Perth’s Queer Book Club has announced its December selection. This month club members will be picking up a copy of Alison Cochrun’s Kiss Her Once Me.
Cochrun is a former English teacher turned novelist who writes queer love stories. The Charm Offensive, Here We Go Again, and Every Step She Take are among her works. She lives in Portland Oregon with her wife and son.
Kiss Her Once For Me, which came out in 2022, was Cochrun’s second book and it won the Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBTQ+ Romance.
Here’s what the book is about.
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.
Everyone is welcome at Queer Book Club
Perth’s Queer Book Club is an initiative of GRAI: GLBTI Rights in Ageing, and was established after years of members of Perth’s LGBTIQA+ communities expressing a desire for a book club.
Each month a different selection of people turn up to the discussion, and it’s a welcoming space where people aren’t compelled to speak if they go along.
It starts of with everyone introducing themselves and sharing their pronouns, and everyone is asked to describe the book in just one word. Then a moderator starts the discussion with a few provocations, and you can chime in with your thoughts, or just listen to what everyone else has to say.
At the end of the session everyone rates the book using a unicorn scoring system, one unicorn means you weren’t a fan, while five unicorns shows some serious love.
The meeting will be on Wednesday 17th December from 6:00pm at Pride Piazza, 142 James Street, Northbridge. Find out more about the group at their Facebook page.
This month they’ll also be hosting a secret Santa between attendees and everyone is encourage to bring a long a wrapped book to give to another member.
