Scan barcode
anouka2000's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer and Sexual assault
annaonthepage's review against another edition
The boundary pushing in the main couple's dynamic went too far for me at this point. The protagonist is mildly sexually assaulted by a colleague and the love interest's response is to push himself on her to re-mark his territory, which is frankly disgusting and unforgivably harmful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexism and Sexual assault
Minor: Ableism
roorooreads's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Such a cute love story! I love when a book shows so much character growth!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cancer, Sexual assault, and Medical content
Minor: Violence
mamacita88's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Terminal illness
Minor: Ableism, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault
vagrantheather's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I like a book that manipulates my emotions, which makes romance well suited. And The Kiss Quotient does that! But it does everything else kinda poorly. The intro nearly made me DNF. Her (awful, self centered, invalidating) parents want grandbabies, her lecherous coworker is a walking HR violation, and she decides to Google escort services on her WORK COMPUTER. It read as though the author and editor were both like, meh who cares about this, let's get to the hot stuff.
Often I felt the book didn't trust the reader to put clues together; it spelled everything out clearly then followed up to make sure we really, truly, fully got it. The "signs of autism" felt pointedly exaggerated, then the character herself would point them out and be like, see? That's my autism. Right there. See it? And like, I get that the author is advocating for greater awareness, so maybe it was intentional, but I really would have appreciated a more subtle approach and more nuance (acknowledgement that all autism doesn't look the same).
Having Stella's autism just disappear around Michael felt contrived. He's so hot she can't help being... Normal? How many times have you been told, "everything will be fine if you just relax" and felt frustrated & hopeless because you have TRIED that and it doesn't work? "Just relax" doesn't fix what's broken and it felt insincere that Stella's progress toward self acceptance essentially stemmed from trusting someone to make her react "normal." There was plenty that I did think was well done - the constant self doubt, locking up, regressing, and desire to change the focus away from her - but it felt belittling that all of her trouble with intimacy went away basically in full from simply letting go. Several times her internal dialogue is about how she doesn't care about things that would otherwise bother her, because Michael was there and that's all that mattered. Hellooooo men don't fix you. You don't stop being terribly mortified at PDA because you like the person who's pawing at you. Or, idk, maybe some people do, but it feels uncharacteristic that Stella would have worked so hard to develop rules for social situations, like no heavy petting in the work parking lot, then be like "well okie doke I don't care as long as it's ✨with him✨.
It's a romance, not literature, so I can't really complain that the other characters had no depth. But I kinda want to. I would've appreciated for the second love interest to be a decent person. I would've preferred if Michael's jilted ex wasn't a caricature of entitled rich women with no redeeming qualities. The sisters were barely separate people. I was disappointed that the dad didn't feature where I expected him to (spoilers: at the charity event, on the arm of some other rich bitch).
In large part the writing felt clunky and unrefined. Not bad. Just unrefined.
As a simple personal gripe that is not a criticism of the book, but a preference of content: I hate that Stella has a great body. She is a computer person. She spends 7 days a week at her office. She has strict personal routines from which she doesn't deviate. We KNOW she doesn't work out and not once does she cook for herself. But she is still perfectly petite with a great figure, and numerous times calls out how small she is vs Michael. I got real sick of reading how tiny and fragile she is.
Often I felt the book didn't trust the reader to put clues together; it spelled everything out clearly then followed up to make sure we really, truly, fully got it. The "signs of autism" felt pointedly exaggerated, then the character herself would point them out and be like, see? That's my autism. Right there. See it? And like, I get that the author is advocating for greater awareness, so maybe it was intentional, but I really would have appreciated a more subtle approach and more nuance (acknowledgement that all autism doesn't look the same).
Having Stella's autism just disappear around Michael felt contrived. He's so hot she can't help being... Normal? How many times have you been told, "everything will be fine if you just relax" and felt frustrated & hopeless because you have TRIED that and it doesn't work? "Just relax" doesn't fix what's broken and it felt insincere that Stella's progress toward self acceptance essentially stemmed from trusting someone to make her react "normal." There was plenty that I did think was well done - the constant self doubt, locking up, regressing, and desire to change the focus away from her - but it felt belittling that all of her trouble with intimacy went away basically in full from simply letting go. Several times her internal dialogue is about how she doesn't care about things that would otherwise bother her, because Michael was there and that's all that mattered. Hellooooo men don't fix you. You don't stop being terribly mortified at PDA because you like the person who's pawing at you. Or, idk, maybe some people do, but it feels uncharacteristic that Stella would have worked so hard to develop rules for social situations, like no heavy petting in the work parking lot, then be like "well okie doke I don't care as long as it's ✨with him✨.
It's a romance, not literature, so I can't really complain that the other characters had no depth. But I kinda want to. I would've appreciated for the second love interest to be a decent person. I would've preferred if Michael's jilted ex wasn't a caricature of entitled rich women with no redeeming qualities. The sisters were barely separate people. I was disappointed that the dad didn't feature where I expected him to (spoilers: at the charity event, on the arm of some other rich bitch).
In large part the writing felt clunky and unrefined. Not bad. Just unrefined.
As a simple personal gripe that is not a criticism of the book, but a preference of content: I hate that Stella has a great body. She is a computer person. She spends 7 days a week at her office. She has strict personal routines from which she doesn't deviate. We KNOW she doesn't work out and not once does she cook for herself. But she is still perfectly petite with a great figure, and numerous times calls out how small she is vs Michael. I got real sick of reading how tiny and fragile she is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Terminal illness
kaitlyn7385's review against another edition
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
themargherita_s's review against another edition
5.0
I feel like I'm not 100% satisfied, but still satisfied enough that even rating this 4.75 stars doesn't feel right, so I'm still giving it five full stars.
I didn't fully like Michael, he felt a bit off at times, but I did enjoy the autism representation and I always adore seeing autistic characters handle relationships in different ways, so that part kind of overshadowed my uncertainty about the mmc.
I wish there had been more discussion about both Stella and Micheal's insecurities and misunderstandings towards the end. We saw them tell those things to themselves and kind of figure them out on their own, but I wanted more of actual conversations about them with each other.
Content Warnings: fatphobia, ableism, sexual assault, cancer (side character/family member), abandonment, infidelity, mention of stalking, panic attack.
I didn't fully like Michael, he felt a bit off at times, but I did enjoy the autism representation and I always adore seeing autistic characters handle relationships in different ways, so that part kind of overshadowed my uncertainty about the mmc.
I wish there had been more discussion about both Stella and Micheal's insecurities and misunderstandings towards the end. We saw them tell those things to themselves and kind of figure them out on their own, but I wanted more of actual conversations about them with each other.
Content Warnings: fatphobia, ableism, sexual assault, cancer (side character/family member), abandonment, infidelity, mention of stalking, panic attack.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Cancer, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Stalking
vatodd's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a five start for me until the last few chapters. A miscommunication trope can be done well but it can also get to a point where it is too drawn out and becomes tedious and ridiculous. The way they make up felt like mind games rather than 2 adults coming together after growing. Also the timeline of the relationship felt strange Saying I love you after a month is a bit much but deciding to get married after one month is crazy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism and Sexual assault
m_a_j's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, and Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Infidelity
rhall19's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment