Title: The Heart Principle 

Author: Helen Hoang

Rating: 3/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            There are going to be spoilers. I can promise you that. So, if you don’t want spoilers, walk away, I’ll see you next post. 

            I want to start this one off by saying that this book was a Book of The Month selection from August or September 2021, I would have to look at the hardcover, but I don’t want to walk over to it. I only got this one because none of the books this month actually interested me. That’s a little sad that all of the book selections this month didn’t actually look like anything that I wanted to read. So it was one of those ‘member favorites’ selections because I wanted to get my add-on which is The Kiss Curse which is the second in The Ex Hex series, which was my book of the month in October of last year. 

            I wanted to like this book, I wanted to like it so badly and the beginning had such promise and then it got to the point where it was making me itch. I like the idea of overcoming trauma in books, it makes so much sense because that’s what people do. 

            This book as a whole felt really disjointed, I have never liked the ‘I want an open relationship before marriage’ trope, you want that…cool, we are breaking up. For good. Her boyfriend was an ass and I know that’s what we are supposed to think so we can like Quan, so we can get invested in their relationship.

            I get anxiety, I have that and depression with a touch of OCD for certain things, I am probably neurodivergent and I know that everyone experiences neurodivergence differently. What I go through someone else with similar issues may not experience. I have a degree in Psychology and I preferred the differential diagnoses, that’s a personal opinion. I grew up with someone who had Asperger’s but he was male and his manifested differently than others. Again, no diagnosis is the same, none of them. Am I glad that there is more exposure to conditions? Yes. Am I glad there is more research? Yes. 

            I needed to say that because I finished the book last night and I had to walk away before writing this post. I had to step away from it before I could write about it. 

            I am not Asian, but I understand the cultural implications of expectation from a lot of those cultures. I get generational trauma, I understand caring for elders and giving up everything for that person.

            Her sister was the worst, seriously, the worst. 

            Her father had a stroke and her sister took over the whole situation and then forced others to get involved, her mother forced her to almost marry a man who had suggested an open relationship, and her family has this insane expectation as to who Anna should be because she masks everything. 

            Saying no is hard, saying no is so hard because I do the same thing. You take things onto your plate because you don’t want anyone to be disappointed in you, you go through the torture and pain of other’s words and expectations because you want them to like you and not think there is anything wrong with you. I felt that. 

            There was a lot about Quan and Anna’s relationship that I really liked, I did, they fit well and I was happy that they got together. 

            The ending though, the ending left me with a lot of threads and the last forty or so pages spanned two years. Two full years and that felt very strange, it left me feeling unfulfilled to be honest and I just had to step away from it like I said because I had to temper my temper before I wrote this post. 

            Was it my favorite book this year? No, it wasn’t and I am on book 113 now, I think. I know that my tastes change throughout the year or even throughout the month but I found myself smiling so much less at the end of this book than I did the beginning. I know that was part of the content, it was heavy. It was so heavy for a contemporary romance. 

            This was the third in a series and I don’t plan on reading the other two even though I have heard of them, even though they were popular for a while. I don’t think that they are up my street and that’s okay. 

            If you want to check out what else I have gotten from Book of The Month this year you totally can, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October. 

            I will be back later in the week with another post, so until then I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy.

            -MJ