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0701mango's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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? It's complicated
4.0
This was a really touching book about family, love, and life. Both Anna and Quan are unique and lovable in their own ways. They are so different and Helen Hoang makes their chemistry work. I also appreciate Hoang writing main characters on the autism spectrum. Though it saddened me, I appreciate that Hoang left Anna and Priscilla's relationship at the end unresolved. Sometimes this kind of thing never resolves, or if it does, it happens over a decade or more. A bit sad, but realistic all the same, and something to appreciate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Cursing, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Medical content
Minor: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Grief, and Alcohol
The female lead has autism spectrum disorder and her characteristics relating to that are described in detail. The main character also goes to therapy. A significant time in the book is spent on discussions of medical illness and chronic/terminal illness. I believe "toxic relationship" is an appropriate tag for describing the relationship between Anna and her sister Priscilla.alindeman's review against another edition
emotional
slow-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
3.25
I really like Helen hoang’s books, but I think this is my least favorite of the three. I really enjoyed the romance and I like that it started basically immediately. So much of the plot was about Anna’s personal growth/journey that it kind of overshadowed the romance plot. I also found the main conflict to be really hair-tearingly frustrating. I don’t like watching characters getting walked all over and treated like trash. I understand that it was very important to Anna’s journey tho, but it was still hard to read in terms of how outright depressing and sad it could be at times! Tho I appreciate the discussion of masking and burnout due to masking, which hasn’t really been addressed in her other books! I don’t think it’s a topic many ppl know about so is v important to be discussed. I also liked that during her burnout, Quan played a supporting role, he didn’t “fix” or “cure” her, just provided support. I liked the sex scenes, especially bc they played an important role in the personal growth of both characters. I found the reconciliation with mom endearing and was REALLY happy that Anna did not reconcile with Priscilla. She didn’t deserve it and them not reconciling makes an important point that family is NOT more important than your own self respect and mental health and you do NOT have to keep people in your life that treat you like trash, even family as always I loved the mention of characters we’ve seen and loved before, aka Michael and Khai and a mini Stella shoutout. I love this little autism accepting and loving world Helen Hoang has created in the love quotient universe. I probably would have rated it higher if not for how frustrating and downright painful /enraging it was to get through the conflict to the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Ableism, Death, and Death of parent
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
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?
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?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Mental illness, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity
lethaltea'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
3.5
Emotional damage!
That’s the best way I can describe this book.
Please please please read the TW before you pick this one up. It really caught me off guard.
That’s the best way I can describe this book.
Please please please read the TW before you pick this one up. It really caught me off guard.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Cancer, Infertility, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Emotional abuse
sunfalls's review against another edition
dark
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
5.0
I think I appreciate the fact that Helen Hoang attempted to write romance books featuring autistic characters because there is a sad stereotype that infantilizes autistic people, even adults, and it's important to have representation that shows that autistic people are adults and fully capable of having love and romance, not babies that need to be cooed over and pitied. However, I feel like the first two books fall woefully flat, despite good intentions. If anything, the first book enforces really harmful stereotypes, where with the "right" man, an autistic woman's symptoms will change, or that her autism is just "quirks" of her personality, like she is just an eccentric choosing to not follow the norm. The second book makes it worse, since autistic men are more often accommodated and diagnosed properly than autistic women are, and the second book reinforces the first book's failings by showing a relationship where an autistic man is accepted and loved as he is. Khai's treatment is a direct antithesis to Stella's treatment, since Esme changes her behavior and interactions with him to accommodate his needs, while Michael seems to make Stella's behaviors change to override her needs. I am not an expert or anything, so all of this might just be an incorrect reading of these books; however, I feel like while the representation was good, there were other lacking things in those first two books.
Now on to the things I enjoyed in this book, entirely separate from how it compares to the first two books in this series: I really liked Anna's journey, not only through her relationship with Quan, but with her relationship with herself as well as with her family. This felt like a very personal thing to read about, but it really resonated with me because of how similar certain elements are to my own experiences. I really admire the way that Anna managed, both with the help of her therapist and her diagnosis and especially Quan, to work on healing herself and breaking herself out of the traps that her family's strict expectations placed on her. I like how real everyone in this book was, as well as how both Anna and Quan had their own separate issues to deal with, and by trusting in each other, they were able to make steps that they hadn't been able to make earlier in their lives. Of course, their relationship and trust with one another wasn't all that it took to get them to make those changes and improve their self love and self confidence, as well as their lives, and that was great to read about too. That both Quan and Anna managed to make changes and process things together and on their own was amazing to read about. It would have been easy for them to become co-dependent on each other, but they didn't. They made progress and changes, together and alone. I can't think of a single reason why I would dislike this book. It might not have been perfect, but life never is. I really like the way this book doesn't treat any of their problems as one and done either; most people don't have one giant crisis in their lives that they fix and then live happily ever after. I like that the ending of this book ended with them making great strides and progress to live in a better manner towards themselves than they had been, but the ending of the book doesn't try creating any delusions towards a happy ever after ending. I appreciate that realness. I also like the ending for Quan and MLA as being more of a beginning, since after the acquisition with LVMH, there would presumably be more work for Quan to do. I like that he got an outcome with the company that would be good for the company and Quan as well, remaining on as CEO. Overall, I liked this book in a lot of ways. Well worth the read, and much much better than the first two.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Gaslighting
yvonne_cl's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
bookwormbullet's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
relaxing
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
reginaexmachina's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang aka a cute cover masking a knife to the heart aka the crushing mental load of late diagnosed autism and extreme burnout aka sky high family expectations aka the second book I have read this month featuring a online violin sensation aka home of one of the best book boyfriends aka Helen pouring her heart and soul out on the page for all of us to see in its messy glory and then putting it back together again in some amazing way.
This is a romance in that it has a love story and a happy ending for the couple BUT it is extremely heavy and quite sad. I have never felt angrier on behalf of a heroine, and mainly because of her family and not romantic interests (although Julian really pissed me off, too).
You should read this, but be ready, it deals with terminal illness and caregiver burnout in an extremely detailed and heavy way. Please check the CW. But if you can make the space? Do it.
Also? QUAN!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
👍🏻 Recommended. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism