I am back, my book wanderer friends! I have risen from the book blogger crypts (or wherever place book bloggers lie when they are dead in the book blogging world) because I need to tell you about this new book by romance maven, Helen Hoang.
Huge thanks to Fay of Bibliophile Soprano for hosting the PH Blog Tour for "The Bride Test" by Helen Hoang.
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.
Series: The Kiss Quotient #2 (but can be read as a standalone)
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: adult, romance, contemporary
Publication date: May 7th, 2019
Purchase links: Amazon | Indiebound | iBooks | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble
About Helen
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.
Helen is represented by Kim Lionetti of BookEnds Literary Agency.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
My Thoughts:
Very early on in “The Bride Test” (TBT), it established what is holding back Khai for the most part of the book: he thinks he is not capable of love. The events that led him to this mindset happened in his teens, tens years ago. Now at twenty-six years old, Khai is still decidedly single. All his mother’s efforts of matching him with American girls failed, so what’s a mother to do but fly to her home country and find her son a Vietnamese bride-to-be. Enter Esme, a young single mom working as a cleaning lady in the hotel where Khai's mom is screening bride-to-be candidates. All candidates didn’t pass the mom’s “bride test”. As luck would have it, the mom took notice of Esme cleaning the toilets in the hotel’s posh washroom and asked her the same “bride test” question and she passed! Esme is not immediately on board with the idea but with some pushing from her own mom (1. an opportunity to have a better life for herself and her five-year-old daughter 2. find her American dad), she eventually agreed. Arrangements were made for Esme’s stay in America. Khai's mom pulled a “make your mom happy” card on him, so he agreed on Esme staying at his house over the summer and attending family functions as an engaged couple.
Some fairy tale elements did not escape me. Like Khai’s mom and the character Miss Q, seemed to serve up nothing more but the roles of Esme’s fairy godmothers. I must admit that the premise is also pretty hokey. The initial circumstances hardly sound like a possibility in real life. BUT (take note, that’s a “but” in all caps), once the reader gets past the setup and gets to know more about Khai and Esme, the trepidation becomes temporary and the fairy tale becomes believable.
Khai is a soft cinnamon roll who is consumed by this wrong mindset about his inability to love. He is so pure, I want to protect him. Then he gets to spend time with this foreign girl, Esme, and suddenly his rules and routines are invaded by her strangeness. In no time, Khai is consumed by his attraction to Esme. He tried to brush off being attracted to her as a mere distraction. He tried to avoid her by making her sleep on a couch in another room or by going to work even on a Sunday. Of course, all those efforts failed and he starts falling for her. But he justified these feelings as just some sort of addiction. On her part, Esme finds Khai strange, too. But she does not judge him for his autism tendencies. She accepts him for who he is even though at first, she is not aware of what autism really is.
So they find each other strange and are attracted to each other’s strangeness. That and the bits of arranged marriage and fake dating tropes and you have a recipe for Fun Sexual Tension Scenes™. I was amused by their clumsy encounters and how they awkwardly deal with their attraction. Khai and his blue balls. Esme trying her best to “seduce” Khai. The couple’s chemistry is so palpable that whenever they are in a room together, it immediately becomes a sexually charged scene. Although “The Kiss Quotient” (TKQ), the author’s debut, is more generous in terms of smut, I still find TBT ample enough to satiate my thirsty adult woman needs.
I should also mention this fun bit that totally cracked me up: when Khai called his older brother Quan for advice on sex (pure Khai is still lacking in experience) but Quan can’t fully explain it that they have to ask help from cousin Michael (from TKQ!). I love how this scene delivers a message that women’s pleasure in sex is as important as men’s. And honestly, these three sexy men in one scene is more than what my heart (and ovaries) can handle. Speaking of Quan, my original request for a book about him still stands. Can someone please point me the sign-up petition to make this happen soon?
I am ending this to comment on the author’s note at the back of the book. The author related how in the first drafts, Esme is not really Khai’s original love interest but the “other woman” in a love triangle. But Esme’s character kept outshining the original LI that she decided to reconceptualize her book. I think that decision really paid off here and it also goes to show that she knows how to listen to her characters and that she is really passionate about them. I said that at first, the premise comes off to me as too fairytale-like. But eventually, the author did not forget to inject the book with the harsh realities of the immigrants or even the mail order brides. She made Esme experience and feel them in the book. It was also touched through Esme’s conversation with her friend, Angelika. Of course, the author herself is diagnosed with autism, making her take on Khai’s character credible and convincing. The author’s passion to tell these people’s stories translated to both Khai and Esme as layered characters with real-life problems, insecurities, and motivations. Both of them jumped off the page and made me, the reader, care for their happiness.
Diversity Watch:
Khai is an American with Vietnamese descent. He is diagnosed with autism. #ownvoices on autism
Esme is born and raised in Vietnam. Her mom is Vietnamese, her dad is American. She is described with seafoam green eyes. In the author’s note, it is mentioned that the author’s mother is an immigrant from Vietnam and she inspired Esme’s character.
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Up for grabs to lucky PH readers are 2 proof copies of the book!!! Click the Rafflecopter link below for the deets on how to join:
Don't forget to follow the tour and hop on these blogs on their designated stops:
May 5:
Athena D. - The Book Junkie’s Blog
Treena - wellreadmisty
May 6:
Jennilyn - Rurouni Jenni Reads
Angelica - Whimsy Wanders
May 7:
Fay - Bibliophile Soprano
Karlita - Tale Out Loud
May 8:
Alexia - The Bookworm Daydreamer
Ynnah - The Youngvamp’s Haven
May 9:
Leslie - Bibliophilekid
Kate - Your Tita Kate
May 10:
Cathrina - Puggyreader Writes
Princess - Princess and Pages
May 11:
Shaine - Wanderer in Neverland
Athena S. - The Night Faerie
May 12:
Elena - The Queen Reads
Abigail - Reading Flamingo
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I'd love to hear from you!
Romance readers, are you excited to inhale this book? What are you most excited about? Please tell me that I am not the only one wishing for a book about Quan?!
