AHH ok I so loved this book! It is a very cute story overall. I appreciate that the book is realistic in that the romance does not solve everything - Ellie for example, has a lot going on that she's tackling and you can see her work through that throughout the book. I could see this book as an epic queer holiday rom com movie. I didn't like the comic book sections, it was different but I felt it took me out of the story. They did add to the story, but it was a bit of a distraction.

A great rom com! The cover art is so cute and grabs your attention. The novel was well written and had a great plot line.

This. Book. Was. Fabulous! I couldn’t put it down, as soon as I started reading it. I’ve never flown through a book so quickly (except maybe The Charm Offensive). I loved all of the characters, especially Meemaw and Lovey. Highly highly recommend this (especially as a Christmas time read).

Alison Cochrun is an author that I’m pretty sure I would trust with my life (or at least my most sensitive topics) and be confident that she would handle it with care and dignity. Kiss Her Once For Me (KHOFM) is a very different book from Cochrun’s debut book, The Charm Offensive (TCO) — it’s a fun holiday romp with a love trapezoid and an ode to 90s romcoms. But like TCO, it hits on a few major points that make it an outspending 5-star read for me.

First and foremost, it’s a fun romance, a bit sexy and a bit funny, and packed with well-developed characters who have excellent chemistry. Each character feels well-rounded and unique, and the background characters have their own issues, making them feel like real people. I’m always impressed by the way Alison Cochrun can make me laugh with a witty description or a particularly sassy piece of dialogue. Several tropes (most prominently the fake dating trope) are flipped on their head and used in unexpected ways, which makes it a fun and less predictable book. This alone would be enough to make KHOFM a good romcom, but it’s the other factors that take it from good to excellent.

Like TCO, KHOFM has phenomenal mental health rep. The main character, Ellie, has anxiety and depression (though I’m not sure if the depression is explicitly stated). Cochrun depicts these with extreme care; they are present throughout the novel and affect Ellie’s behavior and thoughts, but by no means are the only facets of her personality.

KHOFM also has biromantic, demisexual representation. Again, Cochrun describes these identities in an authentic, realistic way. It’s great to see representation I can relate to in books; I think other ace-spec readers will also appreciate the demisexual representation.

My favorite thing about Cochrun’s books is that romance doesn’t solve all the problems in the main characters’ lives. Ellie has several significant issues she’s tackling in her life (an estranged relationship with her mother and a stagnant career, for example); throughout the book, Ellie grows and eventually tackles these problems for herself, in a way that works for her. It’s always refreshing in a romcom to see main characters who grow individually, who make major changes in their lives for themselves because it’s the right thing to do.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun romcom with a dash of found family, personal growth, and excellent queer rep. I will definitely be rereading later this year around the holidays!

Thanks to Atria Books & Netgalley for this eARC.

Wow. Wow! This book was everything I hoped for! This needs to be a movie, it would be the queer holiday rom-com that we have been waiting for! We've got a diverse cast. We've got queer rep from across the fucking spectrum. We have the ostensible male lead (aka Andrew the rich guy proposing the arrangement) describing his sexuality like a Rorschach text. We have non-binary rep. We have a supporting trans woman of colour. Y'all, the main character is demi! I don't think I've ever seen a demi lead character in a book, certainly not a romance! And my demisexual ass is here for it! On top of the sexualities, the examination of Ellie's anxiety was great. Conscientious, and felt true to life. There was a little less focus given to Jack's ADHD, but it wasn't her POV the book was coming from, so that made sense.

Most of the characters were to die for. You felt just so...cozy, and warm. You wanted to be there with them, drinking the grandma's sangria and making cookies, and singing songs.

Of course, the entire time, you're also screaming at Elle to be honest! Be honest Andrew from the start about who Jack is to her. Be honest to Jack about the arrangement. But, that is the conceit of the book, this is how everyone is acting, so the frustration all the lying causes does not make it lose any stars. <spoiler>That said, when the inevitable third act break-up comes, it was both earned, but also so physically frustrating — in relation to both Jack & Elle's night at the lone cabin and Andrew & Elle finally deciding to be honest with those they loved — that I physically had to put my phone down, walk around, and complain to a co-worker about it. Wow, that one hit me hard.</spoiler>

In terms of spice, the book is pretty light when it comes to on-page sexiness (there's really only one full on sex scene, though it is spread out over 2 chapters), but the low level simmer between Ellie and the girl she's fallen for seems to permeate so much of the text that it feels much sexier than that.

Finally, I love the growth the characters make in the end. And also that the book stresses that it's a process, that there are no immediate fixes, but that the future can be looked at with home. This is a wonderful story fool of hope and queer joy that is very much needed in the world right now! 5 enthusiastic stars!

Kiss Her Once for Me is a sapphic rom-com set around Christmas time. As Cochrun mentions in her opening remarks, the inspiration behind this book was to make this a queer retelling of the movie While You Were Sleeping. That being said, while reading, this definitely plays out like a movie. There are a lot of references to romantic comedies, a bit of insta love, some fake dating, predictable moments and family drama centered around the holidays. What's different is that the entire cast of characters had pretty complex identities and the LGBTQ+ representation and terminology was effortlessly integrated. I learned a lot and appreciate how Cochrun included a lot of her own voice into the book. Despite all of this, I did not love the concept of this story as much as The Charm Offensive. It is hard to buy into the romance, the writing had some repetition and there were chapters that detailed the main characters' webcomics that I wish I enjoyed more. 

Thank you Atria and NeGalley for a copy of this ARC. Pub date: 11/1/22

Alison Cochrun has done it once again. This book was full of beautiful internal dialogue that brought the main character alive and really had the reader understanding her flaws and her assets. The storyline was the perfect amount of “how on earth could that ever happen” and “of course their luck would get them into this position”. The miscommunication trope was here and proud, but not annoying. The only complaint I have is that the main characters’ physical appearances were not ever described enough. I couldn’t actually picture the characters because of it, at least not until the end of the book.

I loved this book. The complexity of the characters, the trauma they experienced, and their desire to keep moving forward hit home for me.

I would like to begin my review by saying I finished this book in a day and it was fantastic. I haven't finished a book in a day in quite some time.
Kiss Her Once For Me is about a girl named Ellie who has her life falling to pieces and finds an opportunity to fix her problems by fake marriage. The guy, Andrew, also greatly benefits from the fake marriage and invites Ellie to his family's Christmas cabin for the holidays and everything becomes a whirlwind of family drama, secrets, complicated love stories, and the usual holiday shenanigans.
I really enjoyed this book for the story, the romantic moments, and the welcoming quirky family that really played on the found family troupe. Each character was lovable and unique with deep personalities that make the reader momentarily forget that they are simply reading a book and not truly with this family. The character development was spot on and dropped off the characters exactly where they needed to be by the end of the book. The romantic moments truly tugged at my hopeless romantic heartstrings and became nearly swoon worthy as I wished I could find a love as natural and wonderful.
Unfortunately I do have some critiques in my review starting with the web comic chapters. The comic chapters were important to the story but they also interrupted it. There were times I wished I could just skip them to get to the main timeline of the story but you can't skip the chapters because they do play an important role to the plot. I also didn't like the introduction to the fake fiancé because he was too loveable; it seemed a shame to only break his heart in the end. He was such an influential character and I'm happy the direction the character took but it was also not set up well for the first few chapters. The character was TOO there and he suddenly became a background character. I get why this needed to happen but he felt too much a placeholder and his resolution wasn't much for the growth a few of the other characters went through since he was also a main character. The end was stretched too far and while I loved it, it also had me checking how much I had left in the book because I thought it was ending more than once.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and found it very hard to put down. I definitely recommend this book. If you are a hopelessly romantic Christmas lover such as myself but Hallmark never seems to write a love story that you can find yourself in I definitely say read this one. It has all the cozy dramatic Sapphic Christmas charm they will never have.

Ah fake dating and fake engagement - what could go wrong, am I right!?

Ellie meets a woman at Christmas, spends an amazing day/night together, and it blows up in her face. One year later, she is fake engaged to a man and agrees to meet his family. Only… her fiancés sister is her mysterious hookup. Chaos ensues!

This book was very sweet. It was super easy to read and it was shockingly believable. Lots of great representation here from the queer community. The love stories were very cute.

I’d recommend this one. Thanks NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review:

The characters in this book were amazing and written wonderfully. Alison Cochran has this really beautiful way of adding flaws and struggles to her characters. The main character’s anxiety was grounded and realistic. The premise is wonderful and the execution was great. This is a fantastic romance and a must for the TBR

Got an eArc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is for those who are scared to let people in but want to be loved. For those who are unknowingly self-sabotaged and, hopefully, try to get away from that toxic cycle. And lastly, for those who need convincing "that some things are too spectacular for fear."

- Yes. The quoted line is from Alison Cochrun's acknowledgements in the book 'Kiss Her Once For Me.'

Y'all! Shut up! I- this... IT'S FULL OF QUEERNESS, AND I LOVE IT!

The times I silently screamed and laughed while everyone was asleep were hard to count. I love the angst between the main and side couples. I also can't remember how many times I said in my mind, "JUST BE TOGETHER!" And then realizing I want more. And if they are with each other, the story will be short. This book made me happy cry and sad cry, and a mix of both.

I love the characters. I love the writing style. I love the plot. I love the representation of the ace spectrum/demisexual. I love the gender representation. I love the mentions of aromantic. I love the talks about attractions to people. I love the jokes about lesbian stereotypes. I love the lesbian transgender representation. I love the bisexual representation. I love the idiotic declaration of love that made me laugh so hard with tears falling from my eyes. I LOVE absolutely everything (of course, the exemptions are those sh*t characters and stuff).

CW: Parent Abandonment, Toxic Relationship, Anxiety, ADHD, Mentions of Racism, Bisexual Erasure, and Cheating (search it up for more specifics or correct CW as mine is what I thought is triggering while I read it)

“Kiss her once for me” is a fantastic holiday romance that had me hooked immediately!! The magic of meeting a stranger on a snow day and falling in love with them, time spent apart and meeting again. This story was truly so magical and brought in the elements of “fate” that I love.

I admired that Ellie is still trying to figure life out throughout the whole book. Her fear of failure was hit very close to home but I loved her character growth and her commitment to honesty and moving forward!

I loved the friendship that formed between Andrew and Ellie although I wish there was more overall dialogue and scenes with them growing closer.

I am a sucker for the found family trope and the Kim-Prescott family was a diverse bunch of hilarious characters. I found myself wanting to jump right into the family snowball fight.

Jack completely stole my heart! This pop music loving, stubborn, too loud, amazingly honest and caring woman.

Ellie and Jack are two broken people trying to put their lives together, they truly bring out the best in each other and I couldn’t be happier with their ending.

I did find a few spelling mistakes/ repeated words but other than that this book was 5 stars for me!

Calling it now: @alisoncochrun's KISS HER ONCE FOR ME is going to be the holiday book of the fall. It's about a woman named Ellie (helloooo) who fakes an engagement with her employer in return for a portion of the inheritance he'll get as a result of his marriage. But when she goes on vacation with him for Christmas, she discovers that his sister is the very same woman she had a magical one night stand with a year ago. It's a night she hasn't been able to get out of her head since - and now she's posing as her future sister-in-law!

Loved the mental health aspects of this book, as well as the Christmas time hijinks, the queer romance, and the bookstores! Thank you to @atriabooks for the early @netgalley ebook.

This publishes November 1, 2022!

@alisoncochrun is quickly becoming a fave for me!

Ellie Oliver is experiencing a major low point in her life. She has a “one night stand” that leaves her heartbroken, loses her job, and is desperate for money and feels very lost.
She makes a deal with Andrew, the coffee shop’s landlord that she is currently working at, to marry him so that he can receive his trust fund. In return, she’ll receive part of the money.
She hesitantly accepts, and finds herself spending Christmas with his family, only to realize his sister is her one night stand from the past.
This book is full of moments of laughter, characters that are easy to root for, and a great plot. It’s also set during Christmas time, which is my absolute favorite!

Another ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!

SUCH a cute hallmark movie romance, but with a sapphic twist! Super cute romance for anyone who can't get enough of cheesy Christmas romance novels and movies for the holiday season. The perfect book to release in November

OMG! This book was absolutely adorable and I loved everything about it. The characters, all of them, were so swoon-worthy and just had such amazing vibes. I loved the dynamic between Ellie and Jack. I could truly feel how much they craved each other through my phone screen. It was overall amazing and this is definitely a book I would recommend to anyone who loves a good queer reconciliation romance!

Y’all. This book. Was so good! Oh my god, I loved every moment of it, it was spectacular in every way, I am internally screaming and have been ever since I put it down. Ellie was amazing and so goddamn relatable and Jack, oh my god I loved her so much. And the side characters! Honestly, the love trapezoid was so funny it had me cackling out loud, my friends hate me for all my rambling to them about this book. This is definitely a new favorite, I thought I couldn’t like it more than The Charm Offensive but I loved every second of it, I picked it up and could not put it down, I finished it in two days and it was only because I forced myself to stop reading due to need of sleep. Overall I loved this and would highly recommend it!

This book follows a bisexual, messy, struggling artist and her butch baker love interest. At Christmas time. With family tradition antics. And come twisty-turns of hilarious miscommunication. A classic, cheesy Hallmark-Christmas-movie, if you will. I couldn't be more in love.

I have a love-hate relationship with Christmas books, because they are either phenomenal or just plain blegh. No in-between. However, this book was SOLID. A mixture of fun, a little bit of depth, and overall warm-and-fuzzy feelings really paid off in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for sending me an eARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Kiss Her Once For Me, by Alison Cochrun

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0 stars

I need you to stop what you're doing and pre-order/add this book to your TBR immediately! Kiss Her Once for Me comes out on November 1, 2022, and it's the perfect read for the holidays.

This book has such a fun premise: Imagine the perfect snow day — the city shuts down, there's magic in the air, it's Christmas Eve, and you meet and spend the day with your absolute dream person. After spending a wonderful night together, you leave (because you're deeply afraid of failure) and assume you'll never see them again. One year later, you end up fake-engaged to the landlord of the coffee shop you work at because it will benefit you both — he'll get his inheritance, and you'll get $200,000. When you go to his family's home for Christmas, you meet his sister... who is none other than your dream person you spent last Christmas with. She doesn't know your engagement is fake, and your fiancé doesn't know you had a one night stand with his sister.

This book was so festive and queer and fun! It filled my heart all the way up and broke it at the same time. (All of the emotions were worth it, though.) The absolute chaos of what Ellie calls the "love trapezoid" is hilarious and inevitable. I adored each of the characters and their personalities. I even loved how the major conflict was handled — it felt authentic and there was genuine growth from everyone. I don't usually find myself loving the "found family" trope, but it worked so well here and I was rooting for Ellie, Jack, Andrew, Dylan, and their whole family. I also think the cabin scene is the most romantic love scene I've read in a long time. It was descriptive and tender, but not crass. I felt how much Ellie and Jack loved each other through every action. These two characters are clearly better together and I'm glad for the journey they took to figure that out. I only wish there was an epilogue to give us a glimpse of how they're faring together in the future.

And while this book is fun, it balances the joy of the holidays with heavier topics. (Make sure to check the content warnings before reading!) There's family trauma — like childhood emotional neglect, perfectionist parenting, and representation of the insecure attachment style. There's also legit anxiety representation, which Alison Cochrun writes so well and makes me feel so seen, and fantastic queer representation throughout.

I'm happy to give this book five stars, but even happier to recommend this to people. I will be shouting from the rooftops about how much I love this book! The Taylor Swift references and built-in holiday playlist were the cherry on top. Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for a review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.