The Kiss Quotient

I inhaled this book. I took a long lunch because I couldn't put it down. I cried on the metro to the point that I had to dig kleenex out of my purse. I let my kid watch Sesame Street so I could keep reading. I stayed up past my bedtime to finish it. I loved this book.

The Kiss Quotient is about Stella: an autistic econometrician (she writes the algorithms that drive internet ads) whose mom is making noise about wanting grandchildren. But Stella's never had much luck with men and dating and particularly sex. So she does what she's always done when she needs to master a new skill: she hires a professional.

Enter Michael, a male escort who's trying to earn money to pay for his mom's medical bills. Stella engages him for a series of sessions to help her get better at sex so she can enter the dating pool with confidence and find a husband to make her mom happy. But it quickly becomes apparent that the problem isn't Stella, but all the assholes out there. And that may be beyond Michael's skills to fix. But then again, maybe not.

This book was just so sweet. It had the perfect amount of miscommunication and growing intimacy. Michael is a wonderful, perceptive man who's so worried about turning into his father that he's ended up stuck. Stella is accomplished professionally, but she struggles socially and is always convinced that she's the problem. They help each other and they hurt each other and they eventually figure it all out and it's just beautiful.

Hoang has another book coming out next year, about Michael's cousin who is also autistic. I can't wait to read it.

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