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Автор Helen Hoang

A JOVE BOOK

Published by Berkley

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hoang, Helen, author.

Title: The kiss quotient / Helen Hoang.

Description: New York : JOVE / Berkley, 2018. | “A JOVE book”—Verso title page.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017061141| ISBN 9780451490803 (paperback) | ISBN 9780451490810 (ebook)

First Edition: June 2018

Cover design and illustration by Colleen Reinhart

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Dedicated to my family.

Thank you, Ngoại, Mẹ, Chị 2, Chị 3, Chị 4, Anh 5, and 7, for being my safe place.

Thank you, Honey, for loving me, labels, quirks, obsessions, and all.

Thank you, B-B and I-I, for letting your mama write. You are the best thing I have.

Acknowledgments

They say writing is a solitary task. And that’s true. You sit down, and you write alone. But this book never would have come so far without the help and support of many, many, many people.

This book, in this form, would not exist if I hadn’t had the opportunity to participate in Brenda Drake’s Pitch Wars contest. Thank you, Brenda and the Pitch Wars team. You’re doing an amazing thing. (If you’re an unpublished fiction writer, you should really check out pitchwars. org. ) The contest connected me to my wonderful mentor, Brighton Walsh, who has had an immeasurable impact on my life. Not only did she help me improve my writing, but she guided me through this wild journey toward publication and became a true friend. Thank you, Brighton, from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you so much to all my critique partners for taking time to read my work. Ava Blackstone, you were my very first writing friend. You gave me courage and confidence, and I’m super lucky to know you. Kristin Rockaway, you read the first crappy draft of this book, and your feedback helped me get into Pitch Wars. Michael and Stella’s first kiss is better (more awkward, lol) thanks to you! Gwynne Jackson, you fantastic human, thank you for being there. You are honest, patient, and kind, and I’m keeping you forever. Suzanne Park, I don’t know where to start with you. You are a truly generous person, so damn funny, and you get me. Jen DeLuca, I’m grateful I got to have a mentee sister during Pitch Wars and super glad it was you. I am envious of your incredible writing and try to emulate it. ReLynn Vaughn, thank you for your honesty and encouragement and including me in Viva La Colin so I could meet Ash Alexander and Randi Perrin. You ladies are so fun. A. R. Lucas, I’m endlessly entertained that I wrote your doppelganger in Stella. Shannon Caldwell, thank you for telling me you read the whole book in one night—I walked around grinning for hours. Jenny Howe, thank you for letting me send you my progress updates to stay on track. C. P. Rider, we need to go to Denny’s again!