Reviews with content warning for Death - The Heart Principle – L'ipotenusa dell'amore

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Heart Principle – L'ipotenusa dell'amore by Helen Hoang

98 reviews

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?

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lethaltea's review against another edition

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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.

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sunfalls's review against another edition

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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 liked this book the best out of all three books in this series. Stella didn't feel like a real character in some ways because she changed fundamentally when she met and dated Michael. It has been a while since I read the book, so I can't remember all of the details, but what I do remember is that a good few of her symptoms just up and disappeared with Michael. Both she and Anna have similar personalities, while also being different enough to be two unique characters on different parts of the autistic spectrum. However, Anna seems more like a real character than Stella did. Stella felt like a caricature of a woman with autism because it felt like all of the differences in her brain chemistry just magically poofed with Michael. She didn't like kissing in public, but suddenly she was okay with it because Michael made her and she loved Michael? I feel like I might be getting things incorrect because that feels so out there and weird and not what any person would reasonably do. Anna is a good character because she realizes that she is worthy of being loved exactly as she is, and Quan accommodates that. He helps her through her burnout. She attempts to meet Quan and accommodate him in his needs too. Out of everyone in this series, I like this book the best because both Quan and Anna both feel real and their relationship feels normal. The problems that they faced feel normal. In the first two books, there were outrageous misunderstandings and changes and all sorts of other things that made the couples' stories feel flat and fake and extremely out of the realm of reality.

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.

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yvonne_cl's review against another edition

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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

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bookwormbullet's review against another edition

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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

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reginaexmachina's review against another edition

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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

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unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

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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.

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haley49's review against another edition

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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

samantha_blue's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

Content Warnings

jackiepreston's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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