Book Review: The Heart Principle

Today is my last day of school/work for the summer! I can’t believe the school year is over already. Onto today’s post though, The Heart Principle is the third book in The Kiss Quotient series by Helen Hoang, a series of interconnected books. They can be read as standalones, but if you read them out of order you will learn some things about the characters that happened in previous books.

If you’ve read The Kiss Quotient and The Bride Test, this book follows Michael’s cousin and Khai’s brother, Quan. The female main character is Anna, a classical violinist.

The book is a dual POV. Anna is a professional violinist who is struggling. She hasn’t been able to play a complete piece for months. Every time she messes up she has to start all over and she has never felt more frustrated and anxious. Her anxiety is at an all-time high about it when her long-term boyfriend, Julian, decides that he sees himself settling down with her but first he wants to “make sure” she’s the one. Therefore, he declares they’re in an open relationship for the foreseeable future so he can date/sleep around and be sure Anna is who he wants to marry. He’s also 100% sure she won’t date around while he does his thing. Anna decides to do something totally out of character for her and join a dating app to prove him wrong.

Quan who was very confident and sociable in the first two books is different in this book after having just come off a rough two years regarding his health. He’s feeling self-conscious and less confident than normal and decides to try out a dating app to bite the bullet and be intimate with someone again. It should come as no surprise that Quan and Anna match and begin talking. Their conversations are fun and easy and they find themselves really enjoying talking to each other and being able to be themselves. This is helpful for Quan who is trying to feel more like himself again and helpful to Anna who is coming to terms with her issues of pretending to be whoever/whatever the people around her want her to be, aka “masking”.

But both Quan and Anna have a lot of personal issues that could ruin their budding relationship. Will they let it separate them or will they be there for each other and help each other get through it?

I loved this book immediately when I started reading it. I love Anna and Quan and them together as well. The journey of their relationship was really beautiful as well as Anna’s journey within herself to learn how to say no and not pretend to be someone she isn’t when she’s around her family. Quan’s ability to know exactly what Anna needs is so perfect. Just like with the other two books, there is this real honesty between the characters that I love. They can talk about their worries, problems, desires – both in life and sexually, and it’s not made light of – just real and honest.

I think I love The Kiss Quotient and The Heart Principle equally with The Bride Test coming in last, though I still loved it. Now I’ve read all of Helen Hoang’s books and I can’t wait til she comes out with a new book!

A quote I love from the book: “Just because something isn’t perfect doesn’t mean we need to throw it away.”

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