A
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Archetype: Diverse Protagonists, Escort/Courtesan/Sex Worker, STEM
When Sarah asked me in an upcoming podcast episode how I felt about The Kiss Quotient, I had a sudden spout of verbal constipation. All of the words tried to escape my mouth at once. Sarah also would not let me submit a review that simply read, “Buy it. Read it.” I apologize for the squeeing that is about to coat your eyeballs, as I tell you a million reasons why this book is the best thing I’ve read in ages, and why I will be shoving it into people’s hands until I die.
Stella Lane is an econometrician and has Asperger’s. She’s also Asian American. If you, like myself, have no clue what an econometrician does, they analyze datasets to find trends, especially when it comes to consumer purchases. Stella finds comfort in patterns and the predictability of numbers and while her parents are proud of her professional accomplishments, she knows they’re waiting for her to get married and have children.
Michael Phan is an escort. He’s half-Vietnamese and half-Swedish. His looks are compared to the jaw dropping Daniel Henney with the added benefit of a full-body tattoo that spans his shoulder all the way down to his thigh. There are several reasons why Michael has become an escort and I won’t divulge all of them because…spoilers. He’s also a man of many talents and has a charming cousin, Quan, who I desperately hope will be the hero in the third book of this series.
Stella hires Michael because she wants to get better at sex, thinking that good sex will lead to a lasting relationship. I like that Stella wasn’t a virgin, though her experiences have been incredibly disappointing. She’s only orgasmed with herself and for a long time, that was my experience, too. I think that situation may resonate with many women.
To complicate things, Michael doesn’t do repeat sessions with a client, having experienced issues before, but he makes an exception for Stella. She hires him for three nights, though their arrangement quickly needs a renegotiation of terms.
It’s not sex Stella needs to get “good” at; it’s all the stuff in between. The relationship stuff. Stella knows she has a problem connecting with others. Her hope is that if she learns how to establish a romantic connection, her partner won’t mind exercising a little patience as they navigate the bedroom together. I couldn’t agree more with her strategy! I’ve found that it’s not always about experience, but enthusiasm, and that often comes with being sexually involved with someone you like and whose presence you enjoy.
Of course, complications ensue because keeping things professional always turns out poorly in the romance genre. Love happens! And boy, does it.
When I’m reading, it’s usually easy for me to pick my favorite between the hero and heroine. With Stella and Michael, I can’t possibly choose between these two, perfect cinnamon rolls. Stella is blunt, inquisitive, and has a cheeky way of perceiving things.
He exhaled sharping, and his brow creased in puzzlement. “You don’t like French kissing?”
“It makes me feel like a shark getting its teeth cleaned by a pilot fish.” It was weird and far too personal.
His eyes danced, and though he bit his lip, she could see a grin peeking around the edges of his mouth.
Are you smiling like an idiot right now? Because I am and I’ve read this passage no less than five times.
Michael, I think, has ruined me for all other romance heroes. He’s incredibly patient and kind with Stella. She doesn’t immediately reveal to him that she has Asperger’s, but whenever she says stop or has a particular request, Michael never questions her. He never pushes her or demands some rationalization. He’s just so…sweet.
Stella treats Michael like a person, not an object to be used when services are rendered. It throws Michael off and as readers will come to find out, Michael has some secrets. It’s more than just escorting that makes him feel like a thing to be thrown away.
When he drew back, her lips were parted on soundless gasps of desire. It took a moment for her eyes to clear enough to focus on him, and he expected her to turn around and check another box off her list. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed close, holding him. She crushed her lips against his temple.
A shocking sense of being cherished spread through him. She wasn’t acting like what happened between them was services reverend for payment received. She was acting like it meant something, like she cared, maybe even about him.
Another hotel room, another bed, and another client in his arms. It was a regular Friday night. Only he’d never felt so exposed, so raw, and he still wore his goddanmed pants.
There are a couple things which might affect another readers’ enjoyment, but not mine. However, I realize my experience with this book won’t be universal.
There is some internal possessiveness from Michael. When Stella talks about hiring another escort if Michael is unable to do repeat sessions, he doesn’t like that suggestion at all. I didn’t mind this so much as Michael knows what his other colleagues are like at the escort agency. He knows whether they can be patient with Stella or would sooner laugh at her demands. To me, it never read as “I have to have her and if I can’t, no one can” type possessiveness.
Additionally, I can see how other readers might lump Stella into a category of “not like other girls.” Michael frequently makes reference in his thoughts to his previous clients and how, with them, he just goes through the motions or counts down until he’s able to leave. With Stella, things are different. But things are different with Stella. She has a checklist. There’s an analytical approach to what she’s hoping to accomplish. I guarantee you that Michael has never had a client quite like her before; it made sense why he was so surprised about his enjoyment of their time together.
I just wanted to bring attention to those two things in case any of you tend to avoid similar characterizations, but your mileage may vary!
I truly loved this book. Loved. It made me feel like a champagne bubble – all fizzy and light. Each page brought about a bigger smile and my anticipation grew with each word. When I think of all the magical feelings romance gives its readers, I will forever think of this book. I’m not saying The Kiss Quotient is flawless, but my experience with it was absolutely perfect. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I want to read it again and I will forever be jealous of those reading it for the first time.
The author, Helen Hoang, officially has a reader for life.
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I probably have too many thoughts for a comment, but I have been on the fence with whether I want to read this book or not. I have an adult son with Asperger’s and I find most romance books dealing with autistic characters to be problematic. I hated The Rosie Project which I know got a lot of love here. Twitter has been all about A Girl Like Her lately, and I thought it was terrible. I do like The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, so perhaps I can only read about autism in historicals? I want to support good writing of characters with disabilities, but maybe I am just too close to what the life of a real person with autism is like. I want to get on that good book bandwagon with everyone else, but I am not sure I can do so with this book. Sigh.
Laurel, while I haven’t read it and can’t say anything about the review or quality of the book, Helen Hoang is on the spectrum and presumably her main character is pulled from her experiences.
I loved the sound of this so much that I one-clicked it at full price which…basically never happens.
I’m an Asian American economist, and though I’m an avid romance reader, I rarely identified with the heroines of romance novels either ethnically or professionally. The fact that I can apparently identify with BOTH of those in this book is amazing!
@Hazel: Yay! I’m so happy you have that feeling.
@Laurel: I’m not neurodivergent, so I can’t speak to the accuracy of Stella portrayal. But as Elidia mentioned, the author is on the spectrum. Maybe give the sample a read? Stella does get overstimulated by touch or from sensory overload. She mentions having to practice facial expressions to give off the “right” responses in social interactions. But it’s entirely possible that you’re right and you may be too close to the subject matter to read about it.
There’s also always the library if you don’t want to invest any money in a book you might not enjoy!
Sadly, I had to Google Daniel Henney. At least I recognized his face, if not his name. I am getting old.
I’m really looking forward to this one!
@Laurel I also have an adult son on the spectrum and have the same opinions on the books you mentioned. The Rosie Project was just meh for me and I read A Girl Like Her last week, after seeing all the raves over it. I didn’t care for it at all! I enjoyed The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, but I don’t think it’s just spectrum characters in a historical setting that I enjoy. I enjoy well-written characters on the spectrum. The contemporary author that nailed it for me is Tracey Livesay. Her book Love On My Mind was exceptionally well written, particularly the hero. Give it a try. I see it’s currently $1.99 for Kindle.
OMG. Half-Asian-American here and SIGN ME THE F**& UP.
DonnaMarie, you’re in good company. I didn’t know the name Daniel Henney. But you can be consoled by the fact that I didn’t recognize his face either.
Thanks for the review, Amanda. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this book and am looking forward to reading it.
Okay. I’m 70% done with the book, and I have to share my own favorite part — it’s when the Vietnamese granny puts the shrimp paste into Stella’s soup, and she actually likes it. As the daughter of a Thai mom, liking the food is so, very important to southeast asians, and it’s impressive when the person you bring home is up for it.
I also had to Google Daniel Henney, and boy am I glad I did.
Laurel, I hated The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie (it was a DNF for me) and I loved The Kiss Quotient (and The Rosie Project; I also read that author’s Two Steps Forward right before TKQ). So maybe TKQ is not for you. I was meh on A Girl Like You because I’m not a fan of Insta-Love, and that’s what it felt like.
@Laurel: Love in Panels had an ownvoices review of this book that talked about some ways the reviewer really disliked the portrayal of autism in it. You might check it out before reading, because she found that the way the author portrayed autism very dissatisfying (even though yes, the book is ownvoices.) That might give you a better sense of whether the book would work for you. http://www.loveinpanels.com/prose/the-kiss-quotient
One more comment and I swear I’m done. I finished the book, and felt better reading a romance than I have since I finished all of the Crazy Rich Asian books. It was great to read about a biracial southeast Asian hero, it was great to read about an Asian heroine, and even better that they live in America so I can read about them as part of Asian-American culture.
It was also interesting to have autism as an element of the heroine’s life. I can’t speak to this as other people can. But I found the book important to me because of how utterly few biracial heroes there are. Actually I have to say that this is probably the first biracial Asian-white hero I’ve read about, outside of like…TeniMyu RPF. (If anyone gets the reference here, yay.)
Being the biracial child of a Thai mom and white dad myself, I felt a lot of empathy with the hero’s home situation, the food and the noise and the parents that split up and all. I loved the heroine’s insight that he looked just slightly like he didn’t fit into all his family photos, boy do I understand that feeling. And I loved the complicated discussion of social class and money, and had to glumly nod at the “you’re nothing if you’re not an engineer” discussion. My mom’s been trying to turn my English degree into law for like a decade, to no avail.
So many little things felt nice about this book. Nobody was fetishized for being Asian. There was no racism, overt or implicit. And that was a huge burden lifted, for me. If it were a book about a white man and an asian woman, I’m pretty sure he would’ve had to defend her against a racist at least once, and not even needing to hear the racism is a huge plus.
It was great to see the studious and hard-working heroine rewarded for her hard work, rather than giving it all up. And knowing that the hero respected her shyness and limits was lovely too.
Anyway, I agree with that A, and am so glad I ran into this book here.
@robot: That review rubbed me the wrong way. It seemed to me like a 50/50 split between condemning the author for allowing the character to feel shame for being who she is and shaming the character for not conforming to how the reviewer thinks such a person should live.
“Why doesn’t she have friends?” Because when navigating social situations requires herculean effort, many people prefer isolation. “Why has she only had sex with jerks?” Because when you’re at all “weird,” most of the people who pursue you are predators. “Why is she 30 and not FIXED yet?” Bite my whole ass.
I’m wait-listed and may very well take offense at something, but I doubt it will be how the protagonist experiences her ND.
Thank you everyone for all your thoughtful comments. Romancelandia is really the best when it comes to things like this, understanding what is good for some is not always good for all. I’m glad that the book fills a need for some, but I’m not sure it is right for me. At this point in time, I really don’t want to be angry about autistic representation once again. I think I’m going to wait on this one.
@achariya: I absolutely love that you found the book, commented, read it, then commented again – seeing your reaction in the discussion has been so delightful. This sounds like an ideal book for you, and I’m so, so happy you got to read it.
There were so many YES moments to this book. I really enjoyed the writing and character development, the cultural identity and the neurodiversity. I did, however, have some issues with the way sex work was presented in this book. Every sex worker is different and they are allowed to have a range of experiences, but not having repeat clients seems like an ultra-privileged thing to be able to do. Also, in romance especially, sex work seems like it’s always presented as a job that one needs to escape or break free from. This is not on Helen Hoang, who wrote a wonderful book here, but I was just suffering from whorephobia fatigue when I read this book.
@SB Sarah — Imagine reading a book about your own race (I’ll consider southeast Asian close enough) for the first time in your LIFE at age 45? 😀
Thanks for the review, Amanda. Achariya, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’m hoping the readers in front of me in the library queue read quickly.
@achariya: I cannot imagine how absolutely delighted you must be. I am so, so very happy for you!!
@Laurel the author herself (as said before) is on the spectrum.
At the author’s note she mentions when and how she discovered her autism and it was purely on accident. Helen Hoang also mentions, “My experience (and, therefore,Stella’s) is just one among many and cannot be taken as ‘standard’. There is no standard.”
I loved that sentence.
I am sick and tired of people thinking everyone on the spectrum behaves like Sheldon Cooper and doesn’t even wonder why the condition is named “autism SPECTRUM disorder”…*eye-roll*
I’m telling you this because the first thing I read as soon as I bought the e-book was the author’s note. I was ready to return the e-book if she hadn’t researched anything about ASD and Asperger’s.
She did her research and kindly shares the books (and links!) to people understand about ASD and how it affects girls and boys differently and how hard it’s to diagnose the condition in girls.
I wrote all that, however I haven’t finished the book yet, hahahaha! But so far so good, I am enjoying “The kiss quotient”!
So, I’m skimming this review thinking the book sounds interesting but I’ve never heard of the author. I turn my phone sideways so I can see the genre details on the mobile site which also happens to enlarge the cover thumbnail. Lo and behold, there’s a Nalini Singh cover quote! I’m putting this on my TBR list.
@MaryK: I believe this is Hoang’s debut, which might be why she’s new to you!
Sold! I had been thinking I’d want to read this based on earlier discussions but the review clinched it. I’m mother to a daughter on the spectrum and the preview snippets felt very authentic and yet not straining to show Stella as someone special.
Borrowed- love my local library overdrive. Just checked it out. Thanks Amanda for the heads up.
Well this has all the catnip, thanks for the great review Amanda!
I love the escort to lover trope, and I especially love atypical characters due to my son having autism.
Identifying with Laurel, I too loved The Madness of Lord Ian, so I’m also going to recommend Carry The Ocean by Heidi Calinan, which has several atypical characters on many levels of the spectrum, one of the most realistic representations I’ve read so far.I laughed, I raged, I cried. M/m contemporary romance.
While I appreciate more neuro_diversity in my favourite genre as both a biracial person and someone who has aspergers I would really like to see the FULL spectrum represented, ie classic autism. My son is severe and I can find no stories that give me hope that he will one day find love. I find many stories of the aspergers experience in romance and feel in some ways this is the easiest neurodivergent experience to write about as it is the closest to neurotypical. I want the full spectrum to be represented and feel this is badly needed.
I really loved both the hero and heroine, he was super sweet, and she was smart and brave, and they were charming together. I loved his family too, as one of 4 sisters and one brother myself, though we’re wasp as the day is long. In this story the hero is a sex worker by necessity but I didn’t find it disrespectful of him for his job, nor was he disrespectful of his clients in their variety of ages and shapes. As a woman in my 50’s I appreciated the portrayal of several women in their 40’s and 50’s as sexy and attractive. I bought this book for full price and don’t regret it and when I finished I preordered the next one!
@Pam in the notes it looks like the next hero, Khai is farther along the autism spectum, though probably not severely autistic…
I read this review and the comments and then bought the book almost immediately. I loved it. The romance was great and as someone not on the spectrum, it was interesting to get some insight from the author on ASD. Great rec, thanks!
Waiting for my copy of this from the library! So excited to read it.
I read it and I agree with every single thing you wrote! Here’s the thing, I’m not a romance novel reader but this book had such good reviews I clicked buy on Amazon. Best decision I made. I absolutely loved everything about Stella and Michael. I was left wanting more. I too am so jealous of everyone getting to read it for the first time.
By the way, I reached out to Helen Hoang on instagram and thanked her for writing the novel and for putting me on to Daniel Henney because holy moly! So hot! She was so sweet about it too. I cannot wait to read her next novel. She definitely has a fan here!
I just read this book and it was everything I didn’t know I needed to read. It was simply sublime. Michael Larsen is my new book boyfriend. I loved him and Stella so much I wish they were real.
On a side note, while the book doesn’t really specify Stella’s ethnicity, the author, Helen Hoang, has mentioned she envisioned Stella to be Caucasian, while Michale is mixed race. Her inspiration board also showcases a Caucasian female. While I read the book I geniunly thought Stella was at least half Asian, so it was surprising learning she was not. In the end, the beauty of books is being able to imagine each character as you please.
@Beca Hey! I have been searching the net to find out about Stella’s ethnicity! Her name does not definitively point her in one way or the other. While reading the book, I got the idea that she was not Asian-American, but caucasian for a number of reasons: first, when she is in the cultural environment that is Michael’s mom’s side of the family, she does not relate in any way. Even if she was not Vietnamese, as clearly she did not understand them or have any awareness of the the titles they use for one another, she still may have related her own culture as being somewhat similar or very different, but she never does. Similarly in the scene where she is shown Michael’s childhood and baby pictures, she makes a note that he must have felt “different” because of his mixed ethnicity, yet again, does not relate herself, other than to say she was also different, but it seems to be a comment on her Aspergers.
In the grand scheme of things, it is not such a big deal, but I am curious as to why the popular assumption seems to be that Stella is also Asian-American. @Beca, could you let me know where Helen Hoang expressed her vision of Stella? Thanks!
I thought Stella was a caucasian woman as well. There are at least a couple of times where she enjoys comparing the colors of their hands.
Here’s one:
“The sight of their hands side by side on the keys mesmerized Stella. The contrast was stark and beautiful: large to small, tan to pale, masculine to feminine. So different, but in perfect rhythm. They were making music. Together.”
@Bes The author says on Goodreads that she imagined Stella as Caucasian. Not sure anyone will see this comment. It took this long to get to the top of the queue at the library.