Review Detail

I confess I read this book in one day. For This Life Only is thought provoking and an engaging story. It was great to finally see a story told through a male's point of view in all its vulnerability and doubt.

Jace is realistic and relatable. To experience loss so early in life is difficult. He must deal with the loss of his twin Elijah, his twin brother. Jace was always being compared to Eli and at times resented how perfect his brother was in the eyes of his parents, the church community, and the town. While Jace doesn't remember much about what happened, he does remember Eli acting strange. But was it all in his head?

Jace's character is realistic and relatable. It pulls at your heart to witness his guilt and his doubts about what happens once we leave this world. Being the minister's son adds more pressure on Jace and his strength as a character is in how he copes with all the pressures of being a teen, with losing his brother, and dealing with internal and external pressures from his father.

For This Life Only deals with some hard questions about death and loss. Stacey Kade does a wonderful job mixing in a little romance and mystery into the equation and it adds to the overall story. When it comes to Jace's father and the church, it includes the difficulty teens of faith can experience while they are growing up without being preachy or overbearing. This is a realistic portrayal of teens dealing with loss, love, and faith.