I wanted to like this book, and I did enjoy the first 40% of the book. I liked Ellie in the beginning. She was a woman who was struggling with her career, her love life, and her mental health. She’s also bi and demisexual, which are my labels. But I couldn’t root for her relationship with Jack. I get that all aces are different, and the asexual spectrum is not one size fits all. But the instalove trope was a strange choice for a woman who is demi. I couldn’t believe that she could be so sexually attracted to this woman that she has a one-night stand with her and then can’t stop thinking of her for an entire year. I usually like fake dating, but Andrew felt like a means to get Ellie and Jack back together. I also didn’t really care for Jack at all. She was infuriating once all the reveals were revealed, like the reason why they didn’t stay in contact with each other after their night together. I also thought she was unnecessarily mean to Ellie when the main conflict of the story happened, and I even thought she held her anger toward Ellie at the end for too long. I couldn’t root for them, and what’s the point of reading a romance if you don’t root for the main couple? I read this for a book club and if it wasn’t for that I would have stopped reading this book at the halfway mark. I also listened to the audiobook for the last 60% of the book and would have given up if I couldn’t listen to it. This was a disappointment, unfortunately.

I ended up DNFing this book. I think it was a wrong book at the wrong time type of situation. I know others loved this book, so don’t let this discourage you! I will try and pick it up again at another time.

One snowy Christmas Eve in Portland, Ellie meets the woman of her dreams during a meet cute in Powell’s Bookstore. It’s a magical day, but ends abruptly the next morning. Fast forward a year - Ellie has lost her job and is working as a barista when she makes a deal with her landlord to fake an engagement and wedding to help him get his inheritance. What she doesn’t expect is that her crush of a year ago is her new fiancés brother. Will Ellie go through with the plan, or follow her heart?

Oh my goodness this wonderful book. Alison Cochrun has done it again! I liked this one even more than her debut. I cried (good tears) and laughed. She handles mental health issues and demisexuality (not often covered in books) with respect and dignity. The characters are great to root for and the happy ending brought a tear to my eye.

This is an instant classic for me that I can see revisiting every holiday season.

gosh this book was so swoony and perfect and i think i'll be re-reading it every holiday season from now on!!!

I absolutely loved this. I knew I would-- Cochrun's last was very validating for me and I cried AND laughed-- but it still felt amazing after the year I'd had to read a book about emotional growth and women in love

I often say that holiday romance books just aren’t my thing.

But that obviously doesn’t include queer holiday romance books by Alison Cochrun.

"Kiss Her Once For Me" was every bit as sharp and endearing and addictive as "The Charm Offensive," with just the right balance between Christmas magic and family dysfunction.

A perfect vacation read.

4.5 stars!

This was a really cute sapphic romance with a lot of family drama! Really liked the anxiety rep in this. I just really wanted Jack's perspective to heighten the mutual pining!

Videos reviewing this book
December Wrap Up - https://youtu.be/iphQeyIL3-k
Best Romances of the Year - https://youtu.be/kPViGQ4Yp4c

In Kiss Her Once for Me we follow Elle Who last Christmas had a whirlwind 24 hours with a woman and Jack only never seen her again. Flash forward a year later and Elle is asked by the owner of the building she works in to enter into an engagement and marriage in order for him to receive his inheritance from his grandfather. Elle agrees to the arrangement and has to spend the week of Christmas with his family only to realize his sister is the woman she hasn’t stopped thinking about for the last year. This book was so much more than I was expecting. There’s so many different sexualities represented and non-binary representation and every character is well thought out. Alison has found a way to squeeze in almost every romance trope known to readers in this one book and somehow makes it work with out anything being cheesy or overwhelming. This book is such a great sapphic Christmas read for anyone looking to also come to terms with their fears of failure.

There has yet to be a book by this author that I haven't adored. Set mostly in Portland, it's a second-chance, sapphic, holiday romance that will have you both laughing and crying.

Ellie Oliver's life is a disaster. She's lost her dream job, about to lose her apartment, and she can't stop thinking about a one-night stand she had almost a year ago. So when her hot landlord suggests they get fake married so he can access his inheritance she really has no choice but to agree.

Naturally, it's just Ellie's luck that when Andrew takes her home to meet the family it turns out his sister is the woman Ellie had the amazing snow day, and one-night stand with last year. It's obvious they both have feelings for each other, but no-one is being honest and things start to spiral.

I don't think it would be possible for me to love the characters in this book more. From Ellie and Jack, to Andrew, Dylan, their mom...they were all just so incredible. I wanted to spend time with them in real life. Every one of them had a lot of baggage to unpack, and watching them grow through the course of the book was so rewarding.

I will say it was frustrating at times though, because Ellie just kept making decisions that sabotaged her own happiness, and while I understand why it was happening I just wanted to hug her and shake her in equal measure.

VERY CUTE VERY GOOD. I love fake dating and I love that trope where you fake date someone but fall in lve with someone else in their life. PLUS the Taylor Swift mentions and it being sapphic AND Christmastime? This book was made for me. For anyone who wants a book to cuddle up with in front of the fire, for anyone who wants a sapphic book with the atmosphere of Twilight, and for anyone who wants to imagine that one day can change their life forever.

Alison Cochrun is great at writing romcoms that make you actually feel things. I adored the setting, the family experience, the humor, the romance, everything. I also think that it was important that we had a butch love interest! We don't often see this in f/f romcoms or romances and we need more diversity for sure! Alison Cochrun has become an auto-read author for me. 5 stars for sure!

I was really excited to read this, and I liked it, but it didn't live up to what I wanted it to be. I love the diversity and representation, love the T.Swift references. I liked the end of the book better than the beginning. I liked the premise of the book. I was rooting for Ellie.

This book was so much fun! The family dynamic of Andrew and Jack’s family was so great to read about, especially the little traditions that they do every Christmas (the snowball fight and decorating the Christmas tree 😂). I really liked Ellie as a main character and her character growth by the end of the story was fantastic.

My favorite characters though were the grandmas! They had me cracking up! Especially during the mistletoe scene 😂. Jack was also a wonderful character and I loved seeing her relationship with Ellie from the start to the end of the book 🥰

I really felt for Ellie as she struggled with her relationship with her mother and how she dealt with that. It was so great to finally see her stand up for herself by the end and not take anymore of the crap her mom was dealing out! Oh how that woman made me so irate!! Lol

Overall, if you love holiday reads and a great sapphic love story, I definitely recommend this one!! So so fantastic and I will definitely be picking up more of Alison’s work!!

This was such a cute and fun read! I read this around Christmas and absolutely loved it. The two main characters were written so well and were very likable. Honestly, I would say don't read any reviews just pick this book up and read it! You won't be disappointed.

This was my last read of 2022 and was the perfect feel good book for the holiday season!

I loved this story right from the beginning. From the magical snow filled night that Ellie and Jack shared one year ago, to Andrew’s “proposal” to Ellie, and Christmas this year with his family, this book was everything I look for in a holiday romcom.

Cochrun did a great job of writing realistic characters that are flawed and relatable. The book is told from Ellie’s perspective along with sections where she tells her and Jack’s story as an online graphic novel. I liked the way the online story was included to fill us in on the night Jack and Ellie met and Ellie’s thoughts on what happened between them.

The best part of this story for me was the secondary characters though. I adored Andrew, but the stars of the show were Meemaw and Lovely! They brought so much heart, joy, and humor to this book. I’d read a book just about their adventures!

If you’re looking for an LGBTQIA+ romcom with fake dating and Christmas cheer look no further than Kiss Her Once For Me.

I absolutely loved this book. Such a good holiday story. Ellie and Jack are to die for. The queer representation is top notch. Thank you for allowing me to read this!

Alison Cochrun does it again! Kiss Her Once for Me was exceptional, from the diverse representation to the miscommunication trope DONE RIGHT to its explorations of what it means to chase career success and how that can affect how we view our place in the world. I love the way this author weaves discussions of mental health into her romances in a way that brings us so much closer to her main characters and teaches us valuable lessons along the way.

Rating: 4.5 stars

A year ago, Ellie Oliver’s life seemed to be going just according to her 10-year plan. She had moved to Portland for her dream job as an artist for an animation studio. And for one magical day and night, Ellie thought had found the woman of her dreams. After meeting at a bookstore, the women spent a wonderful, snowy day together that left Ellie falling in love. But things feel apart with Jack almost as quickly as they began, leaving Ellie devastated. And it only got worse when she lost her job at her dream company. Now, Ellie is working a job she hates with a boss she loathes. Her heart is still broken and her head is filled with memories of the woman with whom she spent that glorious day and night. And her mother continues to badger Ellie for money, when Ellie is barely making ends meet herself. In fact, Ellie is on the verge of destitution and, with her rent going up, she has no idea how she is going to survive.

Then the gorgeous and wealthy landlord of the coffee shop where Ellie works, Andrew Kim-Prescott, comes to Ellie with a proposition. Andrew’s grandfather died with a stipulation in his will requiring Andrew be married to get the inheritance. With no interest in a relationship and no one on the horizon, Andrew is looking for someone to marry him for the year just so he can get the money. He is willing to offer Ellie $200k if she will help him out and get married, as well as spend Christmas with his family in their mountain cabin. Ellie is anxious about the idea, but (with the help of copious amounts of alcohol) eventually figures she has nothing to lose. She needs the money so desperately and, while she isn’t particularly interested in Andrew romantically (aside from finding him incredibly hot), she also figures maybe there is a chance that feelings will grow. However, when Andrew and Ellie arrive at the family home for the holiday, she is shocked to learn that Andrew’s sister “Jacqueline” is none other than Ellie’s Jack, the woman who broke her heart a year ago and the woman she is definitely not over losing.

Ellie is stunned to see Jack, and Jack is equally shocked to find Ellie engaged to her brother. Ellie knows she can’t tell Andrew she slept with his sister. And Andrew has been very clear that Ellie can’t tell anyone about the fake inheritance scheme, particularly Jack. Plus, Ellie desperately needs the money that will come with fulfilling her end of the bargain. However, last year’s connection between the women never went away and being around each other day after day is incredibly difficult. Even though she has no interest in Andrew, and Andrew has no interest in her (in fact, Ellie is pretty sure Andrew is in love with Dylan, Jack’s best friend), Ellie still made a promise to both marry him and keep his secret. And when she learns more about Andrew’s motives, Ellie is even more determined to keep his confidence. But Ellie still longs for Jack, and it is clear Jack still has feelings for her in return. Things are made even more difficult as Andrew and Jack’s family is just lovely, welcoming Ellie into their lives in a way she has never experienced with her own absentee parents. Now, Ellie must decide if she is going to stick with her bargain and the safety of the deal with Andrew, or if she is willing to take a chance on love and happiness with a future with Jack.

I absolutely loved Allison Cochrun’s The Charm Offensive and it made by Best of 2021 list. So I was excited when I saw the author had a new book out, particularly one with some fun tropes, like marriage of convenience and a sibling love triangle (that ends up a “love trapezoid” as Ellie dubs it). Cochrun does this style so well, and this one has humor and hijinks and is just on the right side of over-the-top in its slightly crazy set up with Ellie finding out that “the one that got away” is actually the sister of her current fake fiance. I found this story just so much fun and really entertaining.

As I said, this one has quite the set up, and you just need to go with it, as this is definitely more rom com than real life. That said, Cochrun gives a weight to the story that takes it above the crazy premise, giving the characters depth and building a foundation that really made it all work for me. Ellie starts out the story in an awful place. She is feeling vulnerable that her mother just wants her for money (which Ellie quite clearly doesn’t have) and has no interest in actually seeing her for Christmas once again. Her boss is awful, she hates her job, and she is about $15 from being out on the street. Not to mention that Ellie’s heart is still quite sore from what happened with Jack last year. Ellie doesn’t typically find an emotional or physical connection with anyone in a day. But there was something about that magical 24 hours with Jack that affected her so profoundly, Ellie believed for a short time that things could into something real between them. That is until it all came crashing down. Cochrun does a nice job really setting the stage here for Ellie’s emotional state and why this absurd offer from Andrew is one she is willing to take (though it still takes a lot of alcohol-fueled bad decisions to get her to agree). Quite frankly, Ellie needs the money badly, and she need some hope for happiness and is willing to see where this opportunity takes her. Of course, she never expects it to bring her back into Jack’s life.

Things build well here in this complicated relationship dynamic, aided by the fact that Andrew and Ellie are never actually interested in one another. They mostly feel like brother and sister, and while the two end up forming a close bond, Andrew quite clearly has no romantic feelings for Ellie. As I said, Andrew is desperately in love with Jack’s best friend, Dylan, and Dylan quite clearly wants Jack in return. So there is no sense of cheating or of Ellie hurting Andrew when things start to move forward with Jack, which I think is important. That said, Jack has no idea about any of this backstory, so in her case, she is quite concerned about the fact that she is pining for her brother’s fiance. So Jack wants to keep her distance because she fears hurting her brother, while Ellie is still hurt over what happened last year. Even once Ellie learns the truth, she feels obligated to keep her promise to Andrew, as well as wanting to help Andrew in his ultimate goal. I will say, there is a lack of communication here on many fronts, among a variety of players. I think it mostly works, as it fits this rom-com style, but I do think a lot pain could have been avoided all around with a little more openness.

I think Cochrun does a nice job making a believable connection between Ellie and Jack, despite just knowing each other a day. We get flashback scenes of their time together interspersed with present events, so I felt brought into their journey in a way that let me feel that past connection. Even as it has been a year, both women are hurt and still missing what they thought could have been a real future with one another, so I could buy that they still have intense feelings for each other. I think this is particularly true of Ellie, who acts so out of character for herself in the way she opened up to this adventure with Jack and let herself just feel it all. So I think that helped really enhance that sense of intensity to her emotions in the present day.

Aside from the romantic relationship, a big part of the story also focuses on Ellie’s lack of connection with her own family contrasted with Kim-Prescott clan. Ellie’s father is basically out of her life and her mother only contacts her to demand money. The Kim-Prescotts have a crazy, loving family and a big holiday celebration (complete with laminated schedule of activities). They welcome Ellie into their home and make her feel a sense of love and acceptance that she doesn’t get from her own family. We get the rom com requisite wacky grandmothers (both boozy and high), but the family is sweet and it is nice to see Ellie feel so accepted and welcome. It gives the story an overall nice holiday warmth that is a nice addition to the romantic entanglements.

A lot of the story deals with Ellie’s general anxiety and her fears that have been holding her back. She has awful parents and she dealt with a lot of that uncertainty growing up by trying to rigidly control her life. She needs plans and structure and is generally risk averse and, over the course of the story, she comes to understand that these attempts at perfection are holding her back. I think it is an overall good message in the sense that it gives Ellie the confidence to reach for what she wants, not always what she thinks she should be doing. But a lot of the blame for various things that go wrong over the course of the book is placed at Ellie’s feet due to her fears, and it doesn’t always seem fair to me. At the end of the book, Ellie feels like the scapegoat for a lot of problems, particularly given that Jack omitted something super major in her own life. So I needed a little more balance here between Ellie finding her way, and Ellie’s fears being blamed for so many issues when others seemed to bear responsibility too.

Overall, I found this one really a lot of fun and just delightful. Cochrun gives us a great romantic comedy, with all the warmth, love, and hijinks that includes. I enjoyed the connection between Jack and Ellie, and I loved the side characters that round out the story. This is a great holiday book, but also just a really engaging story all around. Things end up in a great place for everyone and I love how Ellie ends up with a partner and a family who really values her.

Recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver has had one hellish year. Last Christmas Eve, she had her dream job in animation and the most perfect night with a stranger she met at the bookstore (ie, Powell’s Books). This year, she’s lost that dream job and is this close to losing her apartment. Desperate and alone, she agrees to fake marry her landlord Andrew Prescott-Kim so he can gain access to his inheritance and give Ellie a cut of it, something along the lines of $200k. But when Andrew takes Ellie home for Christmas to convince his family of the relationship that will unlock his fortune, Ellie sees…her. Jack, Andrew’s sister (this is why last names are important!!), is Ellie’s girl, the girl she gave her heart to last Christmas.

Alison Cochrun can do no wrong in my eyes! This was another perfect holiday book… that I read it in August, so if you need to relive the holiday magic I highly recommend it. It is filled with so much of that said holiday magic: an excel spreadsheet detailing each holiday activities down to the hour (ie, family walk in the snow with matching Christmas sweaters, baking Christmas cookies, Christmas carols around the family piano, family ski trip), not one but two sangria/mulled wine/hot toddy-drinking grandmothers (who were married to the same man), a dog named Paul Hollywood, and all the Taylor Swift references (here, it was a cerulean blue scarf that was left behind in an airstream). I adored the romance between Ellie and Jack. I loved that they were messy, stubborn, insufferable, and vulnerable enough to admit that they wanted ‘monogamy, marriage, mortgage, all that embarrassing crap.’

This was such a new refreshing twist on the traditional fake dating trope. I feel like I've been waiting for a story like this.