I’ve read really heavy books the past month, so I decided to scour romance books and happily encountered The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang. This book is something I frequently come across in my bookish Instagram reel algorithm, so I was excited to read it. I found reading this book fun actually, after a very bleak previous reads like Babel, this was the one I need to get into the spirit of the holidays.
So, I actually finished reading this around 11ish PM on the last day of 2024, haha. And I found it fun, alright, but that’s it. It’s just fun because it’s a light, easy read. But I found the characters really hard to relate to and I’ll tell you more about it in a bit.
So our main character Anna is a burned-out violinist who can’t replicate the success she had from one viral YouTube video. Then, her boyfriend tells her he wants an open relationship before settling down. And to get revenge for this injustice, she decides to pursue one-night stands. The decision-making is really questionable. There are ways to deal with things like things in a healthier way, but fine—the plot is gimmicky. Giving me very Wattpad vibes, if you know what I mean.
Then she meets this guy named Quan, who has his own set of problems, and things move here and there, making her world even more complicated than it already is.
What I really don’t like about Anna is her people-pleasing tendencies. Her inability to say NO when she doesn’t want to also just really frustrated me. I know the book give all sorts of justifications for this and maybe this feeling is just mainly about my preference. But then she threw herself to a mix of another person, Quan who has his own issues makes it a little more complicated and also makes her feel like Cinderella kind of character where Quan’s role is the golden retriever boy, a supportive boyfriend who helps her fix everything—so yes, a supporting role. Meanwhile, this is supposed to be a romance drama, and Quan owns like half of the chapters with his POV. But mostly, the drama is just Anna and her family problems.
I feel like the reason I can’t enjoy romance now is that I just can’t stand tropes with badly written, annoying female characters who need saving, you know? Doesn’t help that her whole family is a jerk and never noticed that something was off with Anna. She only received her autism diagnosis really late in life, which led to her developing these extreme people-pleasing habits. And it is not a good look at all. It annoyed me.
Have you read this book? If you have, share your thoughts in the comments! If not, let me know if it’s on your list! ❤️
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