Kiss Her Once for Me: A Novel

Alison Cochrun

Nov 2022 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Winner of Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBTQ+ Romance
A Best New Holiday Romance by PopSugar, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, and more!

The author of the “swoon-worthy debut” (Harper’s Bazaar) The Charm Offensive returns with a festive romantic comedy about a woman who fakes an engagement with her landlord…only to fall for his sister.

One year ago, recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver had her dream job in animation and a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. But after a betrayal the next morning and the loss of her job soon after, she finds herself adrift, alone, and desperate for money.

Finding work at a local coffee shop, she’s just getting through the days—until Andrew, the shop’s landlord, proposes a shocking, drunken plan: a marriage of convenience that will give him his recent inheritance and alleviate Ellie’s financial woes and isolation. They make a plan to spend the holidays together at his family cabin to keep up the ruse. But when Andrew introduces his new fiancée to his sister, Ellie is shocked to discover it’s Jack—the mysterious woman she fell for over the course of one magical Christmas Eve the year before. Now, Ellie must choose between the safety of a fake relationship and the risk of something real.

Perfect for fans of Written in the Stars and One Day in December, Kiss Her Once for Me is the queer holiday rom-com that you’ll want to cozy up with next to the fire.

Ratings and reviews

Artist Ellie agrees to a marriage of convenience with millionaire Andrew—only to find that his sister Jacqueline is the hookup who broke Ellie's heart last Christmas. This is an engaging rom com that also deals with Ellie's struggles stemming from her precarious relationship with her selfish/narcissistic parents. Ellie and Jack are perfect for each other, despite the mistakes they make in keeping secrets. The ending was a little ambiguous, more HFN than HEA. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

4.5 stars — This one had so many unbelievably cute moments in it, and it was balanced perfectly by depth of character, and all those challenges so many of us deal with as adults. I loved how unique and REAL both of our MCs were. They weren’t perfect cookie cutter romance heroines, they were so perfectly themselves. Ellie was quiet, and anxious, and still being sucked in by her mother’s toxicity. She was curvy, and awkward, and awesome. Her struggles to overcome her fears of failure felt so

3.5* Kiss Her Once For Me was an entertaining, slighty angsty, somewhat frustrating read. I really liked the idea of the story, it just took me a little longer to become engaged than I hoped. And it wasn't as romcom-y as I thought it would be, mainly due to the fact that Ellie has a lot of stuff to deal with. I think that's part of the reason I didn't love this as much as I would have liked. I guess I was expecting a fun, messy, light-hearted romp & what I got was a heavuer story.

About the author

Alison Cochrun is a former high school English teacher and a current writer of queer love stories, including The Charm Offensive and Kiss Her Once for Me. She lives outside of Portland, Oregon, with two giant dogs, her small wife, and too many books. You can find her online at AlisonCochrun.com or on Instagram as @AlisonCochrun.