Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Heart Principle

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

haley49's review

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challenging emotional 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

4.25

This was story was a hit for me. I really enjoyed Anna and Quan as characters and I loved how they always built each other up. They actually had hard things happen in their lives and they were there for each other.

I wish we could’ve seen more in the 3rd part particularly in Anna working through her issues and seeing how Quan supported her but I understand why Hoang didn’t do that.

I really identified with parts of Anna’s inner turmoil and found myself wanting her to figure the answer so I could. This is definitely an emotional and heavy book in the latter half and I believe you should keep that in mind before/while reading it.

I wish the differences between Anna and Priscilla were solved, but in the end, it felt realistic and comforting to know that we’ll be okay even if not everyone in our family reconciles. Another bittersweet theme to add to this book. Also, while I’m being nitpicky, I did feel that the unevenness’s and realness of the character’s conflicts made it feel less like a romance and made Quan a bit too perfect but that’s okay:)

There was 🌶 but it takes a backseat more than previous books did in this series.

Content Warnings

ashleynewman's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

Basically the same book as The Kiss Quotient (Quan and Michael are extremely similar, as are Stella and Anna). but TKQ was one of my favorite books of the year so I’m not complaining. However I’m putting this a star lower because it’s so freaking sad! And not in a sweet romantic way…the tragedy comes from Anna’s family and how much they completely suck (and never get better). This book has seriously heavy material that I was not expecting from a romance, especially in this series. My least favorite of the 3, but TKQ and The Bride Test are hard to beat.

Content Warnings