Scan barcode
cjconway2's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
xmiiirte's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
leonormsousa's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
geauxsun's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
lili_sarti's review
2.0
This book was not for me. I don't get how this is a romance, because if it wasn't for the side characters there wouldn't have been a romance, because there was no communication between them. I found it hard to believe they loved each other because their relationship was superficial. I didn't like esme as a character, she was empty headed at times. She wants to take care of Kai but doesn't even bother to look up what autism is when he told her he has it. Kai on the other hand loved her boobs, apparently he was a boob man, what a great start of their relationship.
carmen_loves_books's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
lady_legasus's review
2.0
in brief, the book is about the progression of the relationship between a poor girl from Viet Nam who’s been paid to try and get an autistic man, Khai to fall in love with her and become his wife. by his mother. My Ngoc Tran (whose American name is now Esme), the heroine of this story then moves to the U.S. to supposedly seduce Khai.
okay, at times the relationship is endearing and it’s nice to see a female character fight for what she wants. it takes courage, bravery and patience to fight for the love of a man who hasn’t completely processed his emotions due to his Asperger’s, all for the family she left behind. but all the good moments were overshadowed by the questionable ones.
so many of the characters manipulated Khai’s inability to understand what he felt and tried to throw everything in his face. Esme constantly lied and hid truths and when everything was revealed it was brushed off and these weren’t simple lies either, she hid the fact that she had a whole kid from him. Esme’s mother’s advice? absolutely horrible. and Esme lied so much that it was honestly hard to tell when she was being genuine and when she had ulterior motives. she was incredibly naive and made some horrible decisions, i won’t even speak about that wedding dress scene.
all in all, it was hard to ignore all the bad moments just because of a few cute scenes.
okay, at times the relationship is endearing and it’s nice to see a female character fight for what she wants. it takes courage, bravery and patience to fight for the love of a man who hasn’t completely processed his emotions due to his Asperger’s, all for the family she left behind. but all the good moments were overshadowed by the questionable ones.
so many of the characters manipulated Khai’s inability to understand what he felt and tried to throw everything in his face. Esme constantly lied and hid truths and when everything was revealed it was brushed off and these weren’t simple lies either, she hid the fact that she had a whole kid from him. Esme’s mother’s advice? absolutely horrible. and Esme lied so much that it was honestly hard to tell when she was being genuine and when she had ulterior motives. she was incredibly naive and made some horrible decisions, i won’t even speak about that wedding dress scene.
all in all, it was hard to ignore all the bad moments just because of a few cute scenes.
halthemonarch's review
5.0
Okay, so I guess I do like romance novels now. Hoang has turned me into a believer. Perhaps all of those feelings of discomfort and anxiety are some personal manifestations of my feelings towards intimacy. THAT being said, I can say objectively that I enjoyed this book about ten times more than the Kiss Quotient. I was really afraid that Khai would be just a masculine version of Stella, but he was his own unique character with his own ways of perceiving and dealing with things. Sure, one or more characters being extremely emotionally stunted halts the plot a couple of times, but that counted more as conflict to me because a lot of Michael and Stella’s insecurities were running parallel to each other. Khai’s and Esme’s issues were opposed, their problems made sense, and I was engaged the whole time.
The premise is straight out of an Asian drama: a toilet scrubbing country girl gets the opportunity to go to America and live with a handsome, autistic bachelor in the hopes of seducing him for love and a green card. He has a handsome brother and a large supportive family. The deal is that this country girl must spend the summer attending weddings with the handsome bachelor. Slowly, she falls in love with him and he opens up to her in ways that are so new and foreign to him he’s unable to identify it as love. He pushes her away and deals with his grief and guilt over a death in the family decade’s past. With that he realizes he has the ability to love, and the country girl meanwhile, took classes at the local adult school and graduated with top marks. Empowered, she shifts her dream from landing Khai to standing on her own two feet, getting an education, and making a positive impact on the world. Denied a scholarship but still with avenues open to her, the handsome bachelor’s handsome brother offers to marry Esme instead. In a last minute effort to stop the wedding, Khai races to the court with Esme’s birth father in tow. Everyone who mattered; Esme’s family, Khai and Quan’s family were there to witness Khai apologize and profess his love to Esme. Years later Esme has a temporary resident visa, via her citizen father, as she works for her PhD with her mother, grandmother, and daughter living with her and Khai, her then long-term fiancee.
See? Straight out of a drama, right?
As I say, Helen Hoang has opened my eyes to the merit of romance novels. I devoured this one in two days, and plan on reading Quan’s book immediately. The sex scenes weren’t *so* steamy which was more my speed. In the Kiss Quotient I felt those scenes try too hard to be sexy or dirty to actually get that point across. Khai was a virgin and Esme was pretty touch-starved so, I mean, it made sense that they’d be less bold and brazen than the math freak and the escort. I loved how none of the characters were white haha, and that Khai was atypical; that’s so important and Hoang writes with such bright liveliness that it really brings her characters to life.
I know Quan’s book will be a crazy ride. I loved him in the last two books; I have no doubt I’ll love him in his novel.
The premise is straight out of an Asian drama: a toilet scrubbing country girl gets the opportunity to go to America and live with a handsome, autistic bachelor in the hopes of seducing him for love and a green card. He has a handsome brother and a large supportive family. The deal is that this country girl must spend the summer attending weddings with the handsome bachelor. Slowly, she falls in love with him and he opens up to her in ways that are so new and foreign to him he’s unable to identify it as love. He pushes her away and deals with his grief and guilt over a death in the family decade’s past. With that he realizes he has the ability to love, and the country girl meanwhile, took classes at the local adult school and graduated with top marks. Empowered, she shifts her dream from landing Khai to standing on her own two feet, getting an education, and making a positive impact on the world. Denied a scholarship but still with avenues open to her, the handsome bachelor’s handsome brother offers to marry Esme instead. In a last minute effort to stop the wedding, Khai races to the court with Esme’s birth father in tow. Everyone who mattered; Esme’s family, Khai and Quan’s family were there to witness Khai apologize and profess his love to Esme. Years later Esme has a temporary resident visa, via her citizen father, as she works for her PhD with her mother, grandmother, and daughter living with her and Khai, her then long-term fiancee.
See? Straight out of a drama, right?
As I say, Helen Hoang has opened my eyes to the merit of romance novels. I devoured this one in two days, and plan on reading Quan’s book immediately. The sex scenes weren’t *so* steamy which was more my speed. In the Kiss Quotient I felt those scenes try too hard to be sexy or dirty to actually get that point across. Khai was a virgin and Esme was pretty touch-starved so, I mean, it made sense that they’d be less bold and brazen than the math freak and the escort. I loved how none of the characters were white haha, and that Khai was atypical; that’s so important and Hoang writes with such bright liveliness that it really brings her characters to life.
I know Quan’s book will be a crazy ride. I loved him in the last two books; I have no doubt I’ll love him in his novel.
katialena's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0