The Bride Test by Helen Hoang | RAVE Review

Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: March 7, 2019
Source of my copy:publisher
Series: Standalone companion to The Kiss Quotient
My rating:

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.

Important: If you haven't read The Kiss Quotient do not let that stop you from reading The Bride Test--it's a standalone novel that can be enjoyed by everyone.

The Bride Test is Helen Hoang's sophomore novel after the amazing success of her debut, The Kiss Quotient, which was one of my top favorites of 2018 (if not my #1 favorite). To say I was highly anticipating The Bride Test was an understatement. After I finished The Kiss Quotient, I not only immediately started rereading it again, but was also plotting how I can get my hands on The Bride Test sooner rather than later. Thankfully Berkley Romance was kind enough to send me an early copy without my having to beg for an ARC.

Anyway, I was dying to get my hands on The Bride Test, but when I actually did get a hold of it I was a little nervous. I loved The Kiss Quotient A LOT but will The Bride Test be equally amazing? Well, I'll never doubt Helen Hoang again because HOLY COW ALL THE YESSSSES!!! The Bride Test was equally amazing if not MORE.

The Bride Test especially resonated with me because at the heart of it was an immigrant story of Esme Tran coming to the United States for the opportunity of a better life for herself and her family. As an immigrant myself (I moved to the US when I was in the third grade), I saw not only myself in Esme but also my mom who came to the US as an adult, closer to Esme's age. And it was so powerful to see that in a romance novel, and I want to give Helen Hoang a million thank yous for giving us this gift.

I absolutely loved the romance between Khai and Esme. Helen Hoang is a genius at writing a romance between two unlikely people. I love her twist on the mail-order bride trope (well, fiancee rather than bride) in a contemporary setting and the hate-to-love trope. While The Bride Test does delve into serious topics, it didn't skimp on the swoons factor either or even the humor. I laughed so hard in the scene between Khai, his brother Quan, and their cousin Michael (the hero from The Kiss Quotient--we get a little glimpse of Stella, too!).

In The Kiss Quotient, the heroine is autistic and in The Bride Test our hero, Khai, is autistic. As someone who doesn't personally know anyone who is autistic and only know about it from articles I've read and what I've watched in the media, I really appreciated having an intimate look into the life of someone with autism. I came out of both The Kiss Quotient and The Bride Test with fresh understanding and empathy as Helen Hoang is an ownvoices author.

There was a lot to love in The Bride Test: Khai, Esme, their journey together and separately, their romance, Vietnamese culture, the sibling relationship between Khai and Quan, family, among many others. But, is The Bride Test a perfectly written book without faults? Definitely not. The reason why I couldn't give it a full five stars was because I thought the ending was a bit rushed. Also, Esme was hiding the fact that she has a daughter and it kept coming up throughout the book, but I thought the resolution of that was somewhat lacking. And, while I enjoyed the epilogue (yay Esme!), I would've liked to see Khai and Esme at their actual wedding (after the events in the last couple of chapters) and/or living their life as a married couple--this is not a complaint by the way, just a wish.

With that being said, The Bride Test is very much a must-read. Basically, Helen Hoang's novels are required reading for all romance readers. Personally, I'm going to be recommending this book for the rest of the year and beyond.

PSA: If you're an audiobook reader like myself, The Kiss Quotient and The Bride Test are both part of Audible's Romance Package so you can listen to both for "free" on Audible.