The Kiss Quotient

When I picked up this book, it was pretty much well-liked everywhere, and I must say - it lived up to its hype. The book was so good I pretty much read it in one sitting; I think I read the first half non-stop and then came up for some air and water. In a fake dating trope scenario, Stella asks Michael to be her sex and dating coach, but they soon fall in love with each other. The main obstacles are their respective insecurities - hers being that she is autistic, and his about his sex work and the fact that she is rich and successful and he is not. The book develops their relationship so well, from their compatible companionship and understanding to their sizzling hot relationship in bed. Stella is an amazing protagonist - kind, and emotional, logical and pragmatic, but also awkward with people. She tries hard to fit in with allistic people and her character development is to do with acknowledging that she doesn't have to fix herself for that. Michael is also so adorable and sexy - he is gentle and empathetic, and has respect for women; he has problems with possessiveness, though. Michael's character development, however, is more extrinsic in that he finally can breathe when his problems are resolved, and intrinsically, it is more about having the self-confidence to not get intimidated by her success, or feel like he has nothing to offer her. They take so long to acknowledge their feelings for each other, its like a 'just admit it already gawd!' kind of tension. Oh, and there are some super hot sex scenes in this one, so you are warned if you are about to read this book in public *wink* For a person who is not a fan of romance-centered novels, I sure loved this book a lot and that's the best way of me saying - go read it! Also, I can't wait to read the next one, The Bride Test, with Khai (Michael's cousin) as the main character.

I have to admit, I started reading this book after seeing an excerpt in some article somewhere, and I wondered if this book would really live up to its hype. Mystery solved… it does! From the well-beyond-ordinary characters that I completely fell in love with, to the slow-burn romance, to the steaming hot love scenes between these diverse, unconventional people, Hoang has definitely turned me into a fan. Stella has a Ph.D. in Econometrics. She’s brilliantly smart, hardworking, and there’s nothing more she likes more than her work… so much so that she works even on her days off. As such, her parents are filthy rich, and she herself, even outside of her family money, has more money than the poor girl knows what to do with. She’s also on the Autism Spectrum. As a super-introvert myself, I have to say I can 100% relate to this part of the story, but Stella at some point realizes she must turn the act of learning how to be good in social settings into a task to master, including how to successfully be in a romantic relationship with a man. These things do not come naturally to her, so the best way she can come up with to master such a thing is to hire someone to teach her. Introduce Michael. Michael is a Vietnamese man a few years younger than Stella, described to be very handsome and often said to look like two different movie stars. Michael is such an endearing character on so many levels. So what if he makes money on the weekends as a Male Escort? He has his reasons… and it’s lucky he did when you think about it, because otherwise, he may have never met poor Stella. When these two get together, sparks fly, and the push and pull of will-they-won’t-they is just enough to keep you wildly flipping the pages to get to the “they will!” parts. The way he takes her and puts her at ease, making her feel comfortable in her own skin, making her see how a man should treat her and making her see that what she wants is just as important as what her partner wants, and making her see that she’s perfect just the way she is, labels be damned. This book will challenge you, and it will break your heart, and it will restore your faith in humanity once again when all is said and done. If you add one Must-Read book to your TBR this year, I’d say this one should be it.

This is an amazing debut novel!!!!! I read an excerpt and was completely hooked and needed to read more. I was curious how this story was going to play out, how a main character on the autism spectrum would be portrayed respectfully, and how the interactions between Stella and Michael were going to be. Prior to reading, I wasn't aware that the author is also on the spectrum so my concern that respect wouldn't be given was all for naught. From the beginning, I was sucked in and couldn't put this book down. I loved absolutely everything about Stella and Michael, both individually and together. This author has made me completely invested in everyone introduced in this story and I am anxiously awaiting the next in this series. *This is my voluntary review of an advanced reader copy*