**I received an ARC from the publisher. These are my honest opinions, and in no way was I compensated for this review.**
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
Release Date: May 7, 2019
My Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 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.
⚞💛⚟
Em yêu anh yêu em.Girl loves boy loves girl.The Kiss Quotient was probably one of my favorite reads of 2018, and I was unbelievably excited for its sequel, The Bride Test! I am always so desperate for Vietnamese rep, and Helen Hoang really delivers it in a way I've never gotten before. The Bride Test is an amazing book, filled with love and understanding and heart.
This book really took my breath away; I honestly couldn't put it down! Esme and Khải are great narrators, and I loved following them on their journeys. Esme is struggling to adapt to American life and to make Khải fall in love with her. Khải is trying to adapt to the changes in his life with the introduction of Esme into his life and to not fall in love with her.
Esme is truly amazing. Following an immigrant as a narrator was definitely eye-opening, and in Hoang's author's note, she notes that she does not have first-hand experience as an immigrant and goes on to list resources for you to read and to learn more about it. She also writes that the research that went into this novel brought her closer to her mother, a Vietnamese immigrant; I teared up at this point because I share this same experience. This is why we need #ownvoices books! I also liked that Esme has a child (despite never formally being in a relationship with her child's father) but is never ashamed of this. She certainly believes that ever falling for her daughter's father was a mistake, but the love that she has for her daughter is massive and unending.
The Bride Test is also #ownvoices for autism representation in Khải. It is definitely interesting reading how he believes he doesn't have feelings, just because he doesn't experience them like most everyone else does. This definitely got me thinking about how we, as a society, portray a "normal" way to feel, when everyone is different and expresses their emotions in different ways, especially love. Khải thinks he's incapable of love because he doesn't feel the passion and intensity that's often portrayed; however, love can be subtle: it can be slow-growing, shown in small, everyday gestures. This book is evidence of that, and I loved reading a different take on a love story.
Khải's brother, Quân, is honestly the best! He's such a great brother and overall person, helping both Khải and Esme in their times of need. Can we get a book about him please?? I also loved seeing him and Khải and Michael interact, although I desperately need more of them together.
I've touched on this throughout this review, but the Viet representation in this book is truly some of the best I've ever read. The fact that I get to read about Vietnamese people, eating Vietnamese food, mentioning little bits of Vietnamese culture, all while falling in love . . . it honestly still makes me cry. I so rarely get to see Vietnamese characters, much less have them centered in a love story. Hoang is writing more sequels in this series with Michael's sisters as the protagonists, if you didn't know, and I smile every time I remember this. #ownvoices books mean so, so much.
The Bride Test is a stunning sequel to its already amazing predecessor. You'll be sure to fall in love with Esme and Khải over and over throughout the book as they fall in love with each other. The Vietnamese rep is some of the best I've ever had the chance to read, and I'm forever grateful for it. The Bride Test is a poignant tale of an immigrant's struggle to adapt, of a man with autism adapting to change, of a slow-growing, but eternally steady love.
⚞💛⚟
About the Author: Helen Hoang is that shy person who never talks. Until she does. And the worst things fly out of her mouth. She read her first romance novel in eighth grade and has been addicted ever since. In 2016, she was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in line with what was previously known as Asperger’s Syndrome. Her journey inspired THE KISS QUOTIENT. She currently lives in San Diego, California with her husband, two kids, and pet fish.
No comments
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.