The Heart Principle
by Helen Hoang
Series: The Kiss Quotient #3
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Published by Berkley
Released on August 31, 2021
Pages: 351
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Published by Berkley
Released on August 31, 2021
Pages: 351
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
The Delight
Helen Hoang has written three books in this series so far and I have loved all three and if memory serves me, they have all been 5 star reads for me. So when I found this one on Net Galley I was more than happy to request it for review. It’s simple, any book by this author is a delight for me!
Review
I’ve been patiently waiting for this third book as it is Quan’s turn to find his happiness and love. Quan has been a peripheral but still important character in the two previous books. All of the books have three things in common, they are about an extended Asian family, they are all romances and they all concern the autism spectrum of one sort or another in one of the main characters.
Quan has always been the fun loving, laid back and actually quite the womanizer in the previous books. He’s not devious or anything like that because he is a good guy-but he likes to have fun and is not ready to settle down. He’s best friend and cousin to Michael(from The Kiss Quotient) and they are working to grow their own small clothing company. Now, things are quite different for Quan. Quan has just been through cancer and surgery and mostly all better although he did lose something important to him due to the surgery. He’s not dating or having one night stands and is just stagnant. Anna is a violinist that had a viral video of herself playing her violin that caused a sensation in the classical music world. Now she can’t get past it and can not finish playing even one song. She can however play that one part of the song she tries to play over and over again. Never finishing. She knows something is wrong with her mind and has been wrong as long as she can remember. She has a long term boyfriend who announces out of the blue that he wants to marry her but wants to take a break first so he can date others before he does just to make sure. This devastates her-not because of her great love for him but because of all the work she has put in to actually seem normal enough to have a boyfriend. Her parents want him for her as well. Quan and Anna first meet on a dating website. It’s really a sweet beginning for them and I enjoyed seeing their romance progress even when it wasn’t progressing the way it should be. Both characters are broken in some ways.
This isn’t your normal contemporary romance, in fact I would put it as more women’s fiction. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really good romance, but it’s also a bit darker and unique. Anna isn’t an easy character, she has so many problems due to her autism that she has been dealing with on her own without a diagnosis, that it has kept her from enjoying her life. When she finally gets a diagnosis it’s almost a relief-until she realizes her family will be her biggest hurdle. Especially when no one believes it. Quan, with autism a part of his family, does believe her.
There’s a lot more to this story of course, but I’m stopping here. You don’t have to read the other two books to enjoy this book, but I do highly recommend you do so because they are quite wonderful. And different from the norm. Interestingly, the author was diagnosed on the autism spectrum while she wrote these stories. I can’t praise these books enough. Highly recommended to adult readers!
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I’m a lifetime book addict and currently own nine Kindles, with only six still working. I do tend to wear them out! They pretty much are my favorite technology-well that and my cell phone. Okay, yes and my laptop. I spent most of my life in Kentucky, but moved to Maryland in my attempt to get closer to the the ocean a few years ago. Being retired helps. I have a B.S. degree in law enforcement with a minor in sociology, but never really worked in my major. Instead, I spent my entire adult life working in the medical field in some capacity. After retiring(early), I found my passion in reviewing books for a couple of blogs and I love it. My author favorites include, Dannika Dark, Amber Lynn Natusch, J.T. Geissinger, Colleen Hoover, Samantha Towle, K.A. Tucker, Karina Halle, Sarina Bowen, J.R. Ward, Mariana Zapata, Dianne Duvall, and I could go on and on. I read many different genre’s, but still like a romantic element in most, if not all of them.
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Quan is just so kind in words AND action. I felt badly for Anna when she was unable to be herself with anyone because they would judge and even harass her.
And wasn’t her boyfriend a piece of work?! I’ve always liked Quan. Michael was pretty great in this as well.
You wrote a lovely convincing review, Lorna. I really need to get this series read. 🙂
Yes, you need to Sophia! They are all so good!
Your review is on point, and definitely makes me want to check this out. The characters sound quite interesting too! Hugs, RO
Thank you, I hope you do. It’s one of my favorite romance series. So different.
That sounds like it would be a really good book.
It really was good with good characters.
I have book one on my TBR list!
Oh, I hope you love it as much as I did! So good.