This was a fun and cute holiday read!! Funny, romantic, really likable side characters. This one didn't feel as long as the Charm Offensive (which otherwise was a perfect book for me) but it lacked a bit of the spark that her first novel had.

Overall, a fun read and I would recommend it. 3.5 stars!

I absolutely loved this book! I thought the fake dating would be my favourite part but I was so wrong!

I've decided Cochrun is a bit of a wizard - this book contains so many tropes and yet it works! The setting is atmospheric and a touch whimsical, the banter is fun, the rep is *chef's kiss* and I felt every emotion reading this book. I enjoyed Ellie's character, her struggles are relatable and heart breaking and I absolutely bonded with her, especially with her anxiety, her love of art and her use of it as an escape/outlet. I also like the fact two very different yet still toxic family situations are introduced in this book and appreciated the discussion included about the topic. Ellie's character development throughout the book was great and her finally standing up to her mother was so empowering, there is no way one could not root for her.

As for the romance, it was also pretty great even though the fake dating part was brief and mildly ridiculous given what is revealed about Andrew later on haha. The flashbacks to last Christmas when Ellie met Jack were a lovely addition and shed so much insight on their characters and relationship. My favourite part was probably the truth game. Them meeting again in this crazy twist felt like fate and I was here for it! I don't really care for miscommunication trope but given everything going on, it was inevitable in this one haha. So many characters in this book grow into themselves and learn to love themselves and to let themselves be loved, it was amazing to witness.

Another fave was Jack's grandmas... Can I get adopted? They were awesome!

All in all, a lovely holiday read especially if you like the kind that start off bittersweet and end up heartwarming with a great HEA.

Content warnings include: anxiety/panic attacks, toxic family relationships, mentions of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, infidelity, alcohol consumption.

A huge thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the arc of this books. All opinions are my own.

Kiss Her Once for Me was a super cute Christmas book with everything I could ask for. It includes meet cutes, it includes fake dating, well engagement, and it's messy. The premise of the story was intriguing, and the story itself had me laughing and giddy. I appreciated the writing and the story. I enjoyed the flashbacks interspersed throughout the story and that added a lot of dimension.

This book is an absolute rom com gem with a strong underlying message about how living with fear of failure is normal as long as it doesn't hold you back from living your life.

Alison Cochrun is one of the greatest things to happen to queer romance--her books are tender and soft. They are a reminder that folks with all levels of mental health deserve love--that anxiety doesn't make you unlovable as long as it doesn't keep you from opening up to love in the first place. Alison also holds front and center the asexual and specifically demisexual experience (which is her lived experience too!).

Ellie and Jack are both such fully fleshed out and complex characters who bring their own shit to the table--complex family dynamics, mental health, exes, and a debilitating fear of failure. Nevertheless their love persists and watching its crooked and hilarious path is quite the enjoyable reading experience.

This book has it all (seriously tropes on tropes on tropes):
- fake dating your true love's brother
- a messy love trapezoid
- engagement/marriage of convenience
- snowed in in a tiny cabin without service/heat
- flash backs to "Last Christmas" that mirror the song so well
- single POV, Ellie, a white demisexual artist and recovering animator
- a hot half Korean butch baker love interest
- so so much Portland OR joy
- boozy grandmas
- family drama
- a lawyer best friend to talk sense into our anxious girlie
- anxiety rep
- sapphic, lesbian, bi, nonbinary, and demisexual rep

This will be going on my favorites shelf and I'm sure I'll revisit it again next Christmas.

I loved this inclusive, Christmas romcom! I felt Ellie so much, and loved Jack as a love interest. I think the set up of a fake engagement to the love of your life’s brother is so fun! Definitely a new holiday classic for me!

This was glorious! An adorable sapphic holiday romance that reminded me of how much I love books set during Christmastime. If you are looking for asexual representation, social anxiety representation, ADHD representation, and many other nuanced experiences in a romance, pick this one up!

This was a cute holiday romance! Lots of fun and a bunch of quirky characters, though some of these quirks lead to alot of miscommunication! We follow are main character, Ellie, who has been going through she fell in love the prior Christmas and lost it in one day and she lost her dream job. So when presented with a fake marriage proposal she jumps (ish) at the opportunity. Little does she know that her whirlwind Christmas romance is related to her fake-fiance! High jinks ensue but with a dash of Christmas magic everything works out!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

I was really happy that Alison Cochrun was coming out with another book. Like many, I loved Charm Offensive so much and I just couldn't get enough. I think Alison is just immeasurably good at creating characters who worm their way into your heart and stick with you. This one is no different. She is truly becoming a big name for romance and I will continue to read many more books from Alison. This one made me so happy and it's the perfect book for the holiday season!

A holiday romance that's sure to put you in the spirit. This book was way too cute and I loved every second of it. The characters, the emotions, and the holiday backdrop was absolutely perfect. I love that the author treated the characters with such dignity and respect because not all authors do when they give their characters mental health problems. I think the author did an amazing job with this story and it was perfect for the holiday season! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I want to shout how much I loved this book from every rooftop I can find! I really enjoyed Alison Cochrun's first book, but she REALLY hit her stride with this one. The raw emotion...the characters...the *Christmas* of it all...it's just perfect. I highlighted basically half of this book because the writing is so beautiful.

A cute, holiday romance. Includes characters who struggled with anxiety, all treated with dignity and respect.

My big complaint is that it included excerpts of a "webcomic" - except that it wasn't a webcomic, more like fanfic. This feels like it could have been fixed and made more coherent. But alas, still a sweet holiday book.

✨Book Review✨
Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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This was such a lovely Queer holiday romance. Alison Cochrun does it again in creating a book with so many diverse characters, open and honest dialogue about mental health and fear, truthful looks into fucked up family dynamics, and the beautiful reality of chosen family.
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Cochurn's voice makes it clear that she has done so much internal work in learning and unlearning biases around race, gender, class, neurodivergence, and more, and it is so refreshing to read a fictional story where that work shines through. It is because of this that I will continue to read all of Cochrun's future work. I can't wait for her next story!

This was a fairly generic Christmas novel, made better by the fact that it was queer. I really enjoyed the main character but was not entirely sold on the main romance.

Alison Cochrun is one of my new favorite authors. I thought I loved The Charm Offensive, but I LOVED Kiss Her Once for Me. I immediately bought this book and will reread it again. I hope more Sapphic books like this are made. This one was perfect! 5 stars is not enough!

Cute- loved the PNW setting and the flawed characters. Sapphic romance with a twist! The characters are complex and I loved the representation. Christmas feel without being too christmassy/cheesy.

This was impossible to take seriously and yet I loved every second of it. It's ridiculous in all the best ways. Absolutely adored it.

The characters are so much fun and they jump off the page. I love everyone's quirks and I love the whole Kim-Prescott family to pieces. I liked that I never saw the side romance coming.

The main romance was done fantastically. I usually have a hard time believing the fell in love in a day stories, and I did have to suspend my disbelief a bit for the flashback scenes to have the right impact on me, but nonetheless, I think Alison Cochrun did a fairly decent job at making their whirlwind romance so believable.

One of my favorite things is how she writes demisexuality, something that's personal to me. It feels like a warm hug to be understood like this on page.

The only thing I would change is the ending, just slightly—it felt rushed. I liked all the confessions and emotional conversations, but there's a moment where one of the characters does a 180 on something they said a few minutes before, and I was looking for a bit more clarity.

The Perfect holiday Queer HEA! One of the best books I have read in a long time. Portland, Powell's Books, The Burnside Bridge all perfect for this ex Portland gal. I loved Jack and Ellie!

Things I loved about Kiss Her Once for Me:
1. The anxiety representation
2. The messy love trapezoid
3. The grandmas
4. Meredith

Things I felt could have been better:
1. The pacing - there were a couple of times where the pacing just felt off and I got a little bored.

Ultimately though, this book was great and if the premise sounds appealing to you, you should definitely give it a try!

I really enjoyed this lgbtq holiday romance! The setting was fun as you don't find many romance novels taking place in Portland Oregon. This one has a slow burn kid of romance that really has you feeling for the characters. This is the kind of holiday read that makes you feel cozy and really relate to the ups and downs of life, friends and family.

Okay, we stan Alison Cochrun since her debut, The Charm Offensive came out last year and it was the best queer romance I read last year. Kiss Her Once for Me was an amazing story that brought the same wit and feels that TCO had. Our main girl Ellie is a Portland transplant who is feeling the major effects of burnout when she's been newly fired from her dream job and she's barely scraping by, but she can't shake the meet cute at Powell's last Christmas out of her head (also talk about GOALS.) When her coffee shop landlord Andrew proposes a marriage to give them both some inheritance, she accepts and goes to meet his family, where she sees none other than meet cute girl Jack again (aka Andrew's sister.) So now, Ellie has to navigate pretending to be in love with Andrew while still being in love with Jack. And not tell Jack this is all for the money.
This story is raw, it's real, it's beautifully written, and it's so so swoonworthy. I love Ellie and Jack, and Jack is definitely a character that makes me feel some kind of way. Amazing job again by Alison for writing an emotionally, well done love story.