The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Romance at a Glance is a podcast where hosts Bridget and Shani review romance novels and interview some of romance’s biggest authors diving into candid conversations about life, relationships, and sexual desires. Expect 100% honest reviews, spontaneous singing, life lessons, indecent anecdotes, and bawdy humor. Leave us a rating and review on iTunes.

Full transcript available below.


Book Review at a Glance

Heroine Rating: Stella

Shani: 🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑

Bridget: 🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑

Hero Rating: Michael

Shani: 🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆

Bridget: 🍆🍆🍆🍆

McDreamy to Mc Steamy:

Shani: Mc. Dreamy Sweety

Bridget: Oh, he is the whole package. McSteamy in the sheets and McDreamy in the streets.

Classy to Nasty:

Vanilla, but so hot it melted.


Romance at a Glance Reviews The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

HOT DAMN!!!! We thought the Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang was going to be a fun, romantic jaunt, but in reality, it is a sexy, sexy thrill ride.

Hear us as we wax poetic about this pairing and the mixture of absolute dynamite sex scenes with a sweet sweet romance.

On Romance at a Glance, we discuss and review all genres of romance novels, as well as get into the nitty-gritty of real-life romance, relationships, and sex... while cracking each other up. Expect some spontaneous singing, funny anecdotes, honest reviews, and naughty language.


Quick Guide Review of the Book and Notes

Book Title: The Kiss Quotient

Author: Helen Hoang

Audio Narrator: Carly Robinsk

Part of a Series: No

Genre: Modern Romance

Synopsis:

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases — a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice — with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan — from foreplay to a more-than-missionary position...

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses but to crave all the other things he's making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic...

Heroine Rating: Stella

Shani: 🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑| She was strong and independent.

Bridget: 🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑| Stella is such a wonderful heroine. I love that I haven’t ever read this type of heroine in a romance novel before and how wonderfully the author captured her desperate desire to fit in and be loved for who she is. And also how shocked she is that she is responding to him and to sex. I hope this gives everyone hope out there, and especially women (and men!) with autism that it is possible to love being touched when you are welcoming it and the person.

Hero Rating: Michael

Shani: 🍆🍆🍆🍆🍆| He’s a hoe, I love it.

Bridget: 🍆🍆🍆🍆| Do you even need to ask?! JK, I’m giving one eggplant off because I do get annoyed when characters in romance novels break up with someone for a stupid reason (like, my dad is a bad buy and then not telling her or trusting her. Or thinking she’s too good for him. I mean let a girl make her own decisions please), and then he’s shocked she could still love him. But aside from that, he’s DREAMY AF. And slays in bed.

McDreamy to Mc Steamy:

Shani: Mc. Dreamy Sweety

Bridget: Oh, he is the whole package. McSteamy in the sheets and McDreamy in the streets.

Classy to Nasty:

Vanilla, but so hot it melted.

Favorite Line in the Book:

Shani:

“Stella collapsed on to michsels bed, after her first 3 sexual encounters she'd been conviced inercourse wasn't for her. It had been messy at times painful and extremely uncomfortable. Right now it was all she could think about.”

Bridget:

“You have to talk to me, okay? If something hurts, if you don’t like it, if you want something more, if it’s perfect. Say everything.” Eyes still shut, she said, “I’ll… try.” Unexpectedly, he flipped her around so she was on her hands and knees. “I think you’ll feel less self-conscious this way.”

Favorite Review:

Shani’s from Audible:

4 out of 5 stars

Performance 4 out of 5 stars

Beckersly

 I'd buy these two undies. 

This book was a fun romance to romp through. I went in expecting it to be similar to The Rosie Project...that it is not! It's got some pretty vividly explicit sex scenes. Those don't bother me but can be a shocker if you aren't expecting them to pop up. 

I also felt like this book portrayed both instalove and slow burn at the same time. Not being a fan of instalove at all, I greatly enjoyed the ways that also made this a slow burn romance. 

It's definitely a quick one to get through and lots of fun getting there (expect several chuckles along the way!).

Bridget’s from Goodreads:

chan 5 stars

well i promised myself i wasn't going to 5 star this, but then the author's note at the end made me cry like a lil bitch

this book was so excellent. like the blurb says, it's about a woman with autism who hires a male escort to help her with her own perceived social ineptitude. but honestly it's just a perfectly romantic story about two people who just really get and accept everything about each other.

what did i like: almost everything but here's an actual list

- stella had a typically masculine job & michael had a traditionally female one!!! we love gendered job reversals!!!! (ALSO SWEDISH VIETNAMESE MALE LEAD)

- stella was a REAL person and not just a diagnosis (who wasn't woe is me about it either!)

- everything was on STELLA's terms... never pushed to have sex she was uncomfortable with

- that being said there was a lot of hot sex™ that imo was not overdone

- so many moments where i was GENUINELY clutching my chest at the romance

what i did not like

- michael's hang ups.... ur a grown adult man. get a grip a little bit??

- douchey pervs that didn't have to meet their maker

- wish there were more snippets of daily life to make the relationship a liiiiittle more fleshed out

- that's literally it, i'm not satan in a sundress today folks, this book rocked...

Cover Art:

Shani: I love the math inspired cover, it is fitting and I love the “a novel”.

Bridget: The cover art really told me what genre of romance the book was going to be in. I love the couple kissing and the colors that were used. I actually figured this book would be more romantic and sweet than sexy based on this cover, and boy was I wrong!

Worth the Read?

Shani: YES!

Bridget: HELLS YES!

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Full Podcast Transcript


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Welcome to Romance at a Glance, a podcast that uses romance novels to dive into candid conversations about life, relationship dynamics, and sexual desires. 

As hosts Bridget and Shani review books and interview some of romance’s biggest authors, they explore the breadth of the genre, openly embracing the sex, diverse couplings, and taboo in order to create a safe space for listeners to be exposed to different lifestyles, fantasies, and to pique their naughty curiosity.

Expect 100% honest reviews, spontaneous singing, life lessons, indecent anecdotes, and bawdy humor.

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