Reviews with content warning for Ableism - The Kiss Quotient

Mixed feelings on this one. I appreciated the Asian and autistic representation. I loved that those were a major focus of the book and the writing was solid. However, I felt the author could have done more to make it clear that seeing autism as a failing is incorrect and have more characters who truly supported, understood and embraced Stella’s identity would have helped. I think maybe the book adding a friend or family member outside of Stella’s parents might have helped.

While at times Michael supported Stella and what she needed, there were also times when he ignored her preferences or told her she would like something and magically it was fine because he was him.

I also really detested that the author did not address the clear workplace sexual harassment that Stella experienced with Philip or at any point mention that she could complain about him given that she said no and he violated that multiple times including in the workplace. Rather than having Stella or Michael address that, they went the violence/fight route which was inappropriate. It infuriated me that Philip moved on to continue his workplace harassment and that was somehow viewed as okay and not even ever acknowledged as harassment. I’m coming to learn that sexual misconduct or harassment in the workplace without consequences, while I know it happens quite often, is something that truly upsets me in books particularly in romance books where part of the genre is a happy ending.

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bookishnanna's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

3.5

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jkpiowa's review against another edition

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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

4.0

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sometimes_ready's review against another edition

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4.0

The Short: Highly relatable plot points, steamy scenes are still a fantasy. Here for fun, well written smut that reps the autists. Perfect, social representation does not exist.

The script on this candy coated rom com is good. Not sure what the author's connection to ASD is- at times it felt like more acceptable autistic quirks got turned into an "innocent" kink. Don't get me wrong- I was here for it. One hundo the type of connection I, as a sensory seeking autist, am here for.

But. Some key parts of the plot relying on exceptionalism where the autistic character has hard and fast rules related to sensory issues that are dropped for that one patient allistic hero. I'm being too technical about this, but it also blurs the line of fantasy and personal experience that makes me feel the need to forewarn readers. I am my persons' person. No amount of patient, loving coaxing is going to make him thrilled to be touched in highly sensitive places... he's not a sensory seeker and doesn't crave touch- even just from me. I sensory seek and didn't need to learn that from one special person. The plot relies on an autistic character that discovers one single person whose touch is not only tolerable but desired. It's a disbelief I struggle to suspend.

FWIW the library system had this book recommended for autism awareness month, so my expectations were skewed.

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jelkebooks's review against another edition

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I’m probably more disappointed than you are that I DNF’d this. Especially because in the first few chapters of this book I actually thought this could be a five star read. Yeah, no … The problem is just that I despised our main characters, but even then I don’t think I hated them as much as they hated themselves. Stella is fine with people treating her like a sex doll just because she thinks so lowly of herself, and Michael keeps repeating he’s just such a terrible person and turning out exactly like his father when he has literally done nothing wrong. Well, he is extremely possessive of Stella already, so perhaps there’s that. Ugh, I just wanted to love this but I can’t stand it anymore.

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invisibri's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

This very quickly became one of my favorite books. The descriptions of the main character’s struggles with autism and dating felt very validating without being too much.

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relin's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed the way the author played with tropes and allowed these characters to grow. I was a little put off by the jealousy / manly man / kinda controlling part there for a bit with the MMC, but they seem to get to a beautiful place at the end. It was weird that the MMC had that phase, it wasn't something I was expecting going in with these characters. The family building and the interactions were very nice and really neat to see. And having an autistic FMC was really lovely.

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

3.0

📱
This was cute book. It was a decent read. The characters were alright and their relationship were okay. The plot was decent and the writing kept me engaged. There was a lot of miscommunication at the end that I thought was irritating.

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