Book Review - The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

Hello Readers!

There is a nip in the air and this weather calls for curling up in your favorite corner with a book and endless cups of coffee! 

While I haven't had a chance to do this, I did manage to finish this book over the last weekend. Took a break from all the serious books I've been reading and went with this romantic fiction for a brain dead read. 

Plot Summary - From The Book

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 big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. 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, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.

With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.

First things first. A quick list of disclaimers. This book or books in this genre aren't up for an intellectual debate. Yes, you may question the intent behind the story line and the character sketches as both are rather weak but end of the day, this book is to be read and enjoyed superficially. At least that's my personal opinion. It is a cheesy, steamy (*has sufficient adult romantic content*)  romance book and you will have every bit of fun reading it, if you can cast your mental faculties aside for a while. Also, this book is definitely not very high on the literary scale so arguing or docking points for that is pointless.  

Now that we have the disclaimers out of the way, lets talk about the good things. This book has enough steamy scenes that's worth the money you pay for it. As I raced through the pages, for a few hours I turned into a 16 year old who used to secretly read a copy of Mills and Boons and daydream for the next few days . Of course, back then I had to hide these reading escapades lest my mom banned me from reading altogether. But this book definitely brought back the thrills and butterflies of falling in love and all the 'firsts' that come with it. I am being subtle here, but you get the point :P. It also does talk about Autism and how it manifests differently in people. It is also loosely based on the author's mother and her life struggle which brings some relevance to the story line and the intent behind it.

The only issue I had with it was an ethical/moral one. Mentioning it here would call for a spoiler so I'll leave it at that. But it bothered me enough to ponder if this book could have been just as good without this moral issue weaved into the story and written in a different way instead. And for that I dock a point from my 4 to a final 3 star rating on Goodreads.

Worth a Friday night bedtime read though. You'll definitely not regret it. 

Until next time,

Happy Reading!
SSB