The Heart Principle

By: Helen Hoang

Narrated by: Brian Nishii, Natalie Naudus

Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

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 has just started to understand herself.

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.

©2021 Helen Hoang (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Another hit

I've loved Helen Hoang since The Kiss Quotient. this book was hard to get through. only because it was so real. it presented Ana's struggle so clearly that I had to take several breaks from listening. I'm not familiar with autism and a big part of me could not understand her struggle. I appreciate this book because not everything was fixed overnight or with only the love of a good man though seriously Quan was a sweetheart and had his own battle to overcome. Listen to this with an open heart and mind it is a beautiful book.

really good

I loved everything about this, especially the storyline. There were a lot of important topics expressed in this book. I love books that can captivate and educate me at the same time. I hope to read more like it.

This is such amazing story !

I will forever try to find books from Helen Hoang..she is such a good writer!!

Would rather spend the time with something more rich

Too much unnecessary details. Too graphic. She could have used the chapters to explore more other characters.

Something more

This is second book that I have read from her series. I love that it shows how people are different and how it is hard and how we should be more caring and caring. I loved the love story of main characters but last part of the book was just too heavy for me and in the end heaviness remained even though it was happy ending.

Epic

Great view into the world of autism in Anna’s shoes! Can wait to see what’s next.

Heart wrenching

The narrators were excellent and made me feel what the characters were feeling. Ana’s struggles with her day to day life were moving and I felt so angry at her family on her behalf. I really enjoy Helen Hoang’s writing!

Intense Personal Spectrum Romance

This anticipated third installment in Helen Hoang's "The Kiss Quotient" series did not disappoint! The others were loved because of their realized characters, good romance plot, and steamy sexy scenes, and this one delivers on all those points as well. These books are all within the same group of people, but each book can also be enjoyed on their own, so no pressure to read the others first if this plot speaks more to you.

Anna struggles with balancing personal and family expectations against her own psychological and emotional needs. Then a toxic relationship pushes her to try dating Quan, a hot stranger she meets on Tindr, and through the low pressure of trying to unmask in front of someone she isn't obligated to care about, she's able to learn her own self worth. There are ups and downs, and while I cannot imagine what Anna is going through in her darkest moments, there's a lot to her story I relate to, all of the character reactions and growth that occurs is completely believable.

I was really impressed by the quality of writing here. Hoang's other two books are really good romance stories, but in "The Heart Principle", she successfully tackles tougher themes, a more complex main character experience, and nuanced storytelling.

Nonetheless, there are a few things I wished were a bit different. Quan doesn't seem to do much character growth, or if he does, it's not until the very end. He's a perfect guy from the get go, which is exactly what Anna needs and deserves (especially after all the shit she goes through). It's a very minor criticism to say the guy is TOO perfect, because there are a lot of toxic romance novels out there! I feel like because he was a POV character, there could have been a little more growth earlier on. Also really minor was that I wished the Mom mentioned the fallout from the Julian fiasco in her final meeting with Anna; that's the kind of thing she'd bring up because he was friend of the family.

Regardless, these things were small enough that I have no reservations giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. Really well written, solid representation of how a good relationship should happen, and very moving plotline. I cried when Anna hit rock bottom, and I loved her through her recovery journey. I will be recommending this to many. Loving the autism spectrum and Asian American representation in Hoang's books, as always.

Raw, Real, and Exquisitely Delicious!!

Helen Hoang writes the most amazing novels! Just like in her other books, I had to remind myself to breathe at the emotionally intense parts. It's raw, real, and the intimate moments in the novel are exquisitely delicious. I purchased this as soon as it popped up in my recommendations and was delighted with the performance of the narrators. I highly recommend this book and this author.

A journey of self discovery

I absolutely loved this book just as much as the previous 2 on this series. Helen Hoang will be an automatic buy for me from now on. But although the previous 2 books were clearly romances, this one I wouldn’t categorize as a romance. This is a story about Ana’s journey of self discovery and finally living her life in her terms and being accepted for who she really is. I loved seeing Ana’s transformation. Amazing character development. The heroine is not perfect, the situations that happened felt very real and the romance although not the main focus, it was very sweet.
This story also has dual POV narration by Brian Nishii and Natalie Naudus. Both did an exceptional job with the accents, with adding emotion and intensity to the story. I would listen to more stories narrated by either one of them. They’re both top 10 narrators for me. Highly recommended.