kiss her once for me by alison cochrun: 5/5 stars

this book is a christmas movie and i loved it.

the characters, pacing, settings, and descriptions felt like a classic 90s christmas romance movie, complete with two amazing grandmothers (one of whom was a stoner), a love for and then hatred for snow, and a handsome love interest. it was also a millennial’s nostalgia dream, referencing taylor swift, gilmore girls, toxic by bspears, and a dance scene to my favorite power ballad of all time, it’s all coming back to me now.

last year, ellie had a magical christmas snow day with a woman she meets at powell’s, but her heart was broken because the other woman, jack, didn’t feel the same way she did. now ellie hates snow, has a service industry job she also hates, lives in an apartment that really only exacerbates her depression, and is still dealing with her emotionally abusive mother who only calls her to ask for money. she also can’t stop thinking about the year before. overall, ellie feels like a failure and is about to get evicted from her sad apartment.

then she gets drunk with the guy who owns the coffee shop she works at and he offers her a deal: he wants them to get married so he can get his inheritance, and he’ll give her 10%. she agrees, goes home with him for christmas, and finds out his sister is the magical butch from the year before.

there’s tension, kissing, crying, lying, communication, a love trapezoid, and throughout all of it there’s ellie’s fear. cochrun once again has done a thorough, careful job depicting mental health struggles, the importance of communication, and the love of a family who is not related to you by blood. there’s a lot of character development in this book, but the heavier scenes are balanced out by a wonderful cast of secondary and tertiary characters, and holiday scenes that will make you feel cozy and loved.

i cant wait for christmas and i will be recommending this to everyone. thank you netgalley and atria books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

kiss her once for me comes out november 1, 2022 🎄

Ellie and Jack met on Christmas Eve, and fell in love over the span of an unexpected snow day, but haven't seen each other since. One year later, Ellie has lost her path in life, feeling like she is failing at everything, she agrees to a crazy scheme to marry her landlord in return for money she desperately needs. In the light of Christmas miracles, she meets Jack again, unfortunately Jack is her landlord's sister, and the drama ensues.

I went into this not knowing what to expect, but after reading “Kiss Her Once For Me”, Alison Cochrun will be an instant buy for me. “Kiss Her Once for Me” is the queer Christmas rom-com I needed in my life. It’s funny and campy in the way rom-coms all tend to be, but I also found it to be extremely heartfelt and honest. This book was so absolutely cute and I flew through it and finished this in one day. I really liked that there was a diverse set of characters, including a demi-sexual bisexual main character, as well as trans, non-binary, and Korean-American characters, and some seriously hilarious grandmothers tossed in, too (I would love to spend the holidays with Meemaw and Lovey). All of the characters were given full personalities, and we got to know them all. They were so well fleshed-out, I almost felt like I knew them in real life. I also really loved how realistic Ellie felt. The way the author described Ellie’s anxiety and fear of failure made her so much more relatable and really made her feel like a real person. Ellie and Jack had the most wonderful energy and chemistry and the care that they had for each other was incredibly sweet. They made me giddy from pretty much their first introduction. I adored all the references to Taylor Swift and Gilmore Girls (also some of my favorite things). The flashback every other chapter to the snow day was a good way to evolve Ellie and Jack’s story. I do wish the story was dual POV. I think in rom-coms it’s especially helpful and enjoyable to get both MC’s perspectives and thoughts and it would have been awesome to read some of the story from Jack’s perspective. The only slight issue I had with the book was that it seemed to end a little early. You mostly get a happily ever after but I wish there was an epilogue featuring Elle & Jack’s next Christmas. An epilogue would really give this book the closure that it is leading to. I could so see this being a movie and I hope that someone will adapt it! Thanks to Allison Cochrun, Atria Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an e-arc in exchange for my thoughts. I can’t wait to read what she writes next and I will definitely be going back to check out prior works!

In this heartfelt yet sexy holiday romance, we see Ellie in the present day working in a job she hates and struggling to make ends meet. Just one year ago, she had her dream job in animation and spent the perfect day with the perfect girl, only for her to break her heart and never see her again. So desperate times call for desperate measures, and when her work's landlord offers her a marriage of convenience in exchange for $200,000, Ellie tosses caution to the wind and accepts his proposal. The first step is spending holidays with his family, and Ellie is shocked to find out that the "perfect girl" from her snow day a year ago is her fake fiance's sister, Jack.

I loved this book so much. It's a tough sell to convince me two people are soulmates and fell in love in day, but with the way Cochrun describes the snow day, I really believe Ellie and Jack are fated. The supporting case--Jack's brother, BFF, and family--all bring color to the page in a dynamic fashion and make me, too, wish I could hang out with the Prescott-Kim family. While a bit on the long side, this novel tells a beautiful love story that takes some effort to get to a happy ending, but eventually does.

Thanks to Atria for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 9/10

Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun was exactly what I had hoped for and expected when I picked this novel up. When it comes to Christmas time romance novels I want something sweet and cliche, and this book delivered. Full of romantic tropes and Christmas cheer, this book explored all of the characters and didn't hide their flaws. It was realistic despite being completely trope-y, and touched upon hard subjects while still being a fun read.

This book was very sweet and a cute sapphic Christmas story, something there's not nearly enough of in the world.

There were a lot of things about this that really worked for me in particular, such as:
- The representation! Our main character, Ellie, is a demisexual bi girl with social anxiety, a combo that I don't think I've ever seen before in a book. It was just incredibly refreshing to have a character who reflected so many of my own experiences and I loved feeling like I had a chance to relate to the main character in a romance book for once.
- The setting! While I may be a non-Portland Oregonian, I did really enjoy having this book set in a city I've visited many times. It's just always a fun element that makes me feel like I'm a part of the story.
- The body diversity! While this is more of a staple of het romances than queer ones, I've gotten so tired of reading about the same really big tall man and smol 90 lb girl. While I don't think either of these characters are actually considered plus size, it was just nice to see it mentioned that they both had some chub, and that you don't have to have a 10% body fat ratio to have someone find you attractive.
- The Christmas vibes! Being a Christmas story, this book was of course full of Christmassy antics like snowball fights and Christmas songs and skiing and I think it would have been an excellent book to get those Christmas vibes if I'd waited to read it in December.

However, my one major gripe about this book is just how insta-lovey it ended up being. The main reason I so desperately crave books with demisexual characters is to get a break from the traditional rom com setting where two characters meet once and almost immediately fall in lust (but then try to convince us it's love). I was expecting that a book where the main character repeats over and over how she needs an intense emotional connection to experience attraction would result in the love story having more of a slow burn and more of a chance to see these characters just connect as people before they start thirsting over one another, but the entire premise of their story hinges on Ellie falling in love with Jack after just one day of knowing her and not being able to get over her after the 18 hours they spent together. I'm not saying it's impossible for this to be an experience that a demi person has since everyone experiences attraction differently, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't diminish for me the relatability I was expecting from a demi character. I remember enjoying the way the relationship with a demi character was gradually built up in The Charm Offensive, and so I'm disappointed that this book went the same way these stories typically go with allosexual characters rather than playing out more like TCO.

All in all I still think this book was cute and would be a fun Christmas read, so as long as you're not reading this just for the demisexual representation, I think anyone who enjoyed Alison's writing in The Charm Offensive will have fun with her take on a sapphic romance.

"Some of us fall in and out of love easily. Some of us don’t experience romantic love at all. Some of us have to fight to let ourselves be vulnerable enough to fall in love.” She kisses my neck. “Some of us have to fight to let other people love us.”

This queer Christmas snowy romance romp through Portland was so cozy and I am so ready for (or already reading) holiday books.

In addition to the squeal-inducing romance, Alison Cochrun once again absolutely nails mental health rep and how it can impact a persons love life.

Her spot on description of generalized anxiety and panic disorder allows you to enjoy my fav trope of “romantic lead comforts/helps main character through panic attack.” WONDER WHY?
CW: narcissistic and emotionally abusive parent, generalized anxiety and panic disorder, also Christmas caroling

Thank you NetGalley and Atriabooks for the eARC! Kiss Her Once for Me comes out 11/1 and is the perfect way to start your holiday season. (Don’t let anyone tell you you have to wait till Thanksgiving)

Light, breezy story that definitely put me right in the Christmas spirit! It was fun and heartwarming. Can’t wait to recommend this to all my friends.

This was not what I was expecting from the author of one of my favorite romances of all time, The Charm Offensive, but it was cute. As someone who is not a huge fan of love at first sight or Christmas, this was still mostly enjoyable (if a bit long). It does contain a trope that I do like - the fake relationship, which did redeem it in my eyes.

For fans of cozy rom-coms, and snow!

I absolutely loved this book! I very much enjoyed the twists and the characters, and the writing kept me hooked from the start. I know some patrons who will love this one, so we are definitely going to be purchasing it.

I loved Cochrun’s debut The Charm Offensive, so I could not wait to read Kiss Her Once for Me. Unfortunately, this book was a miss for me. I found it slow and had a very hard time getting into it and I just felt like there was too much miscommunication for me to root for these characters to be together.

I have some mixed feelings on this one. It did keep my attention, I enjoyed the Christmasy vibes and I LOVED the ending, but it missed the mark in a lot of ways for me. Ellie, I very much related to in terms of her people pleasing and anxiety and I appreciated how both of those issues were handled so much. But other than that, she was very bland to me. She had no spark or spunk or anything that brought her to life. She did have a great journey at the end of the story that made me start rooting for her, but for most of the book, it was hard to do so. As far as the other characters, no one else really stood out to me. I didn’t quite connect with any of them. I did find Meemaw and Lovey to be absolutely delightful though. Plot wise, I thought it was a fun premise, but not as well executed as I was hoping. For how much Andrew needed to sell his family on his fake dating with Ellie, the second they got to the cabin, it was like he forgot the whole reason he brought her. So that part of the plot felt a little…unnecessary? Which was strange because that was a huge part of the book. I did think Jack and Ellie had decent chemistry (I LOVED how Jack handled Ellie’s anxiety and panic attacks) but once again Ellie was so bland that a lot of their interactions felt incredibly awkward. What really saved this one for me was the aftermath of the Christmas chaos and the ending. That’s when I really got into this book. I thought the ending was perfectly written. I think most people will really love this story. I am glad I read it. There were just a few things that felt off for me.


Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book captures the comfort, warmth, and magic of the winter season and snow. It was such a sweet holiday romcom, and I loved it so much.

I made a TikTok about this, but if you love the whole “Emily Dickinson writing love letters to her brother’s wife” thing, read this book!
Additionally, if you are a Swiftie, there is a high probability that you will love this book. The albums Evermore and Lover are explicitly mentioned and each album is attached to both the main characters!

The characters in this novel are so lovable. The dialogue between Ellie and Jack is so sweet, and I found the interactions between Andrew and Ellie to be simultaneously hilarious and precious.

I appreciated the way that anxiety was portrayed in this book. There are, of course, variations in the way that anxiety is experienced, but I found myself able to relate to many of Ellie’s experiences with anxiety and the way it manifested in her daily life, so I think a lot of other people can find comfort in that too.

Kiss Her Once for Me was one of my favorite reads of the year. It is definitely an unconventional story, but the themes of friendship, family, and love really made the story super empowering and relatable. I really enjoyed both of the main love-interests Jack and Ellie. Ellie struggles with her family, finances, and secrecy when she realizes that her fake fiance is actually the brother of her one-night stand from last Christmas. The fake dating trope is not new, yet this take on it is something I've never personally seen before and really enjoyed. I especially loved that the main character has flaws and they're addressed in a satisfying way in the book. I will say, however, I did think that some of the issues became repetitive at points, but even then I was still invested in the characters' journeys enough, I was able to overlook them. I loved this book and cannot wait to see what the author does next.

I’ll start by saying that I was so excited to try this one – The Charm Offensive was a sleeper hit for me, I had it recommended and went in not knowing what to expect and it was an easy 5 star read. With that being said, I had some high hopes going in – but this one unfortunately did not resonate with me in the same way. Though from what I’ve heard from others, it may still be that book for you.

To start I want to cover all the things that were working for me in this read. First and foremost, the representation. I love seeing all types of representation in my reads, I love getting to see different lived experiences. This one had some great GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) rep and also included some good LGBTQA+ rep with a bi main character, someone who was demisexual and someone who was non-binary as well.

I also loved that there were some different family and socioeconomic experiences represented – with Ellie having a very different background (she grew up in a less stable home, without the ease of money and had a different understanding of this), she also had two less than reliable ‘parents’ who were not present in her life in any meaningful or positive way. This made quite the juxtaposition to Andrew and Jack’s experience in terms of upbringing, familial support, and wealth. I think its important to see these differences and understand how we can all have different experiences and reactions based on backgrounds. I also think it’s positive for people who do not have that ‘picture perfect’ upbringing or family to feel seen – not all ‘family’ is there even if they are alive, not all family experiences are positive and some are toxic.

Finally to wrap up my positives, I am always a big fan of the fake relationship trope, holiday romance and I loved the grandmas and the light “While You Were Sleeping” vibes that this story had going on.

Unfortunately, there were some aspects that were not working for me. The jumping timeline was distracting and I wasn’t loving the back and forth between this year and last year. Some of the biggests no gos for me would probably be trope related – I am not a fan of instalove and this book had a strong element of that, I’m also not a fan of the love triangle really – so a love ‘trapezoid’ was a bit much for me, and finally the miscommunication trope. Not a big fan of miscommunication, less of a fan the older the protagonists are.

Overall, it was an okay read but did not quite come together in the way I hoped. Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the early copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have a feeling this is going to be a repeat of The Bodyguard by Katherine Center in the way that everyone is going to love a book that, for me, was just okay. And that’s alright! Not everything is for everybody and I really need to accept that holiday romcoms just aren’t my thing.

I had quite a few issues with this book. It felt slightly repetitive and I really struggled to get onboard the instalove train between the main characters. Very brave to consistently mention a character is demisexual but still have them fall in love in like 12 hours. I get it, “meant to be” and all that, but I just wasn’t buying it. There was a lot of infidelity in this weird little love trapezoid. I don’t even like love triangles, so adding another character to the equation was too much for me. To be honest, there was way too many tropes at play here and a couple of the plot points felt either underdeveloped or just unnecessary. There was moments where I wanted to skim through but I pushed myself to stick it out. The responsible side of me just can’t read an arc and not give it the attention it deserves. I kept waiting and hoping I would get invested.

What did I love? So much representation! I don’t see nearly enough bisexual rep in mainstream releases. I also appreciated a very realistic portrayal of a character with GAD and loved how the bones of this story was about overcoming failure. I also felt incredibly seen by Ellie’s relationship with her mother because it unfortunately hit too close to home and I think it’s important to see how toxic family relationships can affect a person. Meemaw and Ari were the best characters and I wish we got more page time with them.

Overall, while this particular book was not for me, I think it will very much appeal to other readers so don’t let me dissuade you! If you love holiday romcoms, this will be right up your alley.

I haven’t read The Charm Offensive yet but I will definitely read it soon. Very curious to see how this compares to that book because I know that one gets a lot of love.

This book is everything I love about rom-coms AND it's super queer! The entire cast of characters is charming in their own ways and so fully fleshed out that I felt like I was watching a movie of them in my brain while reading. I thoroughly enjoyed the snow day romp through Portland (with obligatory Voodoo Doughnuts and of course the Powell's meet cute). The family getaway at the cabin is full of the best sort of holiday shenanigans (snowball fights, cookie decorating, skiing, caroling, tacky holiday sweaters), made even more boisterous with the two very lit grandmas (aka the best grandmas). There's lots of fluff and humor and soft family feels, which was a pleasant surprise. Like Ellie, I went into the book expecting the worst of the family but got the best. Yet underneath the joy and tinsel is the crumbling foundation of lies. There's also a host of issues that the characters are dealing (or not dealing with) that stirs up conflict. Without spoilers, I really enjoyed how the story played out. I was on the edge of seat wondering how things would go for Ellie, Jack, Andrew, and Dylan, and I wasn't disappointed. Sweet as frosted cookies and substantial as a slice of fruitcake, this festive rom-com is a must read!

This is the holiday romance that you need to read! When I saw that the plot boiled down to fake-dating the brother but really being in love with the sister and not knowing they were related until being trapped in a cabin at Christmas with both of them, I was a little apprehensive. I wasn't sure how she'd manage to pull it off but after how much I enjoyed The Charm Offensive I was willing to give it a try.

Cochrun did a great job of conveying a holiday atmosphere throughout the book. Even reading it in August, it was easy to picture Christmas time with all of the cookies and sweaters and warmth despite the outside chill.

The romance is well done, the happy ending is there but hard won, and the characters come through a difficult reveal of the fake-date deception as better people than they went into it.

All in all a great book and I will be keeping an eye for more by Alison Cochrun.

**3.5 Stars**

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Kiss Her Once For Me is a holiday LGBTQ+ romance with a little more substance than most holiday books. Ellie is almost overly depressing as a character. She's down on her luck and stuck in a terrible life rut. Her sadness just oozes off the pages which is a testament to Alison Cochrun's writing. I just felt for her.

I loved all of the Christmas traditions, the family atmosphere, the sibling bond and the character growth for not only Ellie but for Andrew, Jack and Dylan as well.

My major gripe with the plot was the lack of communication. The characters are in their late twenties and early thirties. A lot of little things - excluding Ellie's rut - could have been resolved if they just talked it out. I also have another issue but I am not sure how to articulate it so I will leave it here for now.

Readers who are looking for a holiday themed book with a little more punch will definitely want to read this one.

Enjoyed this cute, very holiday, story. Characters were enjoyable and realistic. I liked the flow of the scenes and enjoyed the settings. In the end, I’m not sure that the main relationship will work out, but they both are better off personally than they started out.

First I’m a huge fan of Cochrun’s first book The Charm Offensive giving it five stars. So I came in with high expectations. It has things I normally love; a one perfect day together, a surprise meeting again, a fake relationship, and lots of representation. But sadly, I never cheered for these two to be a couple.

Ellie Oliver moves to Portland for her dream job as an animator. On her first Christmas Eve she meets Jack at a books store and they spend a magical day (and night) together. Nine months later she is working as a barista, rent is rising and she is barely getting by. Wealthy customer Andrew drunkenly suggests a one year marriage of convenience so he can get an inheritance from his grandfather. In return he will pay her 10 percent. It would be a game changer for her. Now she just needs to survive a family Christmas gathering with his family. She is stressed even before she meets Andrew's sister and realizes it is her Jack.

This all sounds cute and fluffy but it isn’t. It is complicated by Jack’s best friend who Andrew has feelings towards. Ellie jokingly refers to the situation as a love trapezoid. Other than Ellie none of these people are very likable. Andrew sets up the situation but Ellie gets blamed, Jack cheat’s but Ellie gets blamed for leaving, Grandma knows about the fake relationship and lets Ellie take the fallout. Ellie has to humiliate herself as part of her grand gesture when in fact she is the least culpable person. The more I thought about the underpinnings of the story the less I liked it.

Failure and the fear of failure is one of the main points of the book. But it is also exhausting. Jack at one point says if her business fails she has her trust fund to fall back on. But she turns around on Ellie and Andrew for wanting to help her secure her trust fund saying that means they thought she would fail. That may have been true for Andrew but it wasn’t for Ellie. Giving a negative motivation to her intent and making her apologize for it is a lot. Because if you look at it from Ellie’s viewpoint, money and something to fall back on is a good thing because she has never experienced that.

I think the most positive person in the story is Ari, the friend who helps Ellie by helping her downsize, and make new friends. I’m sorry this didn’t work for me and I know I’m in the minority of reviewers. I will absolutely read the author again. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.