Book Review: The Bride Test

“em yêu anh yêu em
girl loves boy loves girl”

The Bride Test
Helen Hoang

This is a delightful romance book that is a refreshing take on the arranged marriage trope.

Khai Diep has a stone heart. Ever since he couldn’t cry at his best friend’s funeral almost ten years ago, Khai knew that his autism didn’t just make him different, it made him incapable of love. Years and years of avoiding relationships and friendships have since passed, and while his family knows he processes emotions differently, his mother thinks the best way to help him find love (and to give her grand-babies) is to find a bride for him back in Vietnam.

Esme Tran is a self-described country girl from Vietnam, born mixed race in a country that doesn’t like her, she has had to work hard for everything in her life. The shack she shares with her grandmother and mother, and the light of her life, her daughter is all she has, as she scrubs toilets for a living after dropping out of school when she had her child. When the opportunity presents itself for Esme to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn down the offer, even if it does make her feel uncomfortable.

And then she meets Khai. Man-beautiful, considerate and kind in his own way after an initial “getting used to each other” period, but she never expected to fall in love. And how can she love a man who is convinced he cannot love anyone?

This is a book that will make you feel a lot of things. Not just horny. Happy moments, awkward moments, and also sad ones are mixed in to this story and make The Bride Test feel incredibly realistic. The most unrealistic part is probably how almost every character is so gosh darn beautiful!

The chemistry between Khai and Esme took time to develop beyond the initial physical attraction, and it was nice to see love blossom beyond lust. They are not smarmy or sarcastic with one another. Their dynamic is one of give and take, equal in support and caring. Describing it here almost makes it sound sickly sweet in a way, but it isn’t. The funnier bits come from their misunderstandings. And there are plenty! Often well meaning, too.

Family is also a beautiful undercurrent in this novel. Khai’s family gets most of the spotlight, but Esme’s memories of her family give a solid picture of strength and support. Neither character comes from a broken home life, and in fact their families are great resources for the characters in times of drama.

This book also gave me the pay off that The Unhoneymooners didn’t. There is sex. Glorious, sex. Some of it was awkward, even while it was hot, and all of it still maintained a level of realism that felt… achievable? I’m not saying romance novels are how-to novels, although Hoang’s plugs for She Comes First and Sex for Dummies was sweet and contextually appropriate, but the genre often leads to unrealistic expectations. It is a form of written porn, after all. Hoang balances the right amount of communication without losing the sexy vibe, which is a challenge in real life just as much as it is in fiction. It was nice to see characters learning and growing and actively trying to be better partners to each other.

The other thing that I loved about this book was the language. Some was in Vietnamese, but with enough context clues to let me figure out what it meant without needing it translated (or repeated back in a paraphrased English response, like other books do).

I can’t directly speak for the authenticity of the Vietnamese voice of Esme, but it felt different to an American voice. The same goes for the times of the book when Khai’s perspective is described. I’m not neurotypical, so I could greatly relate to the descriptions of his anxiety, but I am also not someone with autism. However, Hoang is autistic, and I think that makes this another distinctive #ownvoices book that more people need to read.

Overall, I think this is a great book for a mature reader who wants a beautiful love story without melodrama that doesn’t feel contrived. It’s also a great book for white readers who want to read something that might put them out of their comfort zone.