[Brittany’s Review]: The Heart Principle (The Kiss Quotient #3) by Helen Hoang

A woman struggling with burnout learns to embrace the unexpected—and the man she enlists to help her—in this heartfelt new romance by USA Today bestselling author Helen Hoang.

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 that 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.

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This book introduces Anna, a young woman who is a successful violinist. Anna is struggling with playing her violin and working on the new music provided to her by a famous music composer. Not only is she struggling with her music, but her boyfriend of five years throws a curve ball and states he wants them to have an open relationship before they settle down. Anna, who has struggled with having people accept her all her life, is worried, but makes an effort to meet someone else.

Then enters Quan. If you’ve read this series, you know who Quan is. I was beyond excited to get his book, but this was not what I expected. In the previous books, Quan is flirtatious and very outgoing. He still has these qualities, but Quan is also going through some things and he is struggling as well. To help him try to get over his situation, he installs a dating app and attempts to meet up with someone. What he doesn’t expect is Anna, and he doesn’t expect the feelings that come along.

This book has a lot of factors involved. You see sickness, depression, family issues—it is a lot. However, it made me love the book even more. Because this is realistic. This is life. These things happen. For the sake of keeping things spoiler-free, I won’t go into details about what the characters endure. However, do not go into this book thinking it will be a quick and painless read.

It is called The Heart Principle for a reason.

Overall, I loved this book. I loved the characters journey and I’m sad to see the characters go. Forever loving this authors words and her expression of characters.

Brittany

Hello! My name is Brittany. I’m a newbie nurse by day and an avid reader 24/7. I am a proud romance junkie and will read just about every genre as long as there is some romance. I love to spend my time with my 9 cats—yes, you read that correctly—and posting on my bookstagram account (@_darkreadings if curious). I’m also a hardcore JLA fan.