Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

10 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

kshertz's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It’s pretty lighthearted but this author likes to keep it real. This author always has characters on the spectrum. The sex scenes are too real. It takes a long time for these characters to have the perfect sex together and that was hard for me because I’d rather have fantasy sex in my books but I can appreciate keeping it real! I love that they end up having to communicate a ton because of the autism spectrum diagnosis for her. I love that she learns who she is and how to stand up for herself. I related too hard to the big sister who is kind of a villain in this so I guess I need a lot more therapy ? Call me out why don’t you this author. Anywho, it’s a great book with good themes. The hardest is there is a lot of caretaking and survivor guilt but overall I think it’s a great book and I’d recommend for anyone who loves romance and wants more realistic romance in their life. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

faegyrl_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism

criticalbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism

sydneywhite's review against another edition

challenging emotional lighthearted sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment

acelodie's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical content, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, and Self harm

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

This was my favorite in the series! It was so raw and emotional. I loved the characters, and I can tell the author's skill is growing. Beautiful

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Infertility, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Vomit, Car accident, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

self-loathing, romantic rejection

hafsahrai's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

shieldingeffect's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Liked the book but disappointed we didnt get more development from Quan all he seemed to do is give and give and be the patien bf 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Bullying, Abandonment, and Alcohol

mariahlindz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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? No

2.5

Trigger Warnings for familial abuse, verbal abuse, terminal illness, autistic burnout, caregiver burnout, suicidal ideation,

The Heart Principle isn't a romance. Let's clear that up for anyone going into this novel expecting The Kiss Quotient. Normally, I wouldn't be upset about the darker subject matter, especially since it has such deep meaning for the author. However, because the storyline is so chaotic, rushed, and unfinished the pain and the loss a caregiver goes through came off insincere.

The worst part of the book, technically speaking, comes in the form of single-page chapters we get towards the end when Anna is grieving the loss of her father and suffering autistic burnout. It's a shallow dive into someone going through suicidal ideation. One or two-page chapters can be a way to show depression physically as the loss of time and voice. This might have been compelling if it hadn't all been wrapped up in the laziest way possible - basically a fade to black and a two-year gap in the story where Anna gets better. However, we don’t get any details surrounding her recovery, other than a short conversation with her mother and a surprise rendition of "Happy Birthday" on her violin. We don't see whether she has developed any relationship with her sister or how her mother and her get along. We don't learn how she was able to start playing music again. We don't hear her talk to her therapist about what she went through. We don't hear from her friends. We don't hear about her relationship at all (which is the book's main point?) She doesn’t meet Quan’s family or his friends? The plot is lost at this point if it ever existed.

And poor Quan. He was set up through the entire Kiss Quotient series and ended up an afterthought in a novel where he was supposed to be one of the main characters. Sheesh, he was going through just as much as Anna, and yet we barely hear about him - except for a couple of obligatory sex scenes and a random business merger subplot that is boring oh and he runs the Grand Canyon because I think Hoang forgot she made him a runner at the beginning and had to circle back to that detail somehow. Justice for Quan. He had a bigger role in The Bride Test.

I would also recommend to the author and publishers that some trigger warnings be applied? Maybe an author’s note at the FRONT of the book instead of at the end? It's a bait and switch to have a cute cover and market this as a rom-com like the rest of the KQ series; the story is far from a romance; it's a sad, mediocre read. And I know Hoang can write better than this, so I don't understand what happened.

What a disappointing end to one of my favorite series, honestly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

caregiver burnout, autistic burnout, suicidal ideation, mentions of medical procedures and care, familial abuse