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rynniereads 's review for:
The Heart Principle
by Helen Hoang
Wow. Just wow. I honestly didn’t have high expectations for this book as I didn’t love The Kiss Quotient and never read The Bride Bet, but The Heart Principle blew me away. This book was so much more than a standard romance.
To very trivially summarize the book, it follows Anna as she navigates her boyfriend deciding that they need to have an open relationship, new love, an autism diagnosis, the inability to perform her job, and her father’s failing health (seriously just go read the real book summary because mine does not do it justice). In her author’s note, Helen states that this is her most personal and autobiographical book and that really comes across in the delicacy of the writing.
I really enjoyed being in Anna’s head because it was absolutely fascinating. Helen Hoang is autistic which gives Anna’s voice that much more power and made her experience feel all the more authentic and really highlights the need for Own Voices authors. I absolutely adored Quan. He is my perfect book boyfriend. Together they had so much chemistry and I loved their strangers to one night stand to friends to lovers story.
So much of this book also revolved around Anna and her complicated relationship with her family. I really liked that the storyline with her family didn’t wrap up in a nice little bow because family is messy. I also liked how honest the book was about the importance of therapy and seeking medication when its needed. I honestly don’t remember the last book I read where the protagonist talked about taking antidepressants, so this was a very refreshing change.
I really enjoyed both Brian Nishii and Natalie Nadus as readers for the audiobook. I love when dual POV romances actually have two narrators rather than have one person read both. Both readers really captured voice and style of the characters and helped me to fully immerse myself in the story.
Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
To very trivially summarize the book, it follows Anna as she navigates her boyfriend deciding that they need to have an open relationship, new love, an autism diagnosis, the inability to perform her job, and her father’s failing health (seriously just go read the real book summary because mine does not do it justice). In her author’s note, Helen states that this is her most personal and autobiographical book and that really comes across in the delicacy of the writing.
I really enjoyed being in Anna’s head because it was absolutely fascinating. Helen Hoang is autistic which gives Anna’s voice that much more power and made her experience feel all the more authentic and really highlights the need for Own Voices authors. I absolutely adored Quan. He is my perfect book boyfriend. Together they had so much chemistry and I loved their strangers to one night stand to friends to lovers story.
So much of this book also revolved around Anna and her complicated relationship with her family. I really liked that the storyline with her family didn’t wrap up in a nice little bow because family is messy. I also liked how honest the book was about the importance of therapy and seeking medication when its needed. I honestly don’t remember the last book I read where the protagonist talked about taking antidepressants, so this was a very refreshing change.
I really enjoyed both Brian Nishii and Natalie Nadus as readers for the audiobook. I love when dual POV romances actually have two narrators rather than have one person read both. Both readers really captured voice and style of the characters and helped me to fully immerse myself in the story.
Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.