Book Review: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Stand Alone

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 317

Rating: 3 Stars

How I Got It: Christmas Gift

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Berkley

Synopsis courtesy of 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

There has been soooo much hype and love for this book. Including from people who I usually have the same book taste as. I was certain I would love this just as much as them. I purposely didn't read it on a week/work day because I was so sure it would suck me in like crazy and stop me from sleeping.

But it ended up being pretty blah.

It was a perfectly good romance novel, but it wasn't anything special.

Stella is an interesting character to read about. You could read her anxiety when she was off routine or outside of her comfort zone. But she was still a very typical romance heroine-insecure, sexually inexperienced, and prettier than she knows. She just has a "reason' for all of this. There is nothing particularly wrong with these characteristics, but it isn't anything groundbreaking.

Michael was kind of bland for me. I could tell I was supposed to swoon over him and he's a nice guy, but he didn't feel as fully developed as he could've been. I did really like his mom and sisters.

The romance was ok. I have no real issues with it. Maybe a tad too much sexy times. I appreciate sex is a part of Stella's growth, but a few more conversations would've gone a long way to build up the believe-ability of the romance.

I'm not opposed to reading another book by Ms. Hoang like The Bride Test. But I'm also not dying to read it either.

Thanks for reading!

Holly