The Bride Test

By: Helen Hoang

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 10 hrs

Publisher's summary

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.

©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC

cute story

this was such a cute story! there were a few slow moments but overall a great read. i struggled a bit with the breathiness of the narrator in the beginning but that got better as the story went on.

Loved it so much

This is a delightful listen! The story is touching, funny, makes you cry. The narrator is exceptional!

I love Helen Hoang's quirky yet relatable characters, and all the things she shows us in her books about being on the spectrum, being an outsider of any kind.

This book deserves all the awards in 2019.

Excellent !

I loved it!! I loved the characters and the story and their story. I can't wait to read more by this author.

I love this series and want more

I enjoyed this book so much, I love Khai, I work with individuals that are diagnosed with autism and the author did a great job depicting the traits and different perspectives of a person diagnosed with autism. Esme at times overreacted when things didn’t go her way but at the same time she didn’t understand how everything worked. I felt horrible for how her and her family had to live in Vietnam with all the stuff she had to go through just to make a life for them. I loved how she was with Kai and how she broke through a lot of his issues. Of course I enjoyed reading about Michael and Stella a little bit in the story and Quan is just as wonderful as ever and I cannot wait to read his story, hehe’s such a great man. I loved how independent Esme became, how determined she was to make it on her own. I really enjoyed the storyline with her father. The ending was amazing and the epilogue was a perfect way to end the story.

Beautifully crafted HEA I've already read twice!

If you liked The Kiss Quotient, you’ll love The Bride Test. The heroine, Esme, is a Vietnamese girl brought to America by Khai’s well-intentioned mother as a bride for him. Just as in The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang crafts a delicate story around a main character who is neuro atypical with sensory issues. Both the h and H spend the majority of the book navigating complex emotions and cultural differences.

If you’re not accustomed to Asian names, I found the audible version particularly amazing since it made reading the names easier. That said, I absolutely LOVED this book and found myself talking aloud to the characters. Halfway through the free audible version in the Romance Package, I had to buy the kindle version. I knew I’d want to revisit this story over and over. The narrator was new to me but I loved the performance. I can't wait for more from Helen Hoang.

Absolutely delightful

The tension created by the two main characters as they tried to coexist and build a relationship around the challenges of autism, cultural differences, gender roles, economic and educational difference made the task seem insurmountable within the given time limits. Yet, we were all rooting for them because they were such good people. There is nothing but wonderful characters in a
supportive setting in this book. Esme has a willingness to look for understanding and has a forgiving nature that lets her look for meaning in the way that she is treated. Often she has her goal of improving her family’s life as she tries to understand and improve herself after others have insulted her. She assumes the full burden of the relationship without any information on how much she will have to adapt. As she proves her value, others join to help the young couple learn that love is scary work but worth it.

loved it!

This book was so good. It was a mixture of cultural tradition and new age romance. I love that the cultural references were subtle that you just had to know it was there or you missed it. Good summer read!

amazing

I loved every minute of this book. my heart completely melted and the tear came easily for this couple. a million stars

A really enjoyable listen

Really enjoyed this listen. This is my 2nd book by this author and it seems like the chapters flew by. I really enjoyed how the main characters autism was treated in a really realistic manner. The story was very believable and I became invested in the characters really quickly.

Loved it.

I listened to it when I woke up, when driving to work and couldn't stop!