Thelonious “Theo” Mitchell is a down on his luck teenager, wandering aimlessly through life with no desire or focus. When tragedy strikes, he is taken in by his aunt and uncle. Thrown into a new school with unfamiliar surroundings, he befriends the class “troublemaker”. After yet another tragedy, will Theo fall victim to life, or use the tragedy as a spark and motivation to embrace all that life has to offer?

I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review.

Jason Hershey deals with the topic of life and death in his story, To Die To Live. Things start with the main character coming to terms with and dealing with death, that of his mother. As he adjusts to a very different life, adopted by his aunt and uncle. They mean well, and love him, but it isn’t the same.
The young man in question then has another hurdle to overcome. Moving to a new school, in a more rural setting having come from a city background. He has to deal with all the usual issues of hostile attitudes towards him, and even some bullying. That is, until he meets someone who is prepared to defend him.

What develops is, at first, a grudging friendship borne out of mutual respect for one another. Over time, Theo begins to learn more about his new friend and his future dreams. As life started to take a positive spin, tragedy and death reared up once more. Theo’s resolve and character is put to the ultimate test throughout the short course of this book.

When he contacted me to review his book, Jason described his book as a tender coming-of-age story. I will be honest, this did not appeal to me, and I politely said as much. He was very gracious in his response, stating he felt I was “missing out on an opportunity” but respected my choice. Well I saw this as a challenge, which I had to accept. I wanted this book to prove me wrong when I said it wouldn’t be for me. And it really did!

The story is thought-provoking and emotional, without being overdone. The only issue I take from it was that it had a lot of strife to deal with in such a short story. I saw a preview at the end of the book for the sequel, and I have to say, I am looking forward to giving that a read too!

My rating: