Helen Hoang - The Heart Principle
5⭐
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Contemporary Romance, RomCom
Pages: 340
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Corvus Books
Date Published: 2nd September 2021
Book Blurb:
When violinist Anna Sun accidentally achieves career success with a viral YouTube video, she finds herself incapacitated and burned out from her attempts to replicate that moment. And when her longtime boyfriend announces he wants an open relationship before making a final commitment, hurt and angry Anna decides that if he wants an open relationship, then she does, too. Translation: She’s going to embark on a string of one-night stands. The more unacceptable the men, the better.
That’s where tattooed, motorcycle-riding Quan Diep comes in. Their first attempt at a one-night stand fails, as does their second, and their third, because being with Quan is more than sex—he accepts Anna on an unconditional level that she herself has just started to understand. However, when tragedy strikes Anna’s family she takes on a role that she is ill-suited for until the burden of expectations threatens to destroy her. Anna and Quan have to fight for their chance at love but to do that, they also have to fight for themselves.
My Review:
I can’t believe I am saying this but I loved this book more
than The Kiss Quotient. This book just felt so real and very well written, as well
as, exploring so much more than just a relationship between Anna and Quan.
The book follows a professional violinist Anna, who struggles
with her newfound fame after a video of her playing goes viral on YouTube. She can’t
seem to be in the right headspace to play the music that she once loved and
even mundane things become too hard for her to cope with. Then her long-term boyfriend
Julian decides that they should be in an open relationship. Anna, whilst
feeling betrayed and hurt, decides that it is time for her to meet someone else
too. She does meet someone, and that someone is a handsome tattooed Quan, who himself
is healing emotionally and physically from an illness that took two years from
his life. As their friendship blossoms into a romance, Anna’s father goes to the
hospital and now needs full-time care. Anna starts taking care of her ill father
but in the process, she is burning herself down even more and becoming more and
more depressed. Quan seems to be the only one who understands her but her family
is not happy with her being with him. Her family have their own high expectations
for Anna that she needs to meet. Will Anna choose her family and society's expectations
or Quan or whether she decides to finally choose herself?
This book is so much more than a romance. Hoang explores autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) and how it
affects Anna, especially in her day-to-day life. Also, it portrays how Anna’s
family didn’t believe that she has ASD and how hard that is for her, to pretend
to be someone else and mask it from her family. As someone who doesn’t know
much about people on the Autism Spectrum, this book taught me so much about it.
I loved the ASD representation in this book and I strongly believe that we need
more books like this on our bookshelves.
Additionally, it looks at carers and how underappreciated they
are and how we sometimes don’t understand how hard their job and
responsibilities are, as well as how easily they can burn themselves out. I am
so happy that this awareness is featured in a book. Hoang also explores feelings
and emotions, as well as confidence growing after a long-term illness, looking
at how sometimes people might not feel themselves.
Loved that this book is written in first person and had both
characters' POVs, as it shows the development of both characters throughout the
book and explores respective issues that both characters are dealing with.
I liked Anna’s character in this book. Her development
throughout the book is so well written and explored. At the beginning of the book,
she struggles with burnout from becoming famous with one YouTube video and
explores the effects of that on her day-to-day life. Then as the book progresses,
she realises that she has ASD, which makes her struggle to accept herself as
she is. Also, their pressure from family to look after her ill dad and take
care of him, makes her even more burned out and depressed. On top of that, her
family doesn’t believe that she has ASD, which makes Anna unable to speak
freely about how she is and how she feels. Her family expect so much of her and
they don’t want to hear any excuses from her. Thus, she just says yes to everything,
so that she lives up to their expectations but in the process, she not only
burns herself down but also gets depressed and anxious. I loved that at the end
of the book Anna realises that she needs to put herself and her well-being
first and stop saying to her or meeting all the expectations that people,
especially family has for her.
I wished there was more about Quan’s development, as he tries
to become more confident in himself after being ill. At times it felt that this
book is all about Anna and her life/ development whilst Quang is left in the
background. However, I liked that the romance bit was so well balanced in
between exploring other very important topics. It just worked so well.
Overall: I loved this book. It has brilliant ASD representation;
it also discusses the struggles of carers and displays the challenges that
people have to overcome after a long-term illness. I loved that all this is featured
in a romance book and is very well balanced with the cute romance parts. I loved
the writing and I strongly believe that Hoang’s writing is much better in this
book than it was in The Kiss Quotient. I also really liked the fact that Hoang didn’t
shy from exploring and talking about societal roles, pressures and expectations
which might lead to depression and anxiety. Such a great read that I will recommend
it to everyone and can’t wait to see what Hoang writes next.
About the Author:
Helen Hoang is that shy person who never talks. Until she does. And the worst things fly out of her mouth. She read her first romance novel in eighth grade and has been addicted ever since. In 2016, she was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in line with what was previously known as Asperger’s Syndrome. Her journey inspired THE KISS QUOTIENT. She currently lives in San Diego, California with her husband, two kids, and pet fish.
http://www.helenhoang.com/
