Reviews
The Heart Principle: 5 ⭐️
Plot: 4.50 ⭐️
Characters: 5 ⭐️
Character development: 4.75 ⭐️
POV: Dual
Writing: First person
Green Flag, that is how I would describe this book. There’s so much representation for mental health, autism, body dysmorphia, family dysfunction and cancer.
I’m so happy the author decided to write in first person, it makes it all more powerful.
The book flows beautifully. Dialogue is easy to follow and enjoyable.
Plot and character development felt slow, and it was supposed too. I wish Anna’s character development was sprinkled throughout the book, instead of the last 12%. Learning how to say no doesn’t come over night, especially when you’re a people pleaser. I understand why the author wrote it this way, it was the catalyst. I’m saying setting up boundaries and learning to stand up for yourself is a process, a long process.
Quan character didn’t get enough attention. I would have liked to read more about body dysmorphia. Quan over coming or accepting his body on his own instead of Anna being a solution.
Would I recommend? Yes!
I LOVED THIS!! Two people battling with their own separate insecurities to grow as people and to grow together…finding love, connection, and acceptance for being who you are!!
4.5/5⭐️ • 2/5🌶️
This one was up there as on of my favorites in the series. This one is definitely sadder than the first two books but that added in emotional aspect made me love them more. Helen Hoang gives amazing representation in her books and Anna’s story was so emotionally impactful on the discovery of her life and how difficult it is for those she loves around her to understand it too. I brought it down slightly because the end felt rushed to me. As I was listening and the when the book finished the end just didn’t feel like the end for me. I also think we could of had more Quan and his recovery from his surgery and cancer journey. That gel like it took a backseat to Anna’s story but I think them coming together bonding through their experiences would have been even more impactful with more of Quan’s story. But I’m glad to have read this series and highly recommend it to everyone!
** spoiler alert ** The novel takes a more autobiographical turn as the author explains in an afterword. In the book Anna is diagnosed as autistic. The final act of this romance then is Anna finally recognizing that she's in full burnout. Throughout all of this trials in her life — her father's hospice and the burnout — Quan is there. I know this is the final book but I feel like there was so much for Anna and Quan to survive that they didn't get a proper romance. I'd like a chance to revisit them in happier times just to see how they're doing. http://pussreboots.com/blog/2022/comm...
beautiful
By far my favorite of the series. It was tough to get through at some points because you want Anna to make the right choices, to go down the correct path but life is never that easy is it? One of the realist characters I’ve ever had the pleasure to read about.
3.5 This book is much heavier than the previous two. It is definitely not the most romantic book out of it. It was o different from what I expected, but I still liked it. I loved reading about Anna's growth and development throughout the book; seeing her struggle and overcome it. However, the ending felt rushed, and I wanted to see more about Quan. Nevertheless, the writing felt real, and after reading the author's note, it made sense. Helen Hoang should definitely be proud of this book.
Honest, heart-wrenching & important.
I have never felt so related and similar to a character as much as I do with Anna. We are so close to being the same person, literally! I feel so many emotions, I just got this confidence and courage that I can also be Anna. If she can respect herself and learn to say no, then I can, too. 😀 I loved this book so much!! ❤️
This book has to be one of my favorites out of the series.
Helena Hoang did this series so goood!!! i love Quan out of most all of them. loved it so much
This book is phenomenal and everyone should read it.
Maybe I should have spaced this series out a bit more to give each book room to settle in my mind, but too late now. Again, this one fell a bit flat for me after in comparison to the first in the series. I think I just wanted more, something about this one felt very surface level and rushed with the characters. The family drama was more interesting than the romance for me. The love Anna had for her father was heartbreaking, the reconciliation with her mother was full of emotion, and I wanted to see how things developed with her obnoxious sister. The romance plot was cute and had it’s moments but overall wasn’t my favourite part of the story.
I’ll write an actual review when I’m not in the middle of the literal Grand Canyon, but I loved this. ALSO THE GRAND CANYON WAS MENTIONED IN THIS BOOK WHILE I WAS READING IT IN THE GRAND CANYON. NOT SUPER RELEVANT, BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS NEAT.
zo zo ZO schattig
I actually got this from the library and put off reading this, assuming it would be boring. And it was so good. I was really drawn in. I loved both main characters, and was unaware that caregiving was a huge aspect of this; which I experienced myself in my life. So this was a great read for me.
Ask about Anna's struggles. Not a fun book. Romance world be last on the ingredient list. I read to escape, if I wanted to add depression I'd read the news. Nothing like the first two books. I'm too grouchy for this. Moving on.
too loud. entirely too loud. will we be ignoring the fact that i heavily related to all the main characters in this series with autism? yes. yes will. beautiful book. amazing perspective. this series is fantastic
Everyone told me that they liked this one better than the second but I wish this one had been a little longer. I was waiting for Quans moment for 2 whole books and I wish there’d been a bit more of him.
Couldnt putt this book down. I cried and cried and cried i think because i felt so so so much for our MC.
3.75⭐ With Quan being featured in Helen's two previous books and being a personal highlight for me, I was looking forward to his own story within this book but f*k me she put these two rough the RINGER!!!! This is probably one of the heaviest romances I've ever read, with about 70% of this book focusing on Anna struggling through life, dealing with a diagnosis and being gaslight that she "isn't sick" while being a primary caregiver to a dying relative AND dealing with a mental block in her musical career. Quan is also dealing with personal & medical & career issues. Don't get me wrong I still enjoyed this story and have enjoyed all Helen's Books in this series but this definitely has a very different tone!
Honestly did not like this book at all. Just read it because I got stuck on a bus and had nothing else to do then finished it out of spite haha.
Helen Hoang never misses
A good representation of some people's perceptions and beliefs pertaining to mental health, especially in the Asian household. I absolutely love Anna's character development after learning more about herself post-diagnosis as well as her effort to put herself first after years of masking and pleasing others.
Highlights
“Part of me wants to yell at her to stop spouting nonsense, to get angry. Another part of me wants to cry because how pitiful do I sound? I’m afraid she’s seen right through me. In the end, I neither yell nor cry. I sit there like a deer in headlights, which is my default reaction to most things—inaction. I don’t have a fight-or-flight instinct. I have a freeze instinct. When things get really bad, I can’t even talk. I fall mute.
“What if I don’t know how to stop?” I ask finally.”
I feel seen!
Those epiphanies that I had were fake. That sense of identification was misguided. It is human to struggle. If there was a diagnosis for every diffculty, they wouldn't mean anything.
Just because something isn't perfect doesn't mean we need to throw it away.
The mental problems that I'm facing aren't worthy of their respect or even a cursory attempt at understanding. In their minds, I need to identify the problem, find a solution, and get on with it. It should be that easy.
I’m not ready for a future where I never see him again. Yes, I still have my family. But what do I have to look forward to now? Where is my safe place now? He's just a man. I shouldn't feel so empty with him gone. But I know I've lost something important, something essential. Because I haven't just lost him. I've also lost the person that I am when I’m with him - the person behind the mask. I've lost me.
If only they knew… What they see is not who I am. It’s the mask that they love, the mask that’s suffocating me.
"But what do I do when my family doesn't believe me?" I ask. His mouth twists like there's a bad taste on his tongue. "Ignore what they say, and live your life the way you need to." I release a heavy sigh. "That's not easy to do."
“You can't please everyone. The second you change it so one person likes it, you'll lose someone who liked it the way it was before. Isn't that what you've been doing as you go in circles? You have to learn how to listen to yourself again, to be yourself"
“You will disappoint people,” Jennifer says in a firm but not unkind voice. “But you’ll also blow others away. That’s just how this works.” “I know,” I say. And I really do understand logically. But emotionally, it’s another matter. I’m terrified that if I slip, if I fail, everyone will stop loving me, and where will I be then?
“You have to learn how to listen to yourself again, to be yourself."
Man powerful
"A lot of the time, I believe you tell me things just because you think thať's what I want to hear. I hope you can see how counterproductive that would be in therapy."
This is soo relatable. Being one who did do soo in therapy myself
“For that’s the only place where true perfection exists—the blank page. Nothing I actually do can compete with the boundless potential of what I could do.”
When Quan discovers my new special interest, he surprises me by creating a butterfly garden on my tiny balcony. He puts pots of milkweed out and trains passion vine to twine around the railing. As spring turns to summer, my plants blossom with vibrant color, and the butterflies come. It’s just like in Mozambique.
QUÂN>>
I check up on Anna every day while I’m gone, sending her text messages filled with hearts or funny memes with octopuses and other creatures. When we’re together, I hold and cuddle her a lot, because I sense she needs to feel loved.
Him>>
“As I’m swallowing a mouthful of tequila and lime juice, he adds, “We’re also celebrating Quan’s new girlfriend.”
I choke and alcohol burns down my windpipe, making me wheeze and cough while Khai pounds not so helpfully on my back. When I can finally breathe, I rasp out, “What the fuck? She’s not my girlfriend.”
Khai perks up and looks to Michael for confirmation. “He’s seeing someone?”
Please😭😭
“It’s coral,” I say. “I don’t wear this and imagine I’m a tropical fish in the ocean, if that’s what you’re thinking. When I’m home, where people can’t see me, I like to wear bright colors and rainbows and things. It makes me happy. A little.”
His brow creases. “Why does it have to be where people can’t see you?”
“Because people are mean. They say things like ‘Did you see her?’ ‘I can’t believe she’s wearing that’ or they just look at each other and laugh—at me. I hate being laughed at. It used to happen a lot, but I’ve gotten better at preventing it.”
“I’ll wear rainbows out with you. I don’t give a shit,” he nearly growls as he pulls me close unexpectedly and hugs me.
I’m not used to affectionate acts like this—my family definitely isn’t touchy-feely, and neither was Julian—so it takes me a second or two to relax and rest my cheek on his chest. When I imagine badass Quan decked out in rainbows and people’s confused reactions, I smile and say, “That would be something.”
“Something awesome, yeah.”
He hugs me tighter, and happiness expands in my chest.
Help, yep, he's my fav.
“Don’t have an attitude, Anna,” she snaps. “He got you to come out and do things, be social, not just hole up in your apartment with your music. You were smiling and laughing more. You were happy.”
“Smiling and laughing doesn’t always mean happy.”
“I can tell when you’re happy,” she says confidently.
I shake my head quietly. There’s no way she knows when I’m happy, not when the things I say and do around her are specifically designed to make her happy.
Stfu Priscilla omfl.
“Are there lots of things that you do like that, things that you read about in books or have seen other people do so you copy them?” she asks.
I swallow uncomfortably. “Maybe.”
Her expression turns thoughtful, and she scribbles something down on her notepad. I try to see what she’s written without looking like I’m peeking, but I can’t make anything out.
“Why does it matter?” I ask.
She considers me for a moment before saying, “It’s a form of masking.”
“What’s masking?”
Speaking haltingly, like she’s choosing her words, she says, “It’s when someone takes on mannerisms that aren’t natural to them so they can better fit in with society. Does that resonate with you?”
“Is it bad if it does?” I ask, unable to keep the uneasiness from my voice. I don’t like where this is going.
“It’s not good or bad. It’s just the way things are. I’ll be able to help you better if I have a clearer understanding of how your mind works.”
Well...
How much of what people say is genuine and how much is politeness?