Intensely vulnerable - it was so clear to me while reading how close this work was to Hoang, which made the apology she felt she had to issue after the Kirkus review questioned whether or not it was really a romance feel that much more icky.

This book felt honest and true and sexy and sad and healing and Hoang doesn't owe anyone anything after serving this up. As much as I had longed for Quan's story, I appreciated that this one is Anna's, and Helen's, and I'm so glad both got the compassionate endings they deserved.

The Heart Principle is the 3rd book I have read from Helen Hoang and the 3rd book of hers that I recommend to my patrons. I think this was my favorite book as I could definitely relate to Anna. Anna is a violinist that has burnout and is seeing a therapist. The therapist thinks that Anna has autism and she begins to realize why things have been hard all her life. I could relate to that as I also was never diagnosed until an adult. Her boyfriend says he wants an open relationship so she tries to date other men. She never really gets past Quan. Quan has been in Helen Hoang's other books and understands autism. I loved their relationship and I could definitely relate to Anna's family and her love/hate relationship with her sister. Of course, like all romances there is a difficulty that Anna and Quan must overcome before they can have their HEA.

This is technically a romance insofar as it has a romance story within it, but more so, it's a story of a woman coming into herself, learning of (and eventually owning) a neurodivergent diagnosis and shedding the weight of her family's emotional abuse, which is heavy to read of at times.

I loved Helen Hoang's first two books and just found myself so disappointed by this one. It felt like she regurgitated Kiss Quotient but intermingled some textbook entries into how females present with autism. It was basically Kiss Quotient, but less good. I didn't review it on Goodreads because I try not to post negative reviews from ARCs I've gotten on Netgalley.

oh God this was absolutely heartbreaking. i wasn't expecting this at all - everyone warned me that it was different from Helen's earlier books but i simply didn't see this coming. it felt like i was almost reading a memoir at times and it's like if an Emily Henry book was devastating. this one's gonna stay with me.

Wow! This is a romance like no other romance. It was heartbreaking! The Heart Principle was a great mix of raw and personal, yet so sweet. The struggles Anna and Quan faced broke my heart. But because of those struggles they were able to understand each other on a deep level. They had a wonderful amount of patience and understanding for each other.
I loved both The Kiss Quotient and The Bride Test, but I truly believe The Heart Principle is Hoang’s best book. I was able to feel every bit of emotion she wrote into this story and it made the story even more beautiful. She’s an auto buy author for me now.

Violinist Anna Sun finally achieves career success when a video of her goes viral on YouTube. Instead of riding the wave of success, she finds herself crippled by the fear of not being able to live up to it. This crippling fear and some of Anna's other habits lead slowly to the realization that Anna is on the autism spectrum. When her longtime boyfriend asks her for an open relationship, Anna decides it is time to try some one-night stands. Enter our bad boy/soon to be love interest, Quan.

Helen Hoang's to have us rooting for her neurodivergent protagonists is unassailable. Her stories are heart-warming, charming, funny and contain a lot of depth. This one is no different.

Thank you Penguin Random House International for providing the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Heart Principle has been my most anticipated book for years because this is Quan Diep's book. I thought this is going to be a feel good romance. Instead, the story left me numb and depressed. Anna's story hits home and there are situations in this book I had experienced. It drained my energy and I can't help feeling emotional. I didn't cry but the heaviness lingered.

Anna has an autism spectrum. She is a people pleaser and has troubles of coping. Having a toxic family doesn't help because they are so INSENSITIVE, JUDGMENTAL AND CLOSE MINDED PEOPLE. I despise them especially Anna's sister and mother. It's if Anna's feelings are invalid. Ugh. I am frustrated and concerned with her situation. Sometimes it is okay to cut off toxic people for good for being disrespectful.

Forgiving someone is difficult. It's a tough pill to swallow when someone did something unforgivable. It will take years or forever to do so.

Unfortunately, this isn't my favorite book. It is a good contemporary fiction and I don't consider it as a romance novel per se. The story dealt heavily with familial issues and I don't know if it's just me..... Quan didn't get enough spotlight which is quite disappointing since this is his book. That's just my unpopular opinion.

Moving forward. It is still a solid series but I wish it leans more on romance.

I have read all three books in this "series" now. (That being said, these books are hardly a series and you do not need to know anything about the earlier books to understand this one.). I think this one was my favorite. I definitely liked it more than the Bride test. I found Anna to be a much more believable neurodivergent than the ones in earlier books, and the instant chemistry between Anna and Quan really worked for me. I liked that both of the characters had vulnerabilities, and the story didn't all come together at once. Like the earlier books, lots of steaminess here.

Love. Helen Hoang writes characters that are deeply complicated and tenderly human. Her heroes are sexy as hell, and I can't wait to read whatever she has in store for us next.

Some books you give five stars to because they’re fluffy and light and hilarious. Some you give five stars to after they destroy you. This one more than lives up to the hype.

Everything about Helen Hoang makes me happy: she knows how to write gripping love stories, and The Heart Principle was no different. The title of this book lived up: it is a heart story. Anna and Quan are the love story I needed. This book is full of hardship and pain and trying again and having to live in the between. It's a story of survival really. I cannot wait for more books by Hoang, she knows how to grip me.

Anna Sun has issues. Lots of issues. Her boyfriend wants an "open relationship" which throws her for a loop. After discussing this with her online friends, she tries out a dating app. Quan Diep was the profile she chose. The first try at a date was a failure in person, but worked out online. Overtime, they became an item. But just as things seemed looking up, a family emergency intervenes and screws up their relationship. Plenty of drama, heartbreak and finally, a happy ending. A nice addition to the series Helen Hong has going.

Sometimes, a book is so bad, it's hard to give it a fair review. Other times, a book is so magnificent, it's hard to put my thoughts into words. And then, there are books like The Heart Principle, which hit me so deeply that, no matter how much I loved the book, it hurts too much to review until I've had time to process.

This book hurt me in all of the best ways. It drew out so many little pieces of myself, some that I don't believe even I had looked in the eye yet, and laid them all out in the light where I couldn't avoid facing them any longer. It's been 3 months since I finished this book, and I'm still working through a few of those shards. Helen Hoang has a way of doing that to me, though.

I'm supposed to be telling you how much I love this book, too, and I do. Out of this entire series, despite having loved each and every installment very much, this was my favorite, by leaps and bounds. Quan and Anna mean so very much to me, and watching the two of them find happiness — even if they had to fight tooth and nail for it — was a journey I can't imagine having missed out on.

The Heart Principle is an incredibly heavy, tragic read at times. There are moments where I found myself wondering how Helen Hoang could ever deliver the HEA I had been promised, because Quan and Anna are both broken in so many ways — but, much like with real people in the real world, healing isn't an overnight process. It isn't easy, and it isn't pretty... but it's doable, and it's worth the fight.

Even with the weight of the topics this story covers, though, there are so many shimmering moments of joy and light. We get to see characters we love from the previous installments, and we meet one or two new ones that I wish we could have more time with, too. We get to watch Anna and Quan triumph over so many battles, both within themselves and in the outside world, and the love that these two find together is one of the most satisfying, hard-earned love stories I've read in the romance genre. If you're comfortable with the content within (I'll list everything I can remember in the content warnings below), I can't recommend this book enough.

✨ Representation: Anna is Chinese and autistic, Quan is Vietnamese, many BIPOC side characters, two autistic side characters

✨ Content warnings for: anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, ableism, cancer, infertility, terminal illness and death of a parent, hospice care, autistic burnout, masking, familial verbal/emotional abuse, gaslighting

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!

I am so glad that I waited until my heart was ready to listen/read this. I knew going in that it would be an emotional ride and not like the author's previous 2 books, but I still wasn't fully prepared for the heartache I encountered. The Heart Principle is a beautifully written novel about love, family, and living your truth. I do not consider it a romance, but there is a romantic subplot.

Anna's journey is bittersweet, but it's ultimately a hopeful and uplifting one. I loved how Quan truly saw and accepted her exactly the way that she was. It's a beautiful thing to be truly seen. Quan has his own powerful emotional journey in the book, and I would have loved to see more development with his character, but I understand that the heart of this story was Anna's. I was particularly struck by the guilt associated with familial responsibility and caregiver burnout that Anna experienced. How the relationships that should be the most supportive in our lives can actually be oppressive. I appreciated that Helen Hoang didn't shy away from the hard topics and that she didn't tie everything up with a bow. Relationships and feelings are complicated, and I think Helen Hoang did an excellent job showcasing that. I did feel that the last portion of the book felt a bit rushed and there was a lot to unpack in those final chapters, but this is a book that will stay with me.

I was completely blown away by Natalie Naudus's performance. She captured so much feeling and vulnerability in her performance. The quaver of her voice pulled on my heartstrings, and I was completely consumed by this audiobook. Brian Nishii took me a bit to warm up to, but he also gave an incredible performance and I ended up loving him as Quan. I wish that the author's note would have been included in the audio version because it adds another layer to this powerful semi-autobiographical novel.

Audiobook Review
Overall 5 stars
Performance 5+ stars
Story 4.5 stars

CW: hospitalization, long term care, and death of parent (stroke related), grief, anxiety, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, cancer and related infertility, strained familial relationships, creative burnout

*I read and listened to a review copy of this book*

This was a much heavier read than expected. I thought that Helen did a beautiful job at tackling both character's issues, however, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

These books just keep getting better and better! I hope there are more stories coming because I relate so much to these characters. Anna’s burnout may be extreme, but I know where she is coming from. The fact that she experience both autistic burnout and caregiver burnout was very timely. These are both topics that need more attention.

QUICK TAKE: I don't read a lot of romance, but when I do, I read Helen Hoang. her KISS QUOTIENT and BRIDE TEST are two of my favorites, so of course I was very excited for THP. And while this is a very good book, I had issues with the main characters: it felt like the inner monologue of each didn't match their outward actions, which left me confused. I also thought this was a much sadder book, which isn't a bad thing at all, but not what I was expecting going into this one. Ultimately, a solid addition to the series, and look forward to whatever Hoang writes next.

Although I thought it was a very well written book, it was way heavier than I was expecting for a romance. I have read the author's other titles and I was still not expecting the heavy topics explored in the story.

“I’ll draw a line around you, and I’ll protect you and stand up for you and speak up for you when it’s right. I’ll keep you safe. And I’ll do the same for me. Because I matter , too.”

What a precious, precious story of love and acceptance and revelations. I am so in love with this new wave of respectful, inclusive, and tender love stories. This was not an easy love story, but it was a special one for sure.

5 stars.