Book Club Book Review: The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

The Bride Test

by

Helen Hoang

Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Series: The Kiss Quotient #2
Publication Date:1st July 2019
Genre: Romance
Pages: 300
RRP: $29.99 AUD
Format Read: Paperback 
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Beauty & Lace Book Club

Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.

As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.

With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love. 

The Bride Test is book 2 in the Kiss Quotient series. I didn’t read The Kiss Quotient book 1. I knew it wouldn’t appeal to me but after reading the blurb for The Bride Test I decided to give book 2 a go. I felt this was more in line with what I enjoy reading.

I did have a hard time staying connected to My/Esme. She started off funny, witty and determined. She knew what she wanted and was going for it. She was going to seduce Khai and make him fall in love with her. Then all of a sudden she did a back flip “I can’t marry you unless you saw I Love You”. Who was this insecure girl? I much preferred the Esme who was determined to do anything to better her and her daughter’s life. 

The character of Khai Diep, a young man on the autism spectrum, was brilliantly portrayed and I could feel his anxiety and inner turmoil as he tried to be himself and also please those around him. He always felt like he was letting everyone down which was quite sad to watch.

Esme did a lot of talking but no communicating. I feel a bit more communication could have solved most of their problems straight up.

The plot was predictable and ran along the lines that I was expecting. 

I would love to read the stories of Khai’s mother, Co Nga, who went to America as a refugee and started her own restaurant chain and Esme’s mother, Linh, who was left to bring up a child alone in Vietnam after a brief affair with an American businessman. I think these two strong women would have very interesting stories to tell.

The Bride Test was a highly entertaining, sweet, fun romance read.

                            🌟🌟🌟 

My rating  3/5

This review first appeared on the Beauty & Lace book club

 

Photo credit:Goodreads

Helen Hoang is that shy person who never talks. Until she does. And the worst things fly out of her mouth. 
She read her first romance novel in eighth grade and has been addicted ever since. 
In 2016, she was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in line with what was previously known as Asperger’s Syndrome. 
Her journey inspired THE KISS QUOTIENT. She currently lives in San Diego, California with her husband, two kids, and pet fish.   


 

 

Book Review: Renia's Diary by Renia Spiegel

Renia's Diary

by

Renia Spiegel 

Translated by Anna Blasiak & Marta Dziurosz

Publisher: St Martin's Press
Publication date: 24th September 2019
Genre: Nonfiction/Holocaust 
Pages: 328
Format Read: eBook
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

Renia Spiegel was born in 1924 to an upper-middle class Jewish family living in southeastern Poland, near what was at that time the border with Romania. At the start of 1939 Renia began a diary. “I just want a friend. I want somebody to talk to about my everyday worries and joys. Somebody who would feel what I feel, who would believe me, who would never reveal my secrets. A human being can never be such a friend and that’s why I have decided to look for a confidant in the form of a diary.” And so begins an extraordinary document of an adolescent girl’s hopes and dreams. By the fall of 1939, Renia and her younger sister Elizabeth (née Ariana) were staying with their grandparents in Przemysl, a city in the south, just as the German and Soviet armies invaded Poland. Cut off from their mother, who was in Warsaw, Renia and her family were plunged into war.

Renia's Diary has been translated from the original Polish, and includes a preface, afterword, and notes by her surviving sister, Elizabeth Bellak. An extraordinary historical document, Renia Spiegel survives through the beauty of her words and the efforts of those who loved her and preserved her legacy.

Renia’s Diary is the journal entries of Polish born Renia Spiegel from 1939, age 15 until 1942 when she was murdered, at age 18, by the Nazi’s.

Diaries are an important part of holocaust history. They allow us to hear the voice of those that did not survive. The diarist is writing in the present and has no idea what today’s events may have on things to come.

Renia writes in her diary as if talking to a friend. It is filled with teenage angst; first love, first kiss and jealousies.

At times the war takes a back seat to Renia’s self doubt, troubles with friends and talk about boys. Whilst at other times it is the full focus of her entries. A lot of her feelings are reflected through poetry. She really is an amazing poet!

When the German and Soviet armies split Poland into two zones Renia is living in Przemysl, a small city in south-eastern Poland, with her Grandparents and the yearning for her mother is constant and heart-breaking to read.

As you would expect in a young girls diary some of the entries are obscure. She sometimes uses in-jokes or code words and you need to read between the lines.

As Renia ages you can feel a shift in her entries as she moves from the self-centred anguish of a young teen to a those of a mature woman in love.

The diary is published by Renia’s younger sister Elizabeth who escaped due to the help of Renia’s boyfriend, Zygu, and family friends. Elizabeth fills in a lot of the blanks that are left by the diary.

A must read!

                          🌟🌟🌟🌟

 My rating   4/5

 

  

Book Bingo - Round 20 #BookBingo

Book Bingo is a reading challenge hosted by Theresa Smith Writes , Mrs B’s Book Reviews and The Book Muse. Every second Saturday, book bingo participants reveal which bingo category they have read and what book they chose. 

This week I have chosen the category 'A Prize Winning Book'

A prize winning book:

For this category I have chosen 'Exit West' by Mohsin Hamid.

I really wanted to use 'Boy Swallows Universe' for this category and I've had it waiting on my TBR pile but time got the best of me and now we are nearing the end of book bingo I'm starting to struggle with the time to read books that fit each category.


Exit West fits perfectly even though I found the writing a bit strange the concept of the book is very timely; refuges fleeing war torn countries looking for a better life but coming up against prejudice and suspicion.

Exit West has a long list of Literary awards:  Booker Prize Nominee (2017), Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (2017), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (2017), Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Fiction (2018), Folio Prize Nominee (2018) Kirkus Prize Nominee for Fiction (2017), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction (2017), Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize Nominee for Fiction (2017), International Dublin Literary Award Nominee for Shortlist (2019), Aspen Words Literary Prize (2018) 

You can read my review of Exit West here 

 #BookBingo2019

 

 

Book Review: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Exit West

by

Mohsin Hamid

Publisher: Penguin Books
Publication date: 7th March 2017
Genre: Literary Fiction/ Magical Realism
Pages: 229
Format Read: Paperback
Source: Courtesy of World of Books

 

In a city far away, bombs and assassinations shatter lives every day. Yet, even here, hope renews itself, welling up through the rubble. Somewhere in this city, two young people are smiling, hesitating, sharing cheap cigarettes, speaking softly then boldly, falling in love.

As the violence worsens and escape feels ever more necessary, they hear rumour of mysterious black doors appearing all over the city, all over the world. To walk through a door is to find a new life – perhaps in Greece, in London, in California – and to lose the old one for ever . . .

What does it mean to leave your only home behind? Can you belong to many places at once? And when the hour comes and the door stands open before you – will you go?

 

Exit West is not a novel I would normally pick up to read. It was the Fairy Book Club’s chosen novel for August/September book of the month. It’s always good to go out of your comfort zone and read something different.

The story follows two young people, Saeed and Nadia, in an unnamed country on the edge of collapse. The economy was sluggish and the militants had taken over control of the city.

Nadia and Saeed meet and start a chaste relationship. Nadia’s independence and rebellious streak is a stark contrast to Saeed’s conservative personality.

The story centres around the collapse of their country and the appearance of black doors which are portals to other countries. This is the only magical realism in the story. Thousands of people are fleeing poor countries, under siege, in search of a better life.

Mohsin Hamid gives his readers an omniscient point of view which shows the feelings of the natives and the immigrants, without judgement and quite often without emotion. He reflects the fear from both sides and portrays the real struggle of displaced people who only wish to live in safety. Over time, as they move from country to country, trying to fit into a world that views then with fear and suspicion, we observe Nadia and Saeed’s changing relationship.

At times characters flit into the book, tell their story then are gone. I’m not sure whether these vignettes were of any benefit to the overall story.

I did struggle to stay focused on the overly wordy sentences. Some well over a page long!

Exit West is a story of our time for our time.

*Thank you to The Fairy Book Club and World of Books for my copy to read.

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My rating  3/5  

Photo Credit: Goodreads

 

Mohsin Hamid is the author of four novels, Moth Smoke , The Reluctant Fundamentalist , How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia , and Exit West , and a book of essays, Discontent and Its Civilizations .

His writing has been featured on bestseller lists, adapted for the cinema, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, selected as winner or finalist of twenty awards, and translated into thirty-five languages.

Born in Lahore, he has spent about half his life there and much of the rest in London, New York, and California.

 

Book Bingo - Round 19 #BookBingo

Book Bingo is a reading challenge hosted by Theresa Smith Writes , Mrs B’s Book Reviews and The Book Muse. Every second Saturday, book bingo participants reveal which bingo category they have read and what book they chose. 

This week I have chosen the category 'Themes of Culture'

Themes of Culture:

For this category I have chosen 'Tidelands' by Philippa Gregory.

Tidelands is set in 1648 and the culture of that era runs throughout the novel.
Harvest festivals, religion, marriage and food are some of the cultural elements in the story.

You can read my review of Tidelands here 

#BookBingo 2019