Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun

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.

Fun, tropey, corny in a sweet way. It was nice to see some genuine character growth from both love interests.

Ellie has a perfect Christmas eve day/night with a woman who smells like bread, and then something goes awry which we have to wait to discover. A year later, she's lost her job as an animator and works at a coffee shop, and memories of this woman – Jack – linger. A rich guy asks her to marry him so he can inherit some money, and there's 200,000 in it for her. Cool, cool. When she meets his family, she finds out his sister Jacqueline is her ... well, you get it. She is trapped there for the next 8 days, including Christmas.

Ellie has horrible parents, and so she really falls for the whole family, other than the mostly absentee father, and so this all factors into what's at stake. Oh, and Andrew – her fiance – is planning on giving Jack half the money. No pressure.

Ellie and Jack had really nice chemistry and banter. The banter, across the board, was great. Alison Cochrun gives good banter. The grandmothers were the wacky old ladies you love to see. Ellie's friend Ari was everything! Could have used more Paul Hollywood – a dog, not the vaguely creepy handshake guy who really humiliated himself during Mexican Week.

The book is interspersed with out of sequence snippets of Ellie and Jack's magical Christmas, and those were very sweet. They also spend a night in a cabin together, and I loved that.

What didn't work for me is ... Okay, let me start by specifying Ellie made mistakes, but so did at least 3 other people ... what didn't work for me is how poorly Ellie was treated when the monetary aspect of the engagement came to light. Everyone was throwing stones in that glass house. Jack decides to be mad not just at not knowing this, but that hitting on/being attracted to her brother's fiance had made her feel bad. Okay? Why were you at peace with this minutes earlier? When Ellie told you she couldn't marry Andrew? But everyone is treating her as mercenary when she was in the process of walking away from the cash and when it was Andrew's idea. Jack kept a huge secret from Ellie the year before, which she never really apologized for, but has no patience for hearing Ellie out.

I get that we needed things to become a little dire just from a pacing standpoint, so it couldn't be easily sorted out, but the pile on didn't feel organic or make sense. Also, Ellie seems to be set up to be humbled, but since she wasn't exactly a font of ego to begin with, that was harsh. And then at the end there's a moment where she is humiliated, and the person who humiliates her – while the reaction that created the humiliation was valid – seems to find it a bit funny.

What the last portion of the book made clear is this was a story about fear holding Ellie back. I can't say this wasn't present, but when it's presented as THE thing, that didn't feel earned. I liked how she learned to take more chances, but I don't see a person who makes several of the choices she does as being as stuck as I'd have to believe her to be to really embrace this message.

Overall, this was a nice holiday read, with great banter, and a couple I rooted for. And I hope Ari gets a book!

I loved most of this book but the conflict really drove me crazy.
Why in the world is everything Ellie's fault?! Everyone immediately forgave Andrew for the fake engagement. And Jack was the one who was married the previous Christmas!