The Kiss Quotient

I had high hopes for this book going into it since I’d seen many, many reviews and hype for this book…and it didn’t disappoint!

This contemporary love story is about Stella, a thirty-year-old  with Asperger’s.  Her ability to be singularly focused, scheduled, and driven is wonderful at her job in econometrics (predicting buying trends by using data and coding) but not so great when trying to find a compatible boyfriend.  With her mother’s bluntness about wanting her to get married soon and her empty social calendar, she decides she needs some help.  So she did what any girl would do:  hire a male escort to teach her how to improve her romantic life.  She finds Michael (who has emotional baggage of his own), proposes a deal to meet up weekly to work out her romantic deficiencies, and soon finds herself invested in her fake relationship more than she ever thought she could be.

I guess what I really loved about this novel was the fact that she acknowledges her quirkiness but it’s not her only defining trait.  She’s still kind and trusting and inquisitive and just like most women who want to find someone to connect with.  It shows that everyone feels self-conscious about some part of themselves, even people who seem perfect from the outside like Michael.  I also liked how the point of view changes in each chapter between her and Michael.  It makes it feel like a fuller story knowing that her infatuation turned love isn’t just a one-sided affair.

Disclaimer:  This is an adult novel.  An adult romance novel.  With sex (regular and consensual, but still a little graphic in nature).  I mean, the whole premise of the novel is her trying to hook up with a male prostitute, so you’re not going into this one with false pretenses.