The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

BOOK REVIEW: The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

Release Date: May 7th, 2019

Genre: Romance 

320 Pages, Paperback

Published by Berkley 

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2  My Goodreads Rating 

BOOK BLURB:

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.

MY THOUGHTS:

The Bride Test is a cute and quick romance. It’s the perfect beach read!

Just like in The Kiss Quotient, one of the main characters, Khai is autistic and needs help understanding what is love. He's actually pretty sure that he is unable to love. 
Esme, on the other hand, feels that Khai won’t love her for who she is - she believes she's not good enough - so she tries to be someone else.

I enjoyed the story but the main characters didn’t pull me into it.  I didn't feel the chemistry between them. The romance didn’t capture me as much as the previous book did.  Even Khai’s older brother, Quan, felt like a much stronger character whenever he would show up in the story.   

Without getting into spoilers, I also felt that the ending was overdone and a bit unrealistic (I know it's fiction, but it felt too 'soap-operish' for my taste).

Of course I knew it would be hard to top the romantic, game-changer that was The Kiss Quotient, so definitely give The Bride Test a try, which by the way, you can read it as a stand-alone book.  And feel free to drop me a note once you read it.

"She got you a mail-order bride from Vietnam, Khai."

"Why do you say it so it sounds so bad? She's not a 'mail-order bride'. I met her in person."

Note: I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.