If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life it’s that, never judge a book by its cover, and oh my god this book is one that falls under that saying. The cover comes off as deceiving in that most people assume it’s a “cute romantic” book, but after a few chapters this book delivers passion that’ll have you reaching for a jug of water to quench your thirst.

Stella had this plan of getting “lessons” from a male escort, Michael, that she hired in order to learn how to be physically intimate and learn how to engage in a relationship. Essentially Stella wanted to prepare herself so she could potentially find a boyfriend, and appease her mother’s wishes of settling down, starting a family, etc. 

Michael was someone that from the beginning I was very intrigued with because, based on his introduction you don’t know much about him other than he’s resorted to escorting as a means for his financial situation, but it went even deeper than that. Michael’s background was mysterious that it left me wondering, “what exactly has he gone through and what’s his current situation now?” I loved Michael’s patience with Stella and was so attuned to her that he knew the best way to approach her in order to make her feel comfortable. In other words, Michael was not only an absolute gentleman and hot seductive man, but he put Stella’s needs at the forefront. *insert me sighing as I daydream about Michael being the absolute hunk of a man we all know and fallen in love with. 

Right away from the beginning of this book, I was hooked and didn’t want to stop reading! I had heard a lot of great thing and the book definitely didn’t disappoint. I initially thought it would be a cute romantic storyline with Stella and Michael engaging in “romantic comedy” plot lines, but Helen Hoang DELIVERED THE PASSION! THE SPICE! ROMANCE!

I also couldn’t get over how Michael was initially set on trying to keep things as business between him and Stella but… you could tell just from their first meeting and with each time they spent time together, Michael became enamored with Stella and couldn’t get his mind off her. The amount of detail between Stella and Michael and them saying how they felt about one another was fantastic because, it highlighted how each person was starting to develop feelings for one another (obviously it was gradually), but you could tell from the beginning they definitely had some sparks.

This book was amazing and when I say I literally couldn’t put this book down, I mean it! Finished it in a day because I was so captivated by Stella and Michael’s story. Highly recommend this book, everything about it is fantastic and you’ll definitely want to read more books by Helen Hoang.