I LOVED The Charm Offensive and was so excited to read Kiss Her Once For Me. Once again Alison's characters do not disappoint. This is such a fun second chance romance, fake dating story that has such a great nod to While You Were Sleeping which is one of my all time favorite movies.

This was such a fun and unique twist on the fake dating trope. The characters in this book are so real that you really do feel invested in the story and their lives. There were so many crazy family dynamics thrown in that just added such a great other layer to this fun story.

I will say I had a little difficulty following the time jumping at the beginning of the story but I quickly caught onto the pace and style of the story and really enjoyed this one.

I cannot wait to read everything Alison writes. Her style and characters are so endearing and you just want to live in the worlds she creates.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the EARC in exchange for an honest review.

For Cochrun's follow up to The Charm Offensive it was just as good as the first. Although the chemistry between the lead characters wasn't as heart warming. I am never a fan of insta-love in books because it feels so out of scope of reality. Especially with a Demi-sexual character where insta-love is even more impossible. I did love Ellie and Jack as characters separately, they were well written and fleshed out. Fake dating where the characters both end up with other people is a concept I haven't seen before and I did appreciate the new take on an old trope. I was happy for Ellie and Jack in the end but I think both characters had more growing to do before finally coming together, and although there was a time jump it didn't feel realistic. I did enjoy it though and would recommend it as a sweet Christmas romance.

🥺snow girl🥺

okay okay okay if you liked the charm offensive you NEED TO READ THIS!!!

not to be dramatic but ellie’s life is falling apart. she lost her dream job in animation, she lives in a subterranean apartment in portland that she’s about to be evicted from, her mom only contacts her to ask for money, and to top it all off, she’s late to work and her jerky boss fires her. mid-breakdown, her v attractive landlord catches her crying and panicking, after which…he asks her on a date?? for drinks?? the problem is that ellie is completely hung up on a girl she met last christmas that broke her heart after one day- so much so that ellie wrote a whole webcomic series about it. andrew’s offer is too good to refuse when he proposes a marriage of convenience in order to get his inheritance, promising to pay ellie 10% of that. things are looking up until they arrive to christmas at his family’s bougie cabin/ski chalet/mansion in the woods- and it turns out that andrew’s beloved sister jacqueline is ellie’s snow girl jack 🥺🥺🥺 cue the shenanigans!!!!

i can’t stop thinking about this gorgeous story of healing, breaking down, restoring hope and love, and forgiveness. well done, Alison Cochrun!!!!!

THE HOLIDAY ROMOCOM WE ALL NEEDED! I loveeeeed this story, and was so excited to read it the second I was approved for a galley! I need more LGBTQ love stories and this one did not disappoint! It has my dream meet cute, so many laugh out loud moments, and incredible mental health rep! This books packs a punch in the best way.

This book just wasn’t for me. There were a lot of elements that didn’t resonate with me.

First, I struggle with insta-love romance books. I much prefer a slow burn because it allows me to become more invested in the romance. We only see The build up of Jack and Ellie’s relationship through quick flash backs. Also, these flash backs all happen over the course of a day. It made the romance unbelievable to me and I just couldn’t see the bond that was built.

I also struggled a lot with all of the shadiness that happened between the characters. Everyone was just fine cheating and deceiving their family members and it made the main characters and side characters unlikable. Nobody seemed to even care about cheating and that’s a romance book plot line I typically dislike.

I also felt like this story relied on the miscommunication trope too many times. Once, okay, I get it. But it felt like miscommunication was the basis of the entire story and that seemed to just add to my dislike of the characters and their relationships.

Overall, this just wasn’t the right romance story for me. The relationships seemed underdeveloped and all of the characters were unlikable.

Thank you @Netgalley for providing me with the ARC!

I loved The Charm Offensive, so when Alison Cochrun put out a new book I was over the moon to read it.

The Charm Offensive provided a cast of messy, real, complex characters that made me absolutely lean into that world. By comparison, Kiss Her Once for Me did not accomplish the same goals. Though there is still a very diverse cast of characters, who are messy and real, and struggling in a believable way, I found it a lot harder to relate to this group.

The book is a marriage-of-convinience-Christmas-miracle combo pack and if your jam is knowing all the words to Christmas songs and baking gingerbread cookies on a specific day, then this is the book for you. For me, some of the value placed on the traditional trappings of an American Christmas didn’t hold the same weight, so when the characters were emotionally fulfilled, I was left wanting.

Cochrun continues to be inclusive and thoughtful in her language surrounding representation. Her characters span the spectrum of emotional and physical needs and will continue to seek her books out.

This one just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

This was such a fun and heartwarming holiday and sapphic romance read. I loved the humor, the flashback moments that build for the present plot, the LGTBQ and non-binary rep, and the found family aspect. The conflict is a little frustrating, as I feel like if the adults just communicate properly things would have been resolved a lot sooner. But overall, I definitely recommend this book!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

BEAUTIFUL QUEER LOVE STORY oh my gosh Alison Cochrun really knows how to write about queer love. I loved the familial aspects and how Jack’s family really embraced Ellie. It was so heartwarming.

3.5*

Kiss Her Once For Me was an entertaining, slighty angsty, somewhat frustrating read. I really liked the idea of the story, it just took me a little longer to become engaged than I hoped. And it wasn't as romcom-y as I thought it would be, mainly due to the fact that Ellie has a lot of stuff to deal with. I think that's part of the reason I didn't love this as much as I would have liked. I guess I was expecting a fun, messy, light-hearted romp and what I got was a story that was heavier, and more stressful than it appears on the surface.

I enjoyed the chapters from the past- getting to know Ellie and Jack as they were getting to know each other. Although I wish we had found out sooner what caused Ellie to leave so quickly the next morning. The lack of communication played a big part in my frustration with this book.

Th first half of the book was a little slow, but the ending definitely made up for it, and thus my rounding up to 4*.

Kiss Her Once for Me was a cozy, warm holiday queer romance and I adored it! It’s the reading equivalent of your favorite blanket and the perfect cup of hot chocolate. Alison Cochrun is definitely an auto-buy author for me. The Charm Offensive was one of my favorite books last year, and her newest is just as satisfying. I loved it! 4.5 stars. 🥰
*Note that I received an advanced reading copy of this book, receipt of which did not impact my review.

Jack and Ellie meet on a snowy Christmas Eve in Powell’s bookstore and they share a whirlwind day together, catching feelings. But things don’t play out as anticipated. Fast forward a year and Ellie’s life is a mess. She’s lost her dream job and is working at coffee shop, doing her art in the form of an online webcomic as her emotional outlet. When a chance encounter with the coffee shop’s landlord, Andrew, offers Ellie a chance at life changing money in exchange for a little ol marriage to claim his inheritance, Ellie reluctantly takes it. Now, she’s got to meet Andrew’s family over the holidays and make the engagement convincing. When Andrew introduces Ellie to his sister, Jack is the last person on the planet she expected.

This is the first novel I’ve read from Alison Cochran and I have to say I’m not disappointed. In fact, I’d definitely say I’m now a fan. I absolutely love the holidays - from the food to the fashion to the films - so a queer holiday romance, sign me the hell up. In this novel, we’ve got so much awesomeness that just jump off the pages, it makes me giddy. This book has a wonderful balance of humor and heartfelt moments and even a few tears shed from yours truly.

While I’m not a fan of flashbacks or instalove - Cochran executed it so well, I couldn’t help but enjoy it.

I loved loved loved the family (especially Jack and Andrews two grandmas) dynamic in this story. There were many laugh out loud moments and the banter between the characters is stellar.

I really admire the neurodivergent representation in this book as well as the touches on the mental health aspects of familial relationships and the vulnerability of these characters end up having with each other.

I really enjoyed this book. The author did a wonderful job of weaving humor, seriousness, witty dialog and navigating expectations.
This will definitely be a holiday re-read for me.

Thank you to #Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored The Charm Offensive and was so excited to read Kiss Her Once For Me. It didn’t disappoint! 😊 I really liked how the story flipped back and forth between the events of “Last Christmas” and “This Christmas.”I love a story where the main character has to confront their inner demons and experiences a satisfying growth arc, and KHOFM definitely delivers. It has fake dating, a love…quadrilateral? 😂, holiday stress, a grand gesture, and a bookstore meet-cute...which is honestly THE DREAM. Ellie and Jack have so much chemistry and I just LOVED all of the characters. I also really appreciated the conversations and representation around anxiety disorders.

This is described as the “queer holiday rom-com that you’ll want to cozy up with next to the fire” and I 100% agree. It was sweet, tender, and funny. Also, it’s set in Portland, OR, where I used to live…and it made me miss Portland even more than I already do. So there’s that.

3.5 stars - This is an enjoyable holiday read, but I felt like some of it was a bit slow for me. I love fake dating, but we know going into this that the fake daters (Ellie and Andrew) won't be the ones ending up together because Ellie wants to be with Andrew's sister, Jack. So it was a bit different to read fake dating in that aspect.
I liked the flashbacks so we could get background of Ellie and Jack's day together and see more of their connection.

The queer rep in this book is absolutely amazing and I also loved Andrew and Jack's grandmothers!

Overall a good book to read during the holidays!

4.50 Stars. So Good! One of the better holiday romances that I’ve read in a long time and a book that will easily make it onto my best of 2022 list. I had never read Cochrun before, so I had no idea what to expect, but when I heard the three words sapphic, holiday, fauxmance, you could not hold me back. While this book had a lot of things I really liked, it also had some things I normally am not a fan of so there was a lot of ways that this book was set-up for a personal fail. It is amazing because on paper this should not be a Lex book, but it is just so well written, and for a sophomore book that is even more impressive, that none of the things that would normally bother me bothered me. This is a holiday book that I would highly recommend.

While I am a huge first-person fan, I don’t think it works well in romance like it does fantasy, mystery and many other genres. There are only a few first-person sapphic romance writers, like the great E.J. Noyes, that I can even name off the top of my head that I trust to consistently read because it is not easy to get the art of having only one POV during a romance right. So, you can imagine my surprise of just how well this romance worked in first-person. Cochrun, had to write so hard to make the character of Jack come to life, with out us knowing her POV, that Jack almost stole the book from the character of Ellie whose head we are in. If you are not a first-person romance fan or a selective one like I am, I would still give this a chance as I think Cochrun will win you over like she did me.

If you follow my reviews, you will know two of my major pet peeves are flashbacks and instalove. Well, while this is a fauxmance, this is also a second-chance romance and to show the first-time romance, it is shown in flashbacks which just so happens to include an instalove story. Are you ready for this shocker, and it will be a shocker for my friends and followers, I didn’t mind the flashbacks or the instalove. I found the flashbacks to be part of this heartwarming, gooey romance and I believed in the instalove because I believed these characters were meant to be. I can’t believe I totally fell for it, but I did so for once I didn’t care and I just saw that part as the fluffy part of the holiday romance and was shockingly okay with it.

While this book did have some great feel-good moments and holiday fluff, I was happy that it had its emotional moments too. This book got to me, and I was glad to have my tissues nearby. We happen to be going through a big wave of Covid right now, in fact it is why I’m a little late on reviewing this book. Everyone I know, friends or family around me, seem to have Covid except for me. I’ve been trying to take care of everyone without catching it myself. So, this morning when I woke up early to finish this book and was found with swollen eyes, a red nose, and a trash can full of Kleenex, the obvious question “Oh no, did I give you Covid?” was asked. My answer: “No, it’s just that my heart has been broken into tiny pieces and then slowly mended by this wonderfully written queer holiday romance book I just finished.” Well let’s just say I got some dirty looks and no sympathy for that statement.

I would love to talk more about this book, but my review is getting long already. While the year is not up, this book might be in the running for my biggest surprise of the year. While I was hoping to enjoy this, I didn’t not expect this to be a 2022 fav. It is also that this book doesn’t seem to work for me on paper since it has some of my biggest pet peeves, but Cochrun sure pulled it off anyway. As I mentioned before, this is only her second book so it makes me really excited to think about what other books she might write in the future. If there was any question about it, I absolutely recommend this queer holiday romance.

FIVE STARS! Absolute perfection from start to finish. Real and raw and wonderful to the very end. I loved the Portland setting. I could picture the streets and Powell’s and it just leveled up the whole experience for me. The characters were all wonderful. The relationships felt real and honest and relatable… I’m just blown away. I expected to love this story, but did not expect to love it as much as I did.

Laughing, crying, smiling… this is too read of the year for me for sure!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

I first heard this book described as a lesbian While You Were Sleeping and I was sold. That’s my favorite movie and anything even remotely resembling it would be a star in my book.

Ellie and Jack have one perfect snow day last Christmas. Fast forward a year, and Ellie is broke, on the cusp of eviction and in an awful job. So when Andrew Kim-Prescott offers her a marriage of convenience so he can claim his inheritance, Ellie really has no choice but to agree (even if she does so drunkenly). When Ellie and Andrew head home for the holidays, she realizes his sister Jacqueline is actually Jack from last Christmas.

I really adored every single character in this book. I loved that Andrew was never the villain but that his relationship with Ellie turned into something really lovely. The grandmas were awesome too. Ellie and Jack had great chemistry and the slow burn was strong in this one. I struggled with the timelines in the beginning, and in the end I thought the story dragged a bit, but overall it was a really enjoyable holiday read.

Content warnings: Ellie has a pretty toxic relationship with her mother and her father is out of the picture. Andrew’s father is emotionally manipulative to his kids and cheats on Andrew’s mom. There’s quite a bit of alcohol use including several scenes where the characters are drunk.

Thanks to Atria and NetGalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

This was such an enjoyable holday romance. I loved all the twists and turns, and fell in love with the Kim-Prescotts. Meemaw was my favorite! I loved the exploration of Ellie's anxiety & how Jack & her bestie helped her get to the root of what her issues were. I also really loved the overarching theme of found family & how beneficial it was to Ellie. The love story was great too, I feel like how it played out seemed very organic & not forced. Alison Cochrun is on my must read list now, this lived up to my expectations after how much I loved The Charm Offensive.

What a fun book! I loved everything about this book: the setting, the characters, Ellie's story. Ellie's background is similar to my own, so I found myself rooting for her. I think though that even if you don't have a similar story, you'll be drawn in by Ellie, her story, and her fears.
I also loved the whole Kim-Prescott family, especially the grandmas.
The setting was so cozy and Christmasy.
I hope there will be a sequel so I can see how Ellie and Jack's relationship has evolved.

Another great romcom from Alison Cochrun! This was super cute, funny, and very gay. These characters, and the cast of side characters, felt fully realized and I was WITH them the entire time.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc in exchange for a review!

5 stars!

"Kiss Her Once for Me" by Alison Cochrun is the Christmas second chance/marriage of convenience/fake dating queer rom-com of your holiday dreams. I *loved* this book so, so much. It's sweet, it's complicated, it's HILARIOUS, it's full of banter, it's full of inclusion... and the PINING and the SWOONING! My heart could not take how much I longed for Ellie and Jack to find their way back to each other. Alison Cochrun is such an excellent writer. All of these characters feel lived-in and totally realistic. Both Jack and Ellie have terrific character arcs that see them learn and grow as the pages turn. Even the secondary characters get their moments to shine (I LOVED the grandmas, they added such a fun zaniness to the already wild situation). There is a miscommunication trope going on here (which I usually hate), but I wasn't bothered by it at all. In fact, it felt very real to me. This book also has a lot to say about anxiety and panic disorders, not feeling like you belong, success versus failure, etc. It was very refreshing to see characters embracing someone's anxieties instead of turning away from them in their moment of need. This book is a quick read because I didn't want it to end. I can't wait to see what Cochrun writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alison Cochrun, and Atria Books for providing me with an ARC copy of this book! All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for my review.

Here's my TikTok review link: https://www.tiktok.com/@lololovesthings/video/7166231096273784110
Here's my Instagram review link: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck-7yaQA3b-/