There was soooooo much I loved about this book! And I am so happy it lived up to the hype. This is the story of a fictionalized Bachelor, but really it is about so much more. Mental health. Trust. Representation. And really; what it means to love someone who is still learning how to take care and love themselves. There are books that do talk about the struggle of learning how to love yourself.... but so few that tackle the idea that it is possible to work on yourself, *and* be in love, and a great partner at the same time. Not to mention, I absolutely adore how Charlie is not the stereotypical Bachelor we're used to seeing on TV. He's shy, anxious, overthinks - and is truly relatable. His relationship with the women on the show are equally as endearing to read, and Dev & Charlie's chemistry jumps off the page.

Review posted to:https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

So much more than a Rom-Com!

Have you ever gone into a book expecting one thing and getting something else entirely? Well, that is exactly what happened to me when reading The Charm Offensive. I expected an LGBTQIA+ rom-com, and what I got was a book centering around acceptance, identity, mental health, self-esteem, self-love, sexual identity, romance, and of course, so much more.

To say that my cup runneth over while reading this one isn’t enough!

This book, my friends, captures ALL OF THE FEELS and centers around extremely important themes as well. What’s not to love?!

I adored the characters of Dev and Charlie, and couldn’t believe the sparks that flew between the two. What I also loved was how the relationship developed between these two, and how well they communicated. This is how relationships should be my friends!

While the premise of this novel sounds familiar: there’s a twist (it’s not just a dating show!) that will immediately make you laugh and smile, whether LGBTQIA+ rom-coms are your thing or not.

What I’m trying to say is that this book will just automatically make you CHEER FOR LOVE!

Huge props to Alison Cochrun for writing this fabulous story. Let me just say that I will read anything you write from here on out.
4.5 Fabulous Stars

Thank you to Isabel DaSilva, Atria Books, and NetGalley for the arc.

i heart reality tv with gays and knew i would absolutely love and devour this. and i did. dev and charlie were so so cute and wholesome and the rest of the characters were even better. angie was a queen, skylar was a queen, daphne was a queen, maureen was not ew. when the author said 'female friendships are always the best part' she was right because the female friendships absolutely went off.

*full, more detailed review to come a little later*

The Charm Offensive is a queer contemporary romance starring an unlikely pair brought together by strange circumstances. It is a sweet, hot story, and a promising debut from queer writer Alison Cochrun.

Dev fell in love with happily ever after as a boy, and now he makes real ones on TV, as one of the crew of a Bachelor-esque dating show. Unfortunately, Dev is nursing a broken heart going into this season, following his breakup with his long term boyfriend Ryan, who also works on the show. Dev is prepared to power through filming on comfort Oreos, until the season’s Prince Charming puts a snag in his plans.

Dev is used to handling the female talent, the contestants for the prince’s heart, while his ex takes care of the prince. Charlie is no ordinary prince. He’s uncomfortable being touched, he doesn’t play well to camera, and he nearly falls off his horse at the first shoot. Despite being angelically beautiful, Charlie is possibly the most awkward person to ever have a crown perched atop his golden curls. So, Dev is set the most challenging assignment of his career: Cyrano the prince of disaster through a compelling season of reality TV.

Both of the main characters are absolutely to die for- Charlie is an adorable disaster while Dev is an ultra-competent mess, and they compliment each other entirely. I love the mental health rep for both characters, and the queer rep as well. I think LGBTQ+ stories can sometimes be stymied by the “coming out” narrative but this one is all smooth sailing. I love Charlie’s emotional intelligence and his kindness, he’s what I want romance heroes to be like moving forward. Dev is so special, I love his realization about choosing himself and getting what he deserves.

The secondary characters are also amazing- my favorite was Parisa, but Jules is adorable and I hope she gets a book! I think any lover of queer stories will be a fan, but especially those who loved Red White and Royal Blue or Cat Sebastian fans.

The reviewer was provided with a copy of this book for review. You can purchase The Charm Offensive anywhere books are sold, or borrow it from your local library.

This book made me stay up way too late reading it in two days flat. It was so cute and lovely, featuring two people desperately working to be better for each other and take care of each other.... many good book sighs were made. Dev is a brokenhearted romantic after my own heart, Charlie is a neurodivergent sweetheart I wanted to hug.

I’m sure we’ve all been there, we’ve been wrapped up in some sort of reality tv show having to do with love, and dating. Who hasn’t?

If you indeed have been hooked by a season of The Bachelor or two, you’ll need this title on your radar.

We meet Dev, a true love believer, producer of the extremely popular show Ever After, where he makes the shots, creates love stories, and happily ever after. Until Charlie is casted as the main squeeze of the show but it’s not looking like he’s aligning with any of the contestants. Dev has got his work cut out for him. He’s determined to make a happily ever after for Charlie but Charlie has got to put in the work..

Little does Dev know, he won’t have to look too far for the perfect ‘The End’

Filled with romance, filled with quirky humor, relatable characters and important mental health topics.

This story touched me in more ways than one and filled my heart whole, I didn’t want this adventure to end!

Say hello to one of the most charming romances of the year!

This story addresses societal expectations, mental health, and sexual identity, all while following the cast and crew of a reality dating show. You will absolutely become emotionally attached to the characters in this book. The storyline is fast-paced, and the ending is PERFECT. ❤️

Recommended for fans of One to Watch or Red, White, and Royal Blue

The Charm Offensive is a novel that achieves something really unique. It takes a tried-and tired-trope of boy meets girl happily-ever-after, by completely throwing out the script and turning it into a boy meets boy love story. Add the background of reality television for a little drama and glitz and you have an epic love story.

Charlie is a tech wunderkind that has been tapped by his friend and assistant Parisa to go on Ever After, a Bachelor-esque reality show where woman vie for the chance to be the last one standing and be crowned as Charlie's "princess." Charlie is not really interested in a love story, but instead hopes to rehab his image and have a chance to be part of the tech world again. Months earlier, he experienced an anxiety induced attack that led his work colleagues to vote him out of his own company and left him blacklisted in the industry. Charlie is hoping to get his life back.

Dev is one of the producers of Ever After. A true romantic, Ever After is Dev's dream job. He has a true talent for organizing dates, challenges, and some of the most romantic moments on the show have been crafted by him. However, Dev has a hard time believing that he himself is worth a grand romantic gesture. Could Charlie, the show's reluctant star, actually be the one to show him what he's worth?

A fun, fresh, and exciting love story unfolds as well as one of the most compassionate, realistic, nuanced discussions of mental illness that I've seen in a novel. I highly recommend.

I gave this a four out of five stars. I really loved the characters, friendships, and romantic relationships. I really like the writing. I would totally recommend this to others. I loved the lgbt representation.

Reality tv is not my thing and I definitely didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did but here I am crying at the end and recommending this to everyone I know. The representation of mental health, queerness, and societal expectations is so perfectly presented in this book it really hits home. Please take the time to read the acknowledgements at the end too, they're beautiful and really worth it.

This book was described as ONE TO WATCH meets RED WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE, which were both five star reads for me (and maybe the first two romance novels I ever enjoyed?) so I had high high high expectations going into this one.

And it met allllll of them. Ya'll, I loved this book. It follows Dev, a producer on dating show "Ever After" who has always believed in fairy tales, and Charlie, the awkward tech wunderkind who has no idea how to woo the women who have been chosen as his contestants. It’s Dev’s job to teach Charlie how to fall in love, and the end result had me all 🥰😩

I’ve been reading more romances this year than I ever did in the past. It’s something about how uplifting many of the stories are, hopefully coupled with some depth and character development. I tend to switch off between heavier reads and lighter reads, too-a literary fiction book or a memoir and then a “palate cleanser”.

The Charm Offensive did everything that I love romances to do. The characters were well developed and their relationship developed in a believable way. I loved how queer it was. But the very best thing about it is the way it depicts mental health in the context of romantic relationships.

Dev struggles with depression, yet feels he must be on and be “fun Dev” for the outside world even when that means not letting people in to his world completely. Charlie experiences anxiety and panic attacks and OCD, and this has impacted his life for the longest time. It certainly impacts how he participates on the reality dating show that he’s on in this book.
The very best thing is the way the two of them are invested in and sensitive to each other throughout the book as the other experiences features of their mental health issues. They are curious and they mess up sometimes, but they want to help each other and be there.

Besides that, this book is just fun because it’s about a reality dating show gone awry.

I wouldn’t say this is my #1 favorite romance this year, but it was very good and got some things very very right!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria books for sending this lovely book my way in exchange for an honest review!

The Charm Offensive is the cutest book I have read all year. It is a male / male romance where Charlie gets picked as the star, or Prince Charming, of Ever After. Ever After is set up similarly to The Bachelor. Dev (pronounced Dave) works as a producer on Ever After and just ended a six year relationship with Ryan, who also works for Ever After. Charlie is supposed to be looking for his Princess... but it seems as though he might just find a Prince instead.

I appreciate the way this story was written because Charlie has OCD and anxiety disorder and Dev is struggling with depression. There are several other characters that have mental health issues and they get discussed throughout the book. I was rooting for Charlie and Dev from the beginning and although some parts were predictable, I didn't want to stop reading at any point and would not have imagined the ending the way it was written.

I highly suggest reading The Charm Offensive! This is a book I will be buying a physical copy of, so I can reread it over and over!

THIS WAS SO FLIPPING CUTE AND IT MADE ME SOO SMILEYYY! This is a super cute m/m romance where Charlie is the star of this dating show that is basically like The Bachelor, and instead of falling for any of the females on the show, he falls for the male producer, Dev. I loved this concept, the writing was adorable and this book held my attention from the beginning to end.

The bachelor is one of those shows for me, I will always watch it even though it is super cheesy. It’s like chocolate cake and ice cream for me, a guilty pleasure. I will never care how scripted it is, or how much drama there is, or how chaotic. This just brings me joy and it captivates my attention, just the way this author captivated it with this sweet story.

Also, this book deals with the presence of mental health beautifully. One of the characters has OCD and severe anxiety and the other deals with depression. I feel like it is so so important to see the presence of mental health in more books because so many people deal with mental health issues and they feel more alone the less awareness there is.

Overall such a cute story and I will be on the lookout for this authors other books!

A Huge thanks to Atria, Alison Cochrun and NetGalley for the ARC!! ❤️please pick this book up, you will not regret it.
Publish date: December 1st, 2021.

This is exactly the kind of book that should be published right now. The discussion of sexuality and mental illness, as well as the discourse on the impact of labeling each of those, are important and relevant for many adults. I enjoyed the character development immensely. Will definitely recommend

Such an adorable romcom. The plot was similar to One to Watch, but I enjoyed this one so much more. Things I loved: the banter and dialogue between the characters, the journey of self-discovery Charlie embarked on, the chemistry between Dev and Charlie and Cochrun’s covering of heavy topics such as OCD, anxiety and depression. Also, be sure to read the author’s notes at the end to see Cochruns personal connection to the story.

This was a sweet lgbtqiap+ rom-com that features a reality tv show that closely mirrors The Bachelor. The characters were extremely endearing and the steam factor was great. I'm not even a fan of The Bachelor but I felt like that aspect of the story was really interesting (and probably very accurate). I also loved the found family aspects of the crew on the show/the friends of the main characters was perfect as well. This story had widely diverse characters and covered some pretty serious topics about mental illness really tactfully.
My only con with this book was that I felt like we were kind of beat over the head with the reason that they kept giving for why they couldn't be together.

𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚:
“The Bachelor: Behind the Scenes”….but someone said…MAKE IT GAAAAY!!

𝑭𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑸𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆:
“Sexuality isn’t always a straight line from out-of-the-closet. You can take your time to explore and evolve…”

𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔:
This was a cute book! I loved that they not only focused on romance and self discovery, but they also included mental health.

I enjoyed the first half of this book, however literally halfway thru I lost interest. However this could be a me problem and not the authors fault. I’m a glutton for punishment. The main characters came to term with their feelings too soon!!!!!!! Like I know that’s what I want them to do!!!! But also like….I want to live in the agony that I put myself in.

However Dev and Charlie are goals! My boyfriend better watch his back ;)

This book absolutely rocked my world. I laughed, cried, and really felt all the feels. Charlie and Dev are absolutely beautiful characters and I thoroughly enjoyed their journeys. I appreciated the broad representation of gender and sexual identities portrayed in this cast, especially the representation of asexuality and demisexuality, as I feel this topic is rarely talked about or represented in literature. I also found the mental health representation to be so authentic and thoughtfully portrayed. I just adore this book!!

Thank you to Atria books for an advanced copy of The Charm Offensive! It was hard not to love this male/male romance between two charming, yet imperfect main characters, Charlie and Dev.

The background of this story is the show Ever After, which reads very similar to The Bachelor. Charlie is our "Prince" (aka Bachelor) and goes on the show wanting to rehab his professional image and get back to working in the tech industry after he has a falling out with the board of his company. Charlie suffers from OCD and anxiety, and this fact is depicted throughout the story. Dev is on the production side, and he and Charlie become very close off camera. Ever After does not go as planned, yet still serves up a delightful love story that is truly the most unexpected season ever!

This book is heavy on the mental health focus, and it is shown in a very authentic way. Dev and Charlie face a lot of obstacles throughout their love story, and they must confront a lot of harsh truths along the way. This novel is heartwarming and funny, and a refreshing new take on a love story!