Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Kiss Her Once for Me

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Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun

43 reviews

corncake's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

Let’s ignore that the first book I’ve finished this year is a Christmas book. If we can have a pre-Christmas in November, what is stopping me from enjoying the season with a post-Christmas in January? 😂🎄

Anyways, this book was a messy, hilarious, and touching read for the holiday season. If you need a cute, gay Christmas romance in your life that has many of the classic cliche tropes, than this would be a fun read.

This book does have an insta-love trope, which is one of my least favorite tropes, but it didn’t bother me so much here as it has in other reads. Maybe because the situation the characters find themself in is complex and messy, so we spend more time getting to know these charming characters and why they love each other.

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frantically's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I loved the concept of this but the execution was just too riddled with miscommunication for me. Also, the way Jack didn't even pretend to understand in what different situations she and Elle were in — of course 200 thousand dollars would've changed her life. That's not something you easily say no to.

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I didn't know almost anything about this book going in, and wow was I pleasantly surprised by the whole thing. I read almost the entire book in one sitting, because I couldn't put it down. The romance was perfect, and also it was weirdly and unintentionally relevant for me, as someone who just moved to Portland less than two months ago. I loved the bi rep, the anxiety rep, the demi rep, the nonbinary rep, the way they try (and fail) to not fall victim to unnecessary miscommunication as horribly as the straights always do in romances. (Also is it just me or is Ellie also autistic??? I both have anxiety and am autistic so sometimes it's hard for me to tell what social anxiety things are related to which haha. But idk she felt extremely autistic to me and I'm gonna say I also loved the (maybe unintentional) autistic rep as well.) This was a perfect book to start the year with, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a lovely queer holiday romance.

Edit to add: I actually kind of forgot what The Charm Offensive was about, and now that I went back to look at my (5 star) review for that book, I'm even more convinced that Alison Cochrun is one of my new favorite romance authors. In both books, I was super sucked in and read them basically in one sitting. But even better, in both books I felt like even the parts of romances that I don't like (e.g., when they have a fight and break up near the end, usually over some miscommunication) were handled much better in these books than in most romance novels. Like, Cochrun clearly puts a lot of effort into making sure the relationships are as healthy and realistic as possible, while still giving us all the normal pieces of a romance and keeping the drama amped up. I'm just so impressed! And I can't wait for Cochrun's next book.

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rileyswan's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

"people are always making a fuss about male forearms, which, sure, are nice, but have these people never seen the tattooed forearms of a butch lesbian?"

This book is the most beautiful ode to girls with anxiety, the struggles of career limbo, Christmas with found families, and loving butch lesbians who are hard on the outside but soft on the inside.

Alison Cochrun delivered something astonishing with her debut, The Charm Offensive, and followed through with something completely different yet entirely captivating with Kiss Her Once For Me.

This book follows Ellie Oliver, an artist and barista with a penchant for blaming everything on herself. Last Christmas, she fell in love with a butch named Jack who had a heart of gold, before her own got trampled all over, left to rot in the snow. Things get complicated when she gets fake engaged to a man in exchange for a promise of $200,000, only for that man to be Jack's sister.

Basically, everything is a MESS. There's an angsty love quadrangle, drug-happy grandmas, a cheating father, and too many secrets and lies to realistically keep track of.

And Alison pulls it off perfectly.

Kiss Her Once For Me is painstakingly real, and sad, and gay, which is exactly why you should read it - Christmastime or not.

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librariangeorgia's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I actually started this after Christmas and finished it on New Years Day - the perfect time to read a Christmasy book...🫣

Timing aside, I absolutely adored this book. Honestly it's hard to find a sapphic book that's not tacky and cheesy. This one though, was so good!

It's a rom-com style book that starts on Christmas Eve 2021 and then jumps to the run up to Christmas in 2022. It's so cute, funny and most of all, relatable.

I loved it and i'll definitely be rereading this Christmas!

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thoughtsontomes's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a queer reimagining of While You Were Sleeping where gal makes a deal with a guy to be fake engaged, not knowing that his sister is the woman she fell in love with in a whirlwind day a year ago. This is full of miscommunication but it makes sense for the characters, especially our main character with social anxiety. The writing is a little heavy handed on the music and pup culture references but I was willing to overlook it as that's a common thing in contemporary stories, as much as I hate it and think it dates the book. This is queer all around with lots of queer characters, discussions of non-traditional relationships, etc. I will say they probably could have left he demi-sexuality out as I'm not sure how well that worked for a character who falls in love with someone in a day and sleeps with them, as that's a little too magical, insta-love for my taste but otherwise the rep seems to be handled respectfully. I really fell in love with this little family and all of their dynamics with each other, and pulled for the relationship.

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a very cute, very quick SAPPHIC 🥰 holiday romance, and I'm glad I picked it up. The Portland vibes were strong, and the found family aspects were adorable. There were just a few icks that I didn't love.

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books4em's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I definitely enjoyed Kiss Her Once for Me! I only gave it 4 stars because it just didn't draw me in as much as I had wanted/expected it to. There is a great deal of representation - there's bi, demi, lesbian, nonbinary, and Korean-American representation to name a few. It also does a good job of discussing mental health (not that deeply) but anxiety and adhd are big parts of the two main characters lives. Based on what I've heard about The Charm Offensive, I'd say there's less talk on mental health in this one than her previous book. But it's still done very well! The story is also a lovely twist on a typical holiday romance story. That combined with the representation and discussions on mental health and relationships with toxic parents, it's definitely a great book. It was also nice to see at the end how they work on themselves first before attempting to get back together!

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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

There really just wasn't a single thing to hate about this. Is there insta-love? Yes. Do I hate insta-love? Yes! However, in this one case, I will allow it because I loved this story and I love this couple. Am I not really a fan of Christmas books? Correct, I tend to stay away from them. Did I absolutely love this? Also correct.

My point is, this book had some tropes that on paper, shouldn't have worked for me, and yet they *did.* So basically, if you've been eyeing this one and are unsure about it, give it a try and see if you love it, too.

Bonus points for the Taylor Swift references all throughout this gem.

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myfbusters's review against another edition

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emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Nota bene, i'm writing this review while high at 12:30 AM. I just read this book in a three-day flurry because it's the selection for Queer Book Club and I too suffer the yoke we call ADHD

I'm somewhat conflicted about this book, mostly in that I found the plot a little too over-the-top but the individual characters were compelling. I don't read a lot of romance novels, so maybe I am not the best judge here. The scenes between

Ellie and Jack, when the overzealous pretense of the story fades to the side, are the highlight here. I felt a tenderness between them, an authenticity that spoke to my own experiences loving, and being loved.

I guess my one quibble is that

I didn't like the role that Ari was given in the narrative. This book was tagged "trans representation" by the book club and I went in with hopeful expectations, but overall to me she leaned a little too close to the catty "gay best friend" trope often seen in TV shows with a (cis) woman as protagonist. as a polyamorous trans lesbian myself yeah, I know this girl, I've been this girl, but when she's given such a small role, the "come move in with my four roommates, we read tarot and do gay art" reads less like accurate representation and more like a parody out of a Reductress article.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this book, and I can't wait to get on a zoom call and rant to my gay coworkers about it

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