The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

The Kiss Quotient 
The Bride Test

The Heart Principle is the third of Helen Hoang's entries in The Kiss Quotient series. I have been "meh" about Hoang, but I was quite eager to read this book after finishing up a series of "serious" novels and I assumed this book would be a lighted-hearted break for me. 

I was, as I so often am, absolutely wrong in my assumptions. We start the book by reading about Anna, a violinist who has taken a leave of absence from her job at the symphony because she is having issues with completing pieces of music.  We watch as she navigates going to a therapy appointment, dithering at the door because she's two minutes early, desperately trying to think of what the "right" answers are that the therapist wants to hear, and I'm immediately on the defense. Every fucking time I read one of these Hoang books, I have to look at checklists (do I have autism?  a sensory disorder? why am I the way I am?) and by page nine of the book, I am DOING IT AGAIN.  Everything that Anna does, every overthinking moment, every instance when she walks into doors and walls, the saying things you don't believe just to keep the peace and make people leave you alone, the masking your true emotions so people don't know how much you'd for sure rather be with your dog, the hiding in a bedroom while family gatherings are happing, just all of it.  I just keep thinking that this is me.  I do all of this.  

But, here's where I'm going with this.  The checklists always say I'm on the high-end of sensitivity with sensory issues, but not in a "need to discuss this with your health care provider" territory.  The checklists say I'm on the borderline for autism, but I've never pursued this further because I'm not sure what it would change in my life. Regardless, I am absolutely befuddled every time I read these books.  What is even going on?

Anyway, enough of me rambling about me. Here's my impression of the actual book.

Interesting characters: I don't know. Quan feels like a stereotype of a "hard shell, soft center" kind of guy. He certainly fulfills a certain daydream, but he doesn't have much substance. Anna is fascinating to me, but that's because, other than the music thing, she's just like me.  And, honestly, I have so many issues with sound that I am not sure how she could stand to be in a concert hall with musicians warming up on a regular basis. Regardless, I like that Hoang introduces neurodivergent characters and I appreciate the representation in this series and this book.

Believable conflict: There's a tiny bit of conflict between the two leads, but the real conflict in this book is between Anna and her family members. This doesn't really get resolved to my satisfaction, but I guess that's life. There's also conflict with Anna and her music and that isn't resolved to my satisfaction, either. By the end of the book, she hasn't been working for a couple of years and all I can wonder about is how she's paying her bills.  

Emotional tension: The tension here is not whether or not these two fools will fall in love, because they have instant chemistry. The tension is whether or not they'll ever have sex since they both have issues in the bedroom. I thought this was well done and it did lead to some steamy scenes.

Happily ever after: Because I didn't think a lot of the conflict was satisfactorily cleared up, I was quite disappointed by the ending.  Sure, the two leads are together at the end, but I'm not convinced they're going to be together longer if Anna doesn't figure some shit out.  It makes me really sad when I finish a romance novel and I don't believe the couple will survive. 

So, I zoomed through this book in a Friday evening on the couch, despite me looking up self-assessments for various conditions at regular intervals. It's an easy read, it's a touching read, and it seems realistic in some ways.  But in the end I was disappointed.  If Hoang is going to sell herself as a romance writer (and she does), I NEED the endings to be conclusively happy without loose ends.  That's not what you get here and if Hoang was shelved in contemporary fiction, maybe that would be okay. But if you want pure wish fulfillment, you're not going to get it in these pages.