Kiss Her Once for Me: A Novel

Written by Alison Cochrun

Narrated by Natalie Naudus

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Nov 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781797150017

Alison Cochrun

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.

Reviews for Kiss Her Once for Me

[AnnaViki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Listen - some days we just need a snowey trope filled Christmas Romance fiction to make real life a little bit more bearable - and this book was exactly that. This book is all you favorite tropes in one place - but with the inclusive diverse representation one can't even dare to dream of. It's Christmas Romance meets found family meets all the queers and my heart couldn't be happier.

[Veronica Costas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Extremely sweet and funny! A novel one should definitely read!

[Carmie J · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I found this hard to listen too. The Mc has a lot of internal dialogue which is recorded very low . I had to turn up the volume very high to hear clearly but then the rest of the book is too loud and the back and forth just got annoying. So I dnf

[Andrea Author · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Struggling artist Ellie agrees to a marriage of convenience with real estate millionaire Andrew—only to discover that his sister Jacqueline is the hookup who broke Ellie's heart the previous 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 of an HFN than an HEA.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Marce Pérez · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Muy buena me gustó mucho. Recomendado para cualquiera. 5 estrellas

[ForFor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The narrator of this story really carried it for me, if not for their excellent reading, I probably wouldn't have gotten past the first few chapters on my own, but I got invested the more I listened!

[Jada Yan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Made me laugh, made my cry. Loved the writing style and placement of each event. Great work by Alison Cochrun

[Sarah · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Not just a holiday romcom. This book is warm and cozy, but deep and it hits hard. It’s full of purpose and characters that will stay with you.

[Kelsey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cute, mildly spicy holiday read. Mildly graphic. Definitely for romance lovers.

[rae · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

SINCE WHEN HAVE CHRISTMAS BOOKS BEEN THIS FANTASTIC?? I CRIED I CRIED I CRIED… I AM ELLIE

[Bae Milanes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sooooo good. Right level of spice and sweet. I love Jack’s character!

[Katalina Chuprine Sisfontes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love the formating and the way the two timelines were told. The end felt kind of rushed, but very consistent with the story, so I couldn't even be mad about it.

Overall, I gave it 4.5 stars.

[Rian K · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As Mary Berry would say: sheer perfection. I want a family like the Kim-Prescott’s and I want a love like Jack and Elle.

[Lilly · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Kiss Her Once for Me" by Alison Cochrun follows Ellie Oliver who enters into a fake engagement but meets his sister again who she fell in love with a year ago when she lost her dream job but falls in love again.

I would "Kiss Her Once for Me" by Alison Cochrun a 5-star review because, 1; this is, my first Christmas romance that I loved, 2; I really loved LGBTQ+ romance 3; I liked how the Christmas aspect wasn't really the main part of the story 4; the writing was wonderful and 5; I loved the setting.

[Melissa Brewer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love love backdrop of Portland Oregon and that book and I love that it was a very unconventional love story so I would definitely recommend it

[jamie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Humor, romance, WLW!
This book grabbed me from the start. The story unfolds in a humorous and impactful way with just the right amount of angst. I found myself laughing out loud and shouting advice to Ellie often. Jac and Ellie and all the characters are engaging and lovable. And, the narration by Natalie Naudus was perfection. A must listen!

[Lynn Anne · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Yes to all the representation especially the Brideheads. Yes to a queer love story set during the holidays and a double hooray to my Jack because I adore her and her girlfriend!!!

[Taryn Johnson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was a very boring story. I did not care for any of the characters. It wasn’t very charming or funny. I kept waiting for something to happen. The ending was very predictable and disappointing.

[Daniela Cabarcas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

so adorable and the yearning from these two was palpable!

[brenda · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good seasonal feel good romance, aside from the constant need to shove pronouns down my throat it was a good read. I of course want a more happier ending with no questions left but over all. Cute, heart warming and very much “ugh kiss already” moments.

[Skyler Stuckwish · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was so so so good. I love fake dating and Christmas stories.

[Brittney Hibdon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely loved this book. I laughed so many times. It had its tropes but really took it to another level and the characters had wonderful growth and made sense with the way they acted. Perfect.

[Kelsea Moore · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow. I love this book so much. An amazing queer romance that’s NOT about coming out! The MC Ellie is a bisexual, demisexual, artist with a general social anxiety disorder. It’s nice to see a story with multiple layers of a person. Trans characters with other characteristics and interests than being transgender. A masc lesbian who bakes and is a softie while calling out stereotypes. There was barely any homophobia family except for an old dead grandfather. This is a beautifully written story with depth and emotion as well as humor and longing for a family. I laughed, cried, and fell in love with these characters. Even if they frustrated me for a bit with their stubbornness but that made it realistic. This book made me reflect and ask myself the same questions Ellie was asking herself. The character development in this book was amazing as well. It wasn’t a flip of a switch and it wasn’t instantaneous. I will definitely read more by this author. 10 ⭐️

[Jude · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“It’s always the fucking hope that gets me.” Ellie Oliver fell in love on Christmas Eve with a woman she’d known only for a day. Fast forward a year later and she agrees to get fake-engaged to a guy so he can claim his inheritance only to find out his sister is the woman Ellie hasn’t been able to get over since their magical snow day.

Let me start this review by saying that Natalie Naudus’s narration is as delightful as I expected it to be. I didn’t read the book before I listened to it so I don’t know if I would have liked it as much if I had and I don’t really care except that I have noticed that I tend to enjoy mainstream books more often in audio than when I read them (with a few exceptions). Either way, this audiobook would get my 5-star rating for its narration even if I hadn’t liked the story as much as I did.

The narration isn’t the only thing I loved, however. The characters. All the characters. Ellie and Jack, Andrew and Dylan, Ellie’s best friend(s), Jack and Andrew’s mom, the grandmothers… The twists on tropes: rich girl/poor girl but not really, fake romance but not really, second chance but not really… There’s mental health and neurodiversity representation – Jack’s ADHD, Ellie’s general anxiety disorder – and BIPOC representation – Jack is of Korean descent. The central romance arc is obviously sapphic but there’s also nonbinary and pansexual rep. The family dynamics on both sides are messed up in very different ways but I loved most of Jack’s family, the warmth, the love, the willingness to do better.

I read a few reviews by readers who rolled their eyes at the miscommunication, as I often do, yet in this case, it didn’t feel like miscommunication to me. Probably because most of the story happens over a very short period of time and while I believe instalove is real (even if it might take a bit longer to realize that it is, indeed, love), feeling secure enough to communicate takes time, especially when you have anxiety and panic attacks. Since the story is told from Ellie’s point of view, it made sense to me.

There are a few repetitions that I think might have been annoying in writing but they disappeared in the flow of the narration. And I enjoyed the longing and pining so much that I probably wouldn’t have been overly bothered anyway.

It’s possible I’m overrating a little but I didn’t want this audiobook to end and that’s worth all the stars to me.

[Eva Szalma · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I just hope that one day we get over this whole pronoun nonsense. 3 stars for having a male "lesbian".