Title: The Kiss Quotient
Author: Helen Hoang
Genre: romance; contemporary
Synopsis: (from Goodreads) 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: If you’re a Pretty Woman fan and ever wondered what a gender bent version would look like — then this book is for you. Instead of pompous millionaire Richard Gere, we get sweet and naive Stella who thinks that practicing with a professional will make sex less of a chore. As a woman with high functioning autism, she looks at the issue of her sexual inexperience logically and comes to this conclusion rationally and does her research where she finds sexy Michael. Now, if you’ve seen Pretty Woman, you might have some idea of what to expect from The Kiss Quotient, but don’t write it off!
In Pretty Woman, none of the characters really get the chance to develop or change like they do in Hoang’s novel. In fact, while there are corresponding characters for each character in Pretty Woman, Hoang makes her story original and poignant because of the depth she gives to each character – including the side characters. Stella isn’t just a rich woman who needs a dating partner for a while, she’s a woman who needs to learn how to navigate the world of intimacy but doesn’t know how, so she enlists the help of a professional. Rational. Michael is devoted. He’s holding the strings of his life together. He’s doing what he has to for the family he loves. But ALL OF THEM EVOLVE. They don’t just take their shoes off and walk on grass and then fly off into the sunset.
One thing I really liked about this is that there wasn’t any judgment from Stella about Michael’s sex work. She wasn’t condescending or worried about how it might look to her at all. She saw him as a human being who was deserving of respect and of a voice. Michael is given way more depth than his Julia Roberts counterpart. He’s got a family unit to support him, and while I was reading it, what I loved about it was that Hoang really settled us as readers into his family. His family base was strong.
Read this book people. You won’t regret it.
chelsea usher 