takes a turn and goes even further off the rails. But for me, it was just the right amount of absurd. The writing style matches the craziness perfectly. The characters feel genuine, and their witty dialogue cracked me up.

This one just wasn't for me. I wanted to like it--I like his other books, but not this time.

3.5 stars
Stranger Things Have Happened is a strange tale about Marcus and the aftermath of his great-grandfather's death.
Magic, illusions, strength, and friendship are strong themes in the story, and I enjoyed seeing Marcus stepping up when someone needed his help.
The whimsical writing made the story pleasurable, as did the character-driven plot.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

I thought that this one was good for what it is, but overall wasn't too impressed.

I get this book was meant to be funny but it just didnt have the humour I liked. The whole seemed to be flat and the plot was messy,. Im sure other people would like it but it does have an acquired taste.

I had loved how humorous Strand's earlier book The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever had made me laugh throughout and was expecting more of the same from this book - a young teenage boy setting out to do the impossible with lots of optimism and screwing up in hilarious ways. Stranger Things Have Happened has the humor part down, but the plot is basically non-existent. It is pretty straightforward in that Marcus wants to do an amazing illusion for his first stage performance, and he ends up doing it somehow in the end. The in-between part - the getting there was filled with minefields like bullies, an evil magician who increases the stakes, and a shortening deadline.

I won't deny that it was funny, but the humor also felt manufactured when you have characters that speak in overly polite tones even while arguing, and go off on tangents while conversing. I can get behind one or at the most two characters doing that, but this was nearly all the characters - it gets old pretty fast. You will enjoy for the laughs but also be like - no way that could happen. It was like reading an SNL sketch. While TGZME had relied on everyday humor and a little of the impossible to keep you clutching your stomach while laughing throughout, this one mostly will make you giggle at the most. One third of the book is Marcus freaking out about the performance, and another third is about the characters politely arguing with each other, and the rest of the third is the actual funny things happening like a shark getting loose.

If you like a short book for quick laughs, give it a shot, but don't expect much of a plot from this one.

This book was amazing. If you love magic of any kind, this book is for you! Wonderful book to teach you that sometimes you need to try try and try again to succeed even if you mess up a few times

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review. This book is very juvenile, should've been labeled for ages 8 to 12 instead of YA. I read up to 44% and I don't like reading it further. The story just goes all over the place. Bullies don't act like bullies, not totally. They contradict each other and not really a team player. Especially they are seniors, they sure acts like seniors of middle school. They aren't mature at all. Seamus is weird with his pistol and knife threats and then not even a threat and then what.. I don't enjoy this humor because it's not humor. It's all over the place. Marcus is okay. His parents are okay. His great grandpa is okay with his fist fights and chainsaw threats.

This book reminded me of an old slapstick comedy film. I had a hard time wanting to finish it when I had so many other books to read. This one was more of a "have to finish" rather than "want to finish". I did have a couple of chuckling moments while reading but for the most part it kind of felt silly. I loved that it was clean and I could recommend it to my younger readers. I am not sure the older teens will like it as well. I will recommend to something who just wants some funny dialogue and nothing real. It won't be my "go to" recommendation.

I'm really torn between 3 and 4 stars. I went with 4 because I laughed out loud so many times. The story itself was really ridiculous. There was no way any of it would happen, but the way it's written just puts a smile on your face.

"Stranger Things Have Happened" is a light-hearted book with some very heavy themes. Marcus is a 15-year-old high school freshman, destined for greatness- if only not for his stage fright. His great-grandfather Zachary the Stupendous has been grooming him to follow his steps as a master magician/illusionist since he was a year old. At a charity event, Zachary volunteers Marcus to perform a trick, and he does a card trick that wows the audience. Afterwards, a competing old magician (Bernard) says he isn't that great and Zachary leaps to defend him and challenges him to a bet that Marcus can amaze and wow- in a couple months. Zachary tells Marcus that he will help him- but then that night he dies in his sleep.

At the funeral, Bernard offers to let Marcus out of the bet, but Marcus decides to continue on in Zachary's memory. Soon, Marcus is trapped in a difficult situation- he has a short amount of time to come up with an amazing illusion, without Zachary the Stupendous to help. To make it more complicated, Sinister Seamus (a murderer and 77-year-old magician) makes the bet more interesting by threatening to kill Marcus if he fails. This scene is weirdly comedic/surreal.

This was possibly one of the oddest books I have ever read (and I don't mean this as an insult), particularly in terms of dialogue, where the characters said things that I doubt such a character would say (e.g. a high school freshman female when seeing some bullies fighting with a weaker character just says, "Enjoy the rest of your conflict" before leaving and the boys continue to argue over the date at which they would be allowed to punch the kid again). Additionally, all the characters had the same odd dialogue style, so it didn't really vary from person to person (e.g. not just a couple odd characters but all of them). The whole book felt very surreal as a result.

There are some very heavy themes enclosed, including child neglect, murder/threats, mugging, bullying, and death of a loved one. However, the dialogue and descriptions are so odd/surreal that it doesn't carry the gravitas that you would expect. I still can't decide whether I enjoyed it or not, but it was certainly interesting, and I read all the way to the end to see whether Marcus would be able to pull off his trick! Aside from the surreal dialogue, the writing style flows very well and carries you quickly through the book- it's easy to read in one or two sittings.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

My Review:

I recieved an eARC of Stranger Things Have Happened from the publisher via netgalley, in exchange with an honest review.

I was really excited to read a book that revovles around the art of magic and the concept of illusions.

The story itself was okay. I was kind of hoping to see more of the "science* behind complicated magic tricks, but I enjoyed the ones present in this book.

Usually, I would have loved the kind of humor that is present in this book, which involves Tangent conversations. However, the way it was done in this book was the reason why I lowered my rating from a 3, to a 2.

The thing is, such methods of speaking is a unique characterization for a character, but this isn't the case. Almost every single character in this book had multiple ( going off a tangent) speeches, which in my opinion, is such a drawback. The characters were even in different age groups, yet they all acted like children.

Also, such conversations would go on & on for so long, constituting almost 50% of the written story.

This probably wasn't my cup of tea, so I want to try to read something else by Jeff Strand.

I give it 2/5 stars.