Review: For This Life Only by Stacey Kade

For This Life Only by Stacey Kade

Published by Simon & Schuster on August 2016
Pages: 320
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher
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A young man struggles to move forward after the death of his twin brother in this gripping, coming-of-age tale about loss, redemption, love, and the moment you begin to see the world differently.

Three minutes.

Jacob Palmer died for three life-changing minutes.

And when he woke up, nothing was the same. Elijah, his twin brother, is dead, and his family is broken. Jace’s planned future is crushed, along with his pitching arm. Everyone keeps telling him that Eli’s in a better place, but Jace isn’t so sure. Because in those three minutes, there was nothing.

Overwhelmed by guilt and doubt, Jace struggles to adjust to this new version of the world, one without his brother, one without the certainties he once relied on. And then Thera comes into his life.

She’s the last girl he should be turning to for help.

But she’s also the first person to truly see him

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. It kept my interest and I enjoyed reading it. That said, I don’t feel like the ending was what I was hoping for.

Jace is dealing with survivor’s guilt, his twin brother who was the perfect one died in a car crash while driving them home from a party. I liked all of Jace’s feelings towards his brother Eli, how he loved him and felt guilty. how the family dealt with the grief and how Jace changed after the accident. The family’s reactions seemed organic and natural to the situations, especially the little sister Sarah.

There’s drama surrounding a girl named Thera, whose mother is the local psychic medium in the town. And whose house sits right in the path of the new church’s expansion. Jace is drawn to Thera at first because she had a secret relationship with Eli (not what you think) and as they get to know each other, a romance blooms. I didn’t feel like this part was natural. Thera had been bullied by Jace’s friends a lot, perhaps something dark may have happened last year that the friend’s elude to. But she quickly warms to Jace and Jace doesn’t really address or get to the bottom of the things that were being implied about Thera. He does stand up for Thera and their new relationship but it doesn’t go as deep as I would like.

That leads us to the ending. Everything is wrapped up pretty quickly with one epilogue and after all the drama about Thera and her mom, the church’s expansion, the threats, it seems strange that it ends the way it does. Jace’s father, the head of the church, didn’t have a satisfying arc either. I wanted more from him, but only got a conclusion to the tension of the story but not a huge character development.

Overall I think the book is a good read but I didn’t feel like it was what I wanted it to be at the end.