Surrounded by the murky world of crime and thriller in my day job, I have been trying to read a bit more contemporary women’s/romance fiction of late, to balance it out and keep the serial-killer dreams at bay. Having seen it everywhere, I thought the Kiss Quotient would be a great place to start.
I was right!
The Kiss Quotient introduces us to Stella. She is a bright, clever, beautiful woman but she just doesn’t understand people as much as she does the numbers she loves to crunch all day at the office. So, as any driven woman would do, she decides to do something about it.
Meet Michael – male escort and Stella’s teacher for all things romance and in the bedroom. And there is a lot of bedroom!
Helen Hoang couldn’t have created a more gorgeous couple, whose insecurities and flaws build their characters and create a romantic tension that is simply irresistible. The sex scenes are a lot saucier than I was expecting from what the cover suggested, but they are sensual and fit perfectly in to the plot, not just for the sake of it. Sex scenes are notoriously hard to write so I want to commend Hoang on an extremely good job well done.
The wider characters are fantastic with a wonderful cast that jump off the page – I love Michael’s grandmother. The Kiss Quotient offers a refreshing perspective on the rollercoaster ride of social interactions and relationships, which is hard enough in itself, but Stella’s autism spectrum disorder makes this an almost insurmountable challenge and Hoang’s personal and illuminating presentation of this is both innovative and engaging.
And, good news, all – there is a second book!
Do you have a romance novel idea that you want to get down on paper? Or have you already written the most adorable love story, but want some help pushing it to the next level? I’d love to be able to help. Get in touch via the contact page and we can see if we can make magic happen.
Rebecca Millar Editorial 