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maya_reads_books's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
Thank you NetGalley for providing this eArc in exchange for an honest review!
This book is about a woman who makes a fake engagement deal with her job’s landlord but ends up falling for his sister.
This book does contain biphobia, homophobia, and toxic relationships with parents and I’m glad that there were content warnings addressed in the book before the book began.
I absolutely loved reading this novel! This book is I do think that some points of the book were a little bit slow, however, overall, it was a really enjoyable queer romance.
One of the aspects of the book that I really enjoyed was the writing. This is my first Alison Cochron book and I think her writing is very addictive and easy to get into.
I also really enjoyed the characters of the book. They were very well written and pretty well developed. The only thing that I didn’t particularly love about the our main character was that her character development seemed a little too forced and fast, in my personal opinion. I would have also liked to see a little more screentime for some of our side characters because I thought that they were really interesting.
There was so much representation in the book! There was nonbinary, bisexual, lesbian, queer, Asian, and anxiety rep just to name some off the top of my head.
I would highly recommend picking this book up!
I will finish with one of my favorite lines from the book: “You are a sexy oak tree.”
This book is about a woman who makes a fake engagement deal with her job’s landlord but ends up falling for his sister.
This book does contain biphobia, homophobia, and toxic relationships with parents and I’m glad that there were content warnings addressed in the book before the book began.
I absolutely loved reading this novel! This book is I do think that some points of the book were a little bit slow, however, overall, it was a really enjoyable queer romance.
One of the aspects of the book that I really enjoyed was the writing. This is my first Alison Cochron book and I think her writing is very addictive and easy to get into.
I also really enjoyed the characters of the book. They were very well written and pretty well developed. The only thing that I didn’t particularly love about the our main character was that her character development seemed a little too forced and fast, in my personal opinion. I would have also liked to see a little more screentime for some of our side characters because I thought that they were really interesting.
There was so much representation in the book! There was nonbinary, bisexual, lesbian, queer, Asian, and anxiety rep just to name some off the top of my head.
I would highly recommend picking this book up!
I will finish with one of my favorite lines from the book: “You are a sexy oak tree.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Biphobia, and Toxic relationship
bananathebookbestie's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5.0
I need you to stop what you're doing and pre-order/add this book to your TBR immediately! Kiss Her Once for Me comes out on November 1, 2022, and it's the perfect read for the holidays.
This book has such a fun premise: Imagine the perfect snow day — the city shuts down, there's magic in the air, it's Christmas Eve, and you meet and spend the day with your absolute dream person. After spending a wonderful night together, you leave (because you're deeply afraid of failure) and assume you'll never see them again. One year later, you end up fake-engaged to the landlord of the coffee shop you work at because it will benefit you both — he'll get his inheritance, and you'll get $200,000. When you go to his family's home for Christmas, you meet his sister... who is none other than your dream person you spent last Christmas with. She doesn't know your engagement is fake, and your fiancé doesn't know you had a one night stand with his sister.
This book was so festive and queer and fun! It filled my heart all the way up and broke it at the same time. (All of the emotions were worth it, though.) The absolute chaos of what Ellie calls the "love trapezoid" is hilarious and inevitable. I adored each of the characters and their personalities. I even loved how the major conflict was handled — it felt authentic and there was genuine growth from everyone. I don't usually find myself loving the "found family" trope, but it worked so well here and I was rooting for Ellie, Jack, Andrew, Dylan, and their whole family. I also think the cabin scene is the most romantic love scene I've read in a long time. It was descriptive and tender, but not crass. I felt how much Ellie and Jack loved each other through every action. These two characters are clearly better together and I'm glad for the journey they took to figure that out. I only wish there was an epilogue to give us a glimpse of how they're faring together in the future.
And while this book is fun, it balances the joy of the holidays with heavier topics. (Make sure to check the content warnings before reading!) There's family trauma — like childhood emotional neglect, perfectionist parenting, and representation of the insecure attachment style. There's also legit anxiety representation, which Alison Cochrun writes so well and makes me feel so seen, and fantastic queer representation throughout.
I'm happy to give this book five stars, but even happier to recommend this to people. I will be shouting from the rooftops about how much I love this book! The Taylor Swift references and built-in holiday playlist were the cherry on top. Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for a review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Biphobia, Homophobia, and Alcoholism
decklededgess's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
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
trigger warnings: infidelity (not referring to the polyamory mentioned in the book), sexual content, alcohol, anxiety and panic disorders, body shaming, emotional abuse, transphobia, lesbophobia, biphobia
Hoooooo boi was this book an emotional roller coaster. After The Charm Offensive, I’m wary of emotional devastation when it comes to Alison Cochrun and I WAS RIGHT. THIS BOOK WAS RUDE AS HELL. I finished it in a day.
Ellie and Jack are just something else. The tension, chemistry, yearning, HAVE MERCY. I also didn’t expect to care for Dylan and Andrew as much as I did. I was rooting for all for of these fools in their silly little self made love trapezoid of pain to figure shit out but nooooooooooo they just went and imploded on themselves. The four of them in their messiness had me wanting to yank my hair out.
This book is also stunning in its representation of generalised anxiety disorder. It’s respectful yet accountable for how the main character creates chaos for herself and others through her own pain. It also does a fabulous job of taking time in resolving the knot of hurt and working towards healing.
The queer representation was diverse and well thought out. I appreciated that there were two sides to polyamory represented. One where partners have to remove themselves from the relationship after realising polyamory was not for them and another for representing people who found happiness in polyamory. And no one was villainzed for those choices. It’s a small subplot but I found the care in that decision making really diplomatic and honest.
One of the most devastating third act break ups. EVER. But we get fed with some of the horniest smut ever too. So. Balance.
Hoooooo boi was this book an emotional roller coaster. After The Charm Offensive, I’m wary of emotional devastation when it comes to Alison Cochrun and I WAS RIGHT. THIS BOOK WAS RUDE AS HELL. I finished it in a day.
Ellie and Jack are just something else. The tension, chemistry, yearning, HAVE MERCY. I also didn’t expect to care for Dylan and Andrew as much as I did. I was rooting for all for of these fools in their silly little self made love trapezoid of pain to figure shit out but nooooooooooo they just went and imploded on themselves. The four of them in their messiness had me wanting to yank my hair out.
This book is also stunning in its representation of generalised anxiety disorder. It’s respectful yet accountable for how the main character creates chaos for herself and others through her own pain. It also does a fabulous job of taking time in resolving the knot of hurt and working towards healing.
The queer representation was diverse and well thought out. I appreciated that there were two sides to polyamory represented. One where partners have to remove themselves from the relationship after realising polyamory was not for them and another for representing people who found happiness in polyamory. And no one was villainzed for those choices. It’s a small subplot but I found the care in that decision making really diplomatic and honest.
One of the most devastating third act break ups. EVER. But we get fed with some of the horniest smut ever too. So. Balance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Gaslighting
Moderate: Alcohol, Biphobia, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Transphobia, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, and Homophobia
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