The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
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Released May 7, 2019
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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 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.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Bride Test is the BEST contemporary romance I have read in while and I seriously couldn’t stop smiling throughout the book, you know when my heart wasn’t hurting for both Khai and Esme!
Seriously, you know when your heart physically aches because of unrequited love? That’s what was happening to me!
I’ll admit that I was a tad nervous going into The Bride test because I loved The Kiss Quotient so much, I was afraid it wouldn’t reach that level of awesomeness, but it did!! GAH! I loved it!!
The way that Hoang has shed light onto the autism spectrum is so well balanced within The Bride Test that you often forgot that Khai was even on the spectrum, but at other times it was fairly oblivious.
Esme, knew that she had her work cut out for her because Khai was so quiet and the way she went about getting his attention and getting under his skin was not only brilliant but adorable! She was a smart woman who took advantage of her time in The States to not just seduce a man into becoming her husband but to better herself.
She could have easily attempted to trick Khai or just married him without worrying about love, but she wanted more for herself and for her daughter. She was strong and stood her ground and didn’t settle for anything less than the best.
The Bride Test was the first arranged marriage novel I read and I couldn’t get enough of these two in what ended up being more of a charming friends to lovers romance.
