The Bride Test

Hoang, Helen

Khai Diep has no emotions. Well, he gets angry when things are changed for him, and he gets happy when the calculations match up to the last cent. But he can't feel the big, important things - like grief. And love. He's convinced he's flawed. But his relatives know full well that being autistic just makes him feel differently. Since he stubbornly resists romantic relationships, his mother decides to take matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.
As the daughter of mixed-race parents, Esme Tran has always felt unwelcome while living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City. When she gets the chance to go to America and meet a potential husband, she takes it. She believes it will be the breakthrough the whole family needs. But her seduction of Khai doesn't go according to plan. Esme's lessons in love work... but only on her. She falls hopelessly in love with a man who is convinced he can never return her feelings.

As Esme's time in the US comes to an end, Khai is forced to realize that he was wrong all along. And that there is more than one path to love.

AF (H) 001