The Kiss Quotient
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synopsis
I recently read “The Kiss Quotient” by Helen Hoang with my book club and had such high expectations. This story follows Stella Lane, a brilliant young woman with Asperger’s syndrome who is all about math, statistics, and routines. As a successful econometrician, her life is seemingly perfect - if only her parents would quit their relentless nagging for her to get a boyfriend. With little experience, and a fear of sharing her diagnosis, Stella needs all the help she can get. She decides to hire an experienced escort named Michael Phan with the hopes of learning all there is to know within the bedroom. Her strange request for “dating practice” is one that this Vietnamese hotty can’t turn down - not with all those bills piling up. Their weekly practice sessions turned fake relationship do not align with Stella’s original plan, though she is certainly not complaining - as it turns out, not everything in life must follow a pattern…
“She wasn’t good at lying, but she knew how to pretend she was okay.”
favorites
The very first chapter had me hooked - I was in for a fast-paced goofy romance story that kicked off immediately. However, that was very short lived and replaced by a steep decline of any substance. There were a select few things I did enjoy, including Stella’s success and determination within her career. In many aspects of the story, she is fearful of other’s judging her upon finding out she has autism. Struggling with social interactions, overstimulating environments, and changes in her routine, I appreciated that her character was given such a successful, meaningful, and relatable place of comfort. I also valued the cultural pieces of Michael’s Vietnamese family that were shared. His adoration and respect for his mother, sisters, and cousins were truly admirable in contrast to how he viewed outside relationships. I also really enjoyed reading about Stella having to adapt to their traditional family meals. It was a refreshing break from the other repetitive aspects of the book.
“All the things that make you different make you perfect.”
icks
With such a unique plot this author utilized the opportunity to touch on a variety of heavy topics, however they were poorly presented. Stella vaguely describes instances of potential sexual assault as a mere unfortunate event, stating she must be “bad at sex”. To many readers this may be a true feeling after experiencing a traumatic event similar to Stella, though it is never brought up again, nor is it discussed to suggest otherwise. The narrative continues to assume Stella is “bad at sex” simply because she didn’t enjoy it with anyone other than Michael, not because she was taken advantage of and treated poorly by the men prior to him. Michael briefly acknowledges these inappropriate actions of others, however we fail to see Stella reflect upon these experiences or utilize this information to later identify instances of sexual assault. In quite a few intimate moments between her and Michael, Stella reacts negatively to his advances or outwardly says, “no,” and is completely ignored. This attempt at showing “her brain says no but her body says yes… it MUST be love” was extremely frustrating and completely expunged the poor education of unwanted sexual advances. As if that wasn’t uncomfortable enough, it is reintroduced when Stella’s coworker forces a kiss upon her. She dismisses this immediately and is left wildly uncomfortable after the fact, while Michael cruelly expresses jealousy rather than a concern for her comfort or safety. Many of their “spicy” scenes in this book were nearly unbearable due to Michael’s inability to allow her to learn and move at her own pace while keeping his hands off of her.
“People called it a disorder, but it didn’t feel like one. To her, it was simply the way she was.”
final thoughts
The original goal that was set - for Stella to acquire dating experience in order to seduce her coworker, Philip - was completely lost, almost as soon as it was established. Attempting to tie this back within the last few chapters, especially after the disappointing moments with Philip in between, felt extremely arbitrary. At the highly anticipated dinner event, Philip and his mother treat Michael poorly enough for him to break up with Stella on the spot. After witnessing this, Stella still decides to pursue Philip, simply because he was her “original plan” - casting aside the sexist remarks and unwanted advances he had made prior. In my opinion, the last four or five chapters could have been condensed to avoid the repetitive “he/she is better off without me” internal dialogue. For me, Michael’s insistent attempt at winning Stella back was absolutely exhausting and overdone. I truly believed Stella was better off without him - she enjoyed her job, was content in her routine, and didn’t need to force anyone to like her. Overall, I was definitely disappointed and would have loved to see more depth in this book.
