Another solid book from Helen Hoang, 3.5 stars rounded up to 4! And thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC to review.

Like The Kiss Quotient, The Bride Test features an autistic main character and this time it's a man, Khai. The book opens with his cousin's (who was also his best friend) funeral, and you realize Khai thinks he has a stone heart because he's not processing his grief like everyone else around him. No tears, just numbness. This pivotal event begins his withdrawal and isolation, and he believes he is incapable of love. Khai buries himself in work and avoids relationships for years, to the point that his mother decides to go looking for a bride for him.

My lives in Vietnam and cleans toilets in a hotel to support her 5-year-old daughter, Jade, and her mother and grandmother. In a chance meeting at the hotel, Khai's mother is impressed with her work ethic, and shocks My with a sudden proposal to take a trip to America and try to make her son fall in love with her. An arranged marriage? Whaaaa? Americans don't do this! But My takes the offer, thinking it could be the ticket to a better life for her and her family, or at the very least, it would be a free trip to America to track down her American father, a man she's never met.

Khai and My (also called Esme when she comes to America) come from very divergent backgrounds: Khai is a wealthy, educated American with a professional job and autism. My, on the other hand, is neurotypical, a school dropout with a manual labor job, and a single mother attempting to navigate a new country. They speak different languages, they have different levels of sexual experience, and My has that daughter that she's keeping secret...for now. With so many differences, how could they ever make it work?

It's definitely not love at first sight, but slowly and sweetly Khai and My start to see the good in each other. The arranged marriage trope is everywhere in romances, but Hoang was able to turn it into something fresh. She uses humor (Khai running home in a suit like the Terminator, My's hammer pants!), and very human main characters. I particularly liked naive, hardworking My who overcame obstacles as an immigrant in America and searched for her unknown father. The author's note at the end of the book, where she wrote about her mother's struggles and successes as an immigrant from Vietnam to America, was especially touching.

Something that didn't work for me, and it's a flaw I found to be true in her previous book as well, is that the secondary characters aren't fleshed out enough, and they feel like props for the main characters. The exception to this is Quan, who is a fantastic character. And now I have one question: when can we read Quan's story???

I may be the only person who hasn't read The Kiss Quotient, but I fully intend to after reading Hoang's sophomore novel. This is a fun, fast-paced romance that will capture everyone's heart this Spring!

Not your typical romance, Hoang again creates characters with depth and uniqueness. Esme is Vietnamese, coming to the States with the hope of changing the circumstances of her life and offering a better life for her daughter. She makes a deal to come to the US to enter into a marriage. Khai is high functioning autistic, unable to easily express himself and his feelings, or so he believes. There is so much more than romance to this story. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC; recommended.

In the same family as her The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang writes another SIlicon Valley love story. Her characters are interesting and well-written, particularly our hero, Khai (who we met in The Kiss Quotient as the cousin of Michael). Khai has Autism, is super smart, and believes he is the type of person who is just fine on his own. He is immensely likable and understandable. My, or Esme, is a single mother from Vietnam who happens to meet Khai's mother one fateful day. Khai's mother arranges for My to go to America for the summer in hopes of winning over her son. My takes the opportunity because she longs for new opportunities for herself and her daughter. Of course, our characters fall in love but there are many complications to them being able to be together.

I love how we hear from both Khai and My about their unique struggles. These characters made me stop and think about how people are judged and stereotyped in our society today. The story is lovely and romantic, but it's the characters with these unique perspectives that really makes it stand out.

Read this even if you haven't read The Kiss Quotient yet!

I definitely enjoyed this second installment in Hoang's TKQ series, though not as much as her debut. It had a very engaging plot, and I found it hard to put down in order to do necessary things, like sleep, eat, work.

The author does an excellent job with character development - I felt like I knew the characters personally. I loved Esme for how hardworking and earnest she was in achieving her goals. And I really enjoyed traveling with Khai as he gained a better understanding of himself and his feelings. While I know most people experience physical symptoms as a result of strong emotions, reading about it from Khai's perspective was enlightening for me.

I only had one issue with the story, but it was an important one given the current political climate. I felt that the subplot of Esme's immigration process was not handled properly and paints a thoroughly unrealistic picture. I know it's a work of fiction, and most readers will either be unaware of the inaccuracies, or will be willing to suspend disbelief in favor of the HEA. However, I felt that a little research and a some revision to the storyline could have made it less of an issue.

OMG...all the feels! I. Loved. This. Seriously, The Bride Test by Helen Hoang was sexy, sweet, funny and so swoon-worthy! You need to lock yourself in a room and devour it!

A full review will post at Caffeinated Reviewer on May 6th. I will share it on all social media and I will post a review on Goodreads and Amazon. Link below valid on 5/6/19 Thank you.

I loved Kiss Quotient, and this follow-up did not disappoint. A fun read with fresh perspectives, interesting characters and just enough steamy romance.

While this was a light, somewhat entertaining read, I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as Kiss Quotient. The plot and the way the characters act are not believable.
The first 3/4 of the book is just the MCs being awkward and misunderstanding one another again and again. I kept cringing. I thought the depiction of Autism at the beginning of book was good, but as the story went on, I couldn’t understand why Khai didn’t explain himself to Esme (and vice versa).
There are a few subplots that are just addressed very tangentially through most of the book and the entire story just falls into place and gets tied up in a neat little bow in the very last chapter sort of out of nowhere.
Nonetheless, I did find myself rooting for the characters and it was generally an entertaining read.

This ended up at around 3.5 stars for me. I adored The Kiss Quotient and I knew the chances of The Bride Test living up to that were low, however I found myself more disappointed than I even expected. The first half of the book is very slow and there’s little to no chemistry or romance between the leads. It felt like the set up for their love story had to go on for so long that I wasn’t getting invested in them as a couple, so much as I was invested in Esme/My as an individual. Had this been my first read by Hoang I would have DNFed. However, I’m glad I stuck it out because the second half brought the emotion and charm I was expecting. It takes that long for Khai to warm to Esme and that was where I could finally root for them and their HEA.

A romance with lots of heart, substance, and intrigue. Highly recommend to lovers of both romance and literary fiction.

I actually liked this one better than The Kiss Quotient. Esme was such a fun character to read. I really liked the way the author managed to make her stand up for herself while at the same time being uncertain about her place and how she fit into her new world.

I loved this book! I have not yet read the Kiss Quotient, but this book stands alone and you are not missing anything by not reading that book first. But now that I have finished the Bride Test, I certainly will pick it up!
The Bride test is very unique and its nice to see a main character you don’t often get to see in books. It was interesting to learn about the American/Vietnamese culture and how people process their emotions. The key takeaway I had from this book is communication and how important it is to communicate with yourself and others. I definitely recommend it and cant wait to read The Kiss Quotient!

I read a TON of romance, so it is pretty hard to impress me. I want a book that is different, sucks me in, and has me feeling all the feels. The Bride Test was all this and more. Khai has no feelings, or at least he thinks he doesn't until Esme walks into his life thanks to his meddling mother. Their arranged meeting has a deadline though, and culture shock, past hurts, and lots of secrets all conspire to put a stop to their love story.

Beyond the fact that the writing was great, the slow burn romance was hot, and the love story was sweet, it is also amazing to be able to read and then know that I can recommend a book that not only features a diverse set of characters, but also one that has characters on the autism spectrum.

The Bride Test definitely lives up to the hype of Hoang’s first book The Kiss Quotient. In this book she deals flawlessly with a main character with autism as he struggles to let a stranger his mother chose as a bride for him get close to him. What ensues is a heartbreaking, humorous, and honest attempt at a relationship between two strangers. Great supporting characters.

After reading The Kiss Quotient, my expectations were high for the sequel. As an autistic woman, I connected with the main character of the first book in a big way and I was glad to see that The Bride Test featured another neurodiverse character. I enjoyed seeing the differences between one autistic character and another as they were not presented as monoliths. The relationship Khai has with his family is fun to read about, especially between him and Quan, and I would have liked to see more of it. I enjoyed getting to know Esme but I felt as if the power balance between her and Khai was off. She was so desperate to change her circumstances that the romance sometimes felt a bit forced. Perhaps that is why this book seemed a little less steamy than it’s predecessor.

All in all, The Bride Test is an enjoyable romance that I will read again and recommend far and wide! More romance featuring autistic and/or non-white protagonists is needed in the publishing world and this is an excellent example of such done well.

Wow. Helen Hoang has done it again! In The Bride Test we meet Khai and Esme. Khai's mom is sick of seeing Khai shut himself off from the world. So, on a trip to Vietnam, she sets off to find him a wife. After a long line of awful interviews, she stumbles across a lovely young woman cleaning the bathrooms. Something about Esme speaks to her and she convinces Esme to come to America to meet her son. Soon Esme finds herself in America, trying to win over a guy in the hopes of not only changing her life, but the life of her whole family. The only problem is, Khai is a hard nut to crack. It doesn't take long for their mutual "trial run" summer to turn into a bond that cannot be broken. The only problem is, Khai is unable to feel emotions and that includes love.

I really liked that we got both POV's in this story. If we didn't get Khai's thoughts on things, he would have been a very easy character to write off and hate. However, you are aware of his inner workings and therefor know that he processes things a lot differently than most people. So, when he reacts a certain way, or says something that could be considered hurtful or tactless, you know that in his mind, he's just being honest or reacting to the situation naturally.

Esme was also someone that you would probably get the wrong idea about if you didn't get her POV. I mean, this random woman shows up in the bathroom and offers to fly her to America in order to seduce and marry her son... and she agrees. Is she in it for the money? Is she only looking to get a green card? At first? I'm sure that was in the front of her mind, considering her, her daughter, her mother, and her grandmother were all huddled up on the floor in front of the stove in order to stay warm at night. However, because we get her POV, we see her shift from trying to please Khai and do things that she thinks would gain her favor, to just being herself and trying to help him out.

I really like that this author not only writes about characters that might find themselves in interesting and taboo situations, but she also incorporates characters who fall along the Autism Spectrum. Stella (in the first book) had Asperger's, and Khai has autism. Both characters view situations differently and both were able to find love in the end (even when they thought it was impossible). While The Kiss Quotient was a bit more on the physical side of things, The Bride Test slowed things down a bit and we got more of an emotional story between two people.

I really enjoyed my time reading The Bride Test. I honestly read it in one sitting because I just couldn't seem to put the book down. While it had a different tempo than The Kiss Quotient, it was still an amazing read. You don't need to read The Kiss Quotient in order to read The Bride Test. Even though Khai and Michael are cousins, their stories don't really intersect at all. So, if The Bride Test sounds like something you'd love, then I highly suggest you grab a copy.

Another cute romance by the author of the Kiss Quotient. The mother or a rich vietnamese and Autistic man goes to Vietnam to find a wife for her son. She brings Esmerelda to the U.S. and gives her 3 months to charm her son into marrying her. Cute love story.

Loooooooved this! I love the way Helen Hoang writes about characters we don't get to see very often.

Helen Hoang does it again. I loved "The Kiss Quotient" and didn't think it was possible to like her work any more than I already did -- and then I read "The Bride Test." It was heart-warming and even somewhat suspenseful, and Helen Hoang writes her characters so beautifully, you'll fall in love with them, too.

Somewhat predictable but an enjoyable, fun read on a Sunday afternoon. I loved the immigrant experience coupled with the melding of two cultures.