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The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Romance

The Kiss Quotient

BOTY FINALIST

Each year thousands of members vote for our Book of the Year award—congrats to The Kiss Quotient!

Debut

We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, Helen Hoang, on your first book!

by Helen Hoang

Quick take

A math whiz with Asperger's finds there's no simple equation when it comes to learning how to love.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_Emotional

    Emotional

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_Happy

    Happy

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_Quirky

    Quirky

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 30 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 …

As Michael and Stella’s no-nonsense partnership takes them out of the bedroom and into a full-time practice relationship, being together starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic ...

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Why I love it

In the past, I have been that reader who thinks herself “above” the romance genre. I had this misconception that cool kids don’t read romance. But recently, books like The Kiss Quotient are showing me what I've been missing. Not only is this book well-written and free of cliches, but bonus: It’s an own-voices perspective—in other words, it’s a story with a diverse cast of characters written by a diverse author. The author drew on her own experiences with autism to write a heartfelt book about a woman with autism, and the result was so winning I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

Stella is an autistic, phenomenally successful econometrician (a.k.a. math genius) who doesn’t have a lot of sexual experience. After being teased at work about this, she decides to hire an escort to teach her a few bedroom tricks. Enter Michael, a consummate professional (and total cutie). The relationship isn’t meant to be anything other than transactional. But, as you might have guessed, that plan quickly goes off the rails …

This is one of those books where the characters are the main selling point—Stella and Michael’s relationship is steamy, yes, but supportive too. They’re regular humans who have a lot to discover about each other and themselves, and their story shows that it’s always worth it to bet on romance. I’m just glad I bet on this book!

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Member ratings (20,482)

  • Meredith B.

    San Antonio, TX

    My review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I cannot say enough great things about this book and @hhoangwrites She is amazing to come forward and write a book about a disorder that so many people label. Bravo!!!!!!

  • Savannah S.

    New Albany, IN

    Loved this book so much! Yes, it's a romance, but in exploring the experience of a woman on the spectrum of autism through that lens it was also touching, and informative without being preachy. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • Jennifer R.

    The Colony , TX

    Love it! It’s NOT your every day cutesy romance book. This one is special. The narrators give you interesting view points. Gets you thinking. Than you find out about the author’s story and????mind blown

  • Danielle F.

    Whitesboro, TX

    I really enjoyed his book, it’s a lighthearted read! I think it’s great that the author gave some light to what it’s like for an autistic person to fall in love when they have so many sensory issues!

  • Casey F.

    Riverton, NJ

    Really delightful. Reading a romance by and about an autistic woman was new, and it’s great to have more diverse characters in the genre. It doesn’t hurt that it’s also well written with great leads.