helen hoang – bad and bookish

This book took me almost forever to finish.

There was nothing wrong with the book at all. I read the Bride Test by Helen Hoang before this and The Kiss Quotient was just as cute and adorable just like her second book. It’s just I’ve been having the biggest reading slump and it’s been hard to really get into reading lately but I really wanted to finish this book even if it meant reading a page a day but I’m so glad I finally finished because the book was just everything.

I’m going to keep this review short, sweet, and to the point just like this book.

To summarize this book, this book was about this woman, Stella, who’s an autistic and wants to know how to please a man before she gets into another relationship so she hires an escort, Michael, to teach her the basics and then we go from there.

I appreciate books with POV from both the love interests in books because I like to see both sides of the story and and I admire Stella so much. Especially towards the end when she didn’t want to be pitied from Michael or anyone for her disability and then I love the fact that Michael still cares for her genuinely anyway.

The part I love the most in this book when you know there’s a conflict between the two love interests that drive them apart and *minor spoiler* Michael of course doesn’t think he’s good enough for her and I love how his mom tells him if he thinks that then leave her alone and don’t bother her and that scene just hit me and just the whole reality check for Michael was honestly one of my favorite parts because most of the book he’s always complaining about his life and I’m so glad that eventually changes.

Overall this book was absolutely adorable and I loved Stella so so much. I would recommend this to anyone if you need a quick and cute contemporary read. Even her author’s note at the end was touching!

I rate this book four and a half stars!

Thanks for reading! 💛

A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there’s not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.
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 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…
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This book is one of the cutest contemporaries I’ve read.

This book is about a half-white and half-Vietnamese girl named Esme (This is her American name) with a daughter who lives in a very small home in Vietnam with her mother and grandmother and she works as a custodian at a hotel I believe. She’s presented with an opportunity to attempt to swoon a mother’s son and get him to marry her in America and she takes that opportunity and the story takes off from there.

Now as someone who had a sibling with autism, Asperger syndrome specifically just like Khai, I am pleased and really enjoyed this book. I’m so glad that this book didn’t romanticized his condition or insult his condition. There’s so much similarities between my sister and Khai, from the keeping things orderly, being good at math, the accounting, and just having a different way of communication.

Even though is was a short book, the pacing of the book was not rushed at all but in my opinion, I think the romance was just a bit rushed in Esme’s end but I’m not complaining. I really loved Esme in this book and how she was so determined to get her green card and start a life of her own without her dad or a marriage. I loved loved loved those scene.

There were also so many scenes that were just hilarious and most of those scenes were with Khai and his brother Quan. There interactions are so funny and seeing Quan trying to explain the simple act of sex with him and referring him all the books was so funny like poor Khai but at the same time you can’t help but just go awww too.

In conclusion I really enjoyed this book. If you want a quick romance with authentic Vietnamese characters and culture then this is your book!

I rate this book five stars!

Thank you for reading!

Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.
As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.
With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.
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Tag: helen hoang

the kiss quotient by helen hoang

the bride test by helen hoang