Whew, I needed this adorable read right now! Lately I've been reading some duds and this was a great change from that. It's a bachelor style reality show where the leading man falls for his producer, such a cute premise! Add in that it's a gay romance and I'm hooked already.

Dev loves working on Ever After because he believes in true love and likes seeing couples get together. Charlie has never been attracted to anyone but is going on the show as a way to show his old company that he can appeal to investors and pass as neurotypical. From the beginning, Dev knows just how to talk to Charlie when he's panicking and makes him feel safe. The guys had a great connection and as it grows, it's clear they're meant to be.

I thought this was fun, sweet, and an easy read. There are some explicit romance scenes and language as this is catered to an adult audience.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the copy.

First of all I would like to thank net galley for access to a digital arc of this book. When I first heard the description of the story I was locked in, the idea of the bachelorette/bachelor where the bachelor actually falls for a producer? That’s a show that I would watch. So why not read the book? I really liked the characters, they were able to be easily discernible but It did feel a little one dimensional in some moments. Overall it was a very fun sort of romp, simple romcom. I would love to read more in this style. My final rating will be 4.25/5

Loved it! The characters have stuck with me after finishing the book. It was delightful. I appreciated that the main characters weren't neurotypical.
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I was provided a free advance ebook copy through NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4200342475?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

5 of 5 stars

What you'll find in The Charm Offensive:

1. Representation of a plethora of colors of the rainbow;
2. Humor that ranges from smart to sharp to ridiculous to heartbreaking;
3. Behind-the-scenes view of reality television; and
4. Raw depictions of mental illness.

I love every word of this story and didn't want it to end. I enjoyed the story notes at the end of each week. They add something extra to the romance story and give more insight into the world of reality TV.

Each character, no matter how big or small a part they play in the story, are rich, fully developed, and serve a purpose. There are no "filler" characters here.

Dev and Charlie will forever hold a special place in my heart. Each are multi-dimensional and so real that I can easily imagine meeting people like them in real life.

***Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.***

4.5 rounded up! The rumors are true, this book is delightful. Of all the Bachelor-adjacent books that have come out in the last couple of years, this is definitely my favorite. One to Watch is a close second, but as I told a friend, "this one is gay and covers mental health, so it wins."

The characters in this were really great. Dev and Charlie were incredible, but the side characters in this were also amazing and I would love to spend more time in this universe. Charlie's journey was a little #tooreal and I really appreciated the way that this book talked about sexuality and acceptance. The mental health rep here is also so incredibly well-done, Charlie's anxiety really hit the nail on the head and Dev's depression I think will make an impact on a lot of people. I loved the discussion of mental health as just HEALTH! The LGBTIA rep was really awesome too-- a lot of queer characters that just were, which we love to see!

There's also so much YEARNING in this book. Dev and Charlie's relationship goes on quite a journey in this book that kind of circumnavigated the normal romance tropes, which I thought was really refreshing. The workplace storyline was also really well done and threw some good shade on the Bachelor franchise, which I am always here for.

A very sweet book and I look forward to Cochrun's next release!

This book was hilarious, adorable, and definitely put me in my feelings! Dev is a producer on a Bachelor-esque reality dating show and gets assigned to deal with the season’s lead, a brilliant but awkward tech bro who unlike Dev, does not believe in fairy tale love, and only come on the show to rehab his image. What ensues throughout the course of filming is a hilarious and sweet story full of queer representation and serious discussions of mental health. I enjoyed this book so much and highly recommend it!

Thanks to NetGalley & Atria for the digital ARC of this book!

To start with – I ADORED both of the MC’s in this story: Charlie and Dev are both a bit ‘lost boy’, with their own individual issues of anxiety, depression, OCD, family struggles and romantic dearth, and while Dev is successfully producing a “bachelor-like” dating show, he’s managed to play within his love for happily ever after and fairy tales to great effect. Charlie, however, is the latest disgraced tech wunderkind - and the show is simply an attempt to revamp his image and regain some of his confidence – which has taken a massive hit.

Throughout the story (and it is a formulaic rom com, without huge deviations from the tried and true) we get to know both Dev and Charlie, see them with all their struggles, their attempts to deal with their own mental health issues and challenges, and the chemistry between the two that is hard to deny, even though twenty eager women are clamoring for Charlie’s attention and highlights from the cameramen and women on set.

What Cochrun has done here is create two very real, very appealing and engaging characters that you want to root for – despite the oddity of their initial meeting and the cross-purposes that fate (and their obvious attraction to one another) has for them. With plenty of moments to discuss and share tactics for dealing with both anxiety and depression: making many of the challenges and quirks easy to recognize and accept, the story goes from one high point to another as we see the two develop a friendship, then a relationship until all is as it should be in their world. A lovely, surprisingly deep story that resonates with finding your dream man in the midst of your often contrived fairy tale setting, and just how satisfying that can be.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aYg /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

I finished reading THE CHARM OFFENSIVE by Alison Cochrun ( @alisoncochrun ) last night and to say that I LOVED it, is an understatement. I give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

This is LGBTQIA, neurodivergent, and diverse, contemporary romance/rom-com that we all need in our reading lives.

Dev Deshpande is best producer/handler on the reality dating show, Ever After. He has loved this show and the fairytale ending of love it promises since he was 10 years old. He refuses to believe it is “fake”. Even though he just ended a SIX YEAR relationship with his co-worker, Ryan.

Charlie Winshaw is a tech millionaire who needs to rehabilitate his image so he can get the job he loves back. He is also Ever After’s next Pince Charming! OMG y’all, clusterf%#! does not begin to describe how Charlie is when he first starts filming. That is until Dev becomes his handler.

Dev and Charlie connect right away. Dev recognizes and validates Charlie’s mental health issues and helps him work on them in order to make it through the show. Similarly, Charlie recognizes and validates Dev’s mental health issues and helps him through them.

Because Charlie is such a disaster of a contestant, the show has Dev living with Charlie, essentially being with him 24/7. Dev and Charlie go on “practice dates” to help Charlie be less awkward during the “real” thing on TV. And they have developed a true friendship. In fact, Charlie realizes that he has better chemistry with Dev than the beautiful women who are vying for his love.

I would be remiss not to mention the fabulousness that is Charlie’s best friend and publicist, Parisa!!! Y’all, we all need a Parisa in our lives. As well as Dev’s production assistant, and BFF, Jules! These two women are integral to this story being as wonderful as it is!

But what we all want to know is, will Charlie end up picking one of the contestants to be his happily ever after, or will he shock us all?

You will experience a roller-coaster of emotions while reading this one. But I truly believe it is worth it!

This was such an amazing read. I had so much fun and just enjoyed every second.

I love how real and flawed the characters were. They were both such a mess in their own way, but when they were spending time together it was like they just smoothed eachother edges and fit together in a harmonious way. Watching them fall in love with eachother was so sweet and I absolutely couldn't put this book down.

Having lived around family members with anxiety I thought the rep for it was good. I felt it really showed how it's something that's uncontrolable and people who deal with anxiety have to power through and find coping mechanisms to help with those really bad attacks. I also loved just how supportive Dev was shown to be, it's how I feel everyone should be when dealing with anxiety/panic attacks.

Dev's struggle through the book is also really relatable to me, mostly for where I am in my life. He has a hard time with the way he's feeling about Charllie and how it relates to his job, which leads to him questioning what he's doing with his life and how he got in the position he find himself in. Wondering what to from there and where to go.

This book did a lot for me and I think it molded it all together well.

4.5 stars.

The Charm Offensive was adorable. I can’t resist a “The Bachelor”-esque reality TV premise, and seeing this was a LGBTQ story as well? SIGN ME UP.

Charlie is a socially awkward tech genius who is on this dating show to get back into the tech world after a problem at his previous company. He’s there to “fall in love” with one of his female contestants but instead finds himself falling for his producer, Dev.

What was so great about The Charm Offensive is how it discusses and deals with mental health. It’s such a big part of this story, but instead of taking away from the romance, it adds to it. Charlie has lived most of life with OCD and anxiety and throughout The Charm Offensive, he emotionally grows and discovers that he (and everyone who struggles with mental health) is worthy of being loved.

Both Dev and Charlie make mistakes but they both grow from them. I loved how the characters were so fleshed out and we got to know them so well. It made it so easy to root for their happily ever after.

I loved The Charm Offensive and I’ll be watching for more from Alison Cochrun.

Thank you to NetGalley for the review copy.

This book was everything I needed and more.

The book spoke about the spectrum of asexuality, disabilities, being compassionate, the idea of identity and how it’s not a race to find yours, friends that become family and love all the parts of you, and a romance that had me swooning from the moment it began. And if that doesn’t convince you? If you’re a dating reality show person, this gives us all those vibes.

Here are some quotes I loved:

For people who need support in their search for identity/belonging:
“You’re not obligated to figure it out, or come out, or explain yourself to anyone ever. But also labels can be nice sometimes. They can give us language to understand ourselves and our hearts better. And they can help us find a community and develop a sense of belonging.”

For people who have struggles with love:
“You’re deserving of a relationship in whatever way you want it.”

For those who care too much:
“He doesn’t have to be everything for everyone all the time.”

For people who are often too hard on themselves:
“You’re so good at seeing other people. I wish you could see yourself.”

For those with us with disabilities seen and unseen:

“Charlie hasn’t met many people like this— people who don’t make assumptions about you when they discover your brain also want work like theirs: people who don’t judge you; people who simply stay with you and ask what they can do to help.”

I hope this book allows another group of people to see themself and I hope you fall in love like I did!

The Charm Offensive falls into the growing and popular category of rom-coms about The Bachelor/Bachelorette reality show. As a long time, begrudging, fan of the show I can confidently say I would way prefer to watch Dev & Charlie’s love story any day.

What I especially appreciated about this book was it’s inclusion of what felt to me realistic representation of mental health struggles. I loved that they weren’t parts of the characters that needed to be fixed, but rather acknowledged and cared both by the person, their loved ones and of course through therapy. I also really loved how sexuality and identity were handled in the story. It gave me all the warm fuzzies to read along as Dev and Charlie fell in love, and it especially made me happy that their love didn’t exist on a strict binary. The story didn’t depict Charlie as straight or gay, but rather as someone who had never experienced deep romantic connection and how exciting it was for him to experience it with Dev. It was just so lovely.

I cannot recommend this book enough if you're a Bachelor fan and even if you’re not!

Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the e-copy!

When Dev is assigned as handler for Charlie, the awkward new Prince Charming on a reality tv show selling happily-ever-afters, he promises to help him fall in love. But neither of them expect to fall in love with each other.

At times sweeping, dramatic, and over the top (we love to see it), The Charm Offensive still found space amid the glitter for quiet moments of imperfect humanity, for new realizations about sexuality, and the reality of mental health struggles. But most importantly, the reminder that everyone deserves happiness and love, just as they are.

Dev Deshpande believes in fairy-tale love and he tries to help the process along as a producer on a long-running dating show, Ever After. Dev knows that a lot of what happens on the show is managed by production, but he also believes it can lead to real, lasting love and it is his dream job being a part of it. Normally, Dev is a handler for a group of “princesses” (i.e., the female contestants vying for the love of the “prince”), but this latest prince needs a lot of extra help. Given Dev is the best producer they have, he is tasked with getting Charlie Winshaw camera ready. Unfortunately, while Charlie is wealthy and gorgeous as sin, he is also anxious, awkward, and completely uncomfortable with the entire process.

Charlie took this gig as the Ever After prince for one reason only: to rehab his reputation and regain his job in the tech industry. Charlie is a genius who founded his company as a young wunderkind, but he was recently kicked out for being perceived as too difficult. Now, no other tech companies want to touch him, and Charlie is hoping going on TV as a hot, eligible bachelor will help reaffirm that he can be calm, polished, and confident. Unfortunately, Charlie is so out of his comfort zone on Ever After that he can’t even begin to project the image he needs. Charlie has OCD, panic attacks, and anxiety, and being in front of a camera with people touching him all the time and having to pretend to want to date any of these women seems impossible.

Fortunately, Dev has a way about him that soothes Charlie and helps make it easier for him to navigate the reality show process. With Dev, Charlie feels like he can be himself, without judgment. Dev seems to accept all the parts of Charlie that everyone else ridicules or finds exhausting, giving Charlie more confidence. The two become close friends, spending all their down time together during filming, and later, traveling the world as the show takes its contestants to various global locations. As their friendship builds, both Dev and Charlie begin to realize there is more between them. Charlie has never really experienced attraction to anyone, so he never thought of himself as anything but straight. He still isn’t sure quite how to label himself, but he knows that he wants Dev. For Dev, his attraction to Charlie was near immediate, but he knows there is no way things can work between them. The men are not allowed to date one another under terms of their contracts. Not to mention that Charlie’s contract requires that he propose to one of the princesses and stay engaged for 6 months following the show. Now Charlie and Dev have fallen hard for one another and all they want is each other, but with the obligations of the show standing in the way, they aren’t sure if there is a way for them to be together.

Challenge Month 2021The set up for this book grabbed me right away and this is Alison Cochrun’s debut book, so it seemed like a great choice for New-to-Me Author Week for our Reading Challenge Month. I will say, I totally loved this story and, while it’s a fairly long book, I tore right through it. I enjoy competitive reality shows and I will reluctantly admit that I have watched a few seasons of The Bachelor, the show on which Ever After is presumably based. And I’m saying “presumably” here, but really, the fictional show almost completely mirrors the format of the long-running Bachelor. Rather than bachelor/bachelorettes handing out roses to contestants they want to keep around, on Ever After they hand out crowns. They have “Group Quests” and “Courting Dates” instead of group and one-on-one dates, culminating in a weekly “Crowing Ceremony” instead of the Bachelor’s “Rose Ceremony.” At times, the commonalities were a little too on the nose for me. These are only a few examples of the many similarities between the shows, and sometimes I think it would have helped to not make Ever After so closely mirror The Bachelor. But ultimately, I think whether or not you have watched the actual show, the behind-the-scenes look at reality programming is done well and a lot of fun. There is definitely a “how the sausage is made” quality to it all, as the magic viewers see on screen is so different from what is really going on with production. So there is a bit of a voyeuristic vibe here as we watch how they put the show together and how things are manipulated.

I think what makes this work really nicely is the juxtaposition between Charlie’s skepticism and the clear producer influence when compared with Dev’s true belief in the process. Yes, he knows so much of what happens is controlled by production, right down to steering who Charlie will choose as his ultimate princess. But Dev truly believes that down there somewhere is the real chance for two people to fall in love and that they are just helping things along. And it is not just that he believes it, but he needs to believe it. He wants to know that there are happily ever afters out there, even if he doesn’t think he can be someone who gets one. As the conflict rises between Charlie and Dev’s relationship and what the show wants to happen, Dev slowly comes to open his eyes more to the truth, both about the show and what he deserves. So I think it works really nicely that Dev is not a jaded producer, but a true believer, even if the show ends up delivering love in a way none of them expected.

I really enjoyed Charlie and Dev as a couple. Charlie is all kinds of adorably awkward and Dev has a way of helping Charlie through his most stressful moments. And as the show goes on, Charlie gets more confident in himself and begins to actually believe he is worthy of loving just as he is, that people can care about him because of all he is, not in spite of it. While there are some “aw” moments at Charlie’s awkwardness, I think it is important to note that it is taken seriously as well. Charlie has some clear mental health issues, including OCD and anxiety, for which he is getting treatment. Dev also has depression, which he is not being treated, and which is a struggle for him off and on throughout the book. There is a clear storyline here about the way that so many people reject Charlie for his neurodivergence and mental health issues, including his family and his co-workers. Through his connection with Dev, Charlie begins to expect more and recognize what he deserves. In Dev’s case, he always tries to be “fun Dev,” to not let people see him when the depression rises, to insist he is fine. Through Charlie’s support, Dev realizes that it is ok to not always be ok.

The conflict here hits in a big way as contractual issues prevent the pair from being together. Charlie must get engaged to one of the women; there is no way he can skip out and run off with Dev. And of course, Dev can’t date a contestant. So even as Charlie begins to understand his own sexuality and reach for more with Dev, Dev is struggling between the two sides of himself. There is the part of him that desperately wants to be with Charlie, to have his own happily-ever-after. But there is also a lot of him that can’t believe this kind of love can ever be for him, and that causes him to sort of fixate on this idea that Charlie will eventually still end up with one of the women. We can see it is a defense mechanism of sorts. Dev needs to believe it can all work, and it is safer to invest his heart in this fairy tale than believe it can work out for him. At times, I found Dev’s single-minded focus on the show to be frustrating. There is a point when it is almost farcical to believe that Charlie would still fall in love with one of these women, and yet Dev is still on that train. But I also understood why he needed to believe in the show, even past the point of reason. Of course, in the end, it all works out for the guys. And yes, it is a stretch to believe how it all comes together, but I think for a book based on a show about fairy tale romances, it works.

One thing I appreciated about this story is the diverse cast of characters and the way it highlights the frequent misogyny and lack of diversity on the reality show. While the crew of Ever After is made up of a way array of races and sexual/gender identities, the cast is mostly white, straight, and conventionally attractive. Not to mention that the show features barely a whiff of anyone who is not straight. The Charm Offensive clearly points out many of these issues, right down to the head producer deciding they can’t have a bisexual woman win, since they have already had a bisexual winner on Ever After: Summer Quest, their summer spin-off (and again, with the on-the-nose, as The Bachelor’s summer spinoff recently had their own openly bisexual winner for the first time.) Not to mention that the show loves to pit the women against one another, having them fight over a man for the supposed fantasy of a traditional married life between two perfect looking people. Where I wished for a little more was with regard to Dev. It is not common for romance novels to feature Indian main character and I felt like this was kind of a missed opportunity. While Dev does note that it is rare to see people who look like him in TV and movies and that is why he has written a screenplay with an all Desi cast, that is really the only nod to the fact that Dev is not white. Now I think people are going to vary on how they feel about this. I will say that as someone of a minority religion that is rarely seen in romance novels aside from once a year in books where being Jewish and celebrating Chanukah is the whole storyline, I actually appreciate the idea that a book can feature a diverse cast without making their differences the focus. That said, I do wish that Dev’s cultural background was a bigger part of his character, particularly with regard to the fact that he works on a show focused mostly on helping white people find their true love, and what that means to him as a person of color.

Overall, I found this story wonderfully engaging. I was completely captivated by the romance between Dev and Charlie. They are so sweet and mushy and romantic together, and despite the fairly non-explicit sex scenes, they have a great sexiness between them. I loved the way both men brought out the best in each other and how they showed one another that they deserved to be loved just as they are. And I so enjoyed the big, cheesy, absurd reality TV component, even as I wanted to scream at them sometimes. The story is funny, charming, romantic, and sweet. I’ll definitely keep my eyes open for more by Cochrun in the future.

P.S. While Charlie never fully puts labels on his sexual identity, he does see himself as likely somewhere on the asexual spectrum (possibly demisexual). So for the purposes of tagging the post, I included both of those labels, even though it is not explicitly stated in the book.

Charlie is cast as the role of Prince Charming in the reality TV show, Ever After, to salvage his reputation after being labeled as “difficult” to work with and losing his very own tech company.

Dev is his handler on the show and has worked on it for six years. Though he is just coming out of a long relationship, he still believes in fairy tales and happily ever after.

Though Charlie is supposed to ask one of the 20 women on the show to marry him when it is all over, it is Dev who he feels a real connection with.

I loved both Charlie, Dev and their blooming relationship. There is wonderful representation of mental health for both of them and feelings of unworthiness and inadequacies. I did feel like Dev being Indian wasn’t handled as good as it could have been by the author. If we weren’t told he was Indian, he could have been any ethnicity. (As I listened to the audiobook, I found out that his name is pronounced as “Dave.” If I had read it, I would have said it in my head differently.)

It was an enjoyable book overall. The chapters were way too long, though!

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

Alison Cochrun, how did you know exactly what my heart needed? I did an unusual thing with this book, I actually read every single page. Including, a special note from the editor, who promised laughs would be had in this first 20 pages and she wasn’t wrong. I fell in love with Charlie and Dev from the beginning.

Cochrun wrote a love story for the ages and didn’t shy away from the heartache. The characters she penned were filled with real raw emotions. The story wasn’t always pretty. My heart often ached between my binge reading of this novel. I found it hard to watch so many characters (even beyond the primary ones) express their challenges and work through the pain to get to better places.

I tend to like my love stories neat. I want the love to happen and the pain to vanish. At times, I struggled to keep reading, because there are so many ups and downs, but isn’t that life? Alison Cochrun makes the journey worth it.

I was obsessed with Bachelor Nation for a long time so I knew a story that even hinted at the franchises quest for love was going to absolutely be a win for me. I didn’t expect how much else I was going to get along the way.

Do not waste another minute adding this to your To Be Read List, just read it. It’s worth it.

I’ve noticed authors making playlists for their characters more and more often on Spotify and Alison does just that for 6 of her characters in this novel. So if you are a fan of pairing reading and music, I highly recommend you check them out too.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for letting me get a jumpstart on this novel. I’m truly blown away by this read.

I wanted to love this book, and I found the writing charming and the characters well developed. However, the romcom spin on “The Bachelor” franchise has become an overdone trope for me, and I abandoned this around the 25 percent mark.
I will not be sharing my review on social media.

This is my favourite book. Not just of the year, but it has made my top three favourite books of all time. Everything in here is just absolutely perfect; from the characters, to the story, to the writing… I could not love this book more. I’ve already read it twice.

THE CHARM OFFENSIVE is one of the most fluffy adorable and yet introspective romance novels I have ever had the pleasure of reading. This queer romance centering a gay producer and an asexual tech nerd is just impeccable - I will be creating a shrine to this masterpiece when I get home.

Title: The Charm Offensive
Author: Alison Cochrun
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥/5 (Hot on the Smut-O-Meter)
Series: None
Tropes: Contemporary, LGBTQ+ representation, Hollywood setting, Interracial couple, Found family, Rich MC, Travel, Neurodivergent MCs
Content Warning: Disconnected from family, Previous abuse and bullying, Forced outing, Depression - major episode, OCD, Anxiety - panic attacks, First sexual experience, Abuse in the workplace, Hidden dating, Vomiting, Biphobia, Homophobia

In Cochrun’s debut novel, readers get a behind-the-scenes look at Ever After, a “Bachelor”-style reality dating show. Dev has worked on the show since graduating college, mostly focusing on being a handler for the female contestants. Charlie is the newest Prince and has no idea what his publicist/friend has gotten him into. When it looks like Charlie might fail out his princely role making him in breach of contract Dev steps in to work his caring and compassionate magic.

This sweet, sincere, and at times spicy romance kept me enraptured on my recent flight from LA to Baltimore. Cochrun mixes the witty and laugh out loud moments with raw and sometimes painful parts of everyday life. Charlie and Dev’s personal and relationship struggles were told with tenderness and truthfulness. I couldn’t put it down. I loved their journey to understand how to best love each other.

The secondary cast was just as endearing as our leads. Parisa and Jules were stars in their own right and hope to see them in future books. Angie and Daphne deserve their happily ever afters whatever that looks like for them. Ryan could have been a villain but Cochrun expands his story beyond the one-dimensional. In all they were a great support system and helped to elevate the story.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.