This was a book that I struggled to get into, but ultimately ended up really enjoying. I am not one for shows like The Bachelor, but I really enjoyed One to Watch, so I wanted to read this one. I really liked Dev and Charlie's story once I got into it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Alison's debut queer romance novel was a beautiful and breezy book that would be perfect by the pool, by the beach, or in a log cabin in the mountains. It was a quick, easy read and was written well enough to be such. I appreciated the nuanced way that the author approached the love between Dev and Charlie. I would recommend this to anyone interested in reality TV and queer rom-coms.

In a recent onslaught of Bachelor inspired romance novels, The Charm Offensive still manages to feel unique. Great representation, especially when (loosely) based on a reality show that is overwhelmingly straight. I'm looking forward to reading more from Cochrun.

I have thought to myself almost every time I picked up this book “Why the heck did you wait so long?” Huge mistake. I loved everything about this. I read our authors previous novel ‘Kiss Her Once For Me’ first and it got me thinking that I thought I had a copy of this on Netgalley. Sure enough! I was so excited. Better late than never right. It is also my understanding there is a short novella that follows this book too, a holiday or winter follow up I believe. If you’ve read it let me know your thoughts.

This book has every representation to me that makes up a really great Romance. And I don’t think I’m the only one because I think this got the Goodreads choice award for romance. So if this one is on your TBR and you haven’t gotten to it yet get on it.

The representation for the LGBTQIA+ community is fantastic in this book. It also has great representation and discussion around attraction and romantic orientation. It delves into family support along with the absence of it. This book also has very accurate and realistic portrayals of mental health along with discussion around therapy, medications and different forms of treatment.

These characters are great. The story line is very imaginable as it somewhat follows the premise of ‘The Bachelor’. I can’t think of anything I wasn’t happy with in terms of this book. Absolutely 5 glowing stars.

A giant thank you to our author, Netgalley and Atria Books | Simon & Schuster for providing me with an eGalley copy of the book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This was published on September 7th, 2021 and I hope if you choose to read it you love it also.

Dev believes in fairytales and happily ever after. Charlie does not.
Dev believes in his reality dating show. Charlie does not.
The catch is that Charlie is the one on dating show and Dev is the one behind the scenes as Charlie's handler. Charlie is trying to improve his personal image and thought faking it wouldn't be too hard but he's coming to realize that pretending to look for love in front of the cameras is more than he bargained for. Thankfully he has Dev to hold his hand throughout the process. But what happens when that is the hand he wants to keep holding beyond filming?
I loved the representation present in the book. I loved the main characters and side characters (Parisa gets and A+ from me). I even appreciated the contribution to the story by the evil producer. Give this one a chance if you want a queer romance that tackles mental health while also being a love story.

This book deserves ALL the stars for the way in which it represented mental health and sexuality. It was such an incredible and realistic description of the internal thoughts and struggles that people go through when trying to discover themselves, and stories like this are so important.

Charles Winshaw is a hot shot tech business owner who needs his reputation fixed so he becomes a contestant on the reality dating TV show “Ever After”. Charlie is supposed to choose a wife from the 20 eligible women who have come on the show in hopes of being his princess, but Charlie unexpectedly falls for his producer, Dev, which only confuses his feelings and intentions with the show even more.

There were very minor things that bothered me with this book. The chapters were insanely long, and even though we got different perspective switches throughout the long chapters to break it up, with both perspectives being in the third party narrative the internal voices of both Charlie and Dev felt very similar and I often found myself getting confused on who’s perspective I was reading. But I absolutely adored their chemistry together. Their banter, the way they supported each other, the way they were vulnerable with each other, the way they both wanted to get healthier for the other. I don’t know if I could love this book and these characters more than I do!!

Why did I wait so long to read this amazing romance by Alison Cochrun! The Charm Offensive is an amazing romance that will have you on the edge and you won't be able to put the book down. Takes place during the filming of a reality show like the Bachelor with a focus on the show's current bachelor and a staff member who works behind the scenes. I LOVED the mental and emotional health journeys of both Dev and Charlie. Also, love how Cochran handles the uniqueness of how each person's brain works. 5 star read from me!

Alison Cochrun is my spirit animal. Her personal story. Her writing. The characters she creates are nothing short of perfect. She creates neurodivergent characters and makes them into people you truly love and root for. I'm having an actual book hangover wishing Dev and Charlie were real people and I could follow their new joint insta. 😏

Five stars truly isn't enough praise for this superb book. The fake Bachelor was just an added story bonus. Seeing the behind the scenes and following the characters across the globe was extra goodness! Ill forever think of Charlie and Dev, and I'm impatiently waiting on Alison's next work of art. ❤

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

Thank you to Alison Cochrun, Atria Books, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I just love Alison Cochrun's writing. Full stop. It's so fun and well thought out. And the representation is *chef's kiss*! I really enjoyed Charlie and Dev's journey. The shared bed trope, fake dating (of a sort), and turning a well-known reality show on its head was all delightful!

relatable characters, humorous dialogue, and heartwarming romance, While the pacing can sometimes feel slow and the plot predictable, overall, The Charm Offensive is an enjoyable and entertaining read that will leave you smiling long after you've turned the final page

I really enjoyed this book. Charlie was extremely relatable as I have anxiety as well and to see a character with panic attacks felt very comforting. Such a cute story! Thank you!

Sooo good! One of my faves to read! Definitely would recommend picking this one up if you see it in the store

Dev and Charlie have a love story worth ALL the swoons! I loved the bachelor franchise-esqe feel of the book. As a huge bachelor fan, I felt like I was getting a backstage pass to everything going on behind the scenes of Ever After. I loved the queer representation in the book and the character growth of each character was beautiful to watch. The supporting characters all played such an important role too. I particularly loved Parisa, Jules and even Ryan towards the end. The ending seemed very rushed to me though, and I wanted to savor it more! This was a humorous, real, not too smutty, and authentic novel. I’d love a Parisa spin off too!

As a thank you to @netgalley and the publisher (@atriabooks ) I wrote this review of Alison Crochun’s debut novel "The Charm Offensive” . I throughly enjoyed this from beginning to end. The writing, pace of the story and characters ( Dev and Charlie )held my intrigue till the very end. The story held representation to Ace, Queer, Sapphic individuals, relationships, and explored facets of mental health such as obsessive compulsive disorder and major depressive disorder. This meet cute, reality television competition romance is certainly one to lookout for if you are a fan of Alexis Hall and Casey Mc Quiston. I gave this novel a strong four out of five stars on goodreads.

I am definitely not the biggest fan of reality tv. I was a little apprehensive when going into this but I really loved the synopsis. The chemistry between Dev and Charlie was fantastic and I loved the story,

The Charm Offensive is everything I love in a sweet LGBTQ+ romance. A will-they, won't-they with periods of self discovery. It's the type of book that makes you grin from ear to ear and sit on the edge of your seat. I would gladly ready anything by Alison Cochran again.

This will definitely be a book I recommend to others.

I enjoyed this book in the beginning, but there were some flaws that really prevented me from enjoying it all the way through. I felt like the miscommunications and misunderstandings between the main characters were unnecessary. There is already enough tension in their romance considering their circumstances -- Charlie is supposed to fall in love with one of the women on the show, and Dev is contractually forbidden from having a romance with him. Hiding it could have been the central tension of the book, and they don't even do a very good job hiding it. It felt really unbelievable that they each thought the other didn't have strong feelings for them, and it took me out of the romance. The conversations about sexuality and mental health, while informative, felt a little canned. They didn't seem like natural conversations that real people would have. Dev believing in the reality of reality tv after working in it for so long was also difficult to believe. I felt like Dev's race and culture were an afterthought. There is certainly a place for narratives where characters "just happen" to be not white, as in, the story isn't about race. However, racialized people are impacted all the time by the racism that's built into our society, and I felt like perhaps the book could have used an Indian-American consultant to help with Dev's development. I think there is a lot in this book for a lot of people, but the reality tv romance novel has been done better, and there are also better queer interracial romances out there. I was underwhelmed.

I absolutely adored this book! Such a fun, sweet rom com. Perfect for any reality tv fan especially when you've fantasized about breaking the "reality tv" rules and making a real, true love story.

If one of your guilty (or not so guilty) pleasures is the Bachelor universe, this book should be at the top of your list. It's a queer and romantic delight with down to earth and relatable characters that you'll truly be rooting for. This is definitely going to stay at the top of my favorite romances list. 4.5 Stars.

What if the star of The Bachelor turned out to be queer? And fell in love with his behind-the-scenes producer/handler? You'd get this book. There were some parts I didn't like such as how BUTTHEADED Charlie and Dev were multiple times, but the last couple chapters saved it for me.