The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

The Heart Principle is the third book in The Kiss Quotient series of romances that follows three Vietnamese American men and their romances. It’s also the best of the three.

Anna Sun is a violinist suffering from burnout caused by sudden fame and lifelong masking of her autistic side to be good enough for her family. When her boyfriend of five years wants to see other people, she goes on a dating app and finds Quan Diep, a businessman recovering from cancer. It’s supposed to be a one-night stand, but they are having trouble in the bedroom, and so they keep rescheduling dates. Anna’s anxieties cause them some problems, but Quan has experience of autistic persons and knows how to give her space and support.

A true test of their budding relationship comes when Anna has to become a full-time caregiver of her father. The pressure of her family and the workload causes her to burn out even worse than before, and before she realises what’s happening, she’s managed to break Quan’s heart. Good thing he’s almost unbelievably understanding.

This was a great book. Unlike the other two, it was told in first person by Anna and Quan both, which gave the characters greater depth. The romance took a backseat towards the end of the book and Anna’s recovery became the focus. It wasn’t made easy or glossed over, but I would’ve liked Quan’s point of view to it too. After all, he was put in the same position as her caregiver Anna had been, and it would’ve been nice to see how he handled the pressure. And while the emotional payoff wasn’t about the romance in the end, it was sweet and satisfying. A good ending for the trilogy.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

The Kiss Quotient is a contemporary romance set in San Francisco. It follows Stella, a highly successful econometrician and Michael, a male escort. Stella is autistic, but she doesn’t want to disclose it to anyone. With her good coping mechanisms, not many people notice, but it has led into some very bad dates and sexual encounters.

Disgusted with herself, she hires Michael to teach her how to be better in bed. This soon turns into teaching her how to be better in relationships. It turns out, she’s just fine with both. She just needs a partner that takes her needs into consideration. But as she is bad at reading people, and he is keeping secrets from her, what could’ve been a start of a great relationship dissolves into misunderstandings and heartbreak. Both need to do some thinking before the happily ever after.

This is a satisfying romance, with enough angst to give it a bite. Sex scenes are great and there are quite a lot of those, especially in the beginning. I liked Stella and Michael both, but side characters remained somewhat vague.

What I didn’t like, and which almost made me give this one star, is how Michael never told Stella that her romantic problems aren’t her fault. He doesn’t tell her that she’s good as she is, and that her problems with sex stem from her partners. Instead of telling her she should let the relationship grow before sex, he pretty much treats her like a porn object, forcing his needs to make her feel good on her. That she does enjoy everything, eventually, didn’t really compensate for it.

Stella figures it out by herself, in the end, and Michael works on his issue too, but as they do it separately, it lessens the romantic impact of the ending. It was satisfying, but not very emotional. But I liked the book well enough to read the next one in the series too.