Wow. So to keep this short since I am tired and hungry going to say that everything worked for me except I thought that someone should have explained Khai's autism to Esme a lot better than they did. I also thought the harebrained scheme his brother cooked up was ridiculous and was honestly one of the things that took me right out of the book. I did think that Hoang still does a great job with love scenes and sexual tension. I loved our quick glimpses into Michael and Stella but really wanted more. I have to say that I thought it was odd to have what we see as Michael opting out of things to Stella not liking crowds, and thought how weird it was that he couldn't just to to events without her. Okay, moving on. The ending was okay, just not great to me with the four years later leap which didn't show much of anything had changed except with two secondary characters that I really didn't care much about.

"The Bride Test' follows Khai Diep. We heard about him and I think may have gotten a scene with him (I can't remember) in the last book. Khai was know is autistic but seems to have a more severe form. This has Khai believing he has no feelings and can't love people which one would think would have been discussed before now, but here we are. Khai's mother is worried he will never marry and flies back to Vietnam to find a bride for him. She ends up meeting Esme Tran in Ho Chi Minh City in a bathroom of all places. Esme had her life derailed by an unexpected pregnancy. Now she works as a maid and has dreams of finding the American father that abandoned her pregnant mother more than two decades earlier. Khai's mother sees something in Esme and offers to fly her to America to meet her son and convince him to marry her.

This book follows Esme and Khai starting to fall for each other though Khai is reluctant to be with anyone and likes his routines. I actually ended up liking Khai a lot in this story. There's a hilarious scene discussing sex with him, his brother Quan, and Michael. I still am a bit confused about what he does for a job though. You find out that losing his best friend when he was younger along with his father has really affected Khai a lot and it was something that no one really talked with him before.

Esme is determined to not just stay with Khai unless he loves her and I have to say that I liked the fact she was focused on going to school and paving a way for her mother and daughter. The chemistry between Khai and Esme was wonderful to see and as I said the love scenes though not as numerous as the last book were great.

The writing was very good and the flow worked up until the end with what I call the this must be a Hallmark Movie twist/ending. It just didn't work for me and I found myself annoyed by it. 

The book ends on a weird note too and I literally flipped back to make sure I had not read four years later. I had a lot of questions about immigration and all of that but just decided to pretend that in this world Donald Trump isn't a thing. 

Reading a book for pleasure after finishing a master’s degree is really hard. When I picked this up, I felt guilty most of the time because I felt I had to be doing something else. However, I pushed through and I’m glad I did because this book is so heartwarming and I love Khai and Esme so much. I truly do. What a flawed and loving couple they are.

The only thing I didn’t love was the ending. It was super rushed to the point that I nearly got whiplash. I think an extra chapter might’ve helped the end breathe a bit better.

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 important emotions, like love. 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. Seducing Khai, however, doesn't go as planned. She's hopelessly smitten with a man who's convinced he can never return her affection.

Review

I was charmed by Khai and Esme. I love all the families here. 

Esme is lovely and brave. Watching her fall in love with Khai is great. 

I love a marriage of connivence kind of plot and tie that in with a celebration of immigrants and I am in. 

Esme has her own journey of finding her value and Khai's in finding his value as well around the depth of his emotions though they are processed differently than others. 

Hoang does a good job in avoiding pitfalls in this story and the writing is crisp and engaging.

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I really liked this romance. It is really hard to avoid comparing this book to the author's debut novel, The Kiss Quotient. We do see some familiar characters in this book and I am actually glad that there is a connection. Don't let that fool you though. This is a very different story and I thought it was pretty original. I have a great time with this one.

I liked the set up for this story. I thought that it was fun that the whole story begins with Khai's matchmaking mother. It wasn't quite an arranged marriage story since both characters were able to choose but I thought it was a fun premise for a contemporary story. Both Khai and Esme had personalities that made the entire set up of the story believable and I have to say that I can understand why Khai's mom decided to take matters into her own hands.

I really liked both of the characters a lot but I would have to say that Khai was my favorite. Khai is autistic and doesn't always see everything the same way that others do. He knows this and has decided that he is broken and unable to feel. He is very high functioning and is very successful in his career. His personal life isn't doing as well before he meets Esme. I think that Khai learned a lot about himself over the course of this story and it was great to see him learn how to be a part of a relationship.

Esme really wants to change her life for herself and her daughter. She decides to take Khai's mother up on her offer to spend the summer with Khai in California in a quest to do just that. She is not afraid of hard work and really does try to make Khai happy. Unfortunately, she didn't always understand what Khai needed. I actually liked Esme more as the story progressed and she started focusing more on herself. It was at that point that I felt like I really got to know her and her passions.

I think that the romance between these two worked well on a lot of different levels. Neither one of them felt like they belonged so they had something in common. Khai explained what he needed and Esme worked really hard to deliver. They had a lot of chemistry and I really felt that they both seemed to be better when they were together.

I thought that Emily Woo Zeller did an amazing job with this story. I thought that she did a great job with both points of view in the story. Character voices were also really well done and I thought that she brought a lot of emotion into the story. I am really glad that I made the decision to listen to this book.

I would recommend this book to others. This was a wonderful romance with incredibly strong and unique characters. It really was a joy to watch this happily ever after come together. I can't wait to read more from Helen Hoang!

I received a digital review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group via Edelweiss and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.