From the USA Today bestselling author of The Kiss Quotient comes a romantic novel about love that crosses international borders and all boundaries of the heart…Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows … defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.
As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.
With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.
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or someone who considers herself as cynical regarding romance, I have become addicted to Helen Hoang’s writing. It’s just so very trapping, even if what is being described are mundane actions, and the characters feel incredibly real, I can feel what they feel.
I understand Khai’s way of reasoning and thinking and even when his actions could have made him look like an utter idiot, I related to him. Maybe because I have a friend on the spectrum and I’ve learned a lot from her way of seeing and feeling things.
Esme is endearing, at first I was as frustrated with her as Khai was because she rearranges his things and gets on his nerves. But I get her, her fierce way of loving, her desire to provide her family a better life, her courage. I love the arc of her character, how she changed subtly but in the best way possible.
I love Quan, he’s a great brother and friend. He would do anything for his family and is open-minded and accepting and doesn’t judge people, we all need a Quan.
I need the next book.
I loved Kiss Quotient…this didn’t quite live up to my expectations
Just like “The Kiss Quotient”, Helen Hoang manages to spin yet another romance that left me enchanted. Esme’s character arc/journey in particular was so inspiring to me that I definitely teared up during the Epilogue. Side characters and family members brighten every scene, and the books is filled with humor, heart and real emotion – also some delicious slow-burn.
I loved this book. It was a slightly steamy romcom with a sweet twist. Beautifully written, I wanted to savor every page. When I got to the end, I was so engaged with the characters, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
I loved this book. It was a slightly steamy romcom with a sweet twist. Beautifully written, I wanted to savor every page. When I got to the end, I was so engaged with the characters, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
I was looking forward to this book as the previous story in the series was one of my favourite of the years and I really hope that someday we’ll get to see the movie because this series deserves it more than anything. I really enjoyed the book, the whole scenario, the perfect characters with so many flaws but with the desire to change something in better for their life, all the laugh out loud moments, their banter, their feelings and acceptance of what’s happening between them and the consent that has a huge importance.
It will definitely remain one of my favourite books of all times.
#NetGalley #TheTestBride
I didn’t want to put this down! Helen Hoang pulls you in from the opening page with authenticity, humor, and heart. Esme just wants a better life for herself and her family, so she takes an opportunity when she stumbles upon it. Khai is content with his life as it is and doesn’t want the disruption of a houseguest that his matchmaking mom found for him. Khai and Esme are unsure of each other initially, but a lot can happen over the course of a summer. Esme learns a lot about herself while trying to adapt to life in America and through her attempts to win over the stubborn Khai. Engaging, compelling, and hilarious, The Bride Test is one of my favorite books this year.
I read The Kiss Quotient last summer and was delighted with Stella Lane’s character. She has Asperger’s Syndrome and Hoang does an exceptional job of giving us a glimpse of how Stella processes the world. I’m a massive fan of unconventional female leads and Stella reminded me of Eleonor Oliphant in Eleonor Oliphant is Competely Fine (another excellent read).
In The Bride Test, she gives us Khai Diep, an autistic male lead. His mother, desperate over the fact that he doesn’t date, goes to Vietnam to get him the perfect wife. The title refers to the test she devises to help her select a suitable bride for her son, a test Esmeralda Tran, a hotel maid, easily passes. For the sake of her mother, grandmother and daughter, Esme accepts the proposal to go to America with the purpose of persuading Khai to marry her before the end of the summer. Instead of simply seducing Khai, she falls in love with him as well and the novel hinges on whether Khai can divest himself of the idea that he doesn’t have feelings to admit he loves Esme, too.
If you read all the reviews, you will get a sense of why this book is so successful – dual POVs with distinct character voices; a swoon-worthy male lead who is kind, considerate, intelligent, a bit clueless and utterly unaware of his worth; a resilient female lead to understands her value and is willing to fight for her future and the future of her daughter.
But this book impacted me for other reasons, as well. Khai’s autism isn’t really acknowledged by his family. Therefore, to some degree, he is left to his own resources to interpret for himself what his unique way of processing the world means. Having years of experience teaching children, I’ve learned that if we as adults don’t define in clear terms what makes an exceptional child unique, whether they have autism, Asperger’s or giftedness, they will rationalize for themselves what makes them different and many times, they don’t choose the best explanation.
Khai believes he is simply incapable of love and grief and comes to the conclusion that he is bad when he fails to respond the way others do to the death of his best friend, Andy. This conditions his behavior for years, until Esme comes along and proves otherwise. But the point I’m making is this: if Khai’s autism had been addressed in a way that made clear to him and his family that he simply has a different way of processing stimuli and emotions, he might not have drawn the conclusion that he was bad. Hoang nails the power of these mistaken self-beliefs and how they can negatively impact our lives, simply because the adults left the explanation of a complex dynamic in the hands of a child instead of acknowledging the thing directly. Khai’s journey of self understanding and acceptance makes me love him a thousand times more.
The Bride Test also contains elements of the immigrant narrative. Hoang explains in the author’s note how Esme moved from being a peripheral character to the main love interest in the novel. Hoang derived her inspiration for Esme’s character from her mother, and used the writing of this book as an opportunity to get to know her own mother’s immigration story. This made an impression on me. As a first generation Puerto Rican, born and raised in the United States, I will never know what it’s like to pick up your family, leave a way of life to come a country where you don’t speak the language, armed only with hope and a dream. I lived in Europe for many years but I had a good job, knew the languages and had the expectation of returning home some day.
Stories like Hoang’s mother, Esme or my grandparents are completely different. We come to understand these experiences by becoming familiar with our parent’s histories. There’s so much in Esme’s determination and spirit that I recognized from the stories of my parents and grandparents, what they did to go from being barely literate farm workers to entrepreneurs to having children who went on to go to college and beyond. That’s why I was rooting for Esme, independent of her relationship with Khai.
Romances like these are why I love this genre so much.
5 enthusiastic stars.
4.5 Stars
*If you like shorter reviews, skip down to The Down & Dirty*
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang was one of my favorite books of 2018 and I couldn’t wait to read The Bride Test , featuring Khai, the young autistic accountant.
“Nothing gets to you. It’s like your heart is made of stone.”
Khai’s emotions are expressed differently than the average person and when he didn’t cry at something everyone else did, he assumed he was completely incapable of love and pushed everyone away.
“Lonely was for people who had feelings, which he didn’t. It wasn’t loneliness if it could be eradicated with work or a Netflix marathon or a good book. Real loneliness would stick with you all the time. Real loneliness would hurt you nonstop. Khai didn’t hurt. He felt nothing most of the time.”
Khai had resigned himself to being alone, and he was fine about it until his mother traveled to Vietnam to find him a wife. Esme lived in a tiny one-room shack in Vietnam, sleeping on the floor with her child and her parents and cleaning hotel bathrooms to support them. When Khai’s mom happened upon her, she knew she found the perfect girl for him. Desperately wanting a better life for her family, Esme left her child with her parents and went to California for the summer.
{Graphic on blog}
Khai can’t say no to his mother, so when she tells him he will have a roommate for the summer, the young man who doesn’t even date can’t refuse her. Esme’s energy and desire to please Khai was refreshingly adorable. Khai fighting his feelings for her was such a cool thing to read about because he truly believed he has no feelings. But what bothered me is that nobody explained to Esme that Khai was different and may not treat her as she thinks he should. I mean, his mom brought her over from Vietnam and wants them to work out, why wouldn’t she explain?
“I’m autistic, and I have sensory issues. There’s a certain way to touch me, especially my face and hair.” He switched his attention to her face. “It’s probably best if I show you. Can you give me one of your hands?”
This was one of the rare times autism was even mentioned in the book. But with a language barrier and being caught in the moment, it went in in one ear and out the other for Esme. Had he, or anyone in his family explained it better, so much angst could have been spared (but then I guess we wouldn’t have a great book, right?)
Khai never thought he’d be with a woman, so his discovery of his needs was charmingly funny.
“F*ck, he was sporting an erection in his damned car. If he hit a speed bump, he’d probably break his d*ck in half. He needed to think about the desert, the arctic, Statement Number 157 from the Financial Accounting Standards Board, anything else.”
And when things progress, he really doesn’t know what to do.
“They don’t talk about the ‘clitoris’ in health class at school.” It didn’t even sound real. For all he knew, it was an urban myth, like the Chupacabra.”
Reading the book, you know Khai is in love, but he thinks he isn’t capable.
“Love and addiction were different things.”
But he was more than capable of love, and I loved everything about Khai. I never doubted his love, but Esme had so many other reasons for wanting to stay in America that I never felt like she was 100% in it for Khai rather than the opportunities in America.
{Graphic on blog}
I still loved every second of reading this sweet and unique novel, I just wish I felt more of her love for him.
Likes:
•How different Khai was from Stella in the first book. It shows how unique Autism is to each person that has it.
•It was funny! Khai’s inner voice and his innocence were sweet and funny at the same time.
•How important family was.
•The true Vietnamese culture.
•Esme’s strength and desire to better herself both for herself and her family.
•More of Quan! We need his book, please!
•Seeing her impact on his orderly life made me laugh. I loved watching his obsession and addiction to her grow.
•The author’s note at the end was so important to the story.
Dislikes:
•I would have liked to have felt her connection to him and love for him a little stronger.
•The one thing that bothered me is that he only mentioned he was autistic and had sensory issues once (until towards the end) and then brushed it aside. Had he encouraged her to look it up, or if any of his family explained it to her, she would have understood him so much more. I feel like the author missed a fantastic opportunity to educate, but instead glossed over it.
•She kept her secret for way too long.
•The end felt rushed.
The Down & Dirty:
Getting to know Khai and seeing him gain a better understanding of himself was my favorite part of The Bride Test. As a reader, we were able to see that Khai was in love, and it was heartbreaking to read that he thinks he is incapable of the emotions he so clearly has. I also loved the drive Esme had to better herself as an immigrant woman. The Bride Test was a charming story that I gobbled up in one day and loved every second of, but there were a few things that held me back from the 5-star rating. I felt that his autism should have been explained to her early on (and to the reader as well), and I didn’t feel that she had the same desperate love for Khai as he did for her since she had her own reasons for staying. Still, I would 100% recommend this unique and diverse book to anyone looking for a romantic comedy with a little something extra, and I can’t wait for the next in the series.
Rating: 4.5 Stars, 3.5 Heat
It’s official–Hoang is now an auto-buy for me. Esme and Khai’s deeply emotional journey is completely satisfying on so many levels. This book has delightful humor, steamy, intimate love scenes and a heroine you’ll root for like no other.
LOOOVE LOOOVE LOVE…
I loved this book, this book is about love, it makes you fall in love, it makes you feel love as if love was everywhere, in the air, palpable…
Helen Hoang is talented, smart, sensitive, funny…
None of her words are superfluous. Each sentence is full of emotion. Her writing is powerful and sensitive.
Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you cry, your heart melt, you smile a lot…
Her characters are unique and so moving.
Khai is a simple man who loves simple things and most of all his routine. Yes he’s autistic but he’s not so different than other men :
“Never assume he knows what you want. Because he doesn’t. You have to tell him, but once you do , nine times out of ten, he’ll listen.” (nine times out of ten… yes he’s better than the average man lol).
He knows how to cherish, to take care, to show love, to speak with his heart… But he doesn’t understand THAT’S LOVE! He’s sure he’s not able to love but he’s soooo wrong.
Esme always puts her loved ones’ happiness before her own but finally she becomes what she wanted. Being with Khai allows her to dream of more, of becoming more… And she succeeds … on her own! Her journey is incredible. She’s so admirable, smart, brave and loving.
Khai thinks everyone wants to see him change but Esme loves him for who he is. She NEVER tries to change him, she just wants him to open himself to her.
Esme thinks she’s not good enough for Khai but she’s perfect for him. He loves her in his own way but his love is deep and strong and intense and beautiful… “I can keep you safe, and i can carry you when you’re hurt, and i can… […] I can kiss you like it’s the first time every time.”
I also loved a lot Khai’s family (mother, brother, sister, cousin…).
Thank you Helen Hoang for this beautiful story !
After reading and loving the first book The kiss quotient’ of this series so much I was really looking forward to the second book ‘The bride test’. However, because I loved the first story so much, I was also a bit afraid that my expectations for this story were a bit too high. But luckily for me, that wasn’t the case because I enjoyed ‘The bride test’ also very much.
This book is about Khai (a young guy who has autism) and Esme (a young, poor girl from Vietnam). For the readers who read the first book, they will recognize Khai as the nephew of Michael. But if you haven’t read it, it isn’t a problem because ‘The bride test’ can be read as a standalone. You get both POV’s in the story which I really liked. Both characters were very likeable in their own way. Both thought they weren’t worthy of love for different reasons. Khai because he is different than other people because of his autism and Esme because she comes from a poor background. This series is a bit different than other romance stories out there but I find that personally very refreshing.
So why didn’t I give it a 5 star? Well, like I said I liked the story very much. It’s an easy and light read. It was sometimes emotional and sometimes funny. But at the end I was left with the feeling that I miss a bit more details. The end felt a little bit rushed to me. I was left with little questions, nothing very important but enough to wonder about it.
But still, I’m very happy that I read it.
I didn’t think it was possible, but I loved “The Bride Test” even more than I loved “The Kiss Quotient.” This book features amazingly realistic, complex, relatable characters and made me feel emotions from across the spectrum. One minute I was laughing out loud (I don’t think I will ever look at a meat cleaver the same way again!), and the next I was crying (sometimes happy tears, sometimes sad). I didn’t want to put the book down because I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.
I’m not on the autism spectrum, but I do have mild social anxiety, so I found it incredibly easy to relate to certain aspects of Khai’s personality. For example, I loved that Khai reads books at weddings; I have done the exact same thing myself. I found Esme’s character to be incredibly relatable too because of her feelings of inadequacy and never being good enough. These are universal struggles regardless of who you are or where you’re from. It just goes to show that deep down, we’re not so different from one another. We may perceive the world differently, but we’re all human beings with the same hopes and fears. That’s not such a bad message to take away from a book.
I especially enjoyed the brief glimpses we got of characters from “The Kiss Quotient,” and I loved that Quan played such an important role in Khai and Esme’s story. I really hope there are plans for Quan to get his own HEA! Whoever is featured in the next book, if Helen Hoang writes it, I will be one of the first in line to read it!
*ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
I have always attempted to give ‘star’ ratings on my completed reads, just as a tracking method for my titles that I have completed. I have unlimited packages for audio, kindle, and utilize the local/state library.
However, I do not check the ‘I recommend this book’ unless I am willing to reread a book and or a series.
[I read about 5-15 books a month through kindle, and I listen to about 15-30 books monthly]
I have a full life as a nurse, professor, wife, daughter [daughter in law], sister, and mother. I love to read and love a thousand other lives by turning the pages in countless books.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide a review. Happy reading 🙂
“, ’ ,” . “ , . .”
by Helen Hoang is a beautiful, inspirational, and emotional masterpiece! It was so raw, genuine, and it literally made my heart ache…but in the best possible way. Khai and Esme’s hard-fought love should be a true inspiration to us all. Ms. Hoang HAD ME with …but with her latest incredible release, she HAS ME as a true fan for life! This is only her second novel, people…HER. SECOND. NOVEL. But you can tell within the first few chapters, that this is her calling. She was made to bring these wonderful, bright, and moving characters to life. She was made to make us fall in love with the unique, with the complex, and with the unforgettable.
Kindle → https://amzn.to/2Vxlq8A
Paperback → https://amzn.to/2Q8BRH8
Audible → https://amzn.to/2YzHfGh
A feel good rom com!
OH MY HEART! I can now fully and proudly attest to the fact that I LOVED The Bride Test a million times more than I did The Kiss Quotient! (Sorry, Michael.)
It certainly had that perfect amount of heart and humor that I long for in a feel good romance novel. And although there weren’t a lot, some parts were surprisingly sexier than I imagined coming from this book. But most of all, the main issue Helen Hoang covered here just hit a little too close to home… and I was all for it.
“In a split second, she redefined perfection for him. His standards aligned to her exact proportions and measurements. No one else would ever live up to her.”
I not only felt for Esme Tran the entire time reading this, but I also connected and empathized with her immensely and on such a deeper level at that. Her strength and determination truly struck me, and I’m just in pure awe of how far she’s gone—how she powered through every single one of the speed bumps that came along her way once she stepped into the United States. She might’ve originally come here in the hopes of only seducing Khai and making him want to marry her so she can have a better life, but along the way, she also added more and more to her list of goals. And she never stopped trying until she succeeded one way or another.
“Stone hearts didn’t break. They were too hard. ‘I’m like a Terminator with logic programming and no feelings.’”
Khai Diep was EVERYTHING to me. I’d gladly offer up my heart and soul to him on a silver platter, and never ask for them back. I was complete and utterly smitten with the guy. I wasn’t only fascinated with his brilliant mind and all the unique ways that it works, but I fell so deeply in love with his kind and tender heart. He might’ve also claimed and believed that he had a stone heart for the longest time, but I knew from just a few chapters reading this that he has one of the softest and purest of hearts. And there was absolutely nothing better than witnessing him transform and open up to Esme with every page you turn.
“He wanted to be her “one,” the recipient of her smiles, the reason for her smiles, her drug. She was his.”
I just finished listening to the audio version of this book, but I already want to go back and devour it all over again. I NEVER WANTED IT TO END. I want so much more of Khai and Esme. Hell, I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of them at this point. Helen Hoang continues to check all my boxes and I’m here for anything and everything she writes!
“My heart works in a different way, but it’s yours.”
Ultimately giggle-worthy and endearing, yet at the same time raw and emotional as all get out, The Bride Test hit me a lot harder and pierced my soul more than I thought it would. It was just sooo so good! I mean, I’m pretty sure my heart’s still high up floating on cloud freaking nine, and my cheeks… they almost hurt from all the smiling I did the entire time I listened to this breathtakingly delightful and engaging tale.
Now we wait patiently (or not so patiently) for Quan’s book—because I need that next book to be his! Regardless of whom it’ll be about, I’m seriously excited AF. But I’m not ready to move on from these two just yet.
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang was just as awesome as The Kiss Quotient. It was fantastic.
What I loved about this book were the highly relatable and quirky characters. Khai is autistic, very routine and almost mechanical but very highly intelligent. Esme is a Vietnamese single mother who happens to be in the right place at the right time to be offered the opportunity to come to America for an arranged marriage to Khai by his mother, and she proves over and over again how good-hearted and steadfast to her morals she is. She knows her priorities and she’s determined to stick to them, no matter what tries to come between them.
One line that stood out for me in the book was this one:
“Everyone deserved to be loved and be loved back. Everyone. Even her.”
She knew her worth, even if she was an immigrant who could barely speak the language and didn’t work a classy accounting job. She had a backbone, and I think it sent an important message to women reading this book.
Khai’s transition from the beginning of the story to the end was very endearing as well. He starts off the book learning that he doesn’t feel emotions like other people do, and he accepts this so matter-of-factly that he doesn’t question it and internalizes it as just one more thing that makes him different. Talk about a tough nut to crack!!
The chemistry between these two was simply fantastic. You can’t help but root for them from the get-go.
This book, the diversity, the smooth writing and expert storytelling, was a joy to read, and I cannot wait to see what Hoang comes out with next. She will definitely be a one-click author for me from here on out.
Brilliant! A must read!
It was really good. Thank you Helen for another great book