Title: The Heart Principle
Author: Helen Hoang
Format: Audiobook
Rating: 4.5 Stars
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A woman struggling with burnout learns to embrace the unexpected—and the man she enlists to help her—in this new New York Times bestselling romance by Helen Hoang.
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, a 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.
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I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK. I am so glad I finally took the time to read this (and the other two books by Helen Hoang.)
I found the characters in this books to be fantastic and relatable. After all, how many of us have ever felt like Anna does - just done, finished, burnt out. I can't relate to the fact that Anna is autistic, but the burn out - even neurotypical people can experience that in their own way. There are certainly ways that burnout can impact neurodivergent people, and how they approach the world just because of the way that autism, or ADHD, etc, impact the way they see and view everything around them. I think mostly I just related to the fact that feeling a sense of burnout is a very human thing depending on your circumstances.
(Well, okay, perhaps a little tangent is necessary - for me anyway. So, here in the US, where I live, it seems that this sense of burnout amongst ALL people seems to be more prevalent and impacts our live in such a huge way. It is, sadly, something that we "normalize." We keep telling people to just keep going. We encourage people to keep working even if they are feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. We brush off people's concerns about how they feel and how they're really doing. We push people to be hyper independent and to push off any offers for help. It's really frustrating and said, and says a lot about what our society views as the most important things in life.)
I loved the way each character was written and developed, and that they were all connected to each other and also unique to themselves. The author did a good job of making sure each character had their own traits and personalities and also showed great growth from Anna. Anna really struggled with a lot of things in the book, but she grew a lot and learned a lot about herself and how to handle things that came her way.
As far as the steamy scenes, Helen Hoang nails it. I felt like each sex scene was well written, AND that the characters had good chemistry with each other outside the bedroom. They were very good together and had things in common, and really enjoyed each others company. Their whole relationship worked.
Quan was very patient with Anna, and I think it helped that he was familiar with autism and how each autistic person is just their own person just like everyone else. Quan had a lot of people who judged him as well because of all his tattoo's and people thinking that made him a "bad boy." Personally, I think Quan is more of a softy than people realized. He's just sweet and kind, and I loved him!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED watching Anna grow and change throughout this book, and FINALLY find a voice. I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just say that she was very, very passive, and didn't really stand up to people or say no to people, and watching her learn how to do that was amazing.
Overall, this book is totally worth the time! Read it now, friends!
If you already have read it let me know what you think in the comments.
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