This book was so cute!! I loved all the characters so much. It was all around funny and you are guaranteed to get butterflies while reading this. 10/10 recommend.

Thank you to Atria Books for an ARC of Kiss Her Once for Me via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I absolutely loved The Charm Offensive, the author’s debut, and highly anticipated this one. Unfortunately, I let early reviews affect my anticipation and put this one off until after publication day, when I read it via audiobook instead. I liked it - the narration was especially great. But it wasn’t exactly what I’d expected when it was described as a take on “While You Were Sleeping” - I don’t think that’s a very accurate description at all. There is probably another movie about falling for a family member of a significant other that would be a more accurate descriptor - for example, The Family Stone!
I will keep reading Cochrun’s books because I think she establishes strong, diverse characters and writes relatable romances. If you haven’t read The Charm Offensive, I definitely recommend that book, and I think this one is good, too, especially if you enjoyed The Family Stone!

I absolutely ADORED Alison Cochrun's THE CHARM OFFENSIVE--read it twice, gifted it thrice, sure to go back for a re-read again soon. So I was excited for her sophomore turn, entered it with a ton of goodwill, and was bummed not to love it. So much of what works or doesn't in a romance novel is down to personal taste, so I wouldn't NOT recommend this to anyone who thought it might be up their alley. It seemed up mine! Portland setting, fake dating, anxiety-ridden MC, scenes in a bookstore . . . but I couldn't shake an annoyance with some repetitious phrases and preoccupations, a couple main character moves that didn't ring true based on all previous known character traits, and a myopia by the POV character (no spoilers) that I just couldn't suspend disbelief. I trudged to the end because I had a dARC, but wasn't really rooting for either the characters or their relationship by the end.

4.25ish stars

As I was reading this one, I found myself noting some significant traits, ideas, or descriptors mentioned about the story’s protagonist, and I’ve tried to include them accurately here:

Bi demi protagonist
Past heartbreak/fear of failure
Hates dating bc ^
Very anxious, GAD; depression
Had a breakdown at work
Tall
Pisces
Not super coordinated/athletic
Initial reaction to vulnerability: “gross”

And for the record, most/all of those things made her interesting and relatable, to me at least.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a story about a protagonist who so closely resembles me in a lot of ways, and wow, that was both wonderful and uncomfortable (because who likes seeing some of their major flaws so clearly reflected in a lovely but blatantly self-sabotaging fictional character?). It was a good story with funny, diverse, and reasonably well-developed characters, and while I didn’t necessarily figure out exactly what the writer was doing at first, the back-and-forth writing style choices quickly became clear and ultimately worked well for the story. I might have been reading this one at a time that was seasonably inappropriate, but it didn’t matter; I was pulled in pretty much from the beginning, and I enjoyed the whole thing. I also can’t wait to see what the writer comes up with next!

a fun holiday read, but nothing too life changing or revolutionary. it began very slow and i found myself bored, but by the end i was entertained!

I am a HUGE fan of Cochrun's other novel The Charm Offensive and Kiss Her Once For Me did not disappoint. I didn't love it as much as TCO but was still interested in the fate of the characters and thought the book was charming overall. KHOFM is the perfect queer Hallmark-eqsue story and even though I read it in the summer, it was perfect.

Let me paint you a picture: I'd had Covid for 6 days. In that time my eyes could barely stay open to read books and I would drift into sleep as I tried to listen to my audiobooks. At midnight on day 6 I tool my last dose of Paxlovid and since I wasn't sleepy I decided to read this one because I feared that picking up a thriller would keep me up too late. Little did I know what Cochran had in store for me, that I would spend the next seven hours immersed in this book, or that I would end up getting a tattoo based on this novel less than 12 hours after finishing it!

The story is told in 2 parts: One is supposed to be a web comic written by Elle which chronicles the magical Christmas day she spent with Jack last year. We get these chapters rather piecemeal as most of the narrative is spent on the current Christmas season.

When she met Jack Eve was struggling at her dream job and thought she was exactly where she needed to be in life. Fast forward a year and she was "fired" from said dream job, was miserable working at a coffee shop where the owner was belittling and took her for granted, and was facing being out on the street as a rent hike made her apartment unaffordable. <spoiler>Perhaps Eve could afford her apartment if she didn't continually bail out her grifter mother, but that's another story.</spoiler>

Enter Andrew, a handsome coffee shop regular who just happens to own the building the coffee shop is located in. After witnessing how Eve was treated at her job, he takes Eve out on a "date" and proposes the arrangement we all read from the book's plot summary: a marriage of convenience for both of them. Though Andrew knows that Eve had fallen in love last year, it was a complete shock to Eve when she was introduced to Jacqueline, Andrew's sister. You see, Jacqueline is the mysterious Jack who stole Eve's heart last Christmas.

Things get even more complicated when it becomes evident that Jack may also have feelings for someone who is also at the family's Christmas cabin. Incidentally, Eve refers to their situation as a love parallelogram and--as I mentioned earlier--less than twelve hours after finishing the book I walked out of a tattoo parlor with a love parallelogram tattoo inspired by this book! (Here's a link to the TikTok I made after getting the tattoo in case you are curious to see it: <ahref="https://www.goodreads.com">https://www.tiktok.com/@msjeimy/video/7140047103128046890?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7142467169330136618</a> )

The reason I stayed up until 7:00am reading is because I wanted to know how Eve and Andrew's ruse would implode and how Cochran would create sexual tension between Eve and Jack in an environment where it was hard to have a private moment. Though I am a fast reader, I also stopped periodically to add any song mentioned on the book--and there are plenty--to a playlist created. Needless to say, I was completely satisfied with my reading experience.

I really enjoyed "The Charm Offensive" by Alison Cochrun but this one wasn't my favoruite Christmas read,

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙊𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙮 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙙…𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧.


📍 Read if you like:
• Fake Dating
• LGBTQ+ Romcoms
• Holiday Reads
• Found Family

After reading and absolutely loving The Charm Offensive, I immediately knew I wanted to read Cochrun’s next novel.

This was the perfect sapphic Christmasy romcom. Something this author does great is writing realistic characters you deeply care about. The whole time I was rooting for our main characters!!

I think the side characters were also so brilliantly written. They all felt like part of the overall story and added so much depth to the book. I loved how supportive they were.

There were some Taylor Swift references I found interesting, and also drunk grandmas 😂 I was laughing quite a bit with the humor!

I felt so emerged in this festive story. It was the perfect holiday read filled with snowball fights, baking cookies, and some swoon-worthy moments. Also, the fake dating part of the book was so wholesome.

While I didn’t love this one as much as The Charm Offensive, I still think this book is worth the read. It does talk about mental health at times, but it’s addressed and represented perfectly. This author is an auto-buy author for me now. I would highly recommend this sapphic, fake-dating festive story!

Really, really cute - loved the characters and the cozy storyline. What a perfect book to grab to read in front of a fire.

I'll admit it's been a bit since I finished this one so it's not fresh in my mind (the holidays were BUSY this year, as always) but what I DO remember is absolutely adoring this book!

For a holiday romance novel, it was so unique, combining a somewhat tragic love story with a fake dating trope and sapphic romance. It was truly everything I wanted this book to be!

I actually started off not loving the insecure, self-sabotaging main character, Ellie, but as she grew as a person, she grew on me! It was fun to see her develop as a person and read along with her webcomics. And I can understand her infatuation with her "snow girl," Jack, because even I fell a little bit in love with her!

The two have somewhat of a yin and yang energy which was a delight to read. And the drama of having Ellie having to hide her fake relationship from the one person she actually had feelings for was so fun and exciting!

The family dynamic was awesome and just a pleasure to follow along with and the characters were all so well thought-out. I really appreciated how each one had their quirks and are very relatable.

Kiss Her Once For Me was a refreshing and fun read that I would 100% recommend. I easily gave it five stars and it was one of my favorites of 2022!

I enjoyed this story as the characters were both unique in their struggles and insecurities. The plot was a bit unbelievable but that indeed made the story a lot more fun. The Kim's were a delight and Elle was a stressball amongst them. It was fun to spend a fictitious Christmas with this confused and wild bunch!

I love this author. I find the characters in her books to be well rounded, complex and generally likeable. This was a perfect cozy wintery read. It had me wanting to jump on a plane to Portland so I could hang out in a bookstore all day :)

I expected and wanted to give this book top marks because of how much I loved The Charm Offensive and this was...not quite it.

Ellie and Jack have a picture perfect day a year ago and when she rolls up to her rich-fake-fiance's house a year later, everything is a mess. The mess continues because no one will talk to each other for the entire book. I did not love that the blame for everything fell on Ellie. She had her moments for absolute sure, but her insecurity and anxiety allowed her to absorb the blame for all sorts of things that were not her fault. The big humiliating moment at the bakery was not it either.

I wish we had gotten into the motivations of the characters a little more. Why did Ellie take on her mother's credit card debt? Was this on top of all the other money she was giving her? Why is she letting her mother bleed her dry when she can't even afford rent? Why didn't Andrew just ask Dylan in the first place? Why didn't one of the grandmothers get everyone in line when the truth came out? Ellie absolutely knew that Jack was opening this bakery on her own without support so why didn't she come clean? So many questions I'll never know the answer to.

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books, Alison Cochran for a copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

dnf at 18%


When I read Cochrun's first book last year, I ADORED it -- which made me incredibly excited to pick this one up. However, there were several things that just didn't work for me. First, it's told in first-person; I really prefer my romance novels to be in third-person, but I was fine with continuing to try anyways. Second, it was just incredibly mopey for the almost-quarter I read. The main character has debilitating anxiety (which boy do I understand) and her life is so far where she wants it to be. So the tonal choice makes COMPLETE sense -- but I come to romance novels to escape the sadness & hardship of everyday life.

All that being said -- Cochrun is clearly a GREAT writer, and if you don't mind the two issues I had, you should absolutely give this book a shot. The issues I had were me not fitting the book, despite it clearly being something that other people will really, really enjoy.

5 Stars:  
Book: Kiss Her Once For Me
Rating: 5/5
Author: Alison Cockrun
Genre: Romance
Pages:345
Tropes: Holiday Rom-Com, Found Family, Fake Dating, Flash Backs
Warnings Homophobia, Abandonment, Anxiety Disorder
Readability: 4/5 italic font is used
First Line: "Snow Days are a special kind of magic."

Things to expect:
High School Teacher
Bisexual Representation
Mental Health Representation
Found Family

Y'all... if you want the cutest holiday rom-com that is on the market. This is it. This hits in all the feels and honestly should be read any time of the year. So many funny moments that I was belly laughing out loud. I honestly didn't know what I would think of this book, and it has one of my least favorite things in a book, but the way Allison Cockrun handled it was with grace. (spoiler: it's a third breakup act) I loved how much representation was in this one, and it made me feel like I was reading something a friend wrote. I hope Alison writes another holiday rom-com in the near future. 

Thanks to Atria & Chickshitistheshit for the advance reader copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own. i have purchased my own copy.

Unfortunately, due to some devastating circumstances in my family late last year, this was archived before I had a chance to read it. Leaving with a neutral rating for now and, if I get my hands on a copy at some point, I will update this with a proper rating. Thanks very much for the opportunity!

A year ago, a snowstorm hit Portland just as Ellie Oliver was learning her mother had decided not to come visit for Christmas. So, in tears, Ellie found herself at a bookstore reaching for the same book as Jack, a woman dressed inappropriately for the snow in a Carhartt jacket with a cute smile. The two have an unforgettable day together, which leads to an unforgettable night. However, the next morning something tears them apart. Now, a year later, Ellie has lost her cushy animation job, her mother is begging for money, and she is living in a dumpy basement apartment about to be evicted. She agrees to fake marry Andrew Kim-Prescott, the owner of the coffee shop she works at, for $200,000. Only, when she arrives at his families winter cabin, she finds out his sister is the elusive Jack.

Alison Cochrun is a masterful writer of romance. This book was so good, so good! Ellie's shenanigans felt so real, her emotions bursting right off the page. I often had to set the book down from the second hand anxiety and embarrassment I was feeling.

Ellie is so programmed to expect the worst, because of her awful parents, that I wanted to wrap her in a hug every minute. She was written so well and I had such empathy for her plight, for her having so many of her emotions tied up with how her parents treated her her entire life. Her self worth is so low, and she cannot trust anything which leads to her sabotaging herself. Her mother is a real piece of work, I was so enraged any time she came up, was mentioned, made an appearance. It was so nice when you experienced the love of the Kim-Prescott's to offset her awfulness. But I also like how after everything Ellie has gone through, she can see how her actions impact others and work to change for herself and for the ones she loves.

And Jack, oh my gosh Jack! This woman is just a dream come true. A baker, beautiful, tough, but with a determined spirit and a heart of gold. I was frustrated with her for how she treated Ellie, as though money should be so easy to let go of when your relationship with your parents is based on money and you are in dire straits. But, I could understand her underlying trust and self worth issues. Her and Ellie's chemistry was fire...fire! And the fact that this is a loose adaptation of While You Were Sleeping made it just that much better.

The Kim-Prescott family, sans the horrible father, were so welcoming, unique, funny, and loveable. Again, I was frustrated with the obliviousness to money, having so much of it they cannot grasp anyone else needing it and doing almost anything to not end up on the street. But, they are so easy to love, to accept, to forgive, to be kind.

Honestly, I want to read this every year from here on out. And I wish Ellie's webcomic was real, I would buy it in an instant.

A charming rom com that was a great escape read.
Many thanks to Atria and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Kiss Her Once For Me was such a cute holiday romance that I enjoyed so much! I loved the story and the connection between the characters. I bought my best friend a copy because I knew how much she would enjoy it at well! I highly recommend this book that can be enjoyed all year long!