kyatic's Reviews (974)

It's hard to rate this book because of the controversy surrounding it. Removing all historical and controversial context to give an objective rating of the text itself is difficult as the context is so vital to the ultimate understanding of the book. I read the book whilst fully aware of the blurred authorial intent, so my reading was always tarred with the knowledge that I was not reading the book that many people had read when it was first published. Therefore, the rating I've given is based on the book taken as though it were fictional, all ties to reality severed. It's an undesirable method of rating, but I'm not willing to open that particular historical jar.

This is a review of an ARC received via Netgalley.

I finished this one a few months ago, but I was a bit too book-struck to write anything about it. I read it, and then I talked about it almost constantly and recommended it to everyone I met, and now I'm probably on some kind of blacklist, but I don't even care. I adored this book. I can't wait to buy a copy in print and highlight the absolute hell out of it. I read it in one sitting whilst at work, and the backlog was absolutely worth it.

Schneider writes so authentically and beautifully about the process of reconciling your own queer identity and stepping into it, and even though we know exactly where the story is going, there's still such a great 'will they, won't they' dynamic between the two of them that it really does leave you wondering what's going to unfold. There's a definite inevitability that looms over everything, a foreshadowing, but it doesn't weigh the book down. The moments of lightness and joy feel just as real for the awareness that they're finite. Possibly more so.

I think this one may possibly end up garnering a few comparisons to A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp, which is written by an author with a very similar background, is coming out at the same time, also uses non-standard dialogue structure, and revolves around the unstable relationship between an opera student and her partner, but these really are two totally different books. A Very Nice Girl is very closed and interior, almost thriller-esque in its focus, whereas 28 Questions is much softer and more intimate, and draws you closer not just to the narrator but to Alex, her lover, and I absolutely loved that it let us fall in love with her at the same time that Amalia does. The characters here feel so real and well-drawn that I do, quite honestly, feel like I've met them.

I just don't have anything bad to say about this one at all. My one critique is that it had to end.

I really love the idea of this anthology, but it feels like it would have benefited from much more prudent editing. Maybe it could have been separated into sections based on themes to prevent some of the repetition, or to give it a more cohesive structure. As always with an anthology-style book, some of the essays were much more readable than others, but it feels like them could have been vastly improved with some editorial revision.

Still, I did appreciate the aims of this book, and what it tries to do (and largely succeeds in doing.) I really liked how it shows so many different perspectives, and the diversity really works in its favour. It feels like a lot of people are being represented here, and I definitely feel like it works well as a counter argument to the idea that all autistic people are somehow the same. I would love for there to be a follow-up or sequel anthology, because this one was close to hitting the mark for me, but didn't quite get there.

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.

I don't think I want to work in a mine, actually.