(Not) All According to Plan • The Kiss Quotient

I’m so, so excited to be talking about The Kiss Quotient today! It is, without a doubt, one of my favorite reads of 2018, and also one of my favorite contemporary romances of all time. I was a little worried going into it that I would fall victim to the hype monster again and find my expectations for it unmet. But I’m so glad to be able to say that my fears were unfounded, and that I really, truly, absolutely loved this one!

The Kiss Quotient is the first in a new contemporary romance series from Helen Hoang, and it centers around two main characters - Stella Lane and Michael Phan. Stella, who has Asperger’s, has a pretty comfortable life, working with algorithms and carving out a routine that suits her. When she decides she needs to gain more experience in sex and dating, she decides to hire a professional escort to be her tutor. Enter Michael, the handsome Vietnamese/Swedish man who agrees to help Stella with her plan (and who is dealing with some problems of his own), and you can make an educated guess about how this story is going to go...

Honestly, The Kiss Quotient is just such a delightful read! I’m a sucker for novels that read like a romantic comedy, first of all, and Hoang certainly delivers on that aspect. Just like my favorite rom-com films, this novel has moments that land on so many parts of the emotional spectrum: hilarity, sorrow, anger, embarrassment, swoons. I was suitably impressed by how quickly Hoang had me hooked on her story! I’d be remiss not to mention, however, that the two main characters were certainly the reason I cared so much about what would happen next. Stella is wonderful to read about, as a woman who is smart, independent, vulnerable and easy to relate to. And Michael was a real treat too, a man who genuinely wanted to do the right thing by his family and by Stella. Throw in their families (who are incredibly fun secondary characters, particularly Michael’s side who I need to have more of immediately and who, despite being specifically Vietnamese, really captured the Asian family dynamic), the romantic tension that builds between them and a lot of fun and sweet moments, and basically, it had me obsessively turning pages in order to find out how it all plays out.

I loved, loved, loved The Kiss Quotient. (And really, I’m not the only one.) It’s well-written, it’s entertaining and it certainly brings the feels to the forefront for readers. I fell head over heels in love with Stella, Michael and their story, and I’m so excited for whatever Helen Hoang has coming out next. (Spoiler: It’s a companion novel that features one of the secondary characters as the main character. Find out more about it here!) If you’re looking for a new contemporary romance read (perfect for the beach or for a lazy summer day), look no further than The Kiss Quotient.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang | Series: The Kiss Quotient #1

Publisher: Berkley | Publication Date: June 5, 2018

Source: ARC received from the publisher (Thank you!)