Helen Hoang

Helen Hoang is an American romance novelist, best known for her debut novel The Kiss Quotient and the USA Today best-selling sequel The Bride Test.

Prior to being published, Hoang wrote paranormal and fantasy romances with a martial arts bent. She states that she wrote on and off for around ten years before The Kiss Quotient was published. Hoang says that the writers who influence her own work the most are Jayne Ann Krentz, Christine Feehan, Nalini Singh, Elizabeth Lowell, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Kresley Cole, Eloisa James, Julia Quinn, and Lisa Kleypas.

The Kiss Quotient

Hoang wrote the first draft of what would become The Kiss Quotient within ten weeks. The manuscript went through several drafts before she entered the online pitch contest Pitch Wars, where she revised it again with the help of her mentor Brighton Walsh, working for eight months.

Published in June 2018, The Kiss Quotient follows Stella, an autistic woman who hires an escort in order to explore intimacy with other people.

Hoang states that she initially wanted to write a gender-swapped Pretty Woman, but was stuck when examining why a "successful, beautiful woman would hire an escort." During a meeting with her daughter's preschool teacher, Hoang found out that her daughter is on the autism spectrum. She researched autism and realized that she, too, is autistic, and used that as the basis for the book's concept.

The Kiss Quotient received a positive review from Publishers Weekly. It had an initial print run of 100,000 copies. As of July 2018, the book was in its fourth printing.

In August 2018, it was announced that Pilgrim Media Group acquired the film, TV, and other media rights for The Kiss Quotient and partnered with Lionsgate for an expected domestic release.

A sequel titled The Bride Test, about Eseme, a hotel maid who gets offered to accompany Khai, the autistic cousin of Michael from the first book who never had a girlfriend before to weddings, was published by Berkley in May 2019. 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. Hoang describes The Bride Test as "Green Card meets Four Weddings and a Funeral—but with autism." The Bride Test received positive reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.

As of April 2019, Hoang is working on the third book in the series, tentatively titled The Heart Principle. Hoang describes it as "a cross between a gender-swapped Sabrina and Say Anything."

Hoang was raised in Minnesota before moving to California. Her mother is a Vietnamese immigrant.

Growing up, Hoang struggled with social anxiety, which lead to her turning to romance novels as an outlet that guaranteed a happy ending.

She received an undergraduate business degree and worked in finance after college prior to becoming an author.

In 2016, at age 34, she was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, which she used as the inspiration for The Kiss Quotient.

Hoang lives in San Diego with her husband and two children.