The Kiss Quotient

Steamy. It was easy to fall for these quirky characters. Enjoyed it very much.

This was adorable and sexy and funny and warm and steamy and I LOVED IT. Loved everything about it. Like, didn't want to put it down and thought about it when I was working and trying to sleep and stuff because stupid things like job and rest interfered with reading time. Stella was a great independent heroine, and Michael's part-time-hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold had me shipping the two of them pretty hard (and I'm an old and I've never used the word “ship” in relation to relationships before, so that means I'm serious). The whole thing was fresh and great, and did I mention steamy? I can't wait for Hoang's next book.

4.5/5 Stars

This is an own voices book and is honestly amazing. Seriously, this is one of the best romances I've read in a long while. When I finished, I immediately put the next book on my TBR. I can totally see why there are so many holds on it. 

Look, the characters feel real and Michael isn't a total macho man. He has a sensitive side and shows his feelings – I absolutely love that in characters. There are challenges between them and external as well. There is a lot in the background, but it isn't overwhelming. 

This is adorable and I highly recommend it.

Cute, easy read, but I don't get the big deal everyone is making out of this book. It's pretty much the same as dozens of other sexy chicklit/romance I've read. The only thing of note is that the main character is autistic, which is at least interesting as it's something different, and also it's great to find diversity popping up in a genre that's usually quite samey when it comes to its female leads. However, I don't think that's enough to make this book more than likeable but unmemorable.

(4.5, rounding up)

Took a trope I'm not a big fan of and made it into a great, enjoyable summer read. Love the diverse cast (though I can't speak to accuracy of representation, this is #ownvoices) and that Stella doesn't need to be “fixed” or change who she is to get to her HEA. I was rooting for these two all the way through.

I think I knew I would love this before I even started reading it - a gender swapped Pretty Woman with a main character on the autism spectrum? Sign me up!!

Everything about this book is inviting and it certainly delivers when reading it. The characters are wonderfully written, the dialogue amusing and the relationship utterly heart warming. I adored Michael with all of my being!! I also really enjoyed the family dynamics shown in the story, both families of the two main characters had their issues but also had a lot of heart and strength which I loved seeing.

I've never read a book with an autistic character so I have no point of comparison but I loved how Stella was represented and really enjoyed reading about her journey to acceptance of herself.

Be warned that this is on the much steamier end of romance so be prepared if you don't like that much detail but if you do, read it. READ IT NOW!!

“The Kiss Quotient” is a romance standalone written by Helen Hoang. The novel follows Stella who has Asperger's and she thinks that she can learn how to date, and to have physical relations with a man, by hiring an escort named Michael.

The novel follows Stella having lessons with Michael, and eventually these lessons turn into dates and meeting the parents. The two who wanted a no-nonsense or no-attachments relationship start to care and having feelings for each other. The novel is cute and does have some graphic scenes. There are two points of views, which showed the two characters falling for each other. I gave the novel a 3/5 stars.

This book came highly recommended, and it didn't disappoint.
Some parts felt a bit too insta-love-y for my taste (though that's my problem, not the book's), and other parts hit a bit too close to home for comfort, but overall I enjoyed this book a lot.
I liked the main characters, and I absolutely loved the family dynamics in Michael's extended family (not so much on Stella's side, though...).

Every now and then a book comes along to capture your imagination and heart. The Kiss Quotient is it!
Watching the romance develop between Stella and Michael is just delightful.
An autistic woman hires a male escort to help tutor her in sex. Their resultant relationship is oh so hot and sweet.

Absolutely loved it!!!!!

I adored elements of this book.
The style✅
The themes✅
The character development✅

However, I was not expecting the book to be so graphic. I don't consider myself to be a sensitive, straight-laced reader. But I skipped pages, finding the love-making details did not add, but distract from the story's core.

Helen Hoang's debut novel is full of vim, vigor, and vitality!

Stella's autism has gotten in the way of having a boyfriend - her solution, hire a male escort to help practice her social and sexual skills. Michael steps into this role for the money, but this intriguing relationship goes in directions neither of the participants originally intend.

Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC copy.

PS: Many nights after work, I would pull into my driveway and sit captivated by Carly Robins audiobook performance.

This was one of three books I got through Book of the Month this month - the other two were The Book of Essie (Review here) and When Katie Met Cassidy. (Review posted soon!) I'm reviewing this today instead of another Pride Month read because today, June 18th, is Autistic Pride Day! The Kiss Quotient both stars and is written by a woman on the autistic spectrum, so I thought today would be a fitting day to tell you about it!

So The Kiss Quotient is basically a gender-swapped Pretty Woman, as Hoang mentions in the Author's Note. Our heroine, Stella Lane, books an escort to teach her about sex. Stella is thirty years old, has only had sex a couple of times, never enjoyed it, and is worried about not being good at it and therefore not being able to get or keep a boyfriend. She's an incredibly successful econometrician, or someone who uses data and statistics to model and predict economic trends, in her case predicting what people will want to buy from clients. (She's the kind of person responsible for those “Amazon started marketing baby products to me before I even knew I was pregnant!” incidents.) So she has more money than she knows what to do with, and offers Michael, an escort, $50,000 a month to teach her about sex and relationships.

Because this is a romance, we know what's going to happen here. They fall in love with each other, but are sure that for the other one it's just a business arrangement.

I was NOT expecting this book to be as explicit as it is! I think because it is a Book of the Month, I wasn't expecting the standard trope of romance book with hot sex scenes. But that's what I got! I can't say I'm unhappy with that - god knows I like my guilty pleasure romance smut - but it was definitely unexpected. I'm not sure why it surprised me. The book's premise is all about Stella wanting to learn about sex; if that wasn't conducted on screen we'd lose a third of the book!

A sequel has already been announced, and it's about the other autistic character in the book, the hero's best friend's little brother, Khai, who we only see in one scene. Who I'd also like to know more about is the best friend, Quan! So I'm holding out hope for a third book.

One last thing that I found important - in the Author's Note, Hoang mentions her daughter was diagnosed with AS, and in reading about Autism, she realized she is also on the spectrum. This is something I've seen in three different books now. It's so common for women, especially, to go undiagnosed. They might be better at modelling allistic (non-autistic) behavior, or their special interests might be more “acceptable” to allistics, or sometimes they just get looked at as introverts when they're young instead of getting the help they might need. This is starting to change, as researchers and doctors are realizing Autism presents differently in women. But it seems autistic adult women are often discovering they're autistic through a diagnosis of their children. I found that interesting.

I did really enjoy this book. I think it's a great debut novel, and a great romance. I really like the recent trend of more diversity in lead characters in romance novels. Bring on the people of color! More disabled main characters! There's got to be a romance somewhere with a deaf heroine, right? More alternative sexualities and relationship structures! Everyone, everywhere, wants to be loved, and I want to read about it. The thing is, I'm sure these books exist, but they don't get the kind of publicity they need for people to know about them. We have to actually go looking for them. I feel like I've been better about that recently, but it's definitely a place where the publication industry could improve.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. Probably would have rated it higher if it didn't come with such high expectations as The Next Great Romance Novel. I liked the characters a lot but they deserved a better plot; I would have preferred to read about them interacting in a different story. Plus there was a little too much telling-not-showing (so many times when Stella and Michael inwardly anguish that the other one couldn't possibly have real feelings when this is just a business arrangement, I'm not good enough for him/her, etc.). But overall very cute, highly readable, and let's hear it for ethnic and neuro-diversity in romance novels. I definitely will check out the sequel (featuring Michael's autistic cousin and an arranged marriage - this author likes her romance tropes!) and hope Helen Hoang shows some growth from this promising debut.

Cute and steamy, two of my favorite book qualities! I didn't love it as much as my friends, but I'll definitely read anything Hoang writes.

So after seeing early reviews comparing this book to The Hating Game, it became one of my most anticipated reads of 2018. I'm happy to say that it was quite an enjoyable read.

Stella is high-functioning autistic. She's very self-aware and knows that she isn't the greatest when it comes to romance so she hires a male escort, Michael, for the purpose of learning how to be better at sex and relationships. Of course the relationship between Stella and Michael turns from business into something more or else this wouldn't be considered a romance novel. It was really fun to read how they navigated through their “arrangement”. I appreciated how patient Michael was with Stella and how she took steps outside of her comfort zone for him as well. Michael's family was also pretty great and I'd love a Quan book.