Kiss Her Once for Me

A Novel

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.

Critic reviews

"Naudus leans into the novel’s over-the-top silliness, voicing Ellie with a mixture of pent-up hurt and bubbly optimism. Naudus makes the banter between Ellie and Jack sparkle, gives both of Jack’s grandmas unforgettable no-nonsense voices, and delivers the emotional scenes with just enough feeling to make them seem real."

masterfully beautiful

romance books are not my typical book that I listen to or read often. occasionally, I'll cave and read/listen to one. this one was so full of emotion I found myself feeling all of ot from start to finish. I cried, I laughed, I got angry. all of it through the entire book. I loved it.

Surprisingly good!

So many sapphic books that I read are so cheesy and cliche but this was surprisingly different and charming. Loved it and will read again!

Sweet story

Liked the story and unpredictable nature. Also appreciated the mental health and gay pieces of the story.

Didn’t want this book to end!

Wow! I loved this book so much. The storyline is amazing and the narration is so good. I finished this one in a day. I couldn’t get enough and was even listening to it at work when I could. I’d definitely recommend this book.

Enjoyable!

I really enjoyed this one. I’m not a no big reader/listener to romances but I’ve recently been looking for some examples of well written sapphic romance. This one was above average. It did not play too heavy on stereotypes and it had representation of non-binary characters in a respectful way- appropriate pronouns were used with no questions

There were a couple descriptive phrases that got overused that annoyed me - “quarter-moon smile”. It wouldn’t have bugged me if it was just once or twice but it was a LOT more times that that.
The only other thing that irked me was the narrator a little bit when doing Jack’s voice. It sounded a little fake to me. It took me out of the story unfortunately. Not horrible- just a little irritating.