First, this book, Helen Hoang's The Kiss Quotient, is totally out of my comfort zone. I like angsty romance (I am sure this can be attributed to the VAST amount of young adult books I read when I taught 8th grade.), but this was a STEAMY romance. Not 50 Shades of Grey steamy (P.S. I totally bailed on that book 1/4 of the way through. Not for me.), but steamy nonetheless. That being said, I did enjoy the book, particularly the main character, Stella Lane. (Side note: Do not miss the author's note at the end of the book. Loved it.)
The book begins with Stella Lane, a successful and affluent econometrician being inundated with questions regarding the status of her love life and life plans by her well-to-do mother. For Stella, who is autistic, making connections and social interactions are stress-inducing, so she prefers to bury herself in her work. But she also yearns to please her mother, so she hatches a plan to practice sex and intimacy by hiring a male escort to teach her. Enter Michael Phan, a male escort carrying the burden of caring for his ailing mother and his sisters and trying to escape the reputation of his deadbeat father.
If this story seems familiar, it did to me too. It is like a gender-switched Pretty Woman with a few added obstacles. What is interesting about this book is Stella and the way she works through her challenges, and how she changes as the story progresses. That is what is different about this book, and after reading the aforementioned author's note, it became crystal clear why Stella is so interesting and believable as a character, even when the reader has to suspend some disbelief in the way the story actually plays out.
Did I enjoy the romance? Yes. Did the the sex scenes make me blush? YES. Was it ground-breaking apart from Stella's character? Not really. But I think that it is okay.
Bottom Line: I enjoyed this book and give it a solid 3/5. It was a light, fun, fast read, especially if you want to read some romance during February!