"This book exploded in my heart and my mind in full color," she says. Last month, I got to interview Hoang about how and why she became a writer, her love of romance, her characterization of Stella and Michael, and her pure enjoyment of the writing process. But Hoang notes that her perspective is hers alone, and we need many others "for truly accurate representation." And that can only happen, she adds, "if we have more autistic voices in publishing." Hoang was diagnosed with autism in 2016, and says that writing Stella’s story allowed her to think about and explore things about herself that she had "never understood and always tried to hide." For her, it wasn’t difficult to create a story inspired, in part, by certain aspects of her own experience ("If anything," she says, "I have an oversharing problem"). So she hires Michael, an escort working his way out of debt, to help her "improve." The two find they have a connection that goes far beyond the physical as different as they are, Michael seems to understand Stella better than many who’ve known her all her life, and it’s a joy to watch them discover all the ways in which they are perfect for one another. Sex is where it all usually falls apart for Stella - she doesn’t enjoy it, and is convinced she is just no good at it. A strong and brilliant young autistic woman who struggles in social situations, Stella is under increasing pressure from her mother to find a partner and start a family of her own. I loved the heroine of this delightful new contemporary romance, Stella Lane, from page one. " The Kiss Quotient" had me hooked pages before debut romance author Helen Hoang compared her hero, Michael Phan, to Daniel Henney (although that certainly didn’t hurt).
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