Helen Hoang - The Heart Principle

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 herself has just started to understand. 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.

Comment: I believe I've been one of many readers out there who was eagerly awaiting for this book to be released. The author - or her publisher - had given indication it would come out in 2020 and then it didn't; I confess I assumed it was because of the pandemic and possible professional delays... apparently, the main reason, according to the author's note at the end of the book, was her own struggle to write. Personally, I wasn't disappointed with the end result but I can see why it could have gained if it had a bit more romance.

In this story, heroine Anna is going through a hard phase in her life. She feels the pressure of having to do well in her violin playing and having been given a piece just for her makes everything seem even more stressful. To top this and the fact her family doesn't understand her struggle, her boyfriend talks about marriage but first he wants an open relationship for a while, so that he "can be certain". Anna decides to do the same and see what could be missing if she would bet on someone different and that is how Quan, bother to hero from book #2, comes along. They hit if off swapping text messages but the first time they are metting, Anna has a change of heart. Still, Quan catches her anyway and they agree on one night. But will Anna be happy with just one night when Quan is everything she didn't know she wanted?

This book definitely focuses on Anna's journey into happiness. The fact she can enter a relationship with Quan at some point does seem to be jut a secondary element, depending on how one looks at this novel. I can understand why some readers wanted something sweeter and I agree perhaps some balance could have been reached to have both things. Or, if the romance didn't sem it had to be easy for the author to develop, then scenes of sweet or cute moments with previous characters could have given that idea anyway.

Having read the author's note, it's quite obvious this book was done as a sort of catharsis, a way to put on paper many of her own feelings on how she dealt with some issues related to her autism. I suppose the fact this plays such a big part of the main character's inner development makes it seem if she were to be more carefree or dedicated to a flirty romance, perhaps this issue would not have the same impact and it can pretty obvious from the start Anna doesn't have a good enough support system from her family in order to advance confidently in another path.

In fact her family dynamics and her own personality make it seem Anna wasn't as dedicated in her life, both personal and professional, to be well liked by her family. Yes, she is a good Asian girl and we have plenty of evidence throughout the book, but she is still seen as lazy sometimes. Of course, we learn alongside Anna, that perhaps her brain just works differently, and she has found a great coping mechanism to seem "normal" - or whatever one might want to define her as being - and that makes other assume she just doesn't want to go through the effort.

While Anna deals with her issues, Quan also has his own to think about. In the previous two books, about his cousin and then about his brother, I think the readers have managed to have a pretty good idea about Quan and how a great guy he is, how solid his personality and values are and despite some details that might not be as accepted by everyone  - he has tattoos, rides a motorcycle, was ladies' man - he is, at the end of the day, a good catch. I confess I wasn't aware of his medical problem nor if it was alluded/mentioned in any of the other books, but it did offer some new content to be explored here and Quan can seem more complex because of that.

What I think could be done better, if the author didn't want to increase the romance scenes or tone, could have been to divide the focus a little more so we could have more time in Quans' POV. It does feel as if the focus is too much on Anna's journey and I think Quan's issues are as important as Anna's. Perhaps there could be a way for this to feel ore balanced, so that when they realize they have deep feelings for one another, the reader could be more easily sold on that idea.

Anna's issues are severe and some scenes were hard to read. Not because they portrayed physical violence but because how easy it is so imagine psychological abuse happening all the time and one feeling unable to cope or react. It was a good thing the author was brave to write about this but, as some say, should this be the book where such a complex issue is dealt with? Could the author write this book in a different series or use this story differently and write Quan's romance more along the lines of the other books? Personally, I didn't mind it but I can see how his feels unfair to some people.

All in all, this is a book that one likes or dislikes by the same type of reason. I don't mind the road the author chose to take this on, but after so much time and probably some deep thinking, I think something could have been done to still release this specific story and one most readers would think they would get, based on the tone in the previous books in the series.

Grade: 7/10

Helen Hoang - The Bride Test

Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.
As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.
With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love. 

Comment: The debut's book by this author was very successful and that immediately made readers confident in trying her second one. I, too, was quite curious to have another story by her.

In this novel we have the story of Khai, a secondary character from the first book. Khai hasn't had air time, he was just mentioned because of his autism, slightly different in the spectrum from Stella, the heroine of that book.

Now we get to know Khai and he is a very serious and logical person, as expected, and despite his considerations on not being able to feel love or other emotions because of how he reacts to a certain situation, he does care about his family and that is easily proved by how he respects and wants to make his mother happy by accepting to live with My/Esme, a young woman coming from Vietnam to be his fiancé.

Esme, as she wants to be called during her adventure in America, is a single mother who helps to take care of her mother and grandmother in a very difficult place to hold a job. She works cleaning toilets but of course hopes for something better, to do better by her daughter. She accepts to go to America not only for the money but because she believes she will be doing her best by her family.

Will Esme and Khai find common ground to be happy for more than just a pretend engagement?

I liked the simplicity and the guilelessness of this story. It reads as a sort of fairy tale but precisely the fact both main characters are without malice is what makes this a sweet, fresh novel to read. I don't need to worry about some evil character coming out of nowhere to cause issues to our couple, the biggest adversity they face is their own emotions. For me, the reason why this book wasn't perfect is just the easy manner in which things are solved. This is directly linked to the lack of pages in the end and I'd have preferred a longer novel.

Some readers have commented about the way Esme doesn't share with those she gets to know the fact she has a daughter. However, this detail as not that important for me in the big scheme of things because Esme's fears and doubts sound very genuine. In an era where we tend to assume young women in western countries just take for granted how others would react to their behaviors, the same cannot be said for every women in the planet. Esme didn't know if her relationship with Khai would work out so I can understand her reluctance to say something that would obviously impact how others would think of her, Khai in particular, if he were to think of her as a serious person to consider for marriage. I think the way she told Khai worked out pretty well.

The interactions between Khai and Esme were both funny and sweet. People aren't always in the same page and despite Khai's mother wanting them together maybe they wouldn't suit but of course, they do and the fun part of the story is to see it happen. It's true some situations do appear a bit too easy but in a book without much development besides the necessary, I'd say things are simply done without waste of time and words.

Of course there are some obstacles but if everything was easy, then we wouldn't feel like they had deserved to find their HEA.

Probably, the biggest issue for me ended up being how things are so easily solved. Esme also wanted to find her father and she knew he lived in California too. How this is done and concluded was a bit too sugary, even for a sweet story like this one.

I was not surprised by how Esme managed to do the right thing and by sharing things she was embarrassed by, she discovered she was more respected by who she is than by the things she knew or that she could do. After all, everyone can learn but I must say this also sounded a bit too simple (how Esme goes from someone with difficulty in speaking English to how she ends the novel as) but again, not impossible. 

Perhaps it's more fair to say some situations felt like we had time to process and see them happening and in the end it was just said so it doesn't feel as if it was well developed.

The author includes many important details about autism but she is quite clear to explain everyone is different and each person, even sharing the same "label" might not behave the same way. I liked it that Khai was portrayed in a different manner to Stella but since I was more concerned by who he was as a person and not how he behaved, it just felt natural for who he was.

When I turned the last page, despite the not so good details (in my POV), I was just happy to have read this book and that is what counts, after all.

Grade: 8/10

Helen Hoang - The Kiss Quotient

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases — a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.
It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice — with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan — from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...
Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he's making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic...

Comment: Everyone who has been tuned to the world of romance books has probably heard of this title, which was a huge success last year and won some prizes along the way. It also featured in many reader's best of lists. I got my copy several months ago but I've been procrastinating because I had other things to read in the meantime and also because with all the hype, I feared a little bit it might not be as good as so many other readers claimed. 

In the end, I enjoyed it as much as it was promised but yes, I also hoped for even more wow factor...

In this book we follow the lives of Stella and Michael when a specific situation brings them together. 

Stella is a young woman who is very successful in her job despite her social limitations and her autism. However, between her parents' pressure to find someone and have a family and her own awareness of what she can't do well (her impression), she decides to contract a sex escort to help her with intimacy so that she can do better with an eventual partner.

Michael is a man who has let go of his dreams because his family is struggling and he does what he can to help them, especially after what his father did, which still makes him a little mad. In order to pay bills from his mother's treatments, he has become an escort to rich women. He is used to the feeling of being looked down even though he is asked for his looks and skills. He doesn't think he will ever really enjoy being with a client but Stella is both funny and weird and things flow. 

But can they both maintain this as the business contract they expected at first?

One of the details that has surprised people the most and according to several reviews the main reason why this was such a successful story is the fact it portrays a solid, balanced romance story featuring a main character with autism. I can't swear because memory plays tricks on you but this isn't certainly the first romance with this theme/situation. I knew it it from the start so that special factor was not one I considered to be important.

The really different aspect is how Stella is portrayed and deals with the new situations in her life. The fun part is how the the author would show this part of Stella but not limiting her to the stories we would hear about people with some disorder or other not being good enough romance protagonists. So, in this regard, I think the author accomplished the task and made it all more about Stella and her difficulties but not her limitations. I cared about Stella but not because she has autism; I liked her because she was quirky and weird like anyone else can be and she still showed she could find love.

It should be mentioned the author explained this face of Stella is just one of several that could have been used to create a character with autism. This means not all autistic people act or behave or react the same to the different stimuli/situations.

Stella was a fascinating character, with some of the characteristics a non expert reader on autism would expect: shy, not looking people in the eye, focused or obsessed with things, routines, weird knowledge not always said in the best way, etc. 

But it was so sweet to also have a caring and heroine-like behavior from her. Stella is, first of all, a woman and it was great to also see her knowing her own worth as female and notion of her intelligence and abilities. Romantically speaking, she was cute too, with all her insecurities that pretty much any so-called "normal" woman can also have.

Michael is also interesting because he has a fascinating origin combination: mother from Vietnam and father from Sweden. But his looks are only part of who he is and his best feature is, despite his random thoughts of being just like his no good father, his dedication for those he cares about, especially his mother. So, a guy who likes his mother enough to become a prostitute to help her has to be a great hero potential!

I enjoyed the alternative POV chapters because it's great to have the perspectives of both protagonists and this way we got to slowly learn a little more about Michael too and what he wants.

I think this was a very romantic story but there were some scenes I didn't feel were as emotional as they could have been. The angst moments weren't many but when happened I feel they weren't well executed for the most part either. There was still some distance between the story and the tone so sometimes I felt the lack of depth in some situations. This is not a perfect story but balancing the strong points and the not so good ones, I still believe this was a well achieved book. 

I have confidence that, as her writing skills improve, so the books in general, which means this is certainly an author to kep the eye on.

Grade: 8/10