Last Christmas Ellie had one perfect day with a stranger and fell in love. Now a year later she's broke, working in a job she hates, and about to be evicted from her apartment. The landlord who owns the building she works work offers her the perfect solution - a marriage of convenience that will allow him to receive his inheritance and will solve all of Ellie's money problems. All she has to do is spend the holidays with his family. But when they show up at his family's cabin, Ellie is shocked that her fake fiancé's sister is the woman she fell in love with last Christmas.

I absolutely loved Alison Cochrun's debut novel The Charm Offensive, so I was very excited to read this one! I read this book in one day because I liked it so much I couldn't put it down!
The LGBTQ+ representation was fantastic! It wasn't just limited to the main characters - there was representation throughout the entire book and side characters which I loved.

I also loved the family dynamics in this book. Reading about Jack & Andrew's family just felt like a big hug - especially Meemaw & Lovey!

I think that an epilogue would have been great to really tie the end of the book together. I felt like the ending was sort of abrupt and an extra chapter or epilogue could have helped with that feeling.

Things I loved -
•LGBTQ+ representation
•Holiday romance
•Forbidden romance
•Baking Christmas cookies
•Boozy grandmas
•Only one bed!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Allison Cochrun for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Queer Representation: Bisexual/Demisexual MC, Lesbian LI, Nonbinary SC, Bi(?) SC, Lesbian/Polyamorous SC.

I went into this not knowing what to expect. I have never read anything from this author and I haven’t had much luck recently with contemporary romances.

But after reading this book Alison Cochrun will be an instant buy for me. If I could rate this book 6/5 stars I would. I started and finished this in one day, crying at the last 10% in the car with my husband on the way to the grocery store. We held off on starting to shop because I needed to finish this.

The characters that Cochrun writes are so real and vibrant, I wish I could meet any of them (except Elle’s mother). I felt like every page was both expected yet unexpected - yes it was cheesy, but it was interesting and still very real. I connected with so many characters on different levels and I loved the queer representation that wasn’t just limited to the two main characters.

**Spoilers after this point**

Pros:
- The representation. The queer representation wasn’t just limited to Elle and Jack, it was woven throughout. I think we met more queer characters than not and every identity was believable. The author didn’t shy away from using the words on page. Elle said bisexual. Elle said demisexual. ON PAGE. And described it to someone! There weren’t euphamisms or dancing around it without stating an identity.

-The author didn’t write the characters to assume gender or assume people’s pronouns based on looks. This is the first book I’ve read which has done that. For example, when Elle first met Jack, she thinks of Jack using they/them pronouns until she knows for sure. Paragraphs where a main character is referred to as they/them… because no one had asked their pronouns yet. As someone who is constantly misgendered due to how I am perceived, I loved this.

-Lovey and Meemaw. They deserve their own pro. I love them, forever. They brought life and humor. I could feel their love and acceptance of everyone.

-Not jumping straight into love and that being a fix all. No, these characters worked on themselves and dealt with a lot of their shit.

-Miscommunication not being a major trope. Did miscommunication cause what happened with Jack and Elle in the first place? Yes. But I LOVED that Jack and Elle would sit down and talk about it. This specific miscommunication was hashed out very early in the book instead of being a huge part of the conflict for the entire book (like most contemporary romances do). Which usually leaves me screaming in frustration.


Cons:
-I genuinely can’t think of a con except that I hate Elle’s mother so much, which you know, isn’t a con really because I’m supposed to hate her.

Alison Cochrun does not let me down. I liked The Charm Offensive a little better, and that's only because this book is a bit of a Christmas book. As a Jewish reader, I always struggle a lot with enjoying holiday romances, but it wasn't a super big focus in this so it was okay. I really liked the romance, and the butch lesbian axe jokes in this were so funny. It was also really spicy and had demisexual representation too which I always love to see!! I'd recommend if you like LGBT+ romances.

There’s a lot to love about this book!

First of all, being loosely inspired by While You Were Sleeping (one of the best romantic comedies, ever) got my immediate attention. I’m also a huge fan of Allison Cochrun’s previously novel, The Charm Offensive.

Ellie is down on her luck, not making ends meet as a barista after previously being let go from the animation job she moved to Portland for. Between her bills and the constant requests from cash from her toxic mother she’s in a situation where she really needs some cash when she runs into Andrew, the handsome owner of the building where her barista job is in and he proposes a marriage of mutual benefit resulting in financial gain for them both.

I will note here that Ellie is both bisexual and demisexual and spent an idyllic day the previous Christmas falling for a woman named Jack (a butch lesbian), who once Ellie has gone home with Andrew for Christmas she quickly finds out that Jack is Andrew’s sister.

I loved the family dynamics of the mom and grandmothers of Andrew and Jacks family, I adored all the references to Taylor Swift and Gilmore Girls (also some of my favorite things). The flashback every other chapter to the snow day was a good way to evolve Ellie and Jacks story.

There was one instance I found particularly confusing in regards to Jack and Ellie’s relationship and times I became frustrated with both of them. I also think that an epilogue would’ve really helped tie together the end of the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book!

4 stars!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️