A review by rjordan19
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Overall: 4.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥 (I’m not sure how many scenes...I didn’t take notes but I know there were a handful)
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Third person from both hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: Pretty soon in, about chapter 2
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes
Format: listened to the audiobook from the library (Hoopla)

Should I read in order?
This is the first of Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient.

Basic plot:
Stella hires someone to teach her about sex so she can have a successful relationship.

Give this a try if you want:
- contemporary romance
- fake relationship
- autism rep
- escort hero
- tattooed hero
- economist heroine
- bit of a size difference – hero is 6 inches
- bit of an employer/employee relationship – the heroine hires the hero to teach her about love/sex
- medium steam – there’s quite a few scenes and partial scenes. I don’t have an exact count because I didn’t take notes but I think I remember at least 3-4?

Ages:
- Heroine is 30, didn’t catch hero

First line:
“I know you hate surprises, Stella.”

My thoughts:
I ended up really liking this one! I listened to it while cleaning my house from top to bottom since we were moving and it really helped make it enjoyable!

I know this book was super popular but I actually had no idea what it was about. I somehow avoided everything about it except for seeing the cover frequently. I was actually really surprised by the plot of the hero being a sex escort and loved the idea of their bargain and fake relationship.

I enjoyed the focus on the intimacy and the characters together. We also get to know the hero’s family a bit. This book gave me so much of what I really enjoy in romance. And even though there were elements of instalust with them, I still felt the tension buildup in these scenes. I’d definitely read more from Hoang!

Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.

- hero’s family has dealt with parental abandonment
- mention of sickness (cancer)


Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:
 
Safe sex: 
  Condoms used and the hero talks about being tested regularly for STDs 
 
Hows the consent? 
  It’s good! I do want to mention the hero is a sex worker and does feel rather stuck in the job due to the expenses he has but the consent itself is very good. 
 
I didn’t take notes, sorry! There’s quite a few partials in the beginning and then full scenes later in the book