Teenager Reiko lives in California with her American mother, Japanese father and younger brother Koji. She also has a relationship with her deceased sister Mika whom only she can see. She is one of the popular girls at school along with her friends Andrea (Dre) and Libby.

She has a love for the desert and likes to climb and watch the sun rise and fall. It is on one of her climbs in the desert that she meets Seth, although he goes to the same school and attends some of the same classes, she’s just never noticed him before. Whilst at school Reiko finds that she has to act like someone she isn’t, be one of the ‘in-crowd’ but around Seth, she suddenly feels like she can be herself, there is a real connection between the two.

With the summer holidays upon them before they start their last year at school, Reiko and Seth find that they are spending more and more time together. They can be free when it is just the two of them but they are both heading down different paths. As the holiday’s come to an end will their love survive or is it time to head off on their own journeys?

Only Love Can Break Your Heart is a powerful YA novel that deals with grief, friendship, toxic relationships, family life and the coming of age. I really loved both Reiko and Seth’s characters they were both lost souls for different reasons, both trying to find their place in the world and coming to terms with events that happened to them in their past.

The story begins with a real tear-jerker of a chapter. Reiko and her sister are getting up early to watch the sunrise together, they laugh and joke together, then we learn that Mika isn’t really there as she died a couple of years ago but Reiko can’t let go of her.

I adored the book and the connection that Reiko and Seth had, especially as they were from very different backgrounds and lifestyles, yet they fitted together perfectly. It was enjoyable to watch them both grow and to understand the world around them better. There were times when I was a little shocked at their actions and the way they were with one another or their behaviour but this made the book more realistic to me.

Overall Only Love Can Break Your Heart is an adorable book which I enjoyed from cover to cover and I was glad their story ended the way it did.

About the Author

Katherine Webber was born in Southern California in 1987. She has lived in Hong Kong, Hawaii, and Atlanta. She currently lives in London with her husband, Kevin and baby daughter.

She loves an adventure, whether it is found in a book or in real life. She has travelled to over 45 countries. Travel, books, and eating out are her favourite indulgences.

Katherine studied Comparative Literature at the University of California, Davis and Chinese literature and language at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has worked at an international translation company, a technology startup, and, most recently, a London based reading charity.

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