Quick Facts
- Release Date: May 7, 2019
- Page Count: 315
- Publisher: Penguin Group
- Kindle Unlimited? No
I loved this book and was thoroughly charmed by Khai and Esme’s relationship. I just wish Khai’s character was given more attention at the start and his Asperger’s condition played a larger role in the story.
Synopsis
Khai has convinced himself that he is incapable of love. He logics this out when he’s unable to fully grieve at his cousin’s funeral. In his words, “if he couldn’t grieve, the flip side also had to be true. He couldn’t love.” Khai’s mother takes things into her own hands when she travels to Vietnam to find Khai a wife, nervous he’ll never find one himself.
There she finds Esme, a hard-working single mother who can’t afford to turn down this offer. Esme has one summer to see if she and Khai are a good fit. They either get married, or she goes home.
Review
I was extremely excited to pick up this book by Helen Hoang because I absolutely loved The Kiss Quotient, the first in the series that came out in 2018. The way Hoang portrayed Stella, a woman who struggles with Asperger’s, was as inspiring as it was enlightening. I was therefore excited to read The Bride Test, which is about Khai, briefly introduced in The Kiss Quotient, who similarly struggles with Asperger’s. Although I felt the book had a rocky start, in the end, it did not disappoint.
Esme wasn’t a character I warmed to immediately. While I appreciated the difficulty of her situation, when she arrives in America to stay with Khai, she starts messing with all of his stuff and basically changing up his everyday routines with little to no warning or reason. At this point, she doesn’t know that he has Asperger’s and doesn’t understand the importance of routine in Khai’s life. Regardless, I found myself frustrated by her behavior. Who walks into someone’s house and, on day one, starts blasting loud pop music, wearing his boxers, and rearranging his closet.
That being said, Esme begins to change, and her character quickly grew on me. Her determination to make it in a world that seemed constructed for her failure is inspiring. She deals with tragically common problems for immigrants, including supporting a visa, bringing over her family from Vietnam, language barriers, and gaining a higher education. I wasn’t expecting her story to move in this direction, and I was inspired and enlightened by it.
My one disappointment by the end of the book was with Khai’s Asperger’s condition. I felt his character wasn’t given adequate attention at the beginning for me to truly understand and get the full picture of his personality. Stella’s character was crafted so beautifully in The Kiss Quotient, that I was disappointed the same attention wasn’t paid to Khai in The Bride Test.
Summary
Although I felt the book had a rough start, it exceeded my expectations by the end. Esme went from a character I struggled to associate with to one I admired for her determination to carve out a better life for herself and her daughter. Characters that inspire such polarized feelings in me is always a plus.
I am giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. I loved the book and was thoroughly charmed by Khai and Esme’s relationship. If Khai’s character was given more attention at the start and his Asperger’s condition played a larger role in the story, I feel this book would deserve a 5-star rating.
The Bride Test is the second in Helen Hoang’s series and can be read as a stand-alone novel.
Link to Author’s website: https://www.helenhoang.com/
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