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A review by purple_reads
The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
4.0
I enjoyed the previous two instalments of The Kiss Quotient series which led to a big shock when I found the third book lacklustre in comparison.
The start had me expecting more of Hoang’s gripping writing but as the narrative went on I found myself becoming bored and not as interested.
One of the big things that annoyed and shocked me was Quan. He changed a lot from the previous two books and we don’t get to see this development. Going from comments such as, “She has a great fucking body,” while imitating the shape with his hands or making assumptions about females grouping them into one category. Furthermore, we don’t even know the length of the time jump from when we last saw him in The Bride Test to The Heart Principle. Also, I would like to have seen more about his cancer; that whole plotline felt like it was there just for the sake of having him be at a convenient spot in his life for the book to take place. We got to see his mental recovery and how he is dealing with things after the surgery but it still felt as if something was missing and that we could’ve seen a lot more things that would’ve kept me gripped. There are other ways to develop a character without giving them an incurable disease, which isn’t even going to be given the proper development within the plotline. I think the lack of development in general made him less attractive as a love interest for me, which is a shame because it is due to the writing not the character.
Something I did like was the inner turmoil we got to see when Anna was trying to break free of the masks she had forced upon herself. As well as the family dynamics she had, especially with her sister.
I also liked how it wasn’t until years later that Anna finally found herself doing better with her mental health, and even then she was taking it slow and one step at a time.
Hoang put a lot of her own journey into this book and, while some elements of the writing were subpar for me, I do think she depicted mental health and toxic family dynamics really well.
Stars ~ 3.5
The start had me expecting more of Hoang’s gripping writing but as the narrative went on I found myself becoming bored and not as interested.
One of the big things that annoyed and shocked me was Quan. He changed a lot from the previous two books and we don’t get to see this development. Going from comments such as, “She has a great fucking body,” while imitating the shape with his hands or making assumptions about females grouping them into one category. Furthermore, we don’t even know the length of the time jump from when we last saw him in The Bride Test to The Heart Principle. Also, I would like to have seen more about his cancer; that whole plotline felt like it was there just for the sake of having him be at a convenient spot in his life for the book to take place. We got to see his mental recovery and how he is dealing with things after the surgery but it still felt as if something was missing and that we could’ve seen a lot more things that would’ve kept me gripped. There are other ways to develop a character without giving them an incurable disease, which isn’t even going to be given the proper development within the plotline. I think the lack of development in general made him less attractive as a love interest for me, which is a shame because it is due to the writing not the character.
Something I did like was the inner turmoil we got to see when Anna was trying to break free of the masks she had forced upon herself. As well as the family dynamics she had, especially with her sister.
I also liked how it wasn’t until years later that Anna finally found herself doing better with her mental health, and even then she was taking it slow and one step at a time.
Hoang put a lot of her own journey into this book and, while some elements of the writing were subpar for me, I do think she depicted mental health and toxic family dynamics really well.
Stars ~ 3.5