Rating: 3 out of 5

Genre: Romance, Diverse

People who should read this: If you love a romance story with a diverse cast not normally seen in the genre.

Romance books are their own creature. They don’t have to be read in order. But what?!?! How can that be the case? For sequels, all the author normally does is take the same world, a side character from the first book, (in this case, one that was only mentioned a handful of times) and helps them find love. 

For The Bride Test, I wasn’t ready for Khai to take the stage. When he was introduced in The Kiss Quotient I thought he was a teenager. Boy was I wrong. I had to age him up quickly. Really quickly. Somehow he’s suddenly in his late twenties. 

The shock. 

The only issue with not reading the books in order is that you might miss some of the inside jokes. But who needs those anyways. 

In all the ways The Kiss Quotient did an amazing job and stole the show, The Bride Test felt like it was trying too hard. I get it. We’re dealing with Autism. I’m no expert. I’m not even someone that can say much, but what was supposed to be a lack of emotions felt like a plot device to move the story forward. When does not having emotions means that you don’t have any common sense? 

Okay friends, so let’s get down to the nitty gritty of the story. 

Step one… Raise your hand if you would leave your home to stay with a random stranger in another country? One… two…. None of you. Really? I thought there would be at least one. I wouldn’t do it either. I appreciate my organs staying inside my body. I mean, they met in a bathroom. What mom in her right mind would be okay with finding her future daughter-in-law in a bathroom? Just feels really weird to use as a plot device. 

I don’t want to say that I only read romance for the sex, but when you fnd the book in the romance section you have expectations. It’s like the second Fifty Shades of Grey book not having any intimate scenes. Let alone the fact that the first book was just sex, sex, sex. I mean, I was feeling overwhelmed. Somehow, missing that intimate connection between these two new characters removed their connection in general. I couldn’t get behind them, let alone root for their relationship.

What I’m deducing is that the first book did so well, the publisher was demanding the second one and fast. Haong couldn’t keep up. She didn’t have enough time to write the story. This happens to a lot of authors. They have so long to create their first story, time that they don’t have with the second one. And unless they have the practice to crank them out, there’s going to be a slump. I’m really happy to see that the next book has some time before it’s published. 

I could go on and on about all the plot and character decisions that I thought were wrong. But do you really want to hear all the nitty gritty? Like how could a person with Autism, who couldn’t open up to his future wife, open up immediately to her having a kid? Why did she have the kid to begin with? It barely played a part in the story until the very end. I’m sure there could have been another way to get her into Khai’s bed in the middle of the night. There’s the dad, the friend dying, it just never really made sense. Too many tiny pieces that weren’t fully fitting together. 

There’s my rant. 

Hoang isn’t the only author that I’ve seen fall into the sophomore book slump. Young was also a victim. I’m curious to try Hoang’s next book though. There’s a lot of potential there. 

A final note, I really appreciate the own voice writing from the perspective of Autism. I feel that these people are really forgotten about in our world and I’m happy to see that they too can find love. 

Happy Reading

Love Kait

Reading Challenge: 33/175