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nerdinthelibrary 's review for:
The Bride Test
by Helen Hoang
Review also posted to my blog.
1) The Kiss Quotient ★★★★
content warnings: racism, sexism, ableism, classism, loss of a loved one
representation: vietnamese autistic main character, biracial (vietnamese-white) main character, vietnamese main and side characters
Helen Hoang was already more or less an autobuy author for me, but it's now official. Within a few months she's become one of my favourite romance authors.
The sequel to her debut novel The Kiss Quotient follows Michael's cousin Khai who, after a tragedy years earlier, feels as if he is incapable of experiencing love. His mum is worried about him and decides to go to Vietnam in search of a bride for him where she finds Mỹ, a young woman living in poverty. She convinces Mỹ (who changes her name to Esme) to come to America over the summer in an attempt for Esme to seduce Khai.
I loved everything about this book. Helen Hoang's writing is just as addictive as ever and the sex scenes, while far fewer than her previous book for obvious reasons, are still fun and sexy.
Where Hoang excels in my opinion is in her construction of characters. I didn't think it was possible, but I ended up loving Khai and Esme even more than Michael and Stella. Esme in particular has become one of my new all-time favourite romance heroines. I appreciated that she was a character who comes from poverty, which is a type of character you rarely see in fiction ever let alone in a romance novel. She also has a young daughter who she had with a man she's no longer with and never married, which is also something you rarely see in romances.
The thing I loved the most though was the fact that she had very specific goals outside of her relationship with Khai. Her initial motivations for going to America is to make extra money, attempt to get a better life for her daughter, mother and grandmother, and find her American father she never met. When she gets there, she decides to start attending school to improve her English and complete the education she was never able to because she wasn't able to finish high school. She is also actively trying to find her father for the entirety of the book, taking initiative at every turn.
Her relationship with Khai was also so sweet. There's lots of misunderstandings and awkwardness, but it still ended up warming my heart so much. There's one particular scene where Esme offers to cut Khai's hair and he tells her that he's autistic so he wants her to do it a certain way. Despite not knowing what autism is, Esme knows that he is trusting her with something very important and follows his instructions to the letter. It was such a wonderful scene that really sealed the deal for me in terms of how perfect their relationship is.
To be honest, despite the same rating I enjoyed this more than The Kiss Quotient. I'm so ridiculously excited for the next book which is meant to focus on Quan, but lets be honest, I would be ridiculously excited for literally anything Helen Hoang wrote.
1) The Kiss Quotient ★★★★
content warnings: racism, sexism, ableism, classism, loss of a loved one
representation: vietnamese autistic main character, biracial (vietnamese-white) main character, vietnamese main and side characters
“The words wrapped around and around them, drawing them together.
Em yêu anh yêu em.
Girl loves boy loves girl.”
Helen Hoang was already more or less an autobuy author for me, but it's now official. Within a few months she's become one of my favourite romance authors.
The sequel to her debut novel The Kiss Quotient follows Michael's cousin Khai who, after a tragedy years earlier, feels as if he is incapable of experiencing love. His mum is worried about him and decides to go to Vietnam in search of a bride for him where she finds Mỹ, a young woman living in poverty. She convinces Mỹ (who changes her name to Esme) to come to America over the summer in an attempt for Esme to seduce Khai.
I loved everything about this book. Helen Hoang's writing is just as addictive as ever and the sex scenes, while far fewer than her previous book for obvious reasons, are still fun and sexy.
Where Hoang excels in my opinion is in her construction of characters. I didn't think it was possible, but I ended up loving Khai and Esme even more than Michael and Stella. Esme in particular has become one of my new all-time favourite romance heroines. I appreciated that she was a character who comes from poverty, which is a type of character you rarely see in fiction ever let alone in a romance novel. She also has a young daughter who she had with a man she's no longer with and never married, which is also something you rarely see in romances.
The thing I loved the most though was the fact that she had very specific goals outside of her relationship with Khai. Her initial motivations for going to America is to make extra money, attempt to get a better life for her daughter, mother and grandmother, and find her American father she never met. When she gets there, she decides to start attending school to improve her English and complete the education she was never able to because she wasn't able to finish high school. She is also actively trying to find her father for the entirety of the book, taking initiative at every turn.
Her relationship with Khai was also so sweet. There's lots of misunderstandings and awkwardness, but it still ended up warming my heart so much. There's one particular scene where Esme offers to cut Khai's hair and he tells her that he's autistic so he wants her to do it a certain way. Despite not knowing what autism is, Esme knows that he is trusting her with something very important and follows his instructions to the letter. It was such a wonderful scene that really sealed the deal for me in terms of how perfect their relationship is.
To be honest, despite the same rating I enjoyed this more than The Kiss Quotient. I'm so ridiculously excited for the next book which is meant to focus on Quan, but lets be honest, I would be ridiculously excited for literally anything Helen Hoang wrote.