Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun Book Review
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Blurb
The author of the “swoon-worthy debut” (Harper’s Bazaar) 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.
One year ago, recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver had her dream job in animation and a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. But after a betrayal the next morning and the loss of her job soon after, she finds herself adrift, alone, and desperate for money.
Finding work at a local coffee shop, she’s just getting through the days—until Andrew, the shop’s landlord, proposes a shocking, drunken plan: a marriage of convenience that will give him his recent inheritance and alleviate Ellie’s financial woes and isolation. They make a plan to spend the holidays together at his family cabin to keep up the ruse. But when Andrew introduces his new fiancée to his sister, Ellie is shocked to discover it’s Jack—the mysterious woman she fell for over the course of one magical Christmas Eve the year before. Now, Ellie must choose between the safety of a fake relationship and the risk of something real.
Perfect for fans of Written in the Stars and One Day in December, Kiss Her Once for Me is the queer holiday rom-com that you’ll want to cozy up with next to the fire.
Triggers
Here are the potentially sensitive content that I observed while reading:
- Anxiety (Social Anxiety)
- Alcohol
- Childhood Trauma
- Hypothermia
- Profanity
- Sexually Explicit Scenes
Ratings
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There are possible **SPOILERS** beyond this point!
Overall Rating
5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Of all the Christmas books I read this year, this one was my favorite! I can’t begin to count the times I gasped or laughed out loud at this one! My heart was in this one. I felt so deeply for these characters. Cochrun did an amazing job creating a story that was vivid and entertaining! I love her writing style and it was such and enjoyable experience! I gobbled this book up very quickly!
Ellie and Jack were the opposites that should not have worked together but they really did! I was giddy reading their vulnerable conversations with each other. The communication was so honest that it created an intimacy that I felt has been lacking in many other novels I’ve read this holiday season. This book is written from one POV (Ellie’s) and I liked how she saw the world. Her attention to detail is invigorating and I had no trouble creating the people and places we come across in this story. As someone with GAD, her anxiety spirals mirror mine in a lot of ways so it was nice to see a character with similar mental health concerns!
The queer representation on this book was really nice! I also liked how Cochrun took every opportunity to add little bits of education while introducing these characters in the book.
I enjoyed this reading experience and I will definitely be reading more of Alison Cochrun’s books in the future!
Spice Rating
2.5/5 🌶🌶🌶
This one is spicy towards the end but it isn’t very explicit as the scenes are pretty short. Mostly toward the end as the relationship develops.
Genre & Tropes
Genre
Romantic Comedy
Tropes
- Marriage of Convenience
- Found Family
- Second Chance Romance
- Slow Burn Romance
Favorite Quotes
“Some of us fall in and out of love easily. Some of us don’t experience romantic love at all. Some of us have to fight to let ourselves be vulnerable enough to fall in love… Some of us have to fight to let other people love us… Some of us need emotional intimacy in order to experience sexual attraction… All love and ways of loving are love, Elle.”
“I think relationships can be exactly what they’re supposed to be… even if they only last for one year, or five years, or even just for one day. The good parts of the time you spent with a person don’t go away simply because the relationship ends.”
“I wanted someone who would see the whole mess of me—all the feelings and the perfectionism and the desire for control and the shape of my heart and the ache of my dreams, the wild, imperfect hunger of me, and the fear that keeps me from ever feeling full—and wouldn’t get freaked out or turned off.”
Intrigued?
Check out Kiss Her Once for Me on Amazon here.
