3.5 stars

I’m a sucker for a good trope, and more importantly a sucker for a good holiday romcom, and Kiss Her Once For Me had both.

First things first, I love a fake dating trope! I love the tension, the drama, and the chaos in pretending to be in love. Even more when rather than hiding their love for each other, the fake daters are hiding their love for other people.

The love square? — trapezoid? — rhombus? was so fun to watch, especially as couples had to be paired off for holiday events. Skiing? Dessert making? Being snowed in? It makes for a crazy-fun holiday, and one I’m happy to enjoy.

The representation of queer characters in this story is actually wonderful. We have so many different variations of love and relationships — both platonic and romantic and I think Alice Cochrun did a really wonderful job showing that. Love isn’t necessarily between two people, or it isn’t forever, or it isn’t always romantic. The Kim-Prescott family is delightful and I want to cherish them forever.

I would’ve liked to have seen more of Ellie’s webcomic. Or perhaps rough sketches of her work, doodles even, to give us a visual of the story she was telling. I know we were watching the story play out in real-time, but I just think it would have added something extra and far more unique to the story.

All in all, this is a fun sapphic, and queer-inclusive holiday read that you should absolutely enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun was a high anticipated read for me. I adored The Charm Offensive and was excited for another queer rom com! Thank you @atriabooks for this copy for review on @netgalley. Kiss Her Once For Me is available now.

I was a little disappointed in this one but it could have been the anticipation based on The Charm Offensive. Kiss Her Once For Me was just not for me. It was still good, still had fun characters, etc but I didn’t connect with the romance the same way. The main characters met one snowy day a year ago and had an insta-love that was described by one side in flashbacks. For me, that hampered my understanding of why Elle and Jack were so hung up on each other and unfortunately it wasn’t fleshed out in the present timeline.

The plot was fun though, all of the side characters were fantastic (I especially loved the grandmas) and lots of holiday family fun and drama. So still worth a read, just not one that grabbed me as much as I had hoped.

2.5⭐

Featuring ~ single 1st person POV, present tense, LGBT ~ FF, fake relationship, marriage of convenience, cheating, insta-love, some steamage, Christmas

Ellie is down on her luck working as a barista when Andrew proposes they get married for one year in order for him to get his inheritance. Her cut will be a whopping $200k, which she desperately needs to help pay her mother's debt ~ she can't seem to say no to her and that really bugged me. She is hung up on someone she had a one night stand with, and instantly fell in love with, a year ago, Jack. Turns out that Jack is actually, Jacqueline, Andrews sister.

Overall, I wasn't overly in love with this one. I didn't really like any of the characters, maybe just Andrew's grandma, but that's it. I did enjoy the family Christmas traditions though.

Miscommunication! I hate it! Why can't people just talk to each other instead of letting their mind wander and then they run away?? And the 3rd act breakup and then the ending ~ both for the birds.

It's currently an editor's pick on Amazon, so don't let my thoughts sway you from giving it a try.
I enjoyed The Charm Offensive, so I'm 1~1 with this author which will warrant one more try.

I was so excited when I received this with the promise of a holiday romcom and it did not disappoint.

Ellie had met Jack and the timing wasn’t great but then after she pretends to date her boss Andrew, she gets her second chance with Jack.

Andrews family is wonderful and so so funny. Ellie’s isn’t as supportive, which broke my heart and reading about her dealing with so much anxiety was really heartbreaking but their story was really sweet and I adored it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was so cute!! I loved all the characters so much. It was all around funny and you are guaranteed to get butterflies while reading this. 10/10 recommend.

Thank you to Atria Books for an ARC of Kiss Her Once for Me via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I absolutely loved The Charm Offensive, the author’s debut, and highly anticipated this one. Unfortunately, I let early reviews affect my anticipation and put this one off until after publication day, when I read it via audiobook instead. I liked it - the narration was especially great. But it wasn’t exactly what I’d expected when it was described as a take on “While You Were Sleeping” - I don’t think that’s a very accurate description at all. There is probably another movie about falling for a family member of a significant other that would be a more accurate descriptor - for example, The Family Stone!
I will keep reading Cochrun’s books because I think she establishes strong, diverse characters and writes relatable romances. If you haven’t read The Charm Offensive, I definitely recommend that book, and I think this one is good, too, especially if you enjoyed The Family Stone!

I absolutely ADORED Alison Cochrun's THE CHARM OFFENSIVE--read it twice, gifted it thrice, sure to go back for a re-read again soon. So I was excited for her sophomore turn, entered it with a ton of goodwill, and was bummed not to love it. So much of what works or doesn't in a romance novel is down to personal taste, so I wouldn't NOT recommend this to anyone who thought it might be up their alley. It seemed up mine! Portland setting, fake dating, anxiety-ridden MC, scenes in a bookstore . . . but I couldn't shake an annoyance with some repetitious phrases and preoccupations, a couple main character moves that didn't ring true based on all previous known character traits, and a myopia by the POV character (no spoilers) that I just couldn't suspend disbelief. I trudged to the end because I had a dARC, but wasn't really rooting for either the characters or their relationship by the end.

4.25ish stars

As I was reading this one, I found myself noting some significant traits, ideas, or descriptors mentioned about the story’s protagonist, and I’ve tried to include them accurately here:

Bi demi protagonist
Past heartbreak/fear of failure
Hates dating bc ^
Very anxious, GAD; depression
Had a breakdown at work
Tall
Pisces
Not super coordinated/athletic
Initial reaction to vulnerability: “gross”

And for the record, most/all of those things made her interesting and relatable, to me at least.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a story about a protagonist who so closely resembles me in a lot of ways, and wow, that was both wonderful and uncomfortable (because who likes seeing some of their major flaws so clearly reflected in a lovely but blatantly self-sabotaging fictional character?). It was a good story with funny, diverse, and reasonably well-developed characters, and while I didn’t necessarily figure out exactly what the writer was doing at first, the back-and-forth writing style choices quickly became clear and ultimately worked well for the story. I might have been reading this one at a time that was seasonably inappropriate, but it didn’t matter; I was pulled in pretty much from the beginning, and I enjoyed the whole thing. I also can’t wait to see what the writer comes up with next!

a fun holiday read, but nothing too life changing or revolutionary. it began very slow and i found myself bored, but by the end i was entertained!

I am a HUGE fan of Cochrun's other novel The Charm Offensive and Kiss Her Once For Me did not disappoint. I didn't love it as much as TCO but was still interested in the fate of the characters and thought the book was charming overall. KHOFM is the perfect queer Hallmark-eqsue story and even though I read it in the summer, it was perfect.

Let me paint you a picture: I'd had Covid for 6 days. In that time my eyes could barely stay open to read books and I would drift into sleep as I tried to listen to my audiobooks. At midnight on day 6 I tool my last dose of Paxlovid and since I wasn't sleepy I decided to read this one because I feared that picking up a thriller would keep me up too late. Little did I know what Cochran had in store for me, that I would spend the next seven hours immersed in this book, or that I would end up getting a tattoo based on this novel less than 12 hours after finishing it!

The story is told in 2 parts: One is supposed to be a web comic written by Elle which chronicles the magical Christmas day she spent with Jack last year. We get these chapters rather piecemeal as most of the narrative is spent on the current Christmas season.

When she met Jack Eve was struggling at her dream job and thought she was exactly where she needed to be in life. Fast forward a year and she was "fired" from said dream job, was miserable working at a coffee shop where the owner was belittling and took her for granted, and was facing being out on the street as a rent hike made her apartment unaffordable. <spoiler>Perhaps Eve could afford her apartment if she didn't continually bail out her grifter mother, but that's another story.</spoiler>

Enter Andrew, a handsome coffee shop regular who just happens to own the building the coffee shop is located in. After witnessing how Eve was treated at her job, he takes Eve out on a "date" and proposes the arrangement we all read from the book's plot summary: a marriage of convenience for both of them. Though Andrew knows that Eve had fallen in love last year, it was a complete shock to Eve when she was introduced to Jacqueline, Andrew's sister. You see, Jacqueline is the mysterious Jack who stole Eve's heart last Christmas.

Things get even more complicated when it becomes evident that Jack may also have feelings for someone who is also at the family's Christmas cabin. Incidentally, Eve refers to their situation as a love parallelogram and--as I mentioned earlier--less than twelve hours after finishing the book I walked out of a tattoo parlor with a love parallelogram tattoo inspired by this book! (Here's a link to the TikTok I made after getting the tattoo in case you are curious to see it: <ahref="https://www.goodreads.com">https://www.tiktok.com/@msjeimy/video/7140047103128046890?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7142467169330136618</a> )

The reason I stayed up until 7:00am reading is because I wanted to know how Eve and Andrew's ruse would implode and how Cochran would create sexual tension between Eve and Jack in an environment where it was hard to have a private moment. Though I am a fast reader, I also stopped periodically to add any song mentioned on the book--and there are plenty--to a playlist created. Needless to say, I was completely satisfied with my reading experience.

I really enjoyed "The Charm Offensive" by Alison Cochrun but this one wasn't my favoruite Christmas read,

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙊𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙮 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙙…𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧.


📍 Read if you like:
• Fake Dating
• LGBTQ+ Romcoms
• Holiday Reads
• Found Family

After reading and absolutely loving The Charm Offensive, I immediately knew I wanted to read Cochrun’s next novel.

This was the perfect sapphic Christmasy romcom. Something this author does great is writing realistic characters you deeply care about. The whole time I was rooting for our main characters!!

I think the side characters were also so brilliantly written. They all felt like part of the overall story and added so much depth to the book. I loved how supportive they were.

There were some Taylor Swift references I found interesting, and also drunk grandmas 😂 I was laughing quite a bit with the humor!

I felt so emerged in this festive story. It was the perfect holiday read filled with snowball fights, baking cookies, and some swoon-worthy moments. Also, the fake dating part of the book was so wholesome.

While I didn’t love this one as much as The Charm Offensive, I still think this book is worth the read. It does talk about mental health at times, but it’s addressed and represented perfectly. This author is an auto-buy author for me now. I would highly recommend this sapphic, fake-dating festive story!

Really, really cute - loved the characters and the cozy storyline. What a perfect book to grab to read in front of a fire.

I'll admit it's been a bit since I finished this one so it's not fresh in my mind (the holidays were BUSY this year, as always) but what I DO remember is absolutely adoring this book!

For a holiday romance novel, it was so unique, combining a somewhat tragic love story with a fake dating trope and sapphic romance. It was truly everything I wanted this book to be!

I actually started off not loving the insecure, self-sabotaging main character, Ellie, but as she grew as a person, she grew on me! It was fun to see her develop as a person and read along with her webcomics. And I can understand her infatuation with her "snow girl," Jack, because even I fell a little bit in love with her!

The two have somewhat of a yin and yang energy which was a delight to read. And the drama of having Ellie having to hide her fake relationship from the one person she actually had feelings for was so fun and exciting!

The family dynamic was awesome and just a pleasure to follow along with and the characters were all so well thought-out. I really appreciated how each one had their quirks and are very relatable.

Kiss Her Once For Me was a refreshing and fun read that I would 100% recommend. I easily gave it five stars and it was one of my favorites of 2022!

I enjoyed this story as the characters were both unique in their struggles and insecurities. The plot was a bit unbelievable but that indeed made the story a lot more fun. The Kim's were a delight and Elle was a stressball amongst them. It was fun to spend a fictitious Christmas with this confused and wild bunch!

I love this author. I find the characters in her books to be well rounded, complex and generally likeable. This was a perfect cozy wintery read. It had me wanting to jump on a plane to Portland so I could hang out in a bookstore all day :)

I expected and wanted to give this book top marks because of how much I loved The Charm Offensive and this was...not quite it.

Ellie and Jack have a picture perfect day a year ago and when she rolls up to her rich-fake-fiance's house a year later, everything is a mess. The mess continues because no one will talk to each other for the entire book. I did not love that the blame for everything fell on Ellie. She had her moments for absolute sure, but her insecurity and anxiety allowed her to absorb the blame for all sorts of things that were not her fault. The big humiliating moment at the bakery was not it either.

I wish we had gotten into the motivations of the characters a little more. Why did Ellie take on her mother's credit card debt? Was this on top of all the other money she was giving her? Why is she letting her mother bleed her dry when she can't even afford rent? Why didn't Andrew just ask Dylan in the first place? Why didn't one of the grandmothers get everyone in line when the truth came out? Ellie absolutely knew that Jack was opening this bakery on her own without support so why didn't she come clean? So many questions I'll never know the answer to.

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books, Alison Cochran for a copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

dnf at 18%


When I read Cochrun's first book last year, I ADORED it -- which made me incredibly excited to pick this one up. However, there were several things that just didn't work for me. First, it's told in first-person; I really prefer my romance novels to be in third-person, but I was fine with continuing to try anyways. Second, it was just incredibly mopey for the almost-quarter I read. The main character has debilitating anxiety (which boy do I understand) and her life is so far where she wants it to be. So the tonal choice makes COMPLETE sense -- but I come to romance novels to escape the sadness & hardship of everyday life.

All that being said -- Cochrun is clearly a GREAT writer, and if you don't mind the two issues I had, you should absolutely give this book a shot. The issues I had were me not fitting the book, despite it clearly being something that other people will really, really enjoy.

5 Stars:  
Book: Kiss Her Once For Me
Rating: 5/5
Author: Alison Cockrun
Genre: Romance
Pages:345
Tropes: Holiday Rom-Com, Found Family, Fake Dating, Flash Backs
Warnings Homophobia, Abandonment, Anxiety Disorder
Readability: 4/5 italic font is used
First Line: "Snow Days are a special kind of magic."

Things to expect:
High School Teacher
Bisexual Representation
Mental Health Representation
Found Family

Y'all... if you want the cutest holiday rom-com that is on the market. This is it. This hits in all the feels and honestly should be read any time of the year. So many funny moments that I was belly laughing out loud. I honestly didn't know what I would think of this book, and it has one of my least favorite things in a book, but the way Allison Cockrun handled it was with grace. (spoiler: it's a third breakup act) I loved how much representation was in this one, and it made me feel like I was reading something a friend wrote. I hope Alison writes another holiday rom-com in the near future. 

Thanks to Atria & Chickshitistheshit for the advance reader copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own. i have purchased my own copy.