Alison Cochrun's "The Charm Offensive" was spectacular. My favorite romance of the year by far. I've already sent out texts demanding that friends read it as soon as possible.

While the plot is fun and engaging, the characters are the real stars of this novel. The neurodivergent, queer, and culturally diverse characters who populate this novel are so genuine and heartfelt. This novel had so much heartwarming representation and placed important focus on mental wellness and healthy relationships. I am already refreshing my screens for Cochrun's next novel; I can't wait!

This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t stop smiling!! Ugh this book was just everything perfect. We follow Charlie, a super hot, super smart, super awkward techy guy who agrees to go on a Bachelor type show called Ever After to rebrand his image after a falling out in his career life. We also follow Dev, a gay, happy ending loving handler for the show Ever After who end up being Charlie’s handler due to his natural ability to charm. Then, enter chaos and drama! But done so wonderfully. I just loved Charlie and Dev, their banter and relationship was just perfection. I loved watching both of them peel back each other’s layers and get to the root of who each other were as people, to see each other at the core. It was truly beautiful, I found myself crying so many times in this book both because of the genuine love and care they had for each other but also for the way the author wrote in the patience and care each character had for each other’s mental illnesses. It’s beautiful seeing them navigate and learn what each other needed at their worst and not be afraid to stay. Ugh so sweet. And mannnn, Charlie’s best friend Parisa is straight fire!

The Charm Offensive was everything I could've wanted and more in a book! From Charlie and Dev's relationship, the discussions of mental health, and the wonderful cast of side characters, there is so much to love about this book. It was an incredibly debut book and I will eagerly be anticipating Alison Cochrun's next book.

As someone who has watched way too many seasons of The Bachelor and Bachelorette, I loved how this book even though it was fictional, gave you a behind the scenes look at what goes on with reality TV, and I'm going to bet it was very accurate in its depictions. We always hear about producer manipulation, scenes being spliced together to change the narrative, and the contestants and lead not having a say in how things go. As Charlie struggled with not only his sexuality and his feelings for Dev, but also how the show was making him feel, I just wanted to go through the book and hug him. I absolutely loved his arc throughout the book, he started as someone who wasn't sure of himself and to watch himself evolve, even if it meant saying goodbye to the person who helped him get there, had me smiling and crying during reading. Dev captured my heart as well as he not only knew exactly how to help Charlie through his panic attacks, stood by his side when he needed it, and wasn't afraid to stand up for Charlie on multiple occasions. They were a perfect pairing and so easy to fall in love with.

The discussions on sexuality and mental health are incredible in this book. It is so important to see these topics covered in books today and Cochrun did a stellar job with the raw and honest conversations that the characters had and built a great support system of characters who were all there for each other. The Charm Offensive was such an enjoyable read that covered such important topics and I cannot recommend it enough!

I came into this book with very high expectations. I was not disappointed!

The Bachelor/Bachelorette isn't a show I normally watch, but I love reading Rom-Coms about them. I really enjoyed One to Watch also.

I loved the characters and representation. The Charm Offensive is a quick, easy and enjoyable read. I will be purchasing this book!

I received an e-arc, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book so much. Sure it's a contemporary romance and it follows the usual plot lines in terms of romance, but it dives deeper and has more to offer than most. There is so much sexual representation here and I'm here for it. Also, the emphasis on mental health and that you're worthy of love no matter what you're struggling with. There are just so many feels here.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who likes the Bachelor/Bachelorette or any other reality dating show. I adored Dev and Charlie - they both were just so damn endearing. I also really loved the discussion on mental health that ran throughout the entire book.

"I don't think that happily ever after is something that happens to you, Dev. I think it's something you choose to do for yourself."

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun is a romantic comedy that brings a fairy tale believing TV producer together with his worst nightmare, a tech genius who doesn’t believe in love and is about to star on a reality dating show. Dev Deshpande loves his job on Ever After where he helps people meet their true love in a fairy tale setting. He is given the job of keeping Charlie Winshaw in line after the show gets off to a rocky start. Charlie is trying to rebuild his image and get back to work. When his publicist and best friend convinces him to do the show he hopes he can make it through it unscathed and with no panic attacks. This goes down hill quickly and he finds the only bright spot is his producer and handler Dev. Dev gets Charlie to open up to him and they “practice” dating so Charlie can look more comfortable on air. But practice leads to so much more and then men are faced with the question of can their lives work together outside the bubble of Ever After.

Charlie Winshaw broke my heart and put it back together again throughout this book. He was so painfully awkward yet so sweet that even when he did the wrong thing I just wanted to hug him. He is honest with Dev from the start about his struggles with mental illness and although Dev strives to push him outside of his comfort zone he still respects that there are boundaries with Charlie that shouldn’t be crossed. Intimacy between Charlie and Dev wasn’t just about bedroom antics but so much more with snuggling and little kind things they would do for each other.

Dev Deshpande loves his job and helping the men and women on the show find love. He believes in love and ends up believing that with his help he can help Charlie find love with one of the contestants. This job becomes so much more difficult as he falls hard for Charlie and deals with the repercussions on his mental health of watching Charlie romance the ladies. Dev makes the tough choices that lead to hurting each other over and over which as much as I cringed with sadness I understood.

This book highlights mental illness in so many different ways and brings to light the fact that it’s not always pretty and can be hard to read. There is also so much LGBTQIA+ representation among the characters and Charlie works through where he falls on the queer spectrum. With a great collection of side characters supporting Charlie and Dev through their trials and tribulations as the reader you wish you could be friends with them all. Overall I enjoyed the way the book was broken into the weeks of filming and the small sections of filming script (I’m a big fan of mixed media within books).

5 stars for Charlie and Dev opening up and embracing who they are and each other in this sweet romantic comedy.

I want to start off by saying Charlie is one of the most precious characters I have ever read and he deserves the entire world.

Now that that's out of the way, plot wise, I think this story is pretty formulaic. It follows the typical plot progression of a contemporary romance, so the story itself is quite predictable. However, where this book excels is the characters! the representation! and the overall feels!

Mental health is such a huge topic for this story. It almost made the romance take a back seat, it's discussed that often. But I appreciate how the two of those things are connected, driving home the message that just because you might be dealing with things most people aren't (anxiety, OCD, depression), it doesn't mean you aren't capable, or even worthy, of love.

Overall, a really funny, charming, and downright adorable story with meaningful intentions.

I enjoyed this book so much! Dev, a producer for a “The Bachelor” type show called “Ever After” works to help his star fall in love each season, and he's really good at it. This season, the star is Charlie, a tech genius that has fallen from grace and is using “Ever After” to attempt to fix his image. Charlie has no illusions of falling in love, he just wants his job back and for things to go back to normal. Dev is more than happy to oblige, scripting each episode to make Charlie look the best he can. However, Charlie is a little tricky, dealing with OCD and anxiety among other things. As Dev tries to help him, they fall in love (of course)

It is ADORABLE, naturally. I liked the inclusion of topics like mental health and depression, and of course seeing the behind the scenes of a reality show was fun! While I don’t watch “The Bachelor” I did watch the show “UnReal” and I loved it. This is sort of like that. The happy ending was expected, but so wonderful! I liked this author's writing style, and look forward to reading other books by her!

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Thanks to Atria for the free book.
I devoured this book in 24 hours. I am fascinated by dating shows, even though I don't watch, because I'd rather have the behind the scenes view I get from a book like this. Dev and Charlie are two characters that I won't soon forget. I rooted for them the entire time I read this book, even when it seemed like things might not go the way I had hoped.
The author tackles mental health in this book, and I like how she dug deep into the topic. She showed how other's assumptions can influence the person that is struggling. She also shows these mental illness in an accurate portrayal, that will hopefully make some readers feel seen and, others, feel understood.
There is also a bunch of diverse representation in this book, and I hope to see more of that in future releasing books.

When I first heard about The Charm Offensive, I was intrigued. A reality show much like The Bachelor, where the lead falls in love with his producer instead of the many girls that are on the show to date him? Sign me up! I thought it was going to be fun and cute, and maybe contain some commentary about reality show franchises. And while The Charm Offensive did contain all that, there also was so much more hidden in its depths!

To start with, we have the “Prince Charming” of the show, Charlie Winshaw. He’s brilliant and he’s gorgeous, but he is not at all interested in being on the show. Which begs the question as to how he ended up as the lead! I really appreciated how we started off learning about Charlie. He’s not expecting to find love. He’s not excited to be on the show. He has his reasons for being there, but many of the aspects about the show are torturous for him to participate in.

Then of course, we have Dev Deshpande. As one of the best producers, Dev’s assignment this season is to work with Charlie, to try to get some great footage out of the awkward and uncomfortable lead. For that to work the two have to get to know one another, and have to build quite a bit of trust, and of course, spending all that time together may just lead to something more than friendship!

Both of our main characters are also struggling with their mental health and there is some great discussion surrounding OCD, anxiety, and depression. These discussions were important, especially seeing as how each character struggles with their mental health throughout the filming of the show and need to learn how to be there for one another at their hardest moments. Once again, the ways different people reacted to both characters’ mental health needs was extremely mixed and showed that there is a wide range between helping, doing nothing, and making matters worse.

While I love the two main characters to pieces, and adored watching their relationship unfold, this book had an excellent cast of side characters as well, that I loved reading about. Like I mentioned, even the side characters were complex and had evolving storylines and character growth throughout the book. My absolute favorite was Parisa, who’s Charlie’s publicist and also his best friend. I adored her, and hope there’s a companion novel that she stars in coming our way!

But even those that could have been villainized weren’t, like Ryan who’s Dev’s ex and also works on the show, or the women vying for Charlie’s attention, especially Daphne, Angie, and the token mean girl, Megan. Not to say that you ended up loving every character, but there was always some dimension and humanization of each person’s actions. That’s part of why I became so invested in the story. Of course, I was rooting for Dev and Charlie, but I didn’t want any of the other characters to be hurt in the process. The complicated romance felt messy and complicated and exactly what I’d expect from such an unusual situation. I appreciated that there wasn’t a simple way to make things work and that it took quite the effort to even attempt to give these two characters their happily ever after.

This book is such an excellent commentary on so many things. There’s a lot to unpack in this book, and my favorite thing is how complexly every issue was dealt with. No character was perfect, but they all were trying their best. There were many instances where something was happening that was harmful, and various people didn’t step up to try to change things. I found that very realistic, but I especially appreciated how no one was demonized for not doing anything at first, because they learnt from their mistakes, and eventually figured out how to stand up for those that needed it. The reasons people had for not stepping up right away were varied and understandable, and many times they needed a wake up call in order to truly see the damage that was being done.

This book is also exceptionally queer, with Dev out as a gay man, one of the contestants on the show being openly bi, and various other LGBTQ+ characters thrown in as well. However, we also had some characters who were unsure of their labels, specifically Charlie, and it was delightful to see him learning about his sexuality and figuring out what labels he feels comfortable with, or even whether he wants to use labels at all. Once again, this book masterfully provided so many differing viewpoints on one topic and showed how there’s no right way to be queer.

In the end, I gave this book 4.5 stars. The story was so captivating and fun to read. It features complex characters and difficult situations, has great discussions surrounding mental health and its importance, and has a wonderful romance as well. I would definitely recommend this book to those looking for something that is a romance but isn’t all light and fluffy.

This book was everything I needed after one last stop. It was such a warm fuzzy feeling and I got all the representation I needed

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of The Charm Offensive.

This book was simply perfect. It’s been a while since I read a book that I loved this much. It’s a cute rom com that’ll make you laugh and cry. It talks about mental health and OCD. Dev and Charlie are such well written characters. Get excited friends because you are going to love this one.

If not for having to go to work, I would've read this in one sitting. It was goofy, sweet, and heartbreaking. Just the right amount of dramatic and cheesy without going over the line. I could relate to Charlie, who had some of the best OCD rep I've ever seen. It felt amazing to read a character that I had so much in common with. I also loved Dev, and love that Dev loves love. We need more people who love love, and believe in it as much as he does.

There are so many rom coms that come out each month, it's really difficult to come across one that's unique, interesting, but still fits the rom com label. I really enjoy reading rom coms, they're great light reads, but I often disagree with some of the 5 star reviews I see of them.

The Charm Offensive deserves all 5 stars.

First this book is so damn cute. But it's cute in a way where you don't feel like you're going to be sick from the sugar level. It's still grounded while being a fun romp. Needless to say the representation that this book has is phenomenal. One of the leads is Indian, he is also openly and proudly gay. Supporting characters are also different ethnicities and queer.

Second the portrayal of mental illness is fantastic in this novel. Sometimes, especially with anxiety, it can be treated as a personality quirk, here Cochrun does a great job at portraying mental illness in a realistic and thoughtful way.

Finally, the supporting characters in this book were well developed. Too often the side characters are merely props for the leads. You can barely remember them and they tend to meld into one set of characteristics. In the Charm Offensive, I felt like the supporting characters actually had their own personalities, were funny, and contributed more to the novel than just getting the leads to where they needed to be emotionally.

The Charm Offensive is Alison Cochrun's first novel, and I'm so excited to see what comes next for her and her writing!

DNF AT 56%. I found the process of reading this book to be deeply anxiety provoking, and not in a fun, suspenseful way. Something about the tense/POV (third person present) and the prose made me feel really on-edge. I think moments that were meant to be charming or funny read to me as stressful, and this was only amplified by the various mental illnesses of the two heroes.

There's a lot of mental illness and neurodiversity rep in this book, which is amazing - depression, anxiety, OCD, panic disorder. There's also wonderful conversation around aromanticism and asexuality, and the whole book is chock full of queer characters living their best, messy lives.

I think I would describe this book as what would happen if the tv show UnReal and the book Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake had a baby so if that's your vibe, this might be for you. Feel free to jump in with joy, but take care of yourself. Your mileage may vary, this just wasn't the right book for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

The plot is bascially a queer version of season 1 of UNREAL. However, this book is much, much kinder to its characters. It focuses on their journeys of self discovery (and the lies we tell ourselves.) It celebrates mental health an self care.

I may have over-identified with some of the characters and cried a lot. I siill find it hard to open myself up to love.

I heard that THE CHARM OFFENSIVE was good, but I was not prepared to be absolutely blown away by it. It's sweet and thought-provoking and has a huge heart, and it's one of my favorite books from this year. Almost everyone in this book is queer, which is super fun, and there's no drama around that - it just is. I loved it.

Dev is a long-time producer on a reality show called Ever After, and he's tasked with taking care of the show's lead Charlie Winshaw. He's an unconventional lead - a tech bro who doesn't like physical touch, and he's mostly on the show to rehabilitate his image, not to find love. Dev finds himself growing closer to Charlie than he ever expected, and things explode.

If you're not a fan of The Bachelor franchise, you'll like this book. If you are a fan, you'll get a huge kick of the way that the franchise in this book follows the IRL one in its own way. It's perfectly themed, and so good. If there was a tv show that matched this book, it would be the show UnReal, but this is better, because it's so queer. There's a character with OCD, there's asexual representation, and an incredible friendship group that feels really fleshed out.

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @atriabooks for the ARC, and to @alisoncochrun for writing such a wonderful story, being my writing buddy, and giving me writing advice!!

This book is for anyone who loved "Red, White and Royal Blue" or "Boyfriend Material", or who loves an enemies-to-lovers (and only-one-bed) trope with sweetly flawed main characters, sassy side characters, and a reality tv backdrop. I flew through this book and loved every page! Thanks to Netgalley for an e-ARC, which was provided in exchange for my honest (gushing, in this case) review.

This is an absolute delight of a book that I stayed up late to finish. It's going to get comparisons to Red, White & Royal Blue, and I think it's actually a good readalike -- the exact circumstances of the setting are different, but you have the secret relationship, the socially conscious protagonists, the endearing cast of friends.

I picked this up because I heard there might be ace rep, and there is! Charlie, the "prince" of the reality TV show at the center of the book, is unexpectedly attracted to his handler, Dev -- unexpectedly not because he's never been attracted to a man, but because he's never been attracted to *anyone*. The words "asexual" and "demisexual" and the concept of the spectrum between asexuality and allosexuality are all on the page. A side character talks about her experiences being a sex-repulsed asexual. I was absolutely blown away.

I hope that the book is equally empowering for folks seeking mental health representation on the page. Charlie has OCD and a panic disorder, and Dev suffers from clinical depression. These challenges are not glossed over at all, and they are not magically cured by sex or a romantic partner.

I felt the ending was maybe a little rushed, but that's really my only criticism. I had such a wonderful time reading this book, and I'm excited to have another author to add to my to-watch list!