Love Will Tear Us Apart by Holly Seddon

Love Will Tear Us Apart by Holly Seddon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fearing eternal singledom, childhood friends Kate and Paul make the age-old vow that if they don't find love by thirty, they will marry each other.

Years later, with the deadline of their 30th birthdays approaching, the unlikely couple decide to keep their teenage promise. After all, they are such good friends. Surely that's enough to make a marriage?

Now, on the eve of their 10th wedding anniversary, they will discover that love between men and women is more complex, and more precarious, than they could ever have imagined. As Kate struggles with a secret that reaches far into their past, will the couple's vow become the very thing that threatens their future?

Love Will Tear Us Apart is a moving and heart-breaking exploration of modern love and friendship, from the bestselling author of Try Not to Breathe.


After reading the two other Seddon novels, I was really looking forward to starting this one. Her other two have been psychological thrillers and that's what I expected from this one. However, this was very different. We are lead to believe early on that there is a 'secret' threatening Kate and Paul's marriage, however I thought it was disappointing and I was left feeling, 'so what?'

This is told through two time periods, when Kate and Paul are growing up and about their lives and then married with two children, which is the present day. For me the book took a long time to get going and I kept thinking, soon something major will happen, but I never got that.

Although I did enjoy this, I found the pace a little slow, it felt like nothing much was happening for the majority of the book. I did finish it, but I felt a little deflated by it. I would still read Seddon's next novel but I am hoping she goes back to what she is good at and that is writing great thrillers.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.