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My Review:Title: Kiss Her Once for Me
Author: Alison Cochrun
Published by: Atria Books
Release Date: November 1, 2022
Format: ebook
Pages: 366
Genres: Contemporary, Holiday, LGBT, Romance
Source: Overdrive
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2023 COYER Chapter 2, Lenoreo's 2023 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:
Blurb: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.
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 real, and even more so after reading the author’s note at the end. I loved how she was looking for a solution to make herself better, and as it is for so many of us, that solution is often found inside us. I loved that she had friends who came out of the woodwork to help her along in the end.
And Jack was so perfectly unique, and just as flawed. She was butch, and tall, and angular, and too loud, and always told she was too much and not enough. While we didn’t get her POV in this book, I still felt like I got to know enough of her through her interactions with Elle and her family. She had her own set of fears to overcome, and while I was worried for a bit there, she came through.
They were so…almost opposites, but they fit with one another. I truly felt their connection and chemistry, right from that first “episode”. Normally I’m not a fan of miscommunication, but this one was okay. It did get frustrating when Elle kept choosing wrong, but at least Jack didn’t always have perfect reactions either…they were both a work in progress on their own…and they needed to do a bit of that work before coming back to one another.
Lots of fun secondary characters in this one, from Elle’s friends Meredith and Ari, to Jack’s crazy family. They just added that extra something to make the story so much fun, but also support when needed.
I wish I’d had time to read this one at my normal pace, b/c I think I would have enjoyed it even more. But it still was the perfect holiday read, and I loved getting some more demi ace representation.
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