The Heart Principle

Adorable and heartfelt - this book may be my favorite Helen Hoang book yet! Anna Sun is a violinist who can't stop playing in circles. After her quick rise to fame - she's realized that she needs to be perfect all the time and it's led to crippling anxiety and an inability to get through one of her pieces. She takes a leave of absence from the symphony and holes herself up in her apartment. The only two things that make her get out of her apartment and out of her head are her therapist and her boyfriend. When her boyfriend decides that he wants to be in an open relationship so he can be sure that Anna is the one he really wants to settle down with, Anna gets justifiably angry. She gets on a dating app which is how she meets Quan. They are both just looking for a one night stand - Anna to see what it's like and to get back at her boyfriend and Quan to prove that he can still have sex after a horrible bout with cancer. What neither of them expect is to actually fall for each other. They each have baggage but sometimes the best thing in life is to have a travel partner to help you carry the load. An eye opening look at Autism, family expectations, and new chances. 

The Bride Test

This is the quintessential beach read. The plot is over the top, the characters are almost too quirky (if that's possible), and it is overall super cheesy. I clearly devoured this book in one setting. It was cute, regardless of how ridiculous the entire scenario was. I kept rooting for the characters even though it's soo predictable how it will all turn out. Khai's mother is soo worried about her autistic son never getting married that she finds a likable, honest female janitor in Vietnam and convinces er to be a mail order bride for her son. She agrees because she wants to find a better life and maybe a father for her young daughter. Khai agrees to give her a trial run and they soon find themselves in the awkward predicament of living together and getting used to each other quirks. Over the top, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!