Thank you, Berkley Publishing, for the gifted copy of The Heart Principle!

Genre: Romance
Author: @helenhoang
Pub Date: 8.31.21
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Steam Rating: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

"I have to choose. I can spend my time trying to make her accept me, either through bending her will or bending her to mine, or I can accept myself and focus on other things. How do I want to spend my life?"

For the past few weeks, every book I've read has just felt blah to me. I decided to give Hoang's newest book a try because I've loved her previous books. I was in love with both Anna and Quan following their introduction chapters. The story had me laughing out loud within the first few pages. Oh, and the steamy-ness of the book didn't hurt at all.

It's funny, to me, how in every book that Hoang writes, I can find bits and pieces of myself within the story. But, with Anna's character, I felt like I could relate to her in countless ways. The Heart Principle was just the book I needed to read.

🔥 Steamy right away
🥰 Love the ease of Anna & Quan's relationship
🧩 Autism aspects to the story
🤣 Hilarious
💜 Wonderful, unpredictable ending

I recommend reading The Heart Principle if you enjoyed reading Get a Life, Chloe Brown, The Happy Ever After Playlist, or The Bride Test.

heartwarming and beautifully written. helen does it again!! this romance is oh so sweet and sexy! couldn’t put it down

TYSM to NetGalley & Berkley for my copy of this book.

What a heartwrenching novel. I was hooked from the very first chapter (and, to be honest, before even starting this as I am a fan of the Kiss Quotient). That said, I could have never imagined the intense rollercoaster this book would take me on. While many might look at this from the outside and see a romance novel, it is so much more than that. The way Helen Hoang is able to capture the intense feelings that come with family, relationships, and discovering yourself is nothing short of incredible. This novel dives deep beyond just surface-level issues and feelings and that made the reading experience all that more impactful.

Helen Hoang can write romance like few writers in her genre. Her protagonists are not conventional and lack the polished perfection of the typical romance characters, but this is what makes them so relatable. In The Heart Principle, which is the third installment in a series that began with The Kiss Quotient, violinist Anna Sun is so heartbroken after being unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend, that she vows to sleep with the first man that crosses her path. The less suitable, the better.
Along comes Quan Diep, a motorcycle riding "bad boy" that checks all of Anna's one-night stand boxes. But as their first time together doesn't go quite as planned, neither does Anna's revenge plan when she starts feeling more than lust for Quan.
Fans of Hoang's work will not be disappointed.

Helen Hoang posted a note about how The Heart Principle is different from the previous two and is not a rom-com. That changed my perspective on this book.
The Heart Principle is still a romance book, but it’s more about Anna’s discovery of her autism and her relationship with her family. I still enjoyed the romance aspect of this book. I wished there was more of that, but I would still recommend this book.

I have loved every one of Helen’s books and this one was no different. As much as I loved the romance story, the emotional journey for Anna was my favorite aspect. It was very relatable for me and I would highly recommend this book!

This book was a real emotional journey for me! At times, it was gut-wrenching, I just wanted to solve all the problems, so much so that I found myself thinking about the book when I wasn't actively reading. This is a really powerful read-about autism, about expectations, about first generation families. The characters are well-developed and realistic. I wish there wasn't as much spice in this one because I think a lot of people could learn so much from reading it, but the explicit sex will make it a hard sell for many of my patrons.

Though I usually love Helen Hoang, this one wasn’t as strong in the romance department as her other books. The dark side of care giving seemed out of place.

There is so much truth and heart to this book, it really touched me. There is romance as Anna and Quan embark on a relationship after first attempting a one night stand. Anna is blocked with her music, unable to play her violin. When her father suffers a stroke, Anna spirals further, and Quan is there for her. Anna is struggling with understanding that she is on the autism spectrum, close to what used to be called Asperger’s. To take off the mask she wears for family and friends to cope, and be herself, presents a tremendous challenge. I loved the book, from the sexy romantic scenes, to the heartbreaking, realistic portrayal of caregiving. I highly recommend this novel and thank NetGalley for the ARC.

Anna is a violinist currently having performance paralysis after a video went viral and she feels she can’t replicate the success. Her longtime boyfriend has also decided to open their relationship so they can see other people. A lot going on for Anna, she decides to take him up on that and have a string of one night stands with men that she wouldn’t normally go for. But she seems to get stuck on one after, for one reason or another, they don’t actually have sex.

Those are just some of the things Anna is dealing with. Her story in this book is definitely a deep journey. From her relationship with her ex and her reclaiming her sexuality, to family and the core of her identity. There’s something magical that happens when Helen Hoang sits down to write her novels. There’s a vulnerability in her characters that I can’t help but be drawn to. And Anna certainly was that character for me. I can see why Quan was smitten.

And then Quan. I loved him in every way. He’s the perfect book boyfriend. I loved how tender he was with Anna. How loyal he was to Michael. How vulnerable he was about his past and his insecurities from it. He’s such a special character and everything Anna needed. He was the missing piece in her emotional healing, and the other way around. They were just so perfect together.

I picked up this book fully expecting one thing because of the reviews I had read. And then, turns out I felt it delivered something different. So my perspective on this one, as opposed to others calling this almost a women’s fiction novel, is that is as much a romance as The Bride Test was. Yes, it deals with some heavy topics (much like the previous book did in my opinion) and focuses on our heroine’s life journey. But I think it balances well how that journey also includes a romance and it plays a pretty central part to the story. And rest assured, the sex is also pretty hot.

THE HEART PRINCIPLE is a must read. One of the best I’ve read this year! Helen Hoang does it every time and I can’t wait for the next one.

A story of acceptance, love, and survival, The Heart Principle is more than a romance. Anna's life is complicated, messy, and hard. When she get a late life diagnosis of autism while caring for her terminally ill family member, life is really hard. When her and Quan start to move closer to romance, they both learn that accepting someone as they are (even themselves) just may be the best decision.

I really liked The Heart Principle. It was my first Helen Hoang book. I will definitely be going back and reading the previous books!

The third book in The Kiss Quotient series. I loved Anna and Quan's story and I feel most readers will. I would recommend this to contemporary romance readers who love a well earned adult HEA.

I loved it!!! I haven't read the second book, but I really enjoyed this third book. It gets a little dark and sad but I really loved the characters enough to work through it.

Wow this book deals with a lot. Make sure you are emotionally ready to read this book. A large portion involves Anna having to take care of an ill family member and the emotional toll that has on her life. The beginning starts off as a normal romance novel with a swoooonnyyyy romance hero. I love Quan's character so much and am so obsessed with him. Quan is so patient and good to Anna and I abosltuey loved them together. Then, things take a turn when Anna has to take care of her family member. Anna has to deal with her extremely judgmental and horrible older sister and is constantly berated and put down just for being her. Anna is also dealing with understanding her own identity and possibly being on the autism spectrum and carrying that label.

This gets a definite five stars for the romance. I loved the development and trust behind Quan and Anna's relationship and how both Quan and Anna were able to work through their own troubles and insecurities with one another. I loved how they were both there for each other and how hard they fell. This definitely becomes more difficult to read about 40% into the novel and I got so angry at certain characters. But the journey was one Anna had to go on, both with Quan and on her own at times, and it was heartbreaking. I felt so much for Anna and just wanted her to have her happy ending. I will never forget reading this book and it is a new favorite.

After achieving unwanted internet fame for her music talents, Anna is burned out from trying to live up to who people think she is. When her boyfriend asks for an open relationship, she decides she should put herself out there as well. She plans a one night stand with a nice man she meets on a dating app, and though she isn’t able to go through with it, Quan continues to pursue Anna as he sees something special in her.

This devoured this on audio and it ended up being my second favorite in the series behind The Bride Test. This one handled autism a little differently and I really enjoyed reading through Anna’s self discovery and how she learned about and accepted herself. I also loved how patient Quan was with Anna and how they came to trust each other so completely. I would definitely recommend this series!

Wow!!! Helen Hoang is an absolute master at writing. She walks the line between women's fiction and romance and does it beautifully. This story was absolutely beautiful and heart-wrenching. And the mental health representation was so well done. Anna Sun, a violinist struggling with burnout, was so relatable as someone myself who has experienced my own deep burnout. And Quan is such a gentle and wonderful presence. Their romance is tender and slow-burning. They both SEE each other and it's breath-taking the way their story develops. And then of course there is the story line of Anna being a care-taker of her failing father. This story was handled with such care. I cannot say enough good things about this book. An absolute masterpiece. 5 stars isn't enough for the depth and beauty of this book.

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.

Wow! I remember liking Kiss Quotient, but The Heart Principle blew me away. It was clearly a very personal book to Helen Hoang, and it had an excellent mix of romance, sex, and real life situations and personal issues that felt so true and heartbreaking. Anna and Quan were a delight as individuals and a couple, and I was rooting for them the whole time.

I was so excited to read the third in the installment of The Kiss Quotient - especially to hear Quan's story. This novel was enjoyable, but not as much as the first 2. I did really feel Anna's journey to understanding herself and becoming a more authetic version of herself was amazing and I also loved learning more about Quan, but it felt a little too slow for me.

Book three in the Kiss Quotient has me a bit lost. Book one was about Michael and Stella. Michael is a smooth operator and Stella is not neuro-typical. She needed help and hired Michael. Their story was charming and led to book 2 about Khai, Michael's cousin. Khai is autistic and his mother wanted him to find a bride and get settled. Khai's mom goes about finding someone for him since he doesn't seem to be working on a relationship. The Bride Test was endearing and funny and you wanted Khai to find love and Esme to find home and love and have her dreams fulfilled.

The Heart Principle was supposed to be Quan but he seems to be a minor player in this book. The book opens with Anna Sun going to her therapist and then we meet has douche of a boyfriend who wants and open relationship. Anna decides to have a series of one night stands as a sort of revenge but she is dealing with crippling anxiety and childhood trauma. I wonder if we aren't seeing the author reflected here. The books focuses more on Anna and less on Quan and a love story. Anna does have a breakthrough and finds her power.

However this is not the story I had wanted for Quan after reading the first two books. Quan was the player with the tats the guy who had it all together and the coolest but still a gentleman. He deserved a grand love story that ends with a big bang to end this trilogy.
I think readers who go into this book with no expectations will love it but fans of the first two books will not get the story they hoped for.

This author writes so beautifully and so accessibly that you can’t help but get utterly lost in the story. The Heart Principle cements why Hoang is an auto read for me.