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A review by ginfizz
Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun
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
5.0
Kiss Her Once For Me is elements of all the best romantic comedies wrapped up like a gorgeous Christmas present. Vaguely based around While You Were Sleeping, it leans into the tropes of rom-coms while digging in deep emotionally with all the characters. There are so many opportunities to make the characters shallow or cruel or two-dimensional, and it bypasses all of them to give depth and heart to each one.
The book makes a nearly perfect Christmas romance. It balances ideas of the special magic of snow days or whether you're fated to meet someone with childhood wounds and letting fear, however earned or valid, control you. Ellie agrees to a ridiculous scheme not because she's a fool, but because she's desperate, and that gives her decision more validity than the mapcap shenanigans of a typical rom-com. She's written with great compassion and care, and a less earnest author might not have been able to pull off a character like Ellie. While you know some of her choices are bad, you understand why she makes them and you root for her to be able to make better ones in the future. And Jack, lovely, hopeful Jack, is absolutely a character you can imagine falling in love with in a day. She feels both magical and real, an apparition of a snow day and a firmly rooted person. How could you not fall in love with a 2000s pop-music obsession butch baker?
The arc of the romance was predictable in that perfect way rom-coms are — you know the general stops along the way, and the destination, but the emotional depth and chemistry of the characters is really what makes it worth the read. The city of Portland has such a big role in the book, and I love a story where the place matters and affects the course of the story. Even so much of the story being tied up with snow, which is incredibly rare and unusual for the area, sets the tone of the story as set apart and unique, even magical.
The book makes a nearly perfect Christmas romance. It balances ideas of the special magic of snow days or whether you're fated to meet someone with childhood wounds and letting fear, however earned or valid, control you. Ellie agrees to a ridiculous scheme not because she's a fool, but because she's desperate, and that gives her decision more validity than the mapcap shenanigans of a typical rom-com. She's written with great compassion and care, and a less earnest author might not have been able to pull off a character like Ellie. While you know some of her choices are bad, you understand why she makes them and you root for her to be able to make better ones in the future. And Jack, lovely, hopeful Jack, is absolutely a character you can imagine falling in love with in a day. She feels both magical and real, an apparition of a snow day and a firmly rooted person. How could you not fall in love with a 2000s pop-music obsession butch baker?
The arc of the romance was predictable in that perfect way rom-coms are — you know the general stops along the way, and the destination, but the emotional depth and chemistry of the characters is really what makes it worth the read. The city of Portland has such a big role in the book, and I love a story where the place matters and affects the course of the story. Even so much of the story being tied up with snow, which is incredibly rare and unusual for the area, sets the tone of the story as set apart and unique, even magical.