Author: Helen Hoang
Category: Novel
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: 5 June 2018
Blurb: 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 crave all of the other things he’s making her feel. 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…
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.
Review: This book was recommended to me when I mentioned that I was wanting to read more books featuring positive representations of autistic women as well as those for children.
This was an interesting story, featuring an autistic character and was full of the usual social challenges that many neurodivergent people face. I really like that the main character was successful in her work and was doing well in the company too.
For the most part I enjoyed this book. I’m not a huge fan of sex scenes as a general rule as most leave me feeling like they aren’t well done. The sex scenes in this book were done well, however it may have been possible to tell the story without them (my own personal preference). Although, I can understand why they were there, given the nature of the story.
I did enjoy the autistic representation, even though Stella sees herself as having a disorder for most of the story, but that is also quite common as we get the message there is something wrong with us our entire lives! She had a strong internal narrative that is one that I know I am familiar with.
Overall I enjoyed this story and look forward to reading more by this author.
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