In all honesty, I wasn’t a big fan of the second book in this series. That’s why I was so surprised by this novel. 

It’s an injustice to this novel to classify it as a romance novel, only. It’s so much more. 

Yes, the story has as a focal point the relationship between Anna and Quan but it only permits the author to explain a much deeper theme of parental and societal expectations, and the massive impact the need of  "people pleasing" has on oneself. This book lets the reader experience what it’s like to be stuck in a loop and not knowing how to get out of it, but let us see that there is often a little ray of sunshine that we can find at the end of it, like what Quan is for Anna.

So, The Heart Principle took my heart (pun intended) and destroyed it just a little to give it back with a lot more understanding of the internal struggle that we cannot see in other people.