kyatic's Reviews (974)

Despite being the shortest of a very short bunch, The Tell-Tale Heart was by far the best. The Fall of the House of Usher was disappointingly formulaic, sort of a paint-by-numbers foray into Poe's most frequently used tropes, and The Cask of Amontillado was enjoyable but made me really want wine, which I don't think was the purpose of the story at all. I don't even like wine. Poe really missed a trick by failing to write even one recipe book. 4/5 for The Tell-Tale Heart, 2/5 for The Fall of the House of Usher, and 3/5 for The Cask of Amontillado. For the time being, this short collection has not moved Edgar Allan from his position as my second favourite Poe (Dameron being the first, of course).

The Kiss Quotient series has been one of my favourite romance series to date. I absolutely love the autistic rep that Helen Hoang gives us, and The Heart Principle is no exception. Autistic and neurodivergent characters don't usually get to be romantic leads. I adored Anna's character, her perpetual people-pleasing, her creative block. Quan is a great romantic lead, and I really enjoyed his storyline too; I almost wish it had been given a bit more weight. Overall, I devoured this one in two sittings, and it was just the ending that let it down. I'm not sure why the last 10% covers several years and speeds through it in such an odd series of vignettes. The rest of the book was very well-paced, and it seemed like the ending was just tacked on. It might have worked better as a single epilogue.

I would read absolutely anything Helen Hoang writes, and if she decided to make this a longer series, I would probably perish from glee.