The Bride Test by Helen HoangMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Esme Tran is a poor single mixed-race mother living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, cleaning toilets for a living and sharing a tiny apartment with her mother, grandmother and daughter. One day cleaning a toilet in a fancy hotel she strikes up a conversation with one of the ladies using the bathroom which results in a fairy-tale offer - come to the US and meet the woman's son and hopefully get married. Esme jumps at the chance of a better future for her daughter and the opportunity to possibly find her American father, Phil.
Khai Diep has problems expressing emotions the way others do, especially after the tragic death of his best friend a decade ago. A tax genius he nevertheless exasperates his traditional mother who desperately wants him to marry a good Vietnamese woman and have lots of lovely grandchildren. Khai doesn't have the heart to tell his mother than he can't love anyone - he just doesn't have the capability but forced by his domineering mother to play host to Esme for several months, and to squire her to three family weddings, he comes to find this strange woman oddly fascinating.
I really liked Helen Hoang's previous novel, The Kiss Quotient but this book just didn't resonate with me in the same way, maybe because Esme and Khai both, in different ways, found it hard to understand their environments and were too similar in that respect? Also I didn't really click with either character, not in the way I empathised with Stella Lane in the last book.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read, a bit like Crazy Rich Asians meets The Kiss Quotient but didn't have that extra wow factor of the first book.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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