A review by haileyhardcover
Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

Very recently, in a review for a book I was massively disappointed by, I wrote that I hate first person point of view and it never reads well. I take it back. It sometimes reads very, very well. Case in point, Kiss Her Once for Me.

I loved this book. It was everything I wanted in a sapphic Christmas romcom. Ellie and Jack were both delightful and seemed to be fully fleshed out characters. Even when Ellie was thinking completely illogically, I still fully understood her thought process and how she could feel and respond the way she did. The characters made SENSE, even when they weren’t making sense. Fully developed characters are my favorite. Also, Meemaw and Lovey? Iconic. I’m obsessed. 

Though the premise of this story isn’t unique (why are there SO MANY sapphic holiday books that involve fake-dating the brother of the girl the MC ends up falling for??), this was well executed. The characters were all so easy to love, the pace was perfect, the spice (though brief) was good, and it made me both laugh and cry. The one thing I would’ve loved was for the bits of Ellie’s webcomic “Snow Day” to have actually included the art. It was very cool to read Ellie & Jack’s origin story through her eyes in that way, woven throughout the rest of the story, but it would’ve been so cool for the book to be part graphic novel in that way. I would love to see a special edition come out that included the webcomic as Ellie would’ve published it. 
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