The Kiss Quotient

A Novel

By: Helen Hoang

Narrated by: Carly Robins

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

A cosmopolitan title to get excited about in 2018! 

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 as well as way less experience in the dating department than the average 30-year-old. It doesn't help that she has Asperger's and that French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. She decides that she needs lots of practice - with a professional - which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. 

The Vietnamese-Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and he 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 also to crave all of the other things he's making her feel. Their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges convinces Stella that love is the best kind of logic...

©2018 Helen Hoang (P)2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Enjoyable and Sexy

This book could also be titled "Autistic Woman Has Sex," and sex is about 60% of the book. While sex is a key part of the development of the relationship and the scenes were well written and well performed, I admit there were one or two times I was waiting for the sex to end so we could get back to the plot. This is bc Hoang created two compelling characters here, and Stella herself provides such a freshness of perspective on falling in love. P.S. If you like this one, check out Courtney Milan's Trade Me.

It's a lot...

the story was really cute ,but theres a lot of descriptive sex, and not the creative kind. I've read other books with the "hot damn" description but this one basically the first half of the book is constant sex scenes. the second half isn't as bad, but it is a little excessive for my taste. If you like that kind of stuff, it's great, but I almost had to give up. narrator is awesome though.

Loved this!

This was a new author for me and a new narrator. Both were so fun with this book. I loved the characters and thought they were well rounded. The narrator made their voices come to life. I will gladly find both again and try more.

I don't speak Vietnamese, so unsure if things are pronounced correctly, but seeing the ebook and listening made me glad to know how to not pronounce things.

The secondary characters were so much fun and I am curious about possibly learning more about Michael's family.

I'd buy these two undies.

This book was a fun romance to romp through. I went in expecting it to be similar to The Rosie Project...that it is not! It's got some pretty vividly explicit sex scenes. Those don't bother me but can be a shocker if you aren't expecting them to pop up.
I also felt like this book portrayed both instalove and slow burn at the same time. Not being a fan of instalove at all, I greatly enjoyed the ways that also made this a slow burn romance.
It's definitely a quick one to get through and lots of fun getting there (expect several chuckles along the way!).

Loved it

Superb, feel good romance that one can connect to, appreciate and dream about.

Highly recommend this novel, especially to fans of the hating game whore looking for similarly moving novels.

Not only corny...

This book devolved in my opinion. It started out like a typical, semi-cheesy romance and ended painfully. The men in this book are just awful. Michael, in particular is maddening. Even after he finds out Stella is autistic, he makes everything about him, ignoring the fact that the way she experiences things is going to be different (unless of course they're having sex, then he is very thoughtful and considerate of her feelings). I am over the "I can't love you because I'm too messed up" narrative. Not for me.

Just couldn't get into it

I'm surprised by so many positive reviews. I listened to about 4 hours and gave up. I didn't find Stella endearing or Michael's instant attraction believable. I'm not bothered by descriptive scenes, I just didn't care about the characters. I love books with flawed characters, but this missed the mark for me.

Perfection

This is probably my favorite romance novel. If you like love to build, you’ll love this story.

Wonderful! You’ll love it!

Such a sweet story, interesting characters and a nice departure from the usual plot lines.
This author is new to me, and now I want to see if she’s written anything else.
I highly recommend!

Quirky sweet socially challenged nerd + tormented, hot Korean hunk= HEA

New author to me, Helen Hoang, offered me some fresh elements- at least unusual in that I can’t remember reading a romance where these characteristics were central to the h or H. Stella, the h is a really endearing character- an econometrics professional who is extremely successful in her field, probably partially due to her hyper focus on her job because her Aspergers makes a social life problematic- and a love life and dating has been confusing and unsatisfying too. Missed signals are just one problem. But now, to complicate matters, as she neared 30 her Mom has expressed her hope for grandchildren and has been pressing for her to date more. Stella’s parents are not a problem- they seem supportive in their way and she loves them and sees them often. So, she just would like to make them happy- if only she could figure out how. A chance conversation in her office inspires her and she bravely comes up with a Plan. On the face of it, a goofy plan...but intellectually... probably pretty sound! She will hire a tutor who will teach her and help her figure out what has been going wrong in her relationships with men in the past. Then she can fix it, and because he will be objective and a professional there won’t be emotions involved. Enter Michael. Yummmm...Michael. Google Daniel Denny (if you don’t already know who this hunky part, I think, Korean actor- “Criminal Minds” among many others). His reasons for becoming an “ escort” are very complex but she still got lucky when she selected him to teach her. Their story...learning about them, their families, their backstories, quirks- all of it- is very satisfying. Interesting characters, interesting issues, interesting resolutions. In typical plot device fashion, I didn’t agree with every choice...but how that initial simple agreement went through a metamorphosis as the journey progressed and actually taught both of them lessons - about themselves and their lives and about Choices- was satisfying. I also liked that the author presented the characters main issues unapologetically- never wimping out. I kept going to the end and you probably will to. Try it!

**Blush**

I don't normally read romance novels but because this was about an autistic woman I wanted to give it a try. There are some parts that made me blush but I powered through them and absolutely loved the story. I got major book hangover when I finished this and had nothing to fill that void!

Not what I expected. Listened to the end but annoyingly obvious.

I thought this book would talk a lot more about the intricacies of living with Aspergers and be a bit cleverer about the story line. The story was sexually explicit but that was a bit boring rather than making it more exciting. I listened to the end as I did want to find out what happened but it’s a bit predictable.

Absolutely dreadful vapid nonsense

Without merit in any conceivable way. Completely implausible rubbish without being escapist fun, simultaneously predictable and baffling.

Loved it!

I loved this book so much, such a lovely story. I laughed out loud in places. thoroughly recommend 😊

Worth a listen but nothing groundbreaking

I was drawn to this book by the interesting concept of looking at sex through the lens of asperger's. It was interesting but nothing special.
Some parts of the story seemed pretty forced, the initial dry cleaners bump into eachother and Michael's conflict with his dad was an unnecessary layer.
Not a book I would listen to again, but not a wholly enjoyable experience. If you are new to erotic literature (other than 50 shades), this isn't a bad place to start.

Indulgent

Addictive, if predictable storyline and engaging narration. An indulgent listen, thoroughly enjoyed. I would recommend this book.

Great

very enjoyable modern romance .
lighthearted , cheery and bright , I enjoyed the storyline and the steamyness of love making...

Terrible Narrartion

I think I may have enjoyed this story more if I’d read it rather than listened to it. The narration is overly dramatic, and specifically poor at narrating the male voices. I often found myself laughing at how ridiculous it sounded. The story itself could have been better, but it was a cute easy listen.

Excellent

Loved it. Very gripping. Good storyline. Very sexy and romantic. Also real and humane. Excellent detail to the characters

4.5 stars

I don’t don’t why this book hasn’t got a higher rating. It has won a Goodread award and kept cropping up in my recommendations so I thought I’d give it a whirl despite the rating being around 4 (and on Audible most people seem to rate way too generously which is frustrating, so 4 is usually not that great).

Quality wise it’s up there with my favourite romance authors who have good character development, interesting plots and believable chemistry. I was really absorbed throughout, and the only thing that let it down was the lack of effective communication drama towards the end. Even that didn’t negatively effect it too much for me because overall it was great, so only took half a star off.

I’ll be looking out for more from this author.