Book Blurb:
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 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.
My Review: 4 stars
The Heart Principle is the latest installment of The Kiss Quotient series, which are always a joy to read. This book puts heavy focus on coming to terms with oneself, and in this case, it’s the acceptance of an Autism diagnosis and dealing with what you lost after surviving cancer. Yep, it sounds like a whole lot of downers, but I promise you it’s not.
Hoang excels at creating characters that are dealing with the same problems the real-world deals with and at the same time, teaches readers about different issues/diagnoses. In a world where everyone seems to be the same, it’s amazing that there are authors that celebrate the differences we all have.
Anna was a likeable, but terribly naïve and in tremendously in need of a backbone. The way her family treated her broke my heart. Quan was not just likeable, he was loveable. Maybe, dare I say, too perfect? He’s been in both books one and two, so I was thrilled to see him shine in this one. Either way, it was a good match and I liked how they each fought for themselves and each other.
Because this book dealt with so much more than Anna and Quan’s romance, such as neuro- diversity, cancer, caretaking of an elderly parent, dealing with the clichéd Asian parents, grief, business deals and tough family dynamics, I can see why many felt that the romance seemed to take a back seat. For me, it all worked well as they were taking their romance slowly for reasons that mattered and not every romance has to be all steam, 24/7.
This book has an author’s note not to be missed and I say well done on book three!
Quotes I liked:
No one should need a diagnosis in order to be compassionate to themself.”
“For that’s the only place where true perfection exists—the blank page. Nothing I actually do can compete with the boundless potential of what I could do. But if I allow the fear of imperfection to trap me in perpetual beginnings, I’ll never create anything again.”
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