This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022, I loved The Charm Offensive and had such high hopes for Kiss Her Once For Me and I’m sad to say I really just didn’t like this story.

I knew from the beginning when Ellie agrees to a fake marriage for money that it was just going to rub me the wrong way based in this major plot point. There were too many communication issues, lack of chemistry, cheating, and nearly everything tied up in bows that just induced eye rolls.

The few things I do think that were done well is the great representation for mental health and LGBTQ+ relationships. I appreciated the Christmas charm and alternating time lines where one was done as a webcomic I thought that was clever, would of been better though if there was the actual comic to go with the comic story, like what a missed opportunity.

I think the ideas were strong but the execution of the plot and story was muddled, messy and just had too many tropes that I disliked.

I am sad this one didn’t work for me but I do look forward to seeing what Cochurn writes next because I think she really brings some fresh representation to romance.

I appreciate NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced readers copy all opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This is a sweet and thoughtful sapphic follow up to Cochrun’s debut romance The Charm Offensive. Ellie is a Portland transplant starting a new job at an animation company when she meets Jack, a baker, at a bookstore on Christmas Eve. But this encounter turns into a one-night stand due to some surprises, and they meet again a year later through Ellie entering into a marriage of convenience with Jack’s brother. Can they make it work with all the complications? I didn’t know this until reading the author’s note, but this is a sapphic retelling of the movie While You Were Sleeping - and now I see it, but there are many changes. This is a swoony and romantic sapphic Christmas/holiday story that worked in a lot of ways. I thought Ellie was flawed and relatable, and loved how Cochrun embraced the theme of failure and how humans try to avoid it, but it’s vital for growth and self love. I liked the steam, angst, and side characters in this book. I will admit that I loved The Charm Offensive and did really like this book, but not as much as the author’s debut book. Also some of the plot points of miscommunication, second-half break-ups, and secrets were hard for me to stomach. But the pacing of the book was great, I read it quickly and find Cochrun’s voice, character development, and friendship portrayals amazing. I recommend this book for fans of Cochrun, LGBTQ+ romance, and holiday romances.

Oh, Alison Cochrun. I’m not sure how you knew exactly what my soul needed when you wrote this book, but I’m not mad about it.

Kiss Her Once For Me is a Hallmark Christmas movie in the making, featuring all of the best tropes and the most loveable queer characters. Not only is this a romantic comedy with endless Taylor Swift references and pokes at queer stereotypes, but it’s an emotional journey about overcoming past traumas and finding hope in what the future could bring.

The chemistry between Elle and Jack flew off the pages and I appreciated that although there was some “insta-love” involved, their relationship was genuine and REAL. They were both easy to connect with and I think that overwhelming fear of failure that Ella and Jack both battle is something readers will relate to. I definitely did!

Elle and Jack’s story wouldn’t be anywhere near complete without the hilarious Kim-Prescott family and Elle’s best friends, Meredith and Ari. The grandmas had me cracking up and I would give anything to spend Christmas in the family cabin!

Read if you enjoy:
second chance romance
fake dating
one bed trope
dual timelines
Christmas Eve meet cute
a diverse cast (API/POC rep, Bi/Demisexual MC, Nonbinary/Trans rep)

I read an eARC of this book from Netgalley and found it to be an excellent holiday romance with a fresh twist on the fake-dating/engage trope with a dollop of second chance romance. Ellie, Andrew, and Jack were all dynamic characters with incredible nuance. I will say the "boozy grandma" stereotype bothered me a little bit but I was able to over look it because Meemaw in particular was delightful to read about. Ellie's anxiety and fear of failure feel particularly relatable to a contemporary audience. For holiday cheer, I recommend picking this up when December rolls around.

Last Christmas, Ellie gave you her heart…and the very next day, she threw it away…sort of. Anyway, Ellie has a chance connection on Christmas with a girl named Jack. They had one wonderful day together and then it was over. Struggling in a job she hates, Ellie drunkenly agrees to marry her business’ landlord, Andrew (also drunk), since the stipulation of his inheritance states he has to be married. In return, he will pay Ellie a percentage of his money. Sounds like a great idea, until Ellie spends Christmas this year with his family - which just happens to include his sister, Jack.

What a sweet Christmas tale of fake engagement and love at first sight! I laughed, I got teary eyed and I smiled so big at the holiday traditions, family and friendship. This story is also SO much more than just a “fake engagement” trope! Ellie had to overcome her fears and learn to trust. I could relate so much to the anxiety she experiences throughout the book, and the dual timelines between last Christmas and this one allowed us to learn more about Ellie and Jack’s history. Also, the author’s descriptions of snow had me laughing out loud (as someone who’s grown up around snow my entire life). I also appreciated the LGBTQ representation in this holiday rom-com genre. I have to pick up “The Charm Offensive”, since I haven’t read that yet!

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books and Alison Cochrun for the ARC.

“Kiss Her Once for Me” releases on November 11th!

This review will be posted to my Instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly 😊

What a cute little love story! I think my favourite part was the love trapezoid because if you haven't been in one in real life before you are lying. Snowed in, only one bed, dramatic families.
Although Ellie's mom can go die in a ditch, I was proud of Ellie for finally saying no.

Actual rating: 4,5

Rep: bi demiace MC, lesbian SC, enby SC, queer SC

This was absolutely brilliant!!!
I started this and had no clue what awaited me, other than being marketed as a queer “While you were sleeping”.

I was immediately extremely confused by the first chapter, being some kind of throw back, but also the most intrigued!
This started out being super relatable, romantic and hilarious…and it’s also how this whole book continued.
Anything I could say would be a spoiler and I think it’s the most amazing thing to go into this book knowing NOTHING!
But trust me that this book is the messiest romance ever and if you’re able to put it down you are not me!
I inhaled this and I don’t know how many times my face made this: 😳😱🫣.

Ellie and her anxiety and her relationship with her parents, the way her perfectionism and her mental health are at constant war, it was so relatable and I just wanted to hug her and scream SAME!
I loved all the side characters, Jack is a hot butch baker lesbian I immediately loved, Andrew is a hot mess of a rich himbo and Ari, Meredith and Dylan are the best friends you want in your life.

There is family drama, there is a love…some kind of geometric shape that has more than 3 corners, there are cute Christmas traditions, weed smoking grandmas and hot lesbians who smell like baked goods.

I wished there would have been more scenes with Andre and Dylan, I’d have loved to get to know them better. But that’s maybe just me wanting more?

I loved it!!!
My advice is to not read the blurb beforehand!

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great book. I really enjoyed the characterizations and depth of emotion. I think this would be a great addition to any library collection.

Swoony and sapphic! That's the way I'll take my holiday romance from now on, thankyouverymuch!

I love Marriage of Convenience. . . but do you know what I love even more?! A failed Marriage of Convenience, destroyed because the woman that she can't stop thinking about is the sister of the man she is supposed to marry. Loved that drama for you, Ellie, even if it was painful sometimes! Oh yes, there is some forced proximity (my catnip!), stolen kisses, misunderstandings from a year ago, family secrets, getting snowed in, fantastic grandmother characters, anxiety rep, and gorgeous vulnerability between these characters. These characters are so loveable, it hurts!!!

Normally, I don't love when a book has multiple timelines, but I did love that Ellie and Jack's previous Christmas together is told as a webcomic that Ellie wrote and published online. The webcomic serves as flashbacks, but they are so beautifully written that I don't mind the dual timeline in this story at all.

I love how Ellie and Jack have to figure out how to have open, vulnerable communication together, even when it doesn't come naturally to them. Ellie and Jack's vulnerable moments were some of the swooniest I've read all year.

Andrew, the brother/fiancee, turns out to be a really fun and interesting character. His whole family and Dylan are fantastic characters, too.

The only thing I didn't love is a spoiler, so I'll be vague. I didn't love the original conflict that made Ellie leave Jack after their first Christmas together. I wish that bit was less complicated, or something else altogether.

I really, really loved this story. I will HAPPILY re-read/audiobook this again soon!

Thank you so much Atria and Netgalley for the chance to read this e-ARC! One of my most highly anticipated reads this year and it was such a joy to read!

So fun and queer and christmasy! I thought there were some repetitive things with the writing and I didn't love how certain aspects of a couple of the plot points played out but that's all nitpicky stuff - I read this in a day and had an absolutely delightful time doing so!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read this book. This was so so so cute!! It takes a popular trope and spins it in a different way. The characters, the relationships, and the complications of each made it all so relatable. I loved the way the story was set up and this was such a cute holiday read. I will most likely be reading it again in December. 4.5 ⭐️

We all know it and fear it: the sophomore syndrome. That inexplicable dread when an author that delivered a debut so stunning that you can’t help but shake in your boots, anticipating whether their sophomore novel will live up to your expectations or crush you into pieces. Well, folks, let me ease your mind: there’s nothing to fear here. Cochrun delivers a story just as charming, mesmerising and ultimately delightful as its predecessor.

Kiss Her Once For Me follows Ellie who feels like her life is falling apart. Working a dead-end job at a café after her dream career went up in flames all while her mother only calls when she needs money instead of, well maybe wishing her daughter a merry Christmas, and an eviction notice threatening to appear at her apartment’s door any second now, Ellie doesn’t know what to do. That is, until Andrew, the property-owner of the café Ellie works at, makes a preposterous offer—to marry him so he can get his inheritance and spend Christmas with his family as his fiancée in exchange for a huge amount of money. It’s ridiculous and sure to end in chaos but Ellie can’t really refuse the offer that seems too good to be true. It all seems to work out pretty okay—that is, until Ellie meets Andrew’s family and finds out that his sister is none other than Jack, the gorgeous woman Ellie fell for during a magical day last Christmas. As old feelings resurface and new secrets threaten to make Ellie’s dreams of a better future go up in smoke, Ellie’s forced to face some demons of her own if she wants to get through this holiday season intact.

In a nutshell, Kiss Her Once For Me is the Christmas rom-com we want and need this holiday season. I’m just patiently waiting for Netflix to adapt this because this is literally what Happiest Season could have been if, you know, everyone was a whole lot cooler about a lot of things.

What I’ve learned from this book is that Cochrun has a talent for seamless storytelling, and I don’t necessarily mean pacing-wise (though that was great, too). Cochrun always manages to make multiple plot strings intertwine effortlessly (though I’d venture that it takes a lot of effort) so that even when something happens that you don’t quite know where it’s going to fit the narrative overall, you’re pleasantly surprised when it all comes together. It’s a feat to combine an electric romance with well fleshed-out characters and their individual struggles, a wild group of secondary characters with heart and hilarity and top it all off with nods to important conversations like mental health, ambitions and family expectations. Not to mention to throw a Christmassy vibe over it all that somehow makes this emotional, deeply impactful story perfect for reading while bundled up under blankets and sipping on hot cocoa.

Ellie’s story hit a bit too close to home for me. While she’s confident in her demi-bisexuality, Ellie also lives with anxiety—and is a perfectionist. The tendency to give up before you’ve actually even tried giving something your all was so relatable and I think that anyone who’s ever worked for their dream but felt like they weren’t strong or determined or perfect enough to achieve it and thus gave up on it to spare themselves the pain of losing it by someone else’s doing will surely understand where Ellie is coming from. The phrase “cutting yourself off at the knees” came to mind many times. Meanwhile, Jack has to live with her family’s expectations of her messing things up wherever she goes. It’s hard to change someone’s perception of you when they’ve known you your whole life and Jack struggles with making something of herself (and believing in her own strength) while she thinks everyone else is just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Cochrun knows how to create characters that make you take a hard look at your own life and Ellie and Jack were no exception.

Their romance is of course incredibly complicated. Beyond the secret that broke the two apart over a year ago that the reader learns gradually, we also have difficult family dynamics and shenanigans that make reuniting one tough cookie. But a highlight of their messy, emotional road to happily ever after are the flashbacks we get to Ellie’s and Jack’s perfect snow day. While Ellie immortalises their love story in drawings, you heart will skip a beat, guaranteed. Of course, no romance would be complete without some messy scenes and oh, do the characters deliver on those. Talk about a love rectangle instead of a triangle (One Tree Hill fans will get what I mean).

While I don’t want to take away too much of the plot, I will say that there is a secondary romance in this book that had me rooting so damn hard for a happy ending. When you have a story where the secondary characters are almost as heartwrenchingly endearing as the protagonists (*ahem* grandmothers unite!) you know you’re in a for a hell of a good time. Also, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t mention that this book has loads of Taylor Swift references so you know I had to give it all the stars.

All I can say is that if you love family drama, all the found family vibes, incredible anxiety rep and a story that will make you question your own definition of failure and success, then this is a must read for you.

Featuring all the Christmassy vibes, authentic anxiety rep, and insightful discussions around the concept of failure and family expectations all wrapped up in a bundle of queer characters and a love story that will make your heart ache, Cochrun’s sophomore novel Kiss Her Once for Me is the perfect sapphic treat this holiday season.

A Christmas Eve meet-cute followed by some rough lonely times for Ellie a year later. She does not have her life together in the slighest but what will this Christmas hold?

I fell in love with this book pretty quickly and I think I then took my time reading it so that I was able to make it last as long as possible. I was so happy to escape into the lives of Ellie, Jack and the rest of wonderful and lovable characters. Bonus points for the setting of Portland. I was just there earlier this year and it's so neat to read a book and know must of the places they are talking about.

I loved how stereotypes were challenged in this book and so much different representation was given. If a queer holiday romcom is something you think would tickle your fancy then I would say this will definitely be your cup of tea.

last christmas, ellie had her dream job & fell in love with a woman after a bookstore meet cute. one christmas later, ellie is working at a coffee shop, barely making ends meet. after a night of drunken shenanigans, she wakes up in a marriage of convenience with the shop’s landlord, andrew, helping him get his inheritance in exchange for some of that money. when andrew brings her to his family’s holiday cabin, she meets the mysterious woman from last christmas eve—andrew’s sister.

no spoilers just yelling because alison cochrun has done it again!!

there's no other way to begin this than by talking about the charm offensive. charm was a strong fave last year. i’m constantly asking: reread whenst. a sophomore novel following something as special as charm can be scary. but after reading charm? i trust alison. i think she could tell me any story & i would fall in love.

the other thing: i struggle with adding books to my goodreads faves shelf. perhaps i’m a hardass, perhaps its my commitment issues.

but kiss her one for me? immediate add to faves shelf, zero(0) hesitation.

i went into this for a fun summertime christmas read, reading about winter with underboob sweat. but i came out feeling like i met a long lost friend.

sometimes you met a book & feel like you’ve known it forever. this was so aching familiar. the sense of being twenty five & not knowing where you’re going, of finding a path you love & then getting lost or taking a detour, of fearing failure so much that it becomes debilitating, of false starts & abandoned dreams.

the triumphs & defeats, the epic highs & low of fumbling through life, if you will.

perhaps most importantly, this book goes into my golden-retriever-himbo tag & any book in there is a certified banger.

First things first, I think we need to discuss Alison Cochrun’s belief that evermore is the greatest Christmas album of all time. While not strictly about the book, I just want to acknowledge that because it’s rare to hear someone say something so controversial yet so brave.

Now that we’ve addressed that, on to the book. I was a bit nervous going in because I loved The Charm Offensive and was worried I had too high expectations. Plus, I ADORE Christmas, so this book seemed a bit too good to be true.

But I was absolutely hooked from the first Taylor Swift reference. This book is a light snow starting to fall when you’re picking out the perfect Christmas tree. This is getting a peppermint mocha in a festive cup and walking around the mall with friends to admire the decorations and listen to the music. This is hearing the bridge of a new song by a certain blonde artist for the first time, slightly after midnight and wrapped in a cozy blanket. This book is a delight.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria for this ARC. I give this all the stars.

I adored Alison Cochrun’s The Charm Offensive, so I was really excited for her sophomore release, Kiss Her Once for Me, a sapphic holiday romcom. One year ago, Ellie Oliver falls in love with a girl in one day. Only the next day and a few miscommunications later, she leaves. About a year from that day, she’s searching for what to do next working at a coffee shop when the shop’s landlord Andrew offers her a plan out of her financial woes—marry him so he can get his inheritance and he’ll give her $200,00. Only when the two show up to Andrew’s family cabin, his sister is none other than the girl—Jack—that Ellie fell in love with. The writing is beautiful and captivating in this, I loved the anxiety rep and the descriptions. Andrew’s grandmothers are absolute gems and stars in this book. Ellie is a complicated anxiety-driven perfectionist and my heart went out to her. I do think at times it felt like a lot and she was just so down on herself that at times it felt a little frustrating she wasn’t doing more to take care of herself. I also would’ve loved more moments of friendship for her and Andrew—I liked their friendship. But I loved her chemistry with Jack and their honesty game and vulnerability. It got some Taylor Swift All Too Well vibes from their romance! The character dynamics were extremely strong and I just really enjoyed this family and the journeys they all took. Kiss Her Once for Me is a really enjoyable holiday read overall.

I wanted to love this like I love Cochrun's The Charm Offensive but sadly not all of this one worked for me. There were parts that I really enjoyed and thought were great but there were other parts that were frustrating and didn't make sense to me. I will say there were two charters in this story that I really wish a book would exist for. But in that end this one was not for me. Check other reviews though because this book might be for you.

Enjoyed the parts of this books I read! Archived before I could finish! Looking forward to picking it up in the future.

One year ago, Ellie and Jack spent a magical, snowy Christmas Eve together, only to part ways on Christmas Day, leaving Ellie heartbroken. After losing Jack, then her job, and facing eviction, Ellie agrees to a marriage of convenience in an attempt to turn her life around. But then, the week before Christmas, she meets Jack again — and Jack believes she’s engaged.

Much like Ellie has the controversial opinion that Evermore is the greatest Christmas album of all time, I firmly believe that While You Were Sleeping is the greatest Christmas movie of all time. To say that my hopes were high for this book would be a massive understatement. And it exceeded all expectations. If I hadn’t had to go to work, this would’ve been a one sitting read.

The representation in this book was wonderful, including the queer rep and mental health rep. I saw myself in this book in so many ways. Plus, my best friend lives across the country in Portland, and I really saw us in Ellie and Meredith’s long distance friendship.

I would like to personally thank Allison Cochrun for every single instance of Jack leaning, in a callback to Bill Pullman’s character (“Is this guy bothering you? It looks like he’s *leaning*.”) I do, however, wish the Kim-Prescott’s Christmas tree had been a blue spruce (“they’re lighter!”).

If you’re my IRL pal, please act surprised when you receive this book for Christmas. :-)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ellie had the perfect day with the perfect woman a year ago on Christmas Eve. The next morning however, she found it was going nowhere. Now a year later, she still thinks of Jack, but needs to move on. When Andrew asks her to be his fake fiancee and wife so he can get his inheritance, she finally agrees because she needs the money he is offering. When she goes to his family’s cabin for the holidays and meets his sister however…trouble begins.

LOVE me a fake dating story! Throw in another romance so close to home, and ugh…chefs kiss! I just loved Ellie, Andrew, Jack, and even Dylan, and don’t even get me started on his amazing family. I think I have a little bit of Ellie in me in that I expect failure before I even begin sometimes, and man that is a tough one to break. So needless to say, I really felt for Ellie. I really enjoyed The Charm Offensive by Cochrun, and this follow up novel was just as good!