The novel captures some other extremely serious issues and can be incredibly somber at times.ĭespite this disclaimer that it isn’t quite a romance, I did really love the romance between Anna and Quan. The romance between Anna and Quan was indeed a significant part of the book, but it was also only a small piece of it. I want to start out by noting that although this is a romance book, it’s not necessarily a RomCom, which is why I chose to classify it as simply contemporary fiction. In the end, I ended up really enjoying the book, but I also have some Thoughts ™ which is why I am here. However, I was specifically looking for a romance with an Asian lead, and since there are not nearly as many of those as there should be, I decided that despite past experiences, I would give Hoang another try. I DNFed The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang’s debut, about four years ago.

I was not entirely sure what to expect from The Heart Principle. Anna and Quan have to fight for their chance at love, but to do that, they also have to fight for themselves. 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. 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 herself has just started to understand.

That’s where tattooed, motorcycle-riding Quan Diep comes in. The more unacceptable the men, the better. Translation: She’s going to embark on a string of one-night stands. 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. 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.

Content warnings: family member illness, family member death, emotionally abuse family, ableism, anxiety and panic attacks, gaslighting.

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