Unfortunately, due to some devastating circumstances in my family late last year, this was archived before I had a chance to read it. Leaving with a neutral rating for now and, if I get my hands on a copy at some point, I will update this with a proper rating. Thanks very much for the opportunity!

A year ago, a snowstorm hit Portland just as Ellie Oliver was learning her mother had decided not to come visit for Christmas. So, in tears, Ellie found herself at a bookstore reaching for the same book as Jack, a woman dressed inappropriately for the snow in a Carhartt jacket with a cute smile. The two have an unforgettable day together, which leads to an unforgettable night. However, the next morning something tears them apart. Now, a year later, Ellie has lost her cushy animation job, her mother is begging for money, and she is living in a dumpy basement apartment about to be evicted. She agrees to fake marry Andrew Kim-Prescott, the owner of the coffee shop she works at, for $200,000. Only, when she arrives at his families winter cabin, she finds out his sister is the elusive Jack.

Alison Cochrun is a masterful writer of romance. This book was so good, so good! Ellie's shenanigans felt so real, her emotions bursting right off the page. I often had to set the book down from the second hand anxiety and embarrassment I was feeling.

Ellie is so programmed to expect the worst, because of her awful parents, that I wanted to wrap her in a hug every minute. She was written so well and I had such empathy for her plight, for her having so many of her emotions tied up with how her parents treated her her entire life. Her self worth is so low, and she cannot trust anything which leads to her sabotaging herself. Her mother is a real piece of work, I was so enraged any time she came up, was mentioned, made an appearance. It was so nice when you experienced the love of the Kim-Prescott's to offset her awfulness. But I also like how after everything Ellie has gone through, she can see how her actions impact others and work to change for herself and for the ones she loves.

And Jack, oh my gosh Jack! This woman is just a dream come true. A baker, beautiful, tough, but with a determined spirit and a heart of gold. I was frustrated with her for how she treated Ellie, as though money should be so easy to let go of when your relationship with your parents is based on money and you are in dire straits. But, I could understand her underlying trust and self worth issues. Her and Ellie's chemistry was fire...fire! And the fact that this is a loose adaptation of While You Were Sleeping made it just that much better.

The Kim-Prescott family, sans the horrible father, were so welcoming, unique, funny, and loveable. Again, I was frustrated with the obliviousness to money, having so much of it they cannot grasp anyone else needing it and doing almost anything to not end up on the street. But, they are so easy to love, to accept, to forgive, to be kind.

Honestly, I want to read this every year from here on out. And I wish Ellie's webcomic was real, I would buy it in an instant.

A charming rom com that was a great escape read.
Many thanks to Atria and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Kiss Her Once For Me was such a cute holiday romance that I enjoyed so much! I loved the story and the connection between the characters. I bought my best friend a copy because I knew how much she would enjoy it at well! I highly recommend this book that can be enjoyed all year long!

I wanted to like this book, and I did enjoy the first 40% of the book. I liked Ellie in the beginning. She was a woman who was struggling with her career, her love life, and her mental health. She’s also bi and demisexual, which are my labels. But I couldn’t root for her relationship with Jack. I get that all aces are different, and the asexual spectrum is not one size fits all. But the instalove trope was a strange choice for a woman who is demi. I couldn’t believe that she could be so sexually attracted to this woman that she has a one-night stand with her and then can’t stop thinking of her for an entire year. I usually like fake dating, but Andrew felt like a means to get Ellie and Jack back together. I also didn’t really care for Jack at all. She was infuriating once all the reveals were revealed, like the reason why they didn’t stay in contact with each other after their night together. I also thought she was unnecessarily mean to Ellie when the main conflict of the story happened, and I even thought she held her anger toward Ellie at the end for too long. I couldn’t root for them, and what’s the point of reading a romance if you don’t root for the main couple? I read this for a book club and if it wasn’t for that I would have stopped reading this book at the halfway mark. I also listened to the audiobook for the last 60% of the book and would have given up if I couldn’t listen to it. This was a disappointment, unfortunately.

I ended up DNFing this book. I think it was a wrong book at the wrong time type of situation. I know others loved this book, so don’t let this discourage you! I will try and pick it up again at another time.

One snowy Christmas Eve in Portland, Ellie meets the woman of her dreams during a meet cute in Powell’s Bookstore. It’s a magical day, but ends abruptly the next morning. Fast forward a year - Ellie has lost her job and is working as a barista when she makes a deal with her landlord to fake an engagement and wedding to help him get his inheritance. What she doesn’t expect is that her crush of a year ago is her new fiancés brother. Will Ellie go through with the plan, or follow her heart?

Oh my goodness this wonderful book. Alison Cochrun has done it again! I liked this one even more than her debut. I cried (good tears) and laughed. She handles mental health issues and demisexuality (not often covered in books) with respect and dignity. The characters are great to root for and the happy ending brought a tear to my eye.

This is an instant classic for me that I can see revisiting every holiday season.

gosh this book was so swoony and perfect and i think i'll be re-reading it every holiday season from now on!!!

I absolutely loved this. I knew I would-- Cochrun's last was very validating for me and I cried AND laughed-- but it still felt amazing after the year I'd had to read a book about emotional growth and women in love

I often say that holiday romance books just aren’t my thing.

But that obviously doesn’t include queer holiday romance books by Alison Cochrun.

"Kiss Her Once For Me" was every bit as sharp and endearing and addictive as "The Charm Offensive," with just the right balance between Christmas magic and family dysfunction.

A perfect vacation read.

4.5 stars!

This was a really cute sapphic romance with a lot of family drama! Really liked the anxiety rep in this. I just really wanted Jack's perspective to heighten the mutual pining!

Videos reviewing this book
December Wrap Up - https://youtu.be/iphQeyIL3-k
Best Romances of the Year - https://youtu.be/kPViGQ4Yp4c

In Kiss Her Once for Me we follow Elle Who last Christmas had a whirlwind 24 hours with a woman and Jack only never seen her again. Flash forward a year later and Elle is asked by the owner of the building she works in to enter into an engagement and marriage in order for him to receive his inheritance from his grandfather. Elle agrees to the arrangement and has to spend the week of Christmas with his family only to realize his sister is the woman she hasn’t stopped thinking about for the last year. This book was so much more than I was expecting. There’s so many different sexualities represented and non-binary representation and every character is well thought out. Alison has found a way to squeeze in almost every romance trope known to readers in this one book and somehow makes it work with out anything being cheesy or overwhelming. This book is such a great sapphic Christmas read for anyone looking to also come to terms with their fears of failure.

There has yet to be a book by this author that I haven't adored. Set mostly in Portland, it's a second-chance, sapphic, holiday romance that will have you both laughing and crying.

Ellie Oliver's life is a disaster. She's lost her dream job, about to lose her apartment, and she can't stop thinking about a one-night stand she had almost a year ago. So when her hot landlord suggests they get fake married so he can access his inheritance she really has no choice but to agree.

Naturally, it's just Ellie's luck that when Andrew takes her home to meet the family it turns out his sister is the woman Ellie had the amazing snow day, and one-night stand with last year. It's obvious they both have feelings for each other, but no-one is being honest and things start to spiral.

I don't think it would be possible for me to love the characters in this book more. From Ellie and Jack, to Andrew, Dylan, their mom...they were all just so incredible. I wanted to spend time with them in real life. Every one of them had a lot of baggage to unpack, and watching them grow through the course of the book was so rewarding.

I will say it was frustrating at times though, because Ellie just kept making decisions that sabotaged her own happiness, and while I understand why it was happening I just wanted to hug her and shake her in equal measure.

VERY CUTE VERY GOOD. I love fake dating and I love that trope where you fake date someone but fall in lve with someone else in their life. PLUS the Taylor Swift mentions and it being sapphic AND Christmastime? This book was made for me. For anyone who wants a book to cuddle up with in front of the fire, for anyone who wants a sapphic book with the atmosphere of Twilight, and for anyone who wants to imagine that one day can change their life forever.

Alison Cochrun is great at writing romcoms that make you actually feel things. I adored the setting, the family experience, the humor, the romance, everything. I also think that it was important that we had a butch love interest! We don't often see this in f/f romcoms or romances and we need more diversity for sure! Alison Cochrun has become an auto-read author for me. 5 stars for sure!

I was really excited to read this, and I liked it, but it didn't live up to what I wanted it to be. I love the diversity and representation, love the T.Swift references. I liked the end of the book better than the beginning. I liked the premise of the book. I was rooting for Ellie.

This book was so much fun! The family dynamic of Andrew and Jack’s family was so great to read about, especially the little traditions that they do every Christmas (the snowball fight and decorating the Christmas tree 😂). I really liked Ellie as a main character and her character growth by the end of the story was fantastic.

My favorite characters though were the grandmas! They had me cracking up! Especially during the mistletoe scene 😂. Jack was also a wonderful character and I loved seeing her relationship with Ellie from the start to the end of the book 🥰

I really felt for Ellie as she struggled with her relationship with her mother and how she dealt with that. It was so great to finally see her stand up for herself by the end and not take anymore of the crap her mom was dealing out! Oh how that woman made me so irate!! Lol

Overall, if you love holiday reads and a great sapphic love story, I definitely recommend this one!! So so fantastic and I will definitely be picking up more of Alison’s work!!

This was such a cute and fun read! I read this around Christmas and absolutely loved it. The two main characters were written so well and were very likable. Honestly, I would say don't read any reviews just pick this book up and read it! You won't be disappointed.

This was my last read of 2022 and was the perfect feel good book for the holiday season!

I loved this story right from the beginning. From the magical snow filled night that Ellie and Jack shared one year ago, to Andrew’s “proposal” to Ellie, and Christmas this year with his family, this book was everything I look for in a holiday romcom.

Cochrun did a great job of writing realistic characters that are flawed and relatable. The book is told from Ellie’s perspective along with sections where she tells her and Jack’s story as an online graphic novel. I liked the way the online story was included to fill us in on the night Jack and Ellie met and Ellie’s thoughts on what happened between them.

The best part of this story for me was the secondary characters though. I adored Andrew, but the stars of the show were Meemaw and Lovely! They brought so much heart, joy, and humor to this book. I’d read a book just about their adventures!

If you’re looking for an LGBTQIA+ romcom with fake dating and Christmas cheer look no further than Kiss Her Once For Me.

I absolutely loved this book. Such a good holiday story. Ellie and Jack are to die for. The queer representation is top notch. Thank you for allowing me to read this!