Khai is as awkward as he is charming.
In this book we are following Khai and Esme. Esme meets Khai's mom in Vietnam, where she convinces her to move to America and marry her son. Seeing a brilliant opportunity for her family's future Esme accepts. But as she arrives in America things do not go as planned. There she meets Khai a bachelor who wants to get ride of her as soon as possible. When Khai and Esme meet for the first time it is awkward. Neither knows what to do with the other. But as the story progresses, their chemistry is over the roof.
This book is a cute love story, but not only. It also takes two lost people through a journey of self discovery. Esme feels worthless because she hasn't graduated High School and ended up working as a maid. When she gets the opportunity to go to America she can't believe her luck and as she meets Khai she feels she has to lie to be worthy of him. Fortunately, throughout the novel she gets stronger, bolder and independent. She realizes she doesn't need a man to succeed in life, after all she is enough. I liked her journey because it had a lot of similarities with mine. The feeling you are never good enough, you will never succeed or get outside of your current situation. And when you start believing in yourself life is there to crush your dreams until you find a way to come back on top again.
As for Khai, he is a very interesting character. I loved him so much! After his aunt makes an unfortunate comment when he was sixteen Khai believes he is incapable of love. He isolates himself and thinks that loneliness does not affect him. When his mom brings Esme into his life, he is afflicted, what is she thinking? But Khai is autistic and a person of habit at first it isn't easy for him to share his space, but little by little Esme becomes part of his routine and he can't see his house without her in it. But to keep her he will have to dig deep inside himself and let his guard down.
This novel was lovely and inspiring. The main characters were real and relatable, the side characters were charming and funny. The themes of the novel: loneliness, autism, self-worth, family, cultural differences were wonderfully written. Helen Hoang kept the book light, despite heavy subjects.
This book is the second in the Kiss Quotient series, but it can be read as a standalone!
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