I absolutely adored this ‘sapphic road trip rom-com about death’ (as Alison Cochrun pitched this book to her agent)! It was such a cute best friends-to-enemies-to-maybe lovers romance, with messy, relatable characters who went on a journey both literally, across the country, and internally, learning a lot about themselves.

The story follows the two small town high school teachers Logan and Rosemary, who used to be best friends growing up, but now hate each other. The one thing they still have in common is their love for their former high school teacher and mentor (father figure), Joe. To fulfil his dying wish, they end up on a road trip across the country together. In a gay van. With a fake emotional support dog.

This book had so many of the tropes I love the most – enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn romance, second chances, forced proximity and found family. I loved the extravagant Joe and his love and support for Logan and Rosemary (and all his pupils over the years) and his scheming to make them forgive each other for past wrongs. Rosemary was the sweetest, and I ached for her struggles to cope with and hide her anxiety from others. Logan was a loud, messy, dumbass fuckboy, but I loved her anyway. Especially as we got to see more of her abandon fears after being left by her mother at a young age.

“Hurt first, so she’ll never be hurt at all.
Leave first, so no one ever leaves her.
Careful, not careless.”

This book was the perfect mix of pain and humor, grief and joy, miscommunication and finding love when you need it the most! I adored Joe and his old love story was the sweetest. I loved the dignity that Alison Cochrun gave it and that it wasn’t made into something too cheesy.

My only minor complaints are that the lack of communication and the old conflict became a bit repetitive in the middle, and that the overuse of pop culture references and the f-word in the middle of famous persons names as an exclamation (like ‘Kristin fucking Stewart’) was somewhat annoying.

But all in all, this was such an adorable, sweet, tender, witty and heartfelt story with the right amount of depth and emotions. It’s a story that deals with difficult topics, like death, mental health, and commitment issues in a both honest and fun way at the same time. Highly recommended!

Rating:
4.5 stars rounding up to 5

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​Author info:
Alison Cochrun

This is the perfect queer Christmas romcom—fun, sweet, heartwarming and with amazing characters and representation. A cute read with the right amount of depth and anxiety mixed with hilarious banter and winter coziness.

I was a bit nervous to read this one, since Alison Cochrun’s first book, The Charm Offensive, is one of my all time favorites. But I needn’t have worried, I thoroughly enjoyed Kiss Her Once For Me. It may not be exactly as amazing as The Charm Offensive, but then again, not many books are… and it was definitely an absolutely wonderful read!

It had all the right vibes, adorable characters, a sapphic romance and tropes like fake dating and typical romcom ingredients like miscommunication and not realizing that your love interest feels the same way about you.
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The story follows twenty-something Ellie, who had all of her future planned out, but who suddenly finds herself without a job, 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 the shocking, drunken plan that they should get married to get access to his inheritance and solve Ellie’s financial problems all in one. As part of the plan, they spend the holidays together at Andrew’s family cabin. There’s just one little problem… the meet-cute Ellie had last year with a mysterious woman named Jack turns out to be Andrew’s sister. And the feelings Ellie still has for Jack are not in any way fake…

I absolutely adored Andrew, his hilarious grandmothers and Jack, as well as the flashbacks to Ellie’s and Jack’s perfect day the year before. At times, I was a little annoyed by Ellie’s inability to take initiatives and how she let her perfection-anxiety get in the way of her own happiness, but at the same time, those personality traits were truly relatable and also made me root more for her.

All in all, Kiss Her Once For Me was a sweet and heartwarming sapphic romance with perfect Christmassy vibes and coziness! 

Rating:
4.5 stars rounding up to 5

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​Author info:
Alison Cochrun

This was such a marvelous read! It had the same wonderful queer, fun and adorable romcom vibes as Red, White & Royal Blue, but it was also filled with some truly great mental health representation. But most of all, it had one of the most precious main characters ever! Charlie stole my heart from the very first moment I met him, and as the story went on I only loved him more. I stayed up all night to read this book, just as completely hooked as I was the first time I read RWARB!

The story is about Dev Deshpande, who is a hopeless romantic, but also a producer for a cynical The Bachelor kind of reality show called “Ever After”, who never succeeds in finding love for himself. When the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as the Prince Charming, this season turns into something very different.

Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming the show expects. He doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. But most of all, he’s nothing like the confident billionaire playboy the media image has made him into, but is socially awkward, anxious, suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, afraid of being touched and possibly being on the asexual spectrum. Not the best premises for dating twenty women on national television… Especially when he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of the female co-stars…

I absolutely loved this adorable story about falling for the absolutely wrong person! It was full of humor, witty banter, hilarious situations and with the great twist to turn a reality dating show into a gay romance. And the wonderful and relatable characters with so many flaws, over-the-top feelings and vulnerability. Charlie totally stole my heart and the chemistry between him and Dev was amazing! I loved it every time they were together - from their first awkward interactions to their vulnerable moments together – it always made me smile and root for their happy ending.

But what truly made this book so special was the mental health representation. The realistic and genuine way in which Charlie and his anxiety, OCD and panic disorders, as well as Dev’s depression, were portrayed was just amazing. The beautiful way in which Alison Cochrun included these parts into the story really helps normalize mental health issues and made me love the characters even more.
It was just one scene where Dev didn’t stand up for Charlie and the somewhat cowardice way he behaved in the part leading up to the end that I didn’t really appreciate. And even though I’m very happy with the ending itself, it felt a bit rushed.

But those are just tiny, tiny, tiny complaints. All in all, this was a completely adorable, sweet, tender, witty, thoughtful and devastatingly heartfelt story about finding your forever-love, dealing with mental health issues and being true to who you are. It’s a story that deals with difficult topics in a both honest and fun way at the same time, and I cannot recommend it enough! It’s absolutely marvelous!

Rating:
5 stars

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​Author info:
Alison Cochrun