Sara's Review: The Bride Test (The Kiss Quotient #2) by Helen Hoang

REVIEWER PURCHASE PUBLISHER: Dreamscape Media, LLC

NARRATOR: Emily Woo Zeller RELEASED: May 7, 2019 GENRE: CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE LENGTH: 10 hours FORMAT: EBOOK, AUDIBLE, PAPERBACK

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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. FIVE BOUNDLESS STARS

In the follow-up novel to The Kissing Quotient Hoang once again brought her A game. I am not sure if she is writing from a place of personal experience, dealing with adults with Autism and Asperger’s, but I feel she must be. There is just so much emotion and soul in these characters they feel real. Khai believes he has no feeling that his Autism makes him unable to love. His family knows better, and his mom goes to Vietnam to find him a wife. She finds Esme a hardworking, kind, funny, generous and caring woman who can’t say no to the chance at a better life. Esme knows she has her work cut out for her trying to win Khai over, but she isn’t afraid of hard work. Warning, don’t even attempt to put on makeup while listening to the audiobook. I can remember the last time a book had me so emotional. I was in tears so much. Esme is not understanding what Autism has had no forewarning dealing with Khai, and she struggled. Khai struggles with his feelings, and the books were such an emotional rollercoaster for me. I loved every minute, tears, and all.