Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

176 reviews

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

---

Content Warnings

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

hanreads__'s review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Cursing, and Mental illness

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

---

Content Warnings

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

deedeeroo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? Yes

3.0

The main romantic relationship here is very heartwarming (…ans spicy. Wink!).  

However, the family dynamics for the FMC are heavy …which wasn’t really what I was hoping for. Very touching but something that hit a little close to home, so I should’ve done a little more research — if I had I might have skipped this one. So I recommend a little caution. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Ableism

realmsofmymind's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Terminal illness

While a good book, do not read if you are looking for a light, fluffy romcom. There's plenty of romance BUT

The female main character ends up having to care for a parent after they are paralyzed by a stroke. This is a raw story and may be incredibly uncomfortable or stressful for some people.

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Grief, Ableism, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

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

Minor: Alcohol, Body shaming, and Medical content

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

).

zoiejanelle'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

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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

bdingz's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

Definitely the best of the series, in my opinion. It gives an accurate depiction of autistic burnout and the romance was enjoyable.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Terminal illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Medical trauma

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent

Autistic burnout

abhirupa's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I didn’t have super high expectations for this book after the kiss quotient and the bride test, but it was phenomenal! Quan is such a good character, and it felt like I had already kind of been introduced to him in the other books, where he acted like a guardian/big brother figure. I’m so glad he got his own love story! And Anna is such a good partner for him, like their relationship was so organic! I think Helen Hoang has definitely improved in her writing from the previous two books because her descriptions of masking, compulsive behavior, and autistic burnout were very convincing but also more tasteful imo than the other books. Poor Anna :( The part with her father, especially when he was telling her “no more” made me so sad. But the ending was very cathartic and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Medical content

Moderate: Terminal illness and Suicidal thoughts

inthemoonforcheese's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, Death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Ableism, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment