Mini-Review // The Kiss Quotient

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…

• This. Book. Was. Addictive!! I could not put it down and finished it in 24 hours!
• The romance between Stella and Michael was mesmerizing. I loved that they both had their personality quirks and yet complemented each other well.
• In addition to the main characters, I liked the secondary characters including Michael’s adorable family — his mom, grandma and sisters. I can’t speak to the accuracy of Vietnamese rep, but reading these scenes made me feel like I was surrounded by a large Vietnamese home full of laughter and good food.
• It was hilarious!! I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. The way Stella approached her dilemma with a serious determination for self-improvement was so charming.
• I liked that this book attempted to subvert some gender stereotypes (e.g. rich and handsome men) and explored a relationship that crossed racial and socio-economic boundaries.
• The message of the novel was one of self-acceptance and self-love which I appreciate!

• Despite the attempts to subvert gender stereotypes, I felt in other ways Stella and Michael fell into well-known female and male character tropes in the romance genre. Stella was an attractive girl who didn’t know she was attractive, and Michael was a confident dude with a dark and brooding past. (I don’t read romance often but even then I’ve seen these tropes again and again — that says something doesn’t it?)
• There were some scenarios which I found to be unrealistic. For example bumping into each other randomly in the city or finding out that coincidentally everyone knew everyone (what are the chances when you live in a big city like San Fran??)
• The plot was pretty predictable. I didn’t need to finish reading the synopsis to guess exactly how things would end up LOL. But hey, I kept reading because of the great character chemistry.

3/5 fishies!

If you’re looking for a feel good, addictive romance with great character chemistry, this one might be up your alley!

Have you read this book? What are your favourite contemporary/romance books?!

Photo by Roman Mager on Unsplash