The Bride Test (The Kiss Quotient, #2) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jul 24, 2019 Talia rated it really liked it

Shelves: adult-fiction, adult-romance

Another cute love story! After reading "The Kiss Quotient", I was pleased to learn the author had a new book out featuring a character from the last book. Khai is like Stella in that he is also neurodiverse, but I appreciated that they were different, as no person with ASD is the same. I also liked that it was a dude who was on the spectrum, and I wondered how the story would play out (I was pleased with the ending, it wasn't contrived or "that wouldn't happen"). I liked Esme's character, despit ...more

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Feb 18, 2019 Abby Johnson added it

Shelves: author-of-color, diverse, romance

If you liked Helen Hoang's debut The Kiss Quotient, buckle up because you're going to love this one, too. When Khai Diep's mother brings Vietnamese Esme Tran to live with him for the summer, she's hoping for a match that will end in marriage. Khai's just hoping Esme will leave his stuff alone and Esme is hoping for a better life for her and her young daughter. Told with heart and humor, this steamy romance novel features a neurodiverse lead and an immigrant lead based on the author's mother's ex ...more

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Feb 08, 2021 Nadine in NY Jones marked it as to-read

Shelves: cam, forced-proximity-or-one-bed, romance, contemporary-romance, 123-read-next, 4-aoc-to-read

The trope: Oh no, they've been fighting their feelings for each other! Oh no, now they have to share this apartment/office/tiny cabin! Oh no, it's time to go to sleep and THERE'S ONLY ONE BED! Oh nooo...or ooooh yes? ...more

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May 08, 2020 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, american-fiction, asia-fiction, immigration, romance, disability, vietnam

I quite enjoyed this second book in The Kiss Quotient series. In this follow-up to The Kiss Quotient, we follow Khai, a minor character from the first book, and Esme (real name My - more on that below). Khai is a numbers whiz who co-owns a tech firm, and, as readers will remember from The Kiss Quotient, is on the autism spectrum. Esme is a single mom and a cleaner at a hotel in Vietnam. When Khai's mom's trip to find a bride on Khai's behalf (and without his permission) fails, through a chance m I quite enjoyed this second book in The Kiss Quotient series. In this follow-up to The Kiss Quotient, we follow Khai, a minor character from the first book, and Esme (real name My - more on that below). Khai is a numbers whiz who co-owns a tech firm, and, as readers will remember from The Kiss Quotient, is on the autism spectrum. Esme is a single mom and a cleaner at a hotel in Vietnam. When Khai's mom's trip to find a bride on Khai's behalf (and without his permission) fails, through a chance meeting, Esme impresses her and ends up on a plane to the US as a test to see if they'll hit it off. Khai is understandably furious when his mother proposes that Esme lives with him for the summer, but it sets up a nice forced proximity situation for Hoang to explore, and along the way, readers get to delve back into what romance looks like for people with autism, as well as the new and additional themes of recent immigrant life, single parenthood, and global wealth disparities. It's a fun read.

I did have a couple of moments where I thought it could have been better, though. Esme is whisked away from Vietnam to a fantasy of a very rich potential suitor dropping out of the sky, and there are problems with that dynamic, like the fact that it would be such a given that a person, even one who struggled to meet basic needs, would necessarily, immediately, jump at such a chance. And she doesn't exactly jump immediately at it, but the decision is painted as a fairy tale, and there's no real serious mention of Esme's inevitable, major culture shock and homesickness. It's also pretty unrealistic that her English would be as good as it is and that it would improve as rapidly as it does given her background; this language adds to the overly-rosy portrait of immigrant life. And finally, she changes her name, which is something that a lot of immigrants do, but this fairly major identity event is also treated with all the hope and none of the loss of what that would really be like to do for someone who's changing their name in order to fit in better, not because they want to their name to better conform to their identity. Put together, these three aspects of Esme's story paint a very idyllic portrait of immigrant life in the US and exacerbate incomplete images people have of "shithole countries," which are, in practice most of the countries of the world; overall, these images are pretty stereotypical, and it would be better for both immigrants to the US and for the majority of USAmericans who will never travel outside of the US if portraits of immigrants in literature were a bit more complete. ...more

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May 27, 2019 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, owned, fiction, romance

For our anniversary, Andrew took the whole family to the bookstore and let us each pick out a book. I kind of surprised myself by picking out this one. I don't read a lot of romance these days, but people I like on social media have been raving about Hoang, and then I checked out the back cover. See, I've recently noticed that I have a tendency to fall for autism-spectrum characters on TV shows, but they rarely get satisfying romantic arcs. So, I picked this.

And I loved it. I read it cover to co ...more

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Aug 06, 2019 Kerry rated it liked it

This 2nd romantic comedy of sorts from Helen Hoang brings us a diverse cast of characters yet again. I like the determination of Esme, the single mom, cleaning lady who harnesses her opportunity to learn English and get an education. I also appreciate Khai's desire to just be himself despite all the societal pressure around him to have a fancier house, a snazzier wardrobe, etc. Instead of giving in to the consumerist tendencies, he stays true to himself and shows how a high functioning autistic ...more

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