Synopsis:
Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.
It doesn’t help that Stella has Asperger’s and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can’t afford to turn down Stella’s offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan—from foreplay to more-than-missionary position…
Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he’s making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic…
Review:
This is the first romance novel I’ve read with a neurodivergent main character and all I can say is, thank you Helen Hoang. It is so refreshing to read a character that has a lot of traits similar to myself.
Some elements of this book I didn’t agree with. Stella’s past “encounters” with men weren’t bad because she’s autistic, more that those men only cared about one thing: themselves. I do understand that she’s masking how she feels because that’s how most neurodivergent women deal with difficult situations, I do this myself.
I don’t think Michael’s approach to Stella’s anxiety in these situations was handled poorly at all. For most of the book he isn’t aware she has autism, but he still treats her with respect. Which is obviously the bare minimum but we all know a lot of male main characters in romance books are pieces of crap, so he gets a gold star for that.
He also loves it when she talks about her work, something that most people in her life think she spends too much time on, which is really sweet. He also slowly brings her out of her shell. I do get that The Kiss Quotient is pretty insta-lovely but that makes sense for a book with an autistic main character. Maybe they don’t stay together after the epilogue but let’s just enjoy what we have for now.
Some of the steamier scenes were well written but there were certain parts that made me cringe. More word choice for body parts rather than what was going on. These get a lot more graphic the further in you get, but this was actually a great way of showing how comfortable Stella felt with Michael.
The scene when Stella meets Michael’s family for the first time filled me with so much anxiety and second hand embarrassment. The one time she decides to not mask is when she deeply offends a terminally sick woman (Michael’s mom) and makes her cry. It was a very difficult chapter to read.
I did really enjoy The Kiss Quotient though. It’s the type of romance book that doesn’t have too much conflict, but expect a third act break up due to miscommunication – an absolute classic that I hate. It’s so obvious that Stella and Michael have real feelings for each other so this gets a little frustrating, but it’s an entertaining read.
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