Alison Cochrun has done it again. Kiss Her Once For Me is a beautiful sapphic hallmark christmas movie-esqu rom com about a woman who falls in love with another woman one christmas and never hears from her again... until she decides to fake date the owner of the building where she works for a chunk of his inheritence and goes home with him for christmas to then find out the woman she fell in love with last christmas is her fake fiance's SISTER. and throw in another gay into the mix and you've got a full on love trapezoid. This book is heartfelt, chaotic, hilarious, christmas cheesy in the BEST way, and all around perfect. I truly cannot sing its praises enough. Please just go read it.

After a tear-fueled meet cute in Powell’s Bookstore, the one perfect snow day lead Ellie and Jack to opening their hearts to one another and then after a misunderstanding, Ellie runs out. She’s been thinking of Jack for an entire year. And in the strangest way, they are brought back into each other’s lives.

Fueled by an intense fear of failure, Ellie generally holds everything at arm’s length and once she’s confronted with difficulty, she seemingly gives up.

This book and these complex characters resonated with me and I was happy to be reading Alison Cochrun again.

I have never read a book that has so perfectly encapsulated my experiences with self worth, failure, anxiety and bad parents. This book and it’s messages of overcoming mistakes, and moving forwards through failure was like a warm hug (wrapped in a Christmas sweater ofc) Ellie is a fantastic main character, who really struggles. And you know what? Her struggles get her down, she becomes frozen, throughout the whole book. And I think that’s just such an incredibly accurate portrayal of trauma/anxiety. Ellie is allowed to struggle, but she also works on herself and figures things out.
The romance was brilliant. Fake dating, falling for the sister AND the one bed trope? That’s like the trifecta of best romance tropes! A absolute candy bowl of romance! I absolutely ate it up, the romance fed my and my whole family, watered my crops and made the sun shine. And Jack? Omg the butch representation and love in this book was incredible! Jack is such an amazing character and I may now be in love with her. Jack is loved and praised for her butchness, not despite it. More sapphic romances that show butches love please!
I genuinely appreciated and loved this book so much, and I highly recommend it!

Kiss Her Once for Me is a DELIGHTFUL Christmas Rom-Com that is oozing charm and joy. Not to say that it is a completely joyful read - there is plenty of drama, tension, and chaos but the feeling that this left me with is a happy one. A year ago Ellie Oliver, a recent Portland transplant via Ohio, stumbled into Powells Books on Christmas Eve and met a woman, Jack, who she spent a perfect night with. In the morning light things become suddenly clear and she has to leave her behind. Fast forward a year later, Ellie is working at a local coffee shop when the shop's landlord, Andrew, proposes a shocking plan: marry him so that he can get his inheritance. Ellie is desperate for cash so she says yes - what could go wrong? When she walks into Christmas at Andrew's family she is confronted with none other than Jack from the Christmas before.

I'll read literally any queer rom-com and especially a holiday one. I really enjoyed the premise of this one and the characters made me want to be their friends. I could see this as a fun TV show or move - it gave me The Proposal vibes big time. I wish the author would have gone a little deeper on some of the tensions introduced - like whatever happened with Ellie's exciting email (IYKYK).

But overall, this was extremely enjoyable and I would recommend to everyone! Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC. Kiss Her Once for Me is out now!

I fell in love with this book! The book takes you on a trip between Christmas Eves, but isn’t overly holiday-ish.

Ellie is dealing with a lot. Life is not going how she wanted and she really got the short end of the stick when it came to family. But she meets this amazing woman who breathes some life back into her for the day they are together.

The next year, she spends wondering. What if? Maybe Andrew, her landlord, will get her mind if things. And it turns out he needs to marry someone to get his inheritance which would help her financial situation.

The holidays with Andrew’s family really turns everything upside down. And that’s when the book gets really interesting!

I found myself outwardly reacting to points in this book. A laugh here, a gasp there. I felt like a friend of Ellie’s along for a ride.

I also appreciate that for how insufficient and not confident Ellie felt, it was so suffocating that it was hard to read. In fact, I found her self doubt relatable. She’s just trying to figure it out like the rest of us.

If you’re looking for a relatable, humorous and endearing holiday rom com this season, check out Kiss Her Once for Me!

Thanks to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the opportunity to read this book. The review expresses my own personal opinions.

In this book, a year before the book started, main character Ellie had a Christmas Eve meet cute with a woman named Jack and spent a magical day and night with her, only for things to end badly (we see all of this in out of order flashbacks throughout the book). In the year since, in addition to moping over Jack, Ellie has lost her dream job and is now struggling to make ends meet working at a coffee house, when her customer Andrew who is the landlord of the coffee house offers to solve her money woes - he’s just been left a bequest by his grandfather that he’ll only get if he marries - so if she pretends to be his fiancé and comes to his family’s house for Christmas week and marries him, then he’ll give her a portion of his inheritance. She reluctantly agrees but to her shock discovers upon arriving at the family get together that his sister is actually Jack!

Sounds like a lot, right? And there is SO MUCH MORE going on than that - that description is just the basic premise of the book. There are obviously a million different romance tropes - instalove, fake dating, marriage of convenience, forced proximity, and more. There’s Ellie’s messed up family and Andrew and Jack’s mostly loving but also messed up in other ways. There’s tons of discussion about Ellie’s anxiety issues. There’s lots and lots of LGBTQ+ representation, which is great, though I must admit I’m very confused by Ellie’s alleged demisexuality - not something I had previously heard of but if she rarely experiences sexual attraction and only in the context of a deep emotional relationship, how did she have this instalove thing with Jack? And there’s so much miscommunication and misplaced blame which drags on for too long but then everything gets tied up maybe too quickly at the end.

Basically, this book was cute, but I just didn’t love it. And this was especially disappointing because Cochrun’s debut novel, The Charm Offensive, was possibly my favorite rom com novel of 2021. (It actually reminds me very much of how I felt about the other big new LGBTQ rom com author Casey McQuiston - loved her debut Red White and Royal Blue but then was disappointed by her next book One Last Stop.) I appreciate what Cochrun was trying to do with this one, and it was a pretty fun read, but it just wasn’t a standout.

3.5 stars

After getting fired from her job as an animator, Ellie is barely scraping by working at a coffee shop. The shop’s landlord Andrew makes a drunken offer of a marriage of convenience so he can get his inheritance. But things get complicated when Ellie meets Andrew’s family and realizes she might be in love with his sister.

This is such a festive holiday romance, but it's also got some real depth and meaningful contemplations on building a life you love after a traumatic childhood. Ellie feels so real and layered. I love that we get to see her learning how to establish healthy relationships while also doing fun, tropey, wintery romance activities. Great demisexual, anxiety, and ADHD representation throughout. Don't miss this one, Christmas lovers!

A holiday rom-com is something I'll never say no to, so I was really excited about Kiss Her Once for me. Add fake dating and it sounded like the book for me and it didn't disappoint. This book had everything I was hoping for.


Ellie isn't having the best time. There is no love life, her dream animator job didn't stick, she has financial issues and op top of that her mother only reaches out when she wants money. When things can't seem to get worse the landlord of the cafe she works at gives her a proposal. If she marries him he'll give her part of her inheritance. First they need to spend the holidays with his family.


Ellie gets the surprise of her life though when she finds out Andrew's sister is the woman who broke her heart last Christmas. Okay, this book is filled with all of my favorite tropes: fake dating, forced proximity, and there's only one bed. I loved the moments we had with Andrew's family. All of the family activities were really sweet. The developing romance was so much fun to read and Kiss Her Once for Me was even a little steamier than expected. There were some laugh out loud moments and moments that warm your heart. I don't want to go into too much detail, because I think this one will be more fun if you just enjoy it yourself.


As with all fake dating stories things don't all go to plan, but it wouldn't be a holiday read without a happily ever after. Ellie was a character I really enjoyed reading about. Yeah, she gets herself into some awkward situations and things don't always go her way, but she's kind. I love how much she develops in this story and finally stands up for herself and what she wants. Kiss Her Once for Me was a heartwarming read and a great one to start off with this holiday season.

This book is simply beautiful. Vulnerable and steamy and festive and fun, reading this had me wanting to slow down and savor all the little moments found within the pages. Ellie is an illustrator who is down on her luck when one of her coffee shop regulars proposes a solution to her seemingly failing life...marry him for money. Desperate for a turn around in her life, Ellie takes this opportunity with Andrew and heads to his family's cabin in the mountains as his fake fiancée only to find out that Andrew's sister is the girl who broke Ellie's heart a year ago after one magical night together.

The beauty of this book is in the glances and small touches and quiet conversations. Cochrun has a way of writing that makes you feel what her characters are feeling. There is found family and laughter and a touch of While You Were Sleeping all wrapped up in a wintry landscape that brings all the cozy, holiday feelings without being overly Christmassy. Ellie and Jack have so much chemistry. I adore the way they compliment one another. Andrew's family is wonderful. They have you smiling and wanting to call upon your own family...found or otherwise. The setting is great. The words are captivating. This is Cochrun's second book and solidifies her as a must-read author for me. If you are looking for that perfect holiday rom-com, this book is a sure win.

I was super late reading this one so I actually bought a finished copy to read. I really, really liked this book. It was funny and surprising but also full of love and growth. I’ll definitely be reading more of Cochrun’s work in the future.

3.5/5 stars.

I’m a little torn on how to rate Kiss Her Once For Me, but I think I’m going to settle on 3.5 stars. For the most part, this is a very solid, very enjoyable Christmas romance that’s getting me into the holiday spirit way earlier than I’d like to be. At the end of the day, however, I ended up wanting <I> more </I> - more from the characters and from the story, itself.

I thought this was a very cute and sweet romance - albeit a little forgettable. My absolute favorite part was the Kim-Prescott family dynamic. I adored Meemaw, Lovey, and Katherine and would happily read much more from their perspectives. Dylan was also such a funny character

I also adored Andrew. We get such a strong introduction to his character at the beginning, and I feel like he gets left behind a bit. I wanted to know more about him and his own insecurities - and I wanted more of a friendship to kindle between him and Ellie. I found myself rooting more for his relationship with Dylan than the primary one.

My primary issue with this story was the instalove aspect - if I had realized going in that Ellie and Jack would fall in love with each other in a single day, I probably would have been more hesitant. This is the premise of the entire story and main conflict. Because they had so little history together, I struggled to relate and root for their relationship - I just couldn’t allow myself to get as invested in it as I wanted to be! While I enjoyed their dynamic and how they got to know each other over the week at the cabin, it didn’t substantiate a full relationship.

I also struggled a bit with the structure, at times. At the end of most chapters in the beginning, there is an excerpt from Ellie’s webcomic series, leading to flashbacks, and I just couldn’t bring myself to care about them. Good momentum would be built up throughout the main chapter and then immediately lost during the webcomic because it completely halts the story progression. I appreciated it for the backstory we received on their day together last Christmas, but that could have been explored in different ways.

Finally, I struggled with Ellie’s character, in general. As a perfectionist with a supreme fear of failure, I was hoping that I would feel seen and enlightened by this type of representation, but really I just found her thought spirals annoying and her demeanor kind of mean, at times. It really makes me second guess whether this is how I come across to people.

In all, I did enjoy this book. I thought it was a very cute and sweet sapphic rom-com. It felt deeply relatable in some aspects (especially some aspects I don’t like to address), but fell flat for me in other areas. What really shines for me is Alison Cochrun’s writing. Yet again, she has proven herself to be a gem for the romance genre, and I can’t wait to see what else she produces!

I love Alison Cochrun, so when I saw she wrote a holiday themed romance I was 100% on board. Overall I really enjoyed Kiss Her Once for Me, it was super cute!

Alison Cochrun has done it again! The romance was so sweet and dreamy. The perfect holiday romance for the sapphics (and everyone else), but especially us.

The writing was so fun and bright, the relationship so engaging that I finished this in one sitting.

As with The Charm Offensive, I continue to marvel at Alison’s ability to examine identity, mental health, and messy family dynamics in the context of traditional rom com settings. The characters are allowed to grow, change, and move throughout the book, which feels real and gives a trope-filled festival of a book some real weight.

There are so many delightful romance tropes, not to mention a mash up of the song Last Christmas and the movie While You Were Sleeping. And it all is done beautifully—and does still gives us all the romance we could ever want. Not to mention the butch of our dreams. The final scene is truly swoon-worthy. Alison is an auto-buy author for me, and a go to for well-written, funny, interesting, sexy queer romance.

This was a fun holiday-themed romance.

What I liked:
- the setting & the christmas-y elements
- themes of found family
- themes of creating boundaries with your family
- the GRANDMAS! <3 <3 <3
- finding joy in your profession, pursuing your artistic passions
- knowing when to ask for help + knowing when to be independent

What I wasn't sure about:
- I appreciate a book that includes diverse representation, but at times it felt like certain sexual identities/terms were thrown into this book just to check a box rather than fleshing out that character. It just felt like the author was trying to represent almost every possible group in one book - i'm not sure if it is possible to do that well. I do appreciate with the author was trying to do with queer representation but there were a lot of side characters thrown in at the end that didn't really add to the story.
- I'm not a huge fan of insta love so I didn't really buy into the romance

I enjoyed this book but was a little disappointed as the charm offensive is an all-time favorite. Will still definitely be checking out what Alison Cochrun writes next!

3.75/5

3.75⭐
PG for a mostly closed door romance

After The Charm Offensive, Alison Cochrun has cemented herself as a queer rom com queen and so it was all too perfect that her second book also include some festive holiday joy. This book had so many tropes that I felt like it was on the level of Shakespeare comedy--fake dating, marriage of convenience, second chance, found family, evil parent and more!

Alison truly did deliver on the love trapezoid of it all as Ellie found herself engaged to one person when she loved his sister and her fake fiancé also was in love with the sister's best friend. I really enjoyed the romp of these tropes, but the problem for me unfortunately was Ellie and her decisions. This is definitely a me thing, but I just could not stand Ellie's lack of ownership of her choices. She acted like she accidentally ended up in a fake relationship in love with someone else and it took her best friend and other external character to actually knock some sense into her, which made Ellie feel like she was more a teenager than an adult.

I am obsessed with Jack though and the entire family Alison created. They made this book special and created the holiday feel of spending time with people you love. If you enjoyed Written in the Stars and want some Christmas vibes, I think you'd love this book! I look forward to seeing what Alison writes next!!

I was so excited to get this one because I loved The Charm Offensive by @alisoncochrun and knew this would be amazing too. I loved every part of this queer romcom that had me laughing out loud and tearing up. The characters are so lovable and the storyline pulls you right in. I also love that it shines a light on anxiety. This is a five star for me and I’ll definitely be purchasing the physical book. Highly recommend!

I am a sucker for holiday romances, and nothing made me feel better than reading this going into the holiday season. It was such a cozy, fun, and heartfelt read. I can't wait to share this a make a holiday display for it.

Oh. My. God. This book was so good! The main character was so relatable and the plot was interesting and funny. I really, really enjoyed this Christmas romance.

While I enjoy Alison Cochrun's writing style, I went into this one with low expectations. The Charm Offensive didn't really work for me. There was almost too much neurodivergent representation in TCO; it made me anxious to read about anxiety on every page. Here, though, while the rep is included, it doesn't overpower the story. It made sense and flowed well.

Kiss Her Once for Me had a lot of the things I love in a holiday book: it was just the right amount of holiday: snowball fights, cookie baking, and Christmas trees. Plus, it takes place in the PNW, has forced proximity, fake dating, and the cutest grandma characters that ever did exist.

My favorite part of this book was the friendships the MC has with several of the side characters, as well as the fact that she empowers herself and grows as a person in tandem with the romance but not because of the romance if that makes sense.

I think my biggest issue with the story was the love interest and the miscommunication between the two. I wasn't 100% sold on the romance, and while they had some really great moments, I didn't love them together. I didn't hate them; I didn't wish they weren't together, but I didn't care if they ended up together. If it weren't for the rest of the story that I adored so much, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this at all, but I really enjoyed the rest - like 5 stars enjoyed!

I still think soooo many people would enjoy this. It really does have a ton going for it, and I think many people will love the actual romance more than I did.

Trigger warnings for anxiety, terrible family members, and brief mentions of homophobia, racism, and biphobia.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC of this book. All of the opinions above are my own.