From the Bookshelf of Diversity in All Forms!…

The Bride Test (The Kiss Quotient, #2)

Helen Hoang

Start date: October 1, 2019

Finish date: October 29, 2019

Discussion: Finish the Series

Why we're reading this: In September we read The Kiss Quotient (the first book in The Kiss Quotient Series). A lot of the members…more
[close] In September we read The Kiss Quotient (the first book in The Kiss Quotient Series). A lot of the members read the first book and said the second book is fantastic. Not only does it educate about Autism but also Korean culture.

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Showing 2 of 2 topics — 13 comments total

Finish the Series

Anne of Avonlea (September 2020)
By Mariah Roze · 7 posts · 39 views

last updated Jul 10, 2025 12:53PM

The Bride Test (October 2019)
By Mariah Roze · 6 posts · 55 views

last updated Nov 19, 2019 05:47AM

What Members Thought

Nov 02, 2019 Mariah Roze rated it really liked it

Shelves: diversity-in-all-forms-book-club

I finally finished this book. I was surprised when I started reading it because I thought it would be a second book to the first one. However, it was a completely different story and plot. That caught me off guard and definitely disappointing me in the beginning.

However, I actually really enjoyed it. I probably enjoyed it more than the first. I liked the story outline and the characters. There were a couple parts that I thought were unrealistic, but it was still really enjoyable. This book would ...more

13 likes · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2022 Musings on Living rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance-contemporary, disability, ownvoices, asian-author

4.5🌟

5 likes · Like · see review

May 07, 2020 Martha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: would-read-again, fiction, read-2020, read-women-20, bipoc-authors-east-asian, neurodiverse

I loved The Kiss Quotient - as in could not put it down, completely obsessed with it, recommend it to everyone kind of love. When I saw that the follow up was about different characters, I was a bit unsure. Could I love it as much? Could it be as steamy and romantic with a male lead who says he has no feelings?

I LOVED IT!

Perhaps The Kiss Quotient still has the edge but for me they are both brilliant. What I also particularly loved about this one was that it continued to present autism as neurodi I loved The Kiss Quotient - as in could not put it down, completely obsessed with it, recommend it to everyone kind of love. When I saw that the follow up was about different characters, I was a bit unsure. Could I love it as much? Could it be as steamy and romantic with a male lead who says he has no feelings?

I LOVED IT!

Perhaps The Kiss Quotient still has the edge but for me they are both brilliant. What I also particularly loved about this one was that it continued to present autism as neurodivergence (not disability, weirdness etc.) and actively challenge stereotypes around it as the first book did, but it took it even further and challenged my own preconceptions. I was looking for hot romance and assumed I wouldn't get it because whereas in the first book, the autistic character (Stella) was actively looking for that, in this book, Khai is absolutely not. He resolutely believes he does not have feelings and has no interest in a relationship, and therefore I made the assumption that his autism meant this could not be a steamy and romantic book. That the only way it could be would be for him to suddenly get into it, in a way that would feel disingenuous and ableist.

In fact, that was completely not the case, this book is SUPER HOT, entirely romantic, but still felt true to the reality of being autistic (as much as my very limited knowledge is able to judge that to be true). It interrogated the way different types of people experience and manage emotions, and still did so in a light, humourous, joyful way that was very much a case of showing not telling. In my opinion, this is what comes from Own Voices writing - Helen Hoang has Autism Spectrum Disorder, and in the author's note she talked about her father being autistic - this is what someone who knows what they're talking about can do.

I also don't want to forget our female protagonist, Esme. I loved her strength, her perseverance and the way Hoang managed to write her that demonstrated the lack of choices that poverty and lack of education can present without turning the story into something that could have felt really exploitative and uncomfortable.

This is a longer and more serious review than I expected to write for a book which is genuinely light, joyful, and SEXY, but that just demonstrates how a romance with substance can really be everything I'm looking for in a single glorious package! ...more

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Oct 22, 2022 Puck rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, contemporary, disappointment, romance

"He was a puzzle she never would have been able to solve if he hadn't shown her how. Those were the best kinds of puzzles, though, weren't they? The ones no one else could figure out?

Oh kids, this wasn't what I hoped it would be. I really enjoyed The Kiss Quotient because Stella and Michael had such a loving relationship: plently of sexy-times, sure, but also several conservations about Stella's autism, Michael's ambitions, and so forth.

In this book however, there was so much miscommunicati ...more

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