The Bride Test. Helen Hoang. 2019.
New adult. Contemporary romance. Moderate spice. The Bride Test is a contemporary take on the Cinderella story.
A desperate mother travels to Vietnam to find a wife for her wealthy autistic son. The poor young woman she recruits must win his heart before her U.S. visa expires. But her would-be husband, while attracted to her, believes he is incapable of the love she deserves.
This is a Romance, with a capital R. We see the story from the perspectives of the mother, her son, and the Cinderella girl who is recruited to be his bride. So the tone is emotional and covers all of the ups and downs of a fictional romantic relationship.
The vibe is also exactly what you would expect. From the bride’s perspective, this is an emotional journey as she deals with the pressure of pleasing him, his family, his mother, and her own family in Vietnam. From the groom’s perspective, much of this is alien. He sees how non-autistic people experience love and concludes that the experience is not attainable to him.
As an autistic man, I can confirm that his experiences certainly felt genuine to me. What this character goes through, how those experiences were described by the author, felt in many places like they were lifted from my own life.
AUTHORS – I write short book reviews that focus on voice and vibe. They are useful to querying authors searching for comp titles. There are more on my website.