The Kiss Quotient was like a breath of fresh air.
When you read so many books, they start meshing into one another sometimes leaving you a little underwhelmed. And then, you delightfully stumble across this book and it knocks you for a six.
Here we have a heroine living with Asperger’s who feels isolated, inexperienced, micro managed by her family but also has an overwhelming desire to experience living. Stella hires an escort in order to further herself intimately so that she will be equipped to have a ‘normal’ relationship in the future.
What we get is a hysterical journey where she learns that ‘normal’ is underrated with the unlikeliest of help along the way. I laughed, I deep breathed and I fell totally in love with these words I couldn’t read quickly enough. And don’t despair, it was insanely erotic to boot.

The Kiss Quotient: A Novel
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©2018 Helen Hoang (P)2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC
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Product details
Listening Length | 9 hours and 36 minutes |
---|---|
Author | Helen Hoang |
Narrator | Carly Robins |
Whispersync for Voice | Ready |
Audible.com.au Release Date | 05 June 2018 |
Publisher | Dreamscape Media, LLC |
Program Type | Audiobook |
Version | Unabridged |
Language | English |
ASIN | B07D3B44KM |
Best Sellers Rank |
7,084 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
6 in Multicultural Romance (Audible Books & Originals) 235 in Women's Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) 362 in Contemporary Romance (Audible Books & Originals) |
Customer reviews
4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
2,184 global ratings
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Top reviews
Top reviews from Australia
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TOP 500 REVIEWER
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TOP 500 REVIEWER
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I am absolutely kicking myself for not reading this book sooner. It’s an absolute 6 star read for me. I cannot adequately describe just how much I loved it, as a mother of an autistic child this book was so real, definitely confronting and just overall so well done. I cried so many times for Stella and absolutely loved Michael’s patience with her differences. Such a beautiful love story. I cannot wait to read The Bride Test!
Reviewed in Australia on 9 August 2018
Verified Purchase
I love a couple who aren't perfect but are perfect for each other. This one is definitely going on my favourites list.
The reverse pretty woman theme completely works. I loved the depth of the characters, their families, interests work and heritage. The chemistry was off the charts. Stella is amazing. A bit different, but she is successful, kind and an inside and out beautiful person who needs someone who understands her. Michael is perfect for he, they complete each other.
Fantastic story.
The reverse pretty woman theme completely works. I loved the depth of the characters, their families, interests work and heritage. The chemistry was off the charts. Stella is amazing. A bit different, but she is successful, kind and an inside and out beautiful person who needs someone who understands her. Michael is perfect for he, they complete each other.
Fantastic story.
Reviewed in Australia on 27 July 2019
Verified Purchase
I loved this book so much I read it in one sitting. Well, one horizontalling to be precise. I thought I’d read a few chapters before bed. Time lost all meaning. I fell in love with Stella and Michael and could not stop. Suddenly it was midnight. Then it was 2am ... and I didn’t stop until 3.30am. Thank you Helen Hoang for a fabulous read.
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TOP 1000 REVIEWER
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Loved it. The actions of Michael during the inevitable conflict before the HEA didn't come off as taking away Stella's agency to me so much as reaffirming Michael's insecurities. Sometimes we have to work through our insecurities before we can get over thrm and sometimes we hurt people in the process.
Definitely read this book.
Definitely read this book.
Reviewed in Australia on 9 April 2019
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Such a wonderful love story. Both characters are so relatable and i loved their chemistry. It was my first book from this author and i will definitely be reading more of her books!
Reviewed in Australia on 13 May 2019
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Loved this book, the story is sweet and utterly gorgeous.
The moment you start, just can't leave the book until you read it all. The characters are charming, the story flows easily and great to read.
The moment you start, just can't leave the book until you read it all. The characters are charming, the story flows easily and great to read.
Reviewed in Australia on 2 July 2018
Verified Purchase
One of my books of 2018. I fell in love with Stella and Michael. Fabulous characters with a great storyline. Perfect.
Top reviews from other countries

T. K. Elliott
5.0 out of 5 stars
Start reading this when you have time to finish it - a one-sitting read!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2018Verified Purchase
This book was amazing. I cried. Twice.
I just loved it from start to finish. I'd had my eye on this for a bit, and when it was reduced in price on Amazon, I bought it on reflex. Then realised, with dawning horror, that I hadn't checked to see whether it was written in the present tense - which I generally remember to do, because I hate books written in the present tense.
Reading just the first paragraph would have settled the question (no, it's not - it's safely written in the past tense), but I just couldn't stop. I ended up reading the whole book in one sitting, only taking my nose out of it to walk downstairs (walking upstairs while still reading is much less dangerous).
On a more analytical level, this book had everything I want in a romance:
1. An intelligent heroine who uses her brain and is not a pitiful mess who needs a man to sort her out.
2. An intelligent and likeable hero, who acts like a civilised human being.
3. A plot that does not rely on otherwise intelligent people suddenly losing all common sense and doing things because the author needs them to.
4. A relationship that works. I expect these two will have their ups and downs - but I think they'll be all right in the long term.
Thoroughly recommended. The author has written another book - The Bride Test - and I will almost certainly get it. But I shall only open it when I have a free day!
I just loved it from start to finish. I'd had my eye on this for a bit, and when it was reduced in price on Amazon, I bought it on reflex. Then realised, with dawning horror, that I hadn't checked to see whether it was written in the present tense - which I generally remember to do, because I hate books written in the present tense.
Reading just the first paragraph would have settled the question (no, it's not - it's safely written in the past tense), but I just couldn't stop. I ended up reading the whole book in one sitting, only taking my nose out of it to walk downstairs (walking upstairs while still reading is much less dangerous).
On a more analytical level, this book had everything I want in a romance:
1. An intelligent heroine who uses her brain and is not a pitiful mess who needs a man to sort her out.
2. An intelligent and likeable hero, who acts like a civilised human being.
3. A plot that does not rely on otherwise intelligent people suddenly losing all common sense and doing things because the author needs them to.
4. A relationship that works. I expect these two will have their ups and downs - but I think they'll be all right in the long term.
Thoroughly recommended. The author has written another book - The Bride Test - and I will almost certainly get it. But I shall only open it when I have a free day!
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giki
3.0 out of 5 stars
a great idea that went off the rails halfway through
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 June 2019Verified Purchase
Living with Aspergers has not held Stella back from a very successful career, she loves her high powered job wrangling algorithms for an online retailer, but personal relationships, especially romantic ones are a different story. Deciding that something must be done, and taking a practical approach, she hires a male escort to show her the ropes. But there is a lot more to Michael than first meets the eye and their relationship very quickly deepens into something more meaningful.
Write what you know, they say, and in her note at the end of the book author Helen Hoang reveals that she herself is autistic, so we can be confident that this is a good representation of how one autistic person may act or feel. It is a pretty interesting insight. The romance is sweet and the characters are likeable.
so why didn't I enjoy it?
Michael is perhaps just a little over the top, ridiculously good looking, highly talented and endlessly self-sacrificing. The fact that the plot constantly hinged on people jumping to the wrong conclusions and trying to sabotage there own happiness was gratingly annoying. Some of the plot twists towards the end were really ridiculous - details would be spoilers - but it was just too ridiculously convenient.
In my opinion, this was a great idea that went right of the rails halfway through, but, a lot of people do love this book - there is so much hype out there. I must be missing something.
Write what you know, they say, and in her note at the end of the book author Helen Hoang reveals that she herself is autistic, so we can be confident that this is a good representation of how one autistic person may act or feel. It is a pretty interesting insight. The romance is sweet and the characters are likeable.
so why didn't I enjoy it?
Michael is perhaps just a little over the top, ridiculously good looking, highly talented and endlessly self-sacrificing. The fact that the plot constantly hinged on people jumping to the wrong conclusions and trying to sabotage there own happiness was gratingly annoying. Some of the plot twists towards the end were really ridiculous - details would be spoilers - but it was just too ridiculously convenient.
In my opinion, this was a great idea that went right of the rails halfway through, but, a lot of people do love this book - there is so much hype out there. I must be missing something.
5 people found this helpful
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Sarah (Feeling Fictional)
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Kiss Quotient
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 January 2019Verified Purchase
Since she turned 30 Stella's mother has started putting on the pressure about her getting married and starting to produce some much longed for grandkids. Stella doesn't want to let her parents down but as someone with Aspergers Syndrome she finds interpersonal relationships extremely difficult and her few attempts at sex have all ended in disaster because she couldn't bear to be touched so intimately by a practical stranger. She's extremely successful at her career but feels like a failure because of her struggles to hold down a relationship so she decides to hire a professional to teach her how to enjoy, or at least tolerate, sex. She's sure that once she's mastered sex she'll have a chance to find a husband and start building a family.
Michael has been an escort for three years, working on the side to earn enough money to cover his mother's medical bills. It wasn't a career path he went looking for and he's become pretty jaded about both women and sex so he finds Stella's openness about her goals incredibly refreshing. Michael is patient, calm and willing to take things very slowly so that Stella is always in control and feeling comfortable with what they're doing. He listens to her fears, goes out of his way to make things easier for her and never makes her feel awkward. In fact, he's the first person who seems to like her for her quirks rather than in spite of them.
I really loved The Kiss Quotient, it's like a gender swapped version of Pretty Woman and the story was both sweet, sexy and incredibly romantic. I loved Stella's personality, she's very intelligent and caring so although she finds it hard to read people she works hard to understand Michael and his family. She's a total novice when it comes to relationships but the way things slowly develop between them was totally believable and I loved how willing they both were to talk things through and discuss their hopes and dreams. Michael has a lot of baggage of his own and doesn't feel worthy of Stella thanks to some things in his past but he was really sweet and protective of her and they just fitted together as a couple so well. I wasn't a big fan of Stella's parents but Michael's mother and sisters more than made up for that and this whole book just left me with a massive smile on my face.
It's not often that I fall so totally in love with a contemporary romance story but The Kiss Quotient was a one sitting read that I absolutely devoured and I'm definitely going to be purchasing everything that Helen Hoang writes in the future.
Michael has been an escort for three years, working on the side to earn enough money to cover his mother's medical bills. It wasn't a career path he went looking for and he's become pretty jaded about both women and sex so he finds Stella's openness about her goals incredibly refreshing. Michael is patient, calm and willing to take things very slowly so that Stella is always in control and feeling comfortable with what they're doing. He listens to her fears, goes out of his way to make things easier for her and never makes her feel awkward. In fact, he's the first person who seems to like her for her quirks rather than in spite of them.
I really loved The Kiss Quotient, it's like a gender swapped version of Pretty Woman and the story was both sweet, sexy and incredibly romantic. I loved Stella's personality, she's very intelligent and caring so although she finds it hard to read people she works hard to understand Michael and his family. She's a total novice when it comes to relationships but the way things slowly develop between them was totally believable and I loved how willing they both were to talk things through and discuss their hopes and dreams. Michael has a lot of baggage of his own and doesn't feel worthy of Stella thanks to some things in his past but he was really sweet and protective of her and they just fitted together as a couple so well. I wasn't a big fan of Stella's parents but Michael's mother and sisters more than made up for that and this whole book just left me with a massive smile on my face.
It's not often that I fall so totally in love with a contemporary romance story but The Kiss Quotient was a one sitting read that I absolutely devoured and I'm definitely going to be purchasing everything that Helen Hoang writes in the future.
4 people found this helpful
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Laura
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 December 2018Verified Purchase
When I saw this book won Goodreads Choice Award in Romance I looked it up on Amazon but then noticed I had purchased it when it was a freebie. I can't remember why I never read it at the time, I had probably read some negative reviews...
Well I had missed out as I've just finished it and enjoyed it. I liked both Michael and Stella. I found their romance sweet. Michael is not as alpha male as I usually prefer to read but I felt his love for Stella. It was an easy read, I liked the writing style.
My reason for 4 stars not 5 is I felt Stella was too accepting of Michael having being an Escort plus using her real name when she arranged to meet him. Maybe this is down to her autism? The author did state it was a role reversal of Pretty Woman and Richard Gere got over Julia Roberts being a prostitute quite easily so maybe that was the reasoning?!
The storyline is not original but it was a good read. However, looking at the next book I was slightly disappointed to see it features another autistic character, this time the hero. I know the author is autistic but not sure if she needs to make all her characters the same?
Well I had missed out as I've just finished it and enjoyed it. I liked both Michael and Stella. I found their romance sweet. Michael is not as alpha male as I usually prefer to read but I felt his love for Stella. It was an easy read, I liked the writing style.
My reason for 4 stars not 5 is I felt Stella was too accepting of Michael having being an Escort plus using her real name when she arranged to meet him. Maybe this is down to her autism? The author did state it was a role reversal of Pretty Woman and Richard Gere got over Julia Roberts being a prostitute quite easily so maybe that was the reasoning?!
The storyline is not original but it was a good read. However, looking at the next book I was slightly disappointed to see it features another autistic character, this time the hero. I know the author is autistic but not sure if she needs to make all her characters the same?
3 people found this helpful
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Lucie Lu's Book Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the most stunning books I have read in a very long time.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 August 2019Verified Purchase
Have you ever scanned your bookshelves or your Kindle for a book to read, then given up and complained that you have nothing to read? Then you go back and do it and again and decide on one book that has sat in your collection unread since it’s release. Everyone else has read this book, so you decide to give it a go. And as soon as you start reading it you want to KICK YOURSELF so hard because why on earth did you not read it sooner, because it is THAT GOOD!!
THIS IS THAT BOOK!!!
My son was diagnosed with autism late last year, and recently I have suspected that there is a good chance that I too am on the spectrum. Just from doing research and listening to others, what I thought was just quirkiness, could in fact be a sign of autism. This book could not have come to me at a better time. I loved Stella. I loved her honesty and the way she thinks. Like for example; if you love someone, you buy them underwear. And if they wear it, they must love you too. Such a simple mentality. If only more things in life was that simple.
Stella and Michael have such an amazing affection for one another. Almost instantly they just “get” each other. I love how protective Michael is of her, even before he finds out her diagnosis. And how proud Stella is of Michael and his designing. They are just the most adorable couple, that have quickly become a favourite of mine.
The entire book was filled with love, admiration, understanding, patience, sacrifice. This book had it all and I can not praise it enough. 5 stars is nowhere near enough for this outstanding read.
Helen Hoang has written an amazing and touching story that will stay with me for years to come. I very much look forward to reading more from this author.
THIS IS THAT BOOK!!!
My son was diagnosed with autism late last year, and recently I have suspected that there is a good chance that I too am on the spectrum. Just from doing research and listening to others, what I thought was just quirkiness, could in fact be a sign of autism. This book could not have come to me at a better time. I loved Stella. I loved her honesty and the way she thinks. Like for example; if you love someone, you buy them underwear. And if they wear it, they must love you too. Such a simple mentality. If only more things in life was that simple.
Stella and Michael have such an amazing affection for one another. Almost instantly they just “get” each other. I love how protective Michael is of her, even before he finds out her diagnosis. And how proud Stella is of Michael and his designing. They are just the most adorable couple, that have quickly become a favourite of mine.
The entire book was filled with love, admiration, understanding, patience, sacrifice. This book had it all and I can not praise it enough. 5 stars is nowhere near enough for this outstanding read.
Helen Hoang has written an amazing and touching story that will stay with me for years to come. I very much look forward to reading more from this author.
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