Helen Hoang (born 1982) is the pen name of an American romance novelist, best known for her best-selling debut novel The Kiss Quotient.
The romance novel follows Stella, an autistic woman who hires an escort in order to explore intimacy with other people.
[5] A sequel titled The Bride Test, about Esme, a hotel maid who gets offered to accompany Khai, the autistic cousin of Michael from the first book[4] who never had a girlfriend before to weddings, was published by Berkley in May 2019.
[5] Hoang says that she wanted to subvert the harmful tropes surrounding autism by writing an autistic character through protagonist Khai who is perceived by others as cold and heartless when this is not actually the case.
[4] Growing up, Hoang struggled with social anxiety, which led to her turning to romance novels as an outlet that guaranteed a happy ending.