Only Love Can Break Your Heart

October 15, 2019
A teenage girl refuses to let go of her grief over her dead sister until an emotional crisis obliterates her carefully constructed facade. Five years after the death of her beloved older sister, Reiko Smith-Mori expertly manipulates her seemingly perfect life to avoid talking about Mika even if she sees her and talks to her every day. A chance moonlit encounter with social outcast classmate Seth hurtles Reiko into a clandestine romance that leads to turmoil. At first, Reiko's shame at dating below her social standing in the popular crowd may make her difficult to sympathize with, but Seth's about-face from gentle nerd to cocky, insensitive bro stabs even harder at the heart. Reiko's affluent Palm Springs lifestyle is contrasted with Seth's trailer home, and as their romance grows, Reiko finds herself questioning her privilege. Ultimately, Reiko's romantic journey and reflections lead her to accept and move on from her sister's death. Reiko's first-person narrative is a carefully constructed web that will have readers taking and switching sides as the characters develop and change. She is a nuanced, sensitively drawn protagonist--though she lacks authentic, internal biracial and bicultural tensions and texture. Reiko has a white American mother and a Japanese immigrant father; her best friend is Mexican American, and Seth is white. An emotional roller coaster with a heroine who prevails. (Fiction. 14-18)

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December 1, 2019

Gr 9 Up-Even though Reiko Smith-Mori lost her beloved sister Mika, Reiko still has frequent imagined conversations with her. She has a hard time talking to anyone else about her loss and can't handle the idea of going back to the ocean, where Mika died. Reiko's grief provides the emotional backbone for this thoughtful novel. Reiko loves the vastness of the desert and sometimes sneaks out in the middle of the night to go rock climbing, which is where she gets to know Seth, a boy from her school who she's never really noticed before. They start a secret relationship, with Reiko being unsure about how to handle their very different social statuses. As Seth eventually becomes integrated into the higher social strata, Reiko feels more uncertain about her own position and privilege. Webber does a good job showing the complexities of shifting social landscapes in high school. The story stretches out over a long period of time, which highlights the many different phases that Reiko's and Seth's often toxic relationship goes through. Reiko's family seems a bit underdrawn, although they are all dealing with Mika's death in their own way. Watching Reiko better understand her grief and eventually learn to love herself is a satisfying journey. VERDICT This emotional novel about grief and harmful relationships will appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen and Emery Lord.-Gretchen Hardin, Bee Cave Public Library, TX

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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.

Starred review from January 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Reiko is part of the "in" crowd: pretty, bright, and popular. Sometimes, though, she goes into the desert at night to escape her family's pressing expectations as well as five years of guilt and grief over the drowning death of her sister, Mika. Reiko still sees Mika and interacts with her, but she refuses to talk about her. One night, she meets Seth Rogers, one of the "invisible" boys at her school. They bond during further nighttime desert excursions, but at this point, Webber drives the plot off road and into new territory: Reiko and Seth have a rocky and unsettling relationship, and after Seth attains popular status, he dumps Reiko. She starts to break down, fighting against what she perceives as Seth's abandonment, until it becomes clear that although she and her family are close, they have abandoned each other emotionally. Only by accepting this and letting go of Mika will she and her family heal. Webber's novel is luminous and thought-provoking, packed with vivid details and realistic, well-rounded characters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)