Odd One Out
Judging by all of the overwhelmingly positive reviews of The Kiss Quotient, my opinion of the book is going to be a somewhat controversial one. I did not like this book... I don't hate it, but I also don't like it either. The Kiss Quotient has a lot of factors going for it that I am 100% behind: (1) a person of color as a love interest (always nice to see some Asian American representation, especially in the romance genre); and (2) an #ownvoices protagonist who has Asbergers. I am someone who (shamefully) does not know a lot about neurodevelopmental disorders, I found The Kiss Quotient to be both refreshing and informative. The author, Helen Hoag, has openly spoken about her own autism diagnosis, which I applaud. However, I am not fond of the fake boyfriend/girlfriend trope and the contrived "will they, won't they?" misunderstandings that seem so common in contemporary romance novels. Hoag started out with this amazing premise and protagonist--a strong, successful woman who has autism but doesn't allow it to define her--but the story just devolves into typical chick lit tropes.