Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

100 reviews

ilariachillea's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent

teatunesandtales's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Part fiction, part memoir. Thank you Helen Hoang for writing my story also.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Classism

Trigger Warnings: Caretaker burnout, Autistic burnout.

jillkaarlela's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

Taylor Swift songs: “I’m only me when I’m with you”

Age rating: 17+ (3 brief steamy scenes, 1.5/5🌶️)

This was a fairly emotional romance where the fmc has to cope with her autism spectrum diagnosis and unlearning her habits of masking. Please read with care and check the TW. This deals with pretty heavy topics. She has spent her whole life living for other people, doing only what everyone else wants, and it’s eating away at her. I love the journey of her finding the one person who never makes her feel like she has to put on a show. Quan is the one person who sees and loves Ana for her, and the only one who she doesn’t have to “mask” with. Their love is so tender and healing for both of them. I love the “failed” one night stand trope, where they plan to have a one night stand, but can’t seem to let each other go. They hold each other through truly dark times. They are just so perfect for each other!! 

The way that Ana’s family treats her makes me want to scream. They always tell her what to do, and treat her with “tough love”, which is actually just bulldozing her wants and needs. It truly hearts my heart. This novel was definitely heavier than Hoang’s other novels, and it wasn’t my favorite, but it was still really great! 

“When I realize I’m going south on the 101, I’m not surprised that I’m going straight to her. My compass always points to her.”

TW: emotional abuse, cancer (testicular), ableism, gaslighting, “tough love” very unsupportive family, terminal illness/end of life care, grief, death 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent

kenzithereader's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

3.0

The book wasn't bad, but it was my least favorite of the series. I loved the first two and their lighthearted good time romance with a sprinkle of issues. This third book felt more like it was about the characters struggle with family and autism and was really bleak for a lot of the book. The romance started to feel like the side plot and the story was much heavier than I'd anticipated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism and Infertility

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

shindanker's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Terminal illness, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

annie_tonk's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

baileyt2424's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Classism

amissabellator's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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: Ableism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting

Minor: Body shaming, Medical content, and Alcohol

The text follows Anna Sun - a woman who is diagnosed with autism with low-support needs - (and, to a lesser extent, Quan Diep - a man who has recently overcome personal illness (

testicular cancer

)) as they fall in love. This includes graphic depictions of sex and sex acts, in line with the previous installments in the series. However, this story also includes a family medical emergency storyline (

father is rendered immobile and requires full-care after a stroke

) and goes into detail about burnout, toxic families, and mental health struggles. It also talks about expectations, both physically (

Quan suffers anxiety about his genitals following his cancer surgeries

) and emotionally (

Anna is repeatedly misled/gaslighted about her life and her autism symptoms

).

mcsturgeon40's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Classism

micaelamariem's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

I just finished this book in the airport and am sobbing. It was so emotional and dealt with so much tougher topics than Hoang’s previous romances, which I appreciated but was not emotionally ready for. Through it all, the main theme was about self-compassion, learning to say no, and learning we don’t need to be perfect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Excrement, Grief, and Death of parent