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

marissalouisee's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.5

I loved the Heart Principle, another amazing story by Helen Hoang. I loved the blooming love between Anna and Quan, but I took off .5 because generally this novel is very sad. it’s very reminiscent of real life in that way, but i usually read to escape, so this one wasn’t the 5 star that the Bride Test and the Kiss Quotient were for me!

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miaromano's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad 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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bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

4.75

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erynpaige's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.0

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laszlocravensworth's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

CW: cancer, death, mental health, suicide ideation

I am in tears as I write this review. I just finished The Heart Principle and I can absolutely say it is a book that will stick with me for years and years. I really enjoy Helen’s writing and really liked the other two books in this series but this one hit really close to home and that’s why it’s a 5-star read for me. In February 2021 my grandmother came home on hospice and my family dropped everything to take care of her in her last months with us. We wanted to do it, but like shown throughout the book, caregiver burnout is REAL. I’ve carried this extreme guilt over how I felt during that time. I loved my grandmother so much and I would drop everything again to take care of her but the sadness you feel while taking care of someone who is declining is overwhelming. I was constantly exhausted, angry, frustrated and sad. It is HARD taking care of sick loved ones. After her passing, I fell into a deep depression, just like Anna did. Those really really bad thoughts pop up in your head, even if you don’t mean for them to. I didn’t really come out of that depression until a few weeks ago. I’m still extremely sad and angry and frustrated and I feel so alone. But to see this played out for me in a book really showed me that so many people who care for someone go through these same emotions and I was not a bad person for feeling overwhelmed while it was happening. It is really hard to pick yourself up when you are that low, and I love that Anna was able to reconnect with her mother after. I’m so glad she had Quan there for her. It really does help when you have someone by your side.

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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring 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

When I found out that Helen Hoang was adding another novel to The Kiss Quotient series, I was so excited. I honestly didn't think anything could compete with my love for The Bride Test, but this book completely blew me away.

One of the things that I find incredibly impressive is when an author can flawlessly mesh really heavy, challenging topics with humor and romance. That is a skill that I don't see very often if I'm perfectly honest, which is why so many of the romantic comedies I read are rated with only three stars. They're fine, they're cute, but they're not great.

Helen's writing is great.

Let's start with the main character. She's struggling with her music after going viral, which is something that feels very relatable. Living up to the standard that has been set for you can seem so daunting, so my heart immediately went out to Anna before even knowing much else about her.

Like most of the other books by Helen, there is autism representation and it is incredibly written. While her other books focus on individuals who already know about their diagnosis or happen to meet someone who is on the spectrum, Anna discovers that she is autistic mid-book. It's a different approach and it wrecked me. The way her family treats her, the way she wants to treat herself but doesn't really know how, and of course the way Quan treats her - it crashed down on me like a true wave of emotions.

In the midst of all of this, something truly traumatic happens in Anna's life. In order to touch on this, I'm going to add a spoiler warning because I feel like it's important for me to mention it but I don't want to ruin anything for anyone else.

Anna's dad has a stroke. It's fatal. This was the most challenging aspect of the book for me because my own dad had a stroke several years ago and was in the ICU for a prolonged period of time. I related to the up-and-down feelings of coming to terms with saying goodbye only to be told that he's stable the next day since that's exactly what happened with my own dad. However, the death of Anna's dad is beyond heartbreaking because there was so much pain surrounding the way he wanted to be treated and couldn't communicate it with anyone in addition to Anna knowing and not being able to fulfill his wishes. My own dad survived, for which I will never be able to express my full gratitude, but reliving the emotions of that period of time while reading this book was incredibly challenging for me.

I'll admit that I nearly DNF'd because of the triggering content, but I knew that it would be better for me in the long run if I continued. And I'm glad I did.

There were so many moments where I wanted to scream at Anna to make a different choice. But I know that my screams mimicked the ones in her own mind. It was a really intense book to read, considering how light so much of it was.

Of course, I need to talk about the lightness and the romance aspect as well! Quan is a dream. Truly, he's an absolutely perfect book boyfriend and I loved him from the minute I "met" him on the page. His desire to meet Anna where she is because of his own "shortcomings" made him all the more wonderful. His insecurities made him feel realistic and he has his own challenges throughout the story too. I really enjoyed reading from his perspective (I love a dual POV in romance) because it gave me a better understanding of just why he was so lovable!

Gosh, I really feel like I could go on forever about this book. It was everything I hoped it would be and so much more. This is a book I'll want to pick up again and again.

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