We see a fair amount of books about kids dealing with the aftermath of a school shooting. Not so many where the kid is reconciling his relationship with the shooter. The idea is a complex one - anger and grief and love all intermingled. It's a slow, contemplative, almost torturous read, so don't go into it lightly.

Such a great young adult novel with an important story that is definitely relevant to our times! It also has some magical realism elements to it, which is what I loved about this book the most !

I tried getting into this book multiple times and each time, the main character and writing just doesn’t resonate with me so I’m going to have to mark it as a DNF, sadly.

I think this was a decently done book about a difficult topic. I’m not sure why this one goes unread by so many. I will say I didn’t like the way the ending left the reader hanging but overall still a good read. 3.5 stars

I would have loved this book even more if I had actually been able to read it completely, since most chapters were missing the first few words of the opening sentence, which is why I am cutting a star. ut otherwise? This book was wonderful, It reminds me a lot of Give A Boy A Gun, at least in some ways.
I loved how it portrayed Dill's interal struggle between wanting to hate his step father for what he did, but still loving for being his step father.
Murderers have family, too, after all and this book, this wonderful, wonderful book did such a great job in portraying that. It is a book that stayed with me for quite some time after reading it and I hope people out there will love it as much as I have, for it is truly amazingly written and deals with a very difficult topic in an absolutely perfect way.


I received a free ARC by Netgalley for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley and Dundurn Press, for the chance to read and review this book!

Dills is a young man who returns with his mum to Hamilton, her hometown, wanting to leave behind the horrors of Windsor behind, but it's impossible to do so. When Dills hurts a classmate, in court it comes out he was in his High School library when the shooter came in, but he won't talk about it, he won't say who the culprit is: his beloved stepfather Jesse. Dealing with the aftermath of trauma and tragedy, Dills has to face the horrific crime and the love he feels still for the person who committed it.

Dills tell his story and the book is pretty intense and heartbreaking, dealing with important themes with sensitivity and care, showing what happens after a mass shooting- the pain, the grief, the journey a family has to take to heal and the struggle of loving someone who did an horrific thing. The book is really compelling and it hurt my heart so many times. The story is intriguing, the characters are well written and I definitely recommend this.

An engaging book about gun violence, what to do when you lose a parent, and moving to a new town while facing community service charges, Nothing But Life is a really unique take on a very serious topic. Following a young boy as he tries to live with life after a horrific trauma, it really shows what a roller coaster it can be. But in the end, he may not completely move on, but he's at least made a couple friends and maybe bloomed a small romance, and that's something to be proud of.

After attacking his school bully, Wendell or Dills as he prefers is faced with a summer of community service in the park picking up garbage, with a seemingly strange groundskeeper, a very pretty girl who lives near by and doesn't quite fit in with everyone, and a struggling home life with his traumatized mom, her sister, and their mother. But things are worse than they seem. They've moved because his step father did something horrific, went into his school with a gun and created a mass murder before trying to take his own life. He's seen a lot for his age, and he's just trying to move past it, but things are more complicated with that, especially when he's not ready to face what's really happened. But that's when he starts hearing his step father's voice in his head asking him to come and visit him.

It tortures him to hear him. Once his role model, he's conflicted with his feelings for him. After all, he's been his dad his whole life, but he can't face what he's done or really accept it at all for that matter. But he has to, because there's nothing anyone can do about it except for that. He tries to ignore his feelings for most of the book, but eventually his new friend and aunt convince him that he does need to face him, and he needs to go and visit his step dad in the hospital. But again, things aren't so simple.

This is a story of facing the hard things in life, because though it's very difficult to do that, it's something that needs to be done. And that there is actually life after a horrible trauma. I think that for what it is, it's a really good book, even though it was very stressful to read at times. The characters are very lifelike and face challenges that could happen in our world, especially the emotional aspect of things. And the world they live in isn't any different from our own. I think that they're very strong for the age that they are, and overall it was a good book to read, but I wasn't very satisfied with the ending. I recommend it if you're looking for something a little different than your usual genre, or just want to get a little more insight to a very horrific topic. But be aware, that I was stressed out reading it, and you might be too.

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This book tackles on an incredible important and sensitive topic. At the beginning of the novel, Dills and his mother have just moved back to his mother's hometown, leaving behind tragedy in Windsor, the precious town they have been living in.

When Dills hurts a new classmate, everyone finds out what exactly he left behind in the town he had previously been living in. He had been in the library when a school shooter came out. The school shooter was Dills step-dad and despite everything, Dills still loves him.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Quite an enjoyable read in spite of the challenging topic. The characters are relatable on a very human level, which would appeal to young adult readers. With the issues of school violence, mental health, and gun access in the forefront of political discourse, there are a lot of potential topics for class discussion.

This is the story of Dills, who has recently started community service work as part of his punishment for stabbing a classmate. During his sentencing, consideration is given to his circumstances: Dills and his mum have just returned to her hometown, following a shooting at Dills' school, in which his much-loved step-father was the shooter.

I felt that this book had so much promise but never really got going. I don't feel like I really got to know any of the characters, which is a shame as there are several who I think would probably have quite interesting backstories if they were explored. The book almost read like one part of a larger book/series told from different perspectives, only with the rest of it missing. I wanted to know more about Gal, Pat and Sean in particular.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this novel sounded incredibly interesting - Dill has to face life following the terrible actions of his step-father - but I found it to be a tad disappointing as there felt like there was no real resolution and there was so much untold. However, Dill was an interesting character and this is ultimately what redeems the book. Dill is both angry at his step-dad yet cannot find it in him to hate him for it. Rather, he doesn't understand why it happens and I think that's how many survivors feels.

I do wonder though the underlying cause for Jesse's actions but I think these kinds of actions are often not explained by a simple explanation and the author has therefore done a good job in not portraying the why - even if I did want to know why!

I really like the idea of the story—how someone grieves a public tragedy (school shooting) that he is not only a part of, but loves the villain/shooter. However, many of the author's choices aren't logical and are inconsistent... making this a frustrating read.

My favorite character description was Gramma Jan:
"If my mom is a force, Gramma Jan is ten times that. Torn jeans and college T-shirts and baseball hats. No job too demanding. Handy with a hammer and wrench. A garden that's afraid of her."

This is a fascinating and important premise we don’t often read about. How do you cope after a hideous crime committed by someone you love? Dills stepdad Jesse was the culprit at a school shooting, the school Dills also attended. Dills still loves Jesse and thinks about him so often. He can hear Jesse’s voice loud and clear at times. Jesse committed a horrible crime but he was a good stepdad.

I have mixed feelings about this story to be honest. I had this book on my to read list for eight months -I instantly loved the title and was drawn to the premise-, and I expected a heartbreaking and gut-wrenching story but it wasn’t. At least not for me.

What did I like? It’s an easy read. It deals with some important issues and I really loved to read about them. I liked Dill’s mom, his aunt Viv and Mia. Basically this could be an incredible book. But ...

Even though I liked the premise and I felt my chest tighten at times, I couldn’t fully connect to the story. Dills loved Jesse and hated what he did. To read about a boy who has been through this has to hurt, a lot. But I didn’t feel anything most of the time and I even got irritated every now and then.

The best YA books I read, that were heartbreaking and gut-wrenching, are written quite simplistic. Short sentences, not too descriptive, simple words, active writing. The sentences in this story are short most of the time. They can be quite descriptive though. What goes through Dill’s mind has the upper hand in this story. The words and sentences used are beautiful at times. But in my opinion they’re often not the way a fifteen year old thinks. Sentences like: ‘I exhale through my nostrils, mad at the world for bringing fear into adult-and-kid relationships’ or ‘Boys everywhere never expect anything resembling acceptance from parents’. I thought: huh? Adult-and-kid relationships? My fifteen year old would never use words like this. And on the other hand the sentences can be quite passive at times: ‘Those grim thoughts were also keeping me from thinking about Gramma Jan,’ a little later:’But my heart isn’t buying the arguments. All it can do is worry.’ What about ‘I’m not buying the arguments, all I can do is worry.’ I know it’s more simplistic. But I feel a lot more because it’s less distant.

If the writing would be adjusted more to a fifteen year old and made more active and less distant, this could be a beautiful story. It has all the ingredients. Now it’s just okay. So maybe another edit round? If you do, please give Dills a mobile phone and don’t talk about iPods ever again!

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of NOTHING BUT LIFE by Brent van Staalduinen in exchange for my honest review.***

Dills is sentenced to community service after attacking a classmate with a knife months after he survives a school shooting committed by his stepfather Jesse. In a faraway town, Jessie lies in coma with no brain activity. As Dills cleans up the park, plagued by PTSD symptoms, he manages to make some friends and begin to heal.

Months ago, I preordered NOTHING BUT LIFE on Amazon, so I was excited to read an ARC of Brent van Staalduinen’s latest novel. Dills’ narrator didn’t sound much like a teenager and also lacked voice and personality. One example is he talked about not needing a phone because he had an iPod. I don’t know anyone who’s used an iPod in the last twenty years. The kids I’ve known use their parents old cell phones without SIM cards or tablets or even laptops. I’m not saying no one uses iPods, just using that as an example of why Dills didn’t sound like a teenager. I can understand why a depressed, traumatized character would lack voice and personality as a function of his condition if as the character grows, he develops more nuance. I didn’t see that in Dills.

Maybe some of my disappointment in NOTHING BUT LIFE comes from the expectation of a more gut-wrenching, emotional read. If I hadn’t preordered the book months ago, I might have enjoyed it more.

NOTHING BUT LIFE is a unique story of one boy’s coming to terms not just with a school shooting, but the loss of the only father he’s even known and that Jesse caused so much pain and havoc as well as his mother’s loss and trauma.