Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

26 reviews

jessthanthree's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Excrement

Minor: Vomit, Abandonment, and Alcohol

carnimdream's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Confinement, Infidelity, and Terminal illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

angelfireeast24's review against another edition

I thought this was going to be a romance but it's more a heartbreaking story about Anna. There is romance but I can't deal with so much pain right now

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

marleens's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This is a tough one to review, because I feel like I went in with the wrong expectations. I wasn’t expecting full-on romcom vibes, but I definitely think that the first 2 books of the series were a lot more lighthearted than this 3rd book. I did absolutely love Anna and Quan, both as separate characters as well as their relationship. Their characters and the romance could have made this a five star read. But the heavy plot was such a big part of the story that it became a very tough read. This is of course a good thing if that was the intention of the author, and I do think she did a great job writing this (and I’m glad I read the author’s note at the end). But this book just made me sad and angry so often, which is not the reading experience I’m looking for in this genre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infertility and Infidelity

jadejade's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The final book in this series is noticeably less light-hearted from the first two books but I loved it all the same. In particular, I appreciated the portrayal of the incapacitation or death of the head of the family leading to a permanent change to the family dynamic, potentially even destroying family relationships. I'm glad I read this now, when I needed an exploration of this subject, when I needed reassurance that it's not just in my head.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Excrement, and Medical content

jesseeeka's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Infidelity

shingekiyes's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

(listened to audio book from library)

REVIEW TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE READING THIS BOOK! 

i devoured this book. i was up until 3am reading this and good LORD was it worth it. 

i would definitely classify this as contemporary fiction and not a romance because the main focal point was Anna’s struggle to accept and honor herself, not the love story. though i liked the love story—which added fantastic levity to the serious topics presented here despite also being pretty rocky—i was completely sold by Anna’s arc: her diagnosis, accepting a caretaker role, the epiphany about her needs, her growth. 

once again, Helen Hoang perfectly captures the neurodivergent experience. Anna’s relationship with her family, her friends, herself, and her art were so relatable and heart-wrenching. i can only describe my feelings/reactions towards the ongoing conflicts related to her autism as VISCERAL. chapter 41 literally caused me to sob into a pillow. i am not kidding. i had to try very hard to stifle my weeping. 

the ending, though extremely fast-paced was satisfying and realistic. i appreciated that, unlike The Bride Test, not every plot point received a sparkly, happy conclusion. grief and healing are not linear, and it makes sense that Anna‘s experiences with them were not either. 

i will admit, criticisms of Quan’s story are valid. though i liked that his chapters were brief, i would happily read an entire novel about his journey surviving cancer. i did not feel like his POV was needed at times, which led me to want his storyline to be fleshed out more, to be more on par with the tone and severity of Anna’s. i think each arc could have better paralleled the other and his story could have had a stronger impact. maybe Anna’s story was heavy enough and Helen Hoang felt the need to write something lighter to help the reader escape that darkness, but i think it still could have worked. 

wrt the sex scenes: this book was much steamier and more satisfying (wink wonk) than The Bride Test. it also showed realistic sexual dysfunction and healthy communication of boundaries/needs. i liked the pining as much as i liked the sex scenes themselves, and i never turned the page and felt let down or disappointed by how the scenes ended. they all tended to make sense and feel complete. 

overall this was a fantastic, quick read that i recommend to nd romance readers looking to see and authentic story in a new genre. 

CW (not included below): autism meltdown, autism burnout, career burnout/career issues

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, and Car accident

amplawrence's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical content, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cancer and Toxic relationship

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

maira_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Oh wow, I was not expecting this book to be dealing with heavier themes than the first 2 books in the series. I'm not even sure I'm in the right mental headspace to be reading this because I'm also experiencing burnout but it's because of my job. While Anna's burnout is different from mine, I absolutely resonate with her when she struggled to make her family and those around her understand what she was going through. It felt incredible yet scary how much I could relate to Anna, to the point I was quite emotionally exhausted. That was probably unhealthy of me but, oh well.

The ending felt quite rushed, similar to The Bride Test. I wished we got more of Quan after seeing him as a constant character in the first two books in the series. Quan in The Heart Principle was literally perfect. Too perfect to the point I questioned does a guy like him exist in this world?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity

sharebear431's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity and Gaslighting