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ladyinverse's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
5.0
this is an absolute live trapezoid of a book with plenty of LGBTQIA rep and it's the perfect holiday sapphic romance.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment and Alcohol
Minor: Biphobia, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders
smasson13's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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
4.5
I love Alison Cochrun. Her books are some of the only honestly and well written representation I have seen when it comes to mental illness. As a teacher, it is also soooo easy for me to imagine where she got this wealth of understanding, empathy, and depth from. As a result, this book was almost difficult for me to read due to how close to home it hit.
I really connected with Ellie and loved her character. While I also enjoyed Jack and the host of other characters, I did find more difficulty connecting with them as I found them flatter than I was expecting. Andrew specifically was a character I wanted to love deeply but just didn't know enough about in the end.
What I think was most amazing about this book was that the author did a perfect job at following up her first novel. They both touched on deep and important themes, had soft characters filled with feelings, but still felt wildly different. Alison Cochrun will continue to be a favourite author and I cannot wait to see what she writes next!
I really connected with Ellie and loved her character. While I also enjoyed Jack and the host of other characters, I did find more difficulty connecting with them as I found them flatter than I was expecting. Andrew specifically was a character I wanted to love deeply but just didn't know enough about in the end.
What I think was most amazing about this book was that the author did a perfect job at following up her first novel. They both touched on deep and important themes, had soft characters filled with feelings, but still felt wildly different. Alison Cochrun will continue to be a favourite author and I cannot wait to see what she writes next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Body shaming, Abandonment, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Cursing, Biphobia, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
rileyswan's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Transphobia, Drug use, Homophobia, Alcohol, Biphobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Racism and Misogyny
librariangeorgia's review
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Biphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Transphobia
literaryintersections's review
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Ugh I will read anything Alison writes this book made my heart SING
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia and Homophobia
myarae's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting
Minor: Transphobia and Homophobia
sreneward's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Infidelity and Emotional abuse
Minor: Homophobia and Biphobia
kylieqrada's review
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Homophobia, Biphobia, and Infidelity
Minor: Transphobia and Drug use
bookwormdystopian2's review
emotional
hopeful
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Biphobia and Homophobia
inkdrinkers's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
5.0
I feel messy and vulnerable and very seen by this book.
Ellie Oliver had her entire life planned out - the next ten years at least - with a secure job at an animation studio, a clear path to her dreams of becoming an animator, then director, but it all came crashing down in the way that most of her life seemed to with a lay-off and a reality that she has no idea what she's doing. After a chance meeting with a woman one Christmas day, she finds herself falling head over heels in 24 hours, and then struggling to recover from the encounter a year later when a man approaches her with a plan, fake date him for one week over Christmas, then marry him and divorce within the year, and she can have $200k of his inheritance. The only problem, Ellie soon realizes, is that the sister of her new fake fiance is the woman she met last Christmas.
I am so glad I decided to prioritize this read for Christmas (It's Christmas Eve as I'm writing this review!) because there's something about the holidays that just rips me up from the inside out. Everything is supposed to be polished, glimmering lights and endlessly happy family moments, but, like Ellie, I often feel like I'm one second away from failure at any given moment. The absolute way Cochrun just took a melon scoop to my brain and pulled out my biggest insecurities and put them on the page made me relate so hard to Ellie and her entire story. There's a lot I could say, but I've been fearful-of-failure Ellie, I've been trying-to-make-it-better Ellie, and I just feel so satisfied by the end of this book and the beginning of Ellie Oliver's new story in it's final pages.
I think it's a shame to reduce this book to just a romance novel, because it's so much more than that. The queer representation made my heart feel SO WARM. Ellie is biromantic and demisexual, Jack is a butch lesbian, there's Dylan who is enby, and a cast of so many other identities and characters that just endear you to this book. I truthfully don't remember the last time I picked up a book and realized I felt so connected to everyone in the pages of it and that's such a good feeling to have. The plot does have its moments centered on the romance and the ways it plays out, but Ellie's story of growth shines like those silly little Christmas lights at the end, twinkling at the promise of something new.
I loved this. I'm going to go read Cochrun's other book asap because this just solidified that her writing is for me. I would highly, highly recommend this to anyone who has spent their entire life in a gifted burnout kid tailspin and setting themselves up for failure because they're so worried to fail in the first place. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to plan a trip to Portland to meet my own hot, ripped baker.
Content Warnings: on page panic attacks, across the board bad relationships with parents, financial instability, biphobia/homophobia/transphobia from side characters, lots of on page discussion about mental health/fear of failure/heavy self reflection. This isn't a lighthearted read!
Ellie Oliver had her entire life planned out - the next ten years at least - with a secure job at an animation studio, a clear path to her dreams of becoming an animator, then director, but it all came crashing down in the way that most of her life seemed to with a lay-off and a reality that she has no idea what she's doing. After a chance meeting with a woman one Christmas day, she finds herself falling head over heels in 24 hours, and then struggling to recover from the encounter a year later when a man approaches her with a plan, fake date him for one week over Christmas, then marry him and divorce within the year, and she can have $200k of his inheritance. The only problem, Ellie soon realizes, is that the sister of her new fake fiance is the woman she met last Christmas.
I am so glad I decided to prioritize this read for Christmas (It's Christmas Eve as I'm writing this review!) because there's something about the holidays that just rips me up from the inside out. Everything is supposed to be polished, glimmering lights and endlessly happy family moments, but, like Ellie, I often feel like I'm one second away from failure at any given moment. The absolute way Cochrun just took a melon scoop to my brain and pulled out my biggest insecurities and put them on the page made me relate so hard to Ellie and her entire story. There's a lot I could say, but I've been fearful-of-failure Ellie, I've been trying-to-make-it-better Ellie, and I just feel so satisfied by the end of this book and the beginning of Ellie Oliver's new story in it's final pages.
I think it's a shame to reduce this book to just a romance novel, because it's so much more than that. The queer representation made my heart feel SO WARM. Ellie is biromantic and demisexual, Jack is a butch lesbian, there's Dylan who is enby, and a cast of so many other identities and characters that just endear you to this book. I truthfully don't remember the last time I picked up a book and realized I felt so connected to everyone in the pages of it and that's such a good feeling to have. The plot does have its moments centered on the romance and the ways it plays out, but Ellie's story of growth shines like those silly little Christmas lights at the end, twinkling at the promise of something new.
I loved this. I'm going to go read Cochrun's other book asap because this just solidified that her writing is for me. I would highly, highly recommend this to anyone who has spent their entire life in a gifted burnout kid tailspin and setting themselves up for failure because they're so worried to fail in the first place. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to plan a trip to Portland to meet my own hot, ripped baker.
Content Warnings: on page panic attacks, across the board bad relationships with parents, financial instability, biphobia/homophobia/transphobia from side characters, lots of on page discussion about mental health/fear of failure/heavy self reflection. This isn't a lighthearted read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia