Only Love Can Break Your Heart

December 23, 2019
Five years since her older sister, Mika, died, 17-year-old Japanese-American Reiko continues to grieve, even as she feels pressure to be the brightest and most popular girl, just as Mika was. The only time Reiko feels free of her burdens is on secret hikes with Seth, a boy she meets in the desert, who is unaware of her family’s tragedy. Even her best friend Dre is unaware of Reiko’s adventures, but when Seth confesses that his feelings for Reiko go beyond friendship and he wants to make their relationship public, everything in her life, including her grades and college plans, begins to crumble. In this heartfelt novel set in Palms Springs, Calif., Webber (The Heartbeats of Wing Jones) examines the impact of grief and its long-term effects. With skillful, subtle detail, she reveals the many facets of Reiko: the privileged homecoming queen, the adventurer, the self-centered girlfriend, and the haunted teen. Written in first person and divided into sections according to both seasonal changes and Reiko’s internal shifts, the book gracefully traces a teen’s self-discovery during a tumultuous senior year. Evocative descriptions of the desert and moving interior monologues add depth to the story. Ages 12–up.