Trigger warnings: References to death by car accident
Synopsis: 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.
Review: Helen Hoang writes such cute romances. The Bride Test is a companion to The Kiss Quotient. We follow Khai and Esme who have been forced together by Khai's mother. If this was just a book about two characters being forced together and they fall in love, then I think I would have enjoyed The Bride Test more. Khai, much like Stella from The Kiss Quotient, is autistic and I loved seeing him allow Stella to get close to him. That being said, Khai has a hard time telling people that he loves them, and I wish this was explored a little more. At one point, his brother points out all the ways he knows Khai loves him, even then Khai can't say it. I wish this was more prominent in the story. Instead, Khai just keeps saying he can't love anyone. This could have also been a nice lead into the difference between sexual attraction and romantic attraction, but that doesn't happen either.
The romance was cute, but a lot of big story elements felt glossed over. Esme has a daughter that she doesn't tell Khai, or his family, about. She's also using her opportunity in California to find her American father. She also decides to go to school and get her GED. And there's the issue of grief as she gets close to Khai and realizes he's still mourning the loss of his cousin. There was just a lot going on and not enough time was spent on any of these things. Esme seemed to barely think about her daughter or her father until the plot deemed them necessary. She also gets information about her dad from a university but, having worked at a university, we weren't allowed to give out any personal information on former or current students. The fact that she was able to get contact information with relative ease made me very confused as to how that would work. Because Esme is coming from Vietnam, I really wanted to see some dialogue about what it means to come to the states from Vietnam versus being a Vietnamese-American. These identities intersect, but they're also very different. I loved seeing Esme make the decision to go to school, but it made it seem like the only way to make anything of yourself, especially in the US, is to graduate high school, and then college.
Cute romance, but I wish so much extra stuff wasn't added since none of it was handled very well.
3 howls
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