Review – The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
I ended my review of The Bride Test with the following
“Helen Hoang writes perceptive romance novels with a diverse, inclusive cast. They are fun, humorous and sexy. I am really looking forward to book three The Heart Principle, only sorry that I have to wait until 2021 until it arrives. “
I’m not a soothsayer, but that prediction has come to pass.
For context why this was a great book now
July saw me way behind on my Goodreads challenge and it was telling me to read something unfeasible like a million books a week to achieve my annual target. Yet somehow I managed to come close and reduce the weekly target to something actually manageable.
Reading mojo – you left me in the lurch for far too long and when I was at the point where I’d completely forgot about you, you came back. You arrived quietly, then made a big fuss and stole my attention again. Thank you.
August was supposed to be my catch up month of the books that I should have read earlier in the year. August was deemed the month where I didn’t request any advance review copies, where I didn’t sneak into the library apps and make any reservations or any other book related apps for a browse and be seduced by a book cover or synopsis, download and add to an already super duper long tbr.
Naturally as soon as I made that edict, it was almost immediately broken. Of course I won’t blame myself – who likes to do that
So I will absolve myself of all blame and say NetGalley did this. I was briefly popping on to leave a review for another book and literally logged in and the next page showed me “The Heart Principle”.
How could I say no!
I wasn’t looking for romance this month. It’s all YA, fantasy and general fiction. And I knew that if I picked it up, I would have to read it straight away, practically in one sitting as those are the types of books that Helen Hoang writes – engaging, enthralling and unputadownable
I loved it.
But that was to be expected.
So why was it so lovable?
For the leads of course. For these broken real human beings who through their self discovery and desire for connection, find each other. Through their support of each other we see how true love manifests, where the sexual relationship is only one component. It’s in the quiet moments, the boring and mundane. In acceptance of the person who presents and not what you think they should be.
He let me choose. And because of that, I could choose to give. That completely changes things.
When you truly understand yourself, like and love yourself and finds someone who loves you for who you are – messy and complicated, it’s a beautiful thing. And makes for a lovely read when deftly written as The Heart Principle is.
Perhaps this is what I’ve always needed without really knowing it, to love myself without shame and without reservation.
This is a modern romance where we get the happy ever after yet not at the expense of raw honesty, with individuals who are hurting becoming a couple who find healing in each other.
I have highlighted the heck out of this book with character development, traits and personality shining through.
We pick up the familiar themes of family obligations, the uneasy mesh of tradition and modern society. Illness and loss also feature heavily.
Family is not safe. Not for me. Tough love is brutally honest and hurts you to help you. Tough love cuts you when you’re already bruised and berates you when you don’t heal faster.
Anna comes to a self discovery that she has been minimising herself and prioritising others to make them feel comfortable and fit the expectation of family and friends. In the long term that isn’t sustainable without painful cost of physical health and mental wellbeing.
Quan is different here – book three of this series. He isn’t the brash, confident happy go lucky brother, cousin and friend of the earlier books. This is a man who has been derailed from his original trajectory and is finding his way back.
Together they make the loveliest couple.
Does it feel right to you?” he asks, and I can tell that’s what matters to him. He trusts me to know myself. I didn’t know how important that was to me until now. I get to be the expert on me
He matters more to me than the voices in my head.
This is why I love Helen Hoang’s books. Because she has characters who are like this, can convincingly say things like this and I believe it.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this book. But I can’t finish off without sending heartfelt thanks to the author for writing books about diverse people with interesting storylines that also happen to be romances. It’s everything that I love. Perfection.
4 Stars - Really Liked It
