The Bride Test
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Kiss Quotient comes a romantic novel about love that crosses international borders and all boundaries of the heart...
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.
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.
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Community Reviews
I LOVE this story. My (Esme) is a Vietnamese woman with a young daughter, who comes across a wealthy Vietnamese-American woman while she's working cleaning a public restroom. The American wants Esme to come to America and marry her son, who is an autistic adult, and is perfectly fine living on his own.
What transpires is a humorous and lovely story about these two unlikely souls finding each other and falling in love.
I don't usually read this type of book, but I found myself crying throughout, and wanting them to finally come together by the end of the book.
I loved it, and I would read it again.
I liked the Heart Principle and I really loved the Kiss Quotient, but I didn't really like this one in the series. It felt really forced to me, and it kind of felt like Khai likes Esme because she was the first woman who showed any interest and was willing to learn his rules. I especially didn't like that he was forced to live with her. I have a sibling on the spectrum and something like that would not go down that well and it would be a major intrusion on their life
I was absolutely addicted to Helen Hoang's writing after reading the Kiss Quotient last year, and will continue to have no issue reading everything she writes. Saying that, I love-love-love the Bride Test! With the Kiss Quotient there was an immediate gravitation for me in connecting with Stella, she had the similar issues as myself, and without the support group I had, I could've seen myself growing up to be her, but after reading the Bride Test, my heart belongs to Khai, it was impossible to read and not fall for him, his innocence, sincerity, and intensity, was on practically every page. I really enjoyed the pacing of this book, where the Kiss Quotient was intense from page 1, the Bride Test builds throughout which I couldn't have appreciated more. Cannot wait for book 3, Quan's book, but on that same note as nice a 'bad' guy he is, I don't think I'll ever get over my crush on Khai!
I adored this book. While I didn’t quite love it as much as The Kiss Quotient, I still found it sweet and inspiring. Esme’s immigration story is such an important one, and I’m so happy the author decided to tell it.
Not realizing I read this book first. I enjoyed the story very much. There was a lot of humor but mixed in with that was vulnerability and emotions. I enjoyed the characters evolving relationship. I am excited to read the next book.
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