Vietnamese representation!! This is a must read, and is as incredible as The Kiss Quotient. It was everything I wanted for Khai’s story and Esme (just as good as Michael and Stella!!)

Helen Hoang has a second winner here. Great characters rich with culture and patience and love. I love her stories and how they include autistic characters, the world is not a perfect place and everyone needs to learn how to fall in love and deal with grief. Written in her clever style I read this book in one sitting,

The Bride Test was delightful.  Reaching many avenues of race, health, customs, traditions, and romance Helen Hoang's novel tickled the funny bone and pulled at the heart strings as complicated feelings were addressed.  I loved the book.

Helen Hoang's second novel surpasses by expectations which were very high after The Kiss Quotient. Her heroine, Esme Tran, is vibrant and lovable, and I loved the author's note at the end of the book explaining her inspiration. I look forward to Hoang's next book!

I received an ARC of this book and loved it as much as her first. Such great dialogue and character development! I hate a romance where you can’t puzzle out why the characters are sabotaging their own HEA but Hoang really gives so much depth to her characters that you feel deeply for them and their struggles. I was so caught up in the interesting angles of autism and the immigrant experience. I love that she is helping change the face of romance by creating unique characters that challenge our assumptions about what a romance hero or heroine looks like.

I'm pretty heartbroken that I didn't like this at all. I freaking loved The Kiss Quotient, but this left me feeling cold. It kept trying to sell me on a connection that I absolutely didn't buy, and the whole thing felt very... disingenuous? I can't quite put my finger on it. I'm giving it two stars because it's actually pretty readable, it's just that I thought it lacked nuance (which her first book had in spades).

Thanks to Netgalley for this digital ARC!
I waffled between 3.5 and 4 stars for this book because there was something about the first half that wasn't quite grabbing me. The trope of arranged marriage doesn't always sit right with me but at least Helen Hoang made it more interesting than I expected.
If you're a fan of The Kiss Quotient then you'll really like this one. It has the same kind of feel. I must say that it's refreshing to have an autistic character be a love interest even when they struggle to understand what love means for themselves. Khai will make you frustrated but laugh at the same time. You root for him throughout the book to figure out his own feelings and then groan when he screws it up each time. They say to write from experience and Helen Hoang is definitely doing that with both of her characters. Esme is a great character who grows immensely throughout the story. There's a point where she decides to make big changes for herself because she's what's most important. They definitely both have flaws and it takes a while to unwrap each one to see why they're good for each other. The supporting characters have good depth to them and I really liked Quan. He was a great big brother to Khai. There are definitely some issues and weak points to this story and it's not as good as The Kiss Quotient but I believe this will be another hit for the author.

I read this book before the Kiss Quotient because I had heard mixed reviews on it. With that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed The Bride Test. It was unlike anything i’ve ever read before. I enjoyed Helen Hoang’s writing and the smut scenes were pretty good. It was more of a slow burn romance and I wasn’t mad about it.

I was one of many that were wowed by Helen Hoang's debut "The Kiss Quotient." I'm so happy that she decided to stay in this world by giving Khai his story. If you're looking for a cute, timely, and fun contemporary romance look no further! 

Thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for this copy to review.

Khai has always been different. While he has accepted his autism, his family classifies him as being a little strange. He's very good at his job but has difficulty with interpersonal relationships.

Esme grew up not knowing her American father. As a single mother living in poverty in Vietnam, she's just trying to do what she can to care for her daughter and support her family. While cleaning the bathrooms at her job, she meets a Vietnamese woman with a striking proposition: come to America and marry my son. She'll be brought to California, which is where her father went to college and may still reside. Her mother pushes her to seize the opportunity for change.

Khai is blindsided when his mother announces that Esme is arriving in a few days and will be staying with him. What follows is an enthralling story of a man who doesn't think he can love and a woman who just wants a better life.

I read this in a day. Even when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about reading it. Helen Hoang has created a spectacular story with characters you feel you know or that you want to know. The relationship between Khai and his older brother is particularly touching as it helps the reader understand how Khai's mind works. And Esme is a fierce heroine who, when things aren't going her way, doesn't give up on what she wants for her and her daughter's lives. This was really a pleasure to read and I look forward to many more works from this author.

I love Helena Hunting and her diverse characters and storylines! The Kiss Quotient is still my number one but this was a great second book for Hoang. She touches on life as an immigrant as well as life with ASD so well. The romance is steamy and I can't wait to see what she does next!!

This is such a wonderful story. I loved the interaction between all of the characters. The look into the Asian culture was eye opening. I will definitely be looking for more of Helen Hoang's books.

Wow did I love this book!  It is just as good as the authors first book. I loved the story line, the characters and of course the love story. I highly recommend this book!

I didn't think I could love Khai & Esme's story as much as Michael & Stella's, but I did! I'm officially fangirling hard over Helen Hoang! This was a story that I easily was swept away by. I completely lost track of time and obligations. That is what made this a phenomenal read for me.




I don’t know why but I really love when the romance doesn’t come so easy for the main characters. When a character faces challenges that most people don’t, it makes the journey infinitely more interesting. Khai is Michael’s (from “The Kiss Quotient) cousin. He too, has Asperger’s as Stella did from book one, but I would say they aren’t on the same spectrum. Khai’s mother goes off to Vietnam to find her son a bride. She worries that he will be alone for the rest of his life unless she steps in to play cupid for him. She meets Esme, by chance, and is so impressed by her that she offers her an all expense paid trip to San Francisco, where she will spend a couple of months trying to get close to Khai, which will hopefully end up with a wedding.



While Khai and Esme may have come from two different worlds, they really do end up being true soulmates. Khai is set in his ways. Likes his routines. He doesn’t think he needs a woman. Khai doesn’t believe he has a heart, and this stems from tragic losses from his past. He’s internalized a lot of his pain and having Asperger’s, doesn’t make it easy for him to understand his feelings.



Esme comes from very impoverished conditions. She works as a hotel maid in Vietnam, to help support her family. Meeting Khai’s mother and being offered a trip to San Francisco was almost too good to be true to Esme, but she has an honest soul and marrying someone just to get a green card to be able to stay in the U.S., was not something she could ever go through with. Her plan was to find her American father, who left Vietnam before she was born and gain citizenship that way. But, when she sees Khai for the first time, there is no denying her heart was beating for him. Poor Esme battles with insecurities. She thinks being poor and not having a college education, make her an unsuitable match for Khai.



Their relationship starts off awkward but eventually strong attraction takes hold and Esme is falling hard for Khai, but he truly believes he is incapable of loving anyone else, and so the angst ensues. 



I loved the relationship between Khai and his older brother Quan, who was always there for his brother. He took it upon himself to help Khai maneuver through some challenges that he was not equipped to handle on his own. 



You can’t help but root for this couple to find a way to overcome their challenges and end up in a happily ever after that they truly deserved. I was so sad when I got to the end of the story because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to these wonderful characters.


Here are my overall ratings:

Hero: 5
Heroine: 5
Plot: 5
Angst: 5
Steam: 4
Chemistry Between Hero & Heroine: 5

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the eARC of this book!

I was so exited to see what Helen Hoang would do after the <i>Kiss Quotient</i>, which I absolutely loved. The <i>Bride Test</i> is the story of Khai, Michael's cousin from <i>Kiss</i>, a Vietnamese-American tech CEO, who is autistic and believes he can't love, and Esme, a Vietnamese woman brought to California by Khai's mother on the off-chance that she'll want to marry Khai and that she'll be able to find her American father. 

This was a lovely story. Esme/My is a great romance heroine. She is kind and loving, but her ambition, intelligence, and bravery really shine through. As other reviewers have noted, Helen Hoang's author's note is a must-read for more insight into her decisions about this character. I liked Khai too, and I was interested to see a different vision of what being autistic looks like than we saw in Hoang's first book, but I think you can tell that this time, Esme is the character Hoang needed to write. 

This book fits in well with Hoang's first, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes <i>Kiss Quotient</i> or other contemporary romances like Jasmine Guillory's books. I hope Helen is planning Quan's story next - whatever it is, I will absolutely read it.

I'm so glad Helen Hoang decided to share her writing and bless us with both The Kiss Quotient and now The Bride Test. I'm not sure which book I enjoyed more!

I'm glad I took the time to read the acknowledgments at the end of the book because the insight about Helen's inspiration made this story about ten times more moving and important. I hadn't thought about it until it was pointed out to me (cringe), but the romance world doesn't have nearly enough stories about women who are less than perfect. Sure, there are stories where women have perceived flaws, but they're always trivial - and usually end up being proven wrong but their love interest! Esme was "flawed" in the book world - she barely speaks English, she's a level of poor that's not represented often, and she's uneducated. Not a combo I've seen in many heroines before. And as a reader, I loved her. She was relatable, determined, engaging, and seemed like so much fun. If someone deserved to be depressed or concerned about her life, it was Esme and instead she was always smiling, always happy, and so, so deserving of love.

I already can't wait to read this book again. Esme and Khai's story is one that I hope gets a lot of attention (and I'm sure it will). Helen Hoang has firmly cemented herself as one of my favorite authors. I devour her books and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!