The Bride Test ~ Review

Title: The Bride Test
Series: The Kiss Quotient #2
Author: Helen Hoang
Release Date: May 7, 2019
Genres: Contemporary Romance
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.

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*****My Review*****

I read and loved The Kiss Quotient last year. I loved it so much that I reread it this year even with The Bride Test sitting unread on my bookshelf. I don’t know what made me so reluctant to pick this one up except maybe I knew going in that it just wouldn’t be quite as awesome. And after reading it, I can still say that’s the case for me, but I still very much enjoyed it. And I was very pleased that I enjoyed it as much as I did because it contains a trope that I’m really not a fan of ~ going into a relationship with lies.

Needless to say, I wasn’t a super fan of Esme right off the bat because of the lies. I definitely understood her situation and felt for her and her family. I am still a firm believer in honesty being the best policy, though. And I wanted her to come clean WAY before she did. And while I’m on that topic, I didn’t like how it was revealed and dealt with in the end. There are definitely a lot of readers that won’t mind the trope or how it’s dealt with and I think will just appreciate how it adds to the tension.

Speaking of tension…there’s plenty of it! Khai is definitely liking what he’s seeing and Esme works hard at feeding that. And let me say that one of my favorite parts of the story is when Khai has to go to his brother for some advice and Michael is brought into the conversation. It’s definitely amusing and yet your heart is going out to Khai at the same time! And while I’m mentioning Michael, there’s another particular scene that was just so swoony, and The Kiss Quotient fans won’t be disappointed!

After Khai chats with Quan and Michael, he decides to open up and have a conversation with Esme, which just lead me to tears. Esme definitely began pulling on my heartstrings. I never thought what she was doing was right, but I definitely felt for the girl! And then she goes on to have further heartbreak. I want to make a little note here saying how much I enjoyed seeing Khai learn to have a relationship with his autism playing such a big role, too.

I was a little bummed with the way everything wrapped up so quickly, and I didn’t love all that the prologue had to offer. I wanted a little bit of an explanation. But all in all, I was happy for Khai and Esme and really enjoyed their story. 4 Stars!!

 

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We’re back to getting a bunch of rain. We did get a rain-free day on the 4th and were able to pop some fireworks. But, that was the only day in a while with no rain. I’m sitting out on my porch watching it come down this morning. It’s gloomy but still light out. I’m so tempted to curl up in bed and read Pride. I know I’d just end up falling asleep, though. LOL! And as usual, I have too much to do.

Happy Reading,

Alison