★★ 4.5 stars! ★★

The Charm Offensive is such a cute, sweet, and surprisingly emotional rom-com. The premise of a Bachelor-style reality show is the perfect background for over-the-top drama, soul-searching dialogue, and of course, exotic locales.

Charlie is an adorable and geeky tech dude, while Dev is a high-strung, dyed-in-the-wool LA showrunner type, so they are the perfect opposite-attract complement to one another. They spend a lot of their time behind the scenes together, and as they grow closer, their insecurities are brought to the forefront.

Some of my favorite tropes are here, including workplace romance, forced proximity, and opposites attract. The author takes care to craft the story with the characters’ mental health in mind while also adding delightful humor for balance.

In the end, love doesn’t always come easy—and sometimes it may not be found with the person you were expecting—but this story brings it all together in a heartwarming way.

Audiobook Review:
Performance – 5
Story – 3

Didn’t really work for me.

I had the ebook ARC of this for a while but just couldn’t get into it. When the audiobook became available, I decided to listen to it instead of continuing on with the ebook. I can’t say exactly why but this story didn’t really work for me. I did enjoy the narrator very much, though.

A review copy of the ebook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley but this did not influence my opinion or rating of the book.

This book is fantastic! As someone who generally dislikes reality tv(except for The Hills) I love books and tv shows about fictional reality shows. This book had so much heart and I love Dev and Charlie so much!!!

This was such a cute romance! The main characters were perfect and I loved the story. Highly recommend!

Move over every other couple, Dev and Charlie have just completely stolen my heart. Set in the world of reality TV (who doesn't have a little bit of a guilty pleasure for that world...), the contestant certainly doesn't expect to really find love, let alone with a member of the crew, and not another contestant, so when both Dev and Charlie are thrown out of the their comfort zones, sparks begin to fly. This debut novel from Cochrun was so wonderful, it's hard to believe it's her first book! I can't wait to read more from this talented new voice in the future.

This was so sweet and fun! I loved both of the characters and got swept up in the book. Great escapism.

Although it had its cute moments, unfortunately i didn’t love it as much as I hoped! The lack of development made the romance feel a little bit flat for me and honestly, some characters annoyed me a bit. I did love Charlie though, and I think he is the reason I was able to get through the entire book.

This book was so good. I went into it thinking it was going to be the run-of-the-mill, male/male Bachelor-dream rom-com. It was so much more.

Dev is a producer for a reality dating show. Charlie is the new bachelor, who is trying to resurrect his career, but he is struggling with his mental health. Dev decides he's going to help Charlie find love, and guess what! He does. But this story is so much deeper than that.

If you're looking for a fluff rom-com, this has that. But it also has heart.

Thanks for the ARC, Netgalley!

I should not have slept on this book and read it when it was first published!

Ok, I hate reality TV. That's why I slept on this. But OH. MY. GOODNESS! I got so much more out of this.

Yes there was the reality TV with the "prince" Charlie set to find love with the "girl of his dreams" in mere weeks- though Charlie has OCD and anxiety and this isn't easy for him.
Dev is to be his handler. It doesn't take long for Dev to know how Charlie functions and starts helping him.

I loved seeing the relationship with Charlie and Dev develop. I love the talk they have as Charlie starts to figure out what he feels on a sexual spectrum, what he identifies as. I love the mental health rep and how they candidly talk about it.

I was just swooning over these two!

TW/CW: depression/anxiety, OCD, racism, homophobia, panic attacks.

This book was too darn cute and I could not stop smiling like a fool through most of it. Honestly, this book was all I wanted, all I needed, and all I could have asked for in a romantic comedy. It is an M/M romance and it has everything: an entire cast of perfectly fleshed out found family side characters, amazing mental health representation and discussion; characters who actually grow and learn from their mistakes; and it all takes place against the backdrop of a Bachelor-style reality dating show. I meannnn, perfection, no?

5⭐️

Which, if you know me and my reading tastes, should not come as any surprise.

This book has such amazing representation not only for a m/m romance but also for anxiety, depression, OCD, and a character questioning if he is on the asexual spectrum. And each facet is handled so incredibly well and earnestly. You can just FEEL the care the author used with these characters.

Not to mention to romance is so swoony. Like, I’m talking cheesy grin all over my face while reading.

I cannot recommend this book enough and I’m waiting in SUCH anticipation for this author’s next book.

I really wanted to love this book but I wasn’t the biggest fan. The character development was really wishy washy and inconsistent which made it hard to connect with any of the characters.

The Charm Offensive is now one of my all time favorite books. Charlie is beyond precious and should be protected at all cost. This book brought me so much joy and reminded me of the grace we must extend to others. You will laugh, you will cry, you will fall in love with all of the characters.

The Charm Offensive was everything I wanted it to be and then some. Both a charming love story and a thoughtful representation of mental illness (especially as that pertains to being queer), the author did an exceptional job in making this story so much more than simply a romance. This is one I will continuously recommend to others and I look forward to reading future work by this author.

The Charm Offensive is a fun, heartfelt, queer spin on a dating show (called Ever After in the book) much in the vein of The Bachelor. Charlie, a tech tycoon, goes on the show as the lead to rebuild his public image. It is immediately apparent that Charlie is nervous, awkward, anxious, and not at all what a lead on the show is typically like. Dev, a producer on the show and Charlie’s handler for the season, works with Charlie to help him relax and come out of his shell. What follows is truly the most dramatic season of Ever After in the show’s history (my apologies, I had to say that like they say during every season of The Bachelor).

This book is so much more than just a romantic comedy: it has diversity, mental health rep (anxiety, depression, OCD, panic disorder), and important discussions surrounding family, love, workplaces, and more. I loved seeing Charlie and Dev get to know one another, and I also loved the secondary characters and how they served as a sort of found family for both Charlie and Dev.

CWs: homophobia, mental illness, sexual content

I am incredibly late to this review! I didn’t realize this was a take on The Bachelor/reality tv kind of story at first and that turned me off from picking it up for awhile. Everyone was raving about it and I didn’t want to be a downer.

That said I’m glad I took a chance and read it anyways. It’s one of those times where everyone else was right and I should have just trusted the process haha.

The representation in this one is just excellent. The romance is swoon, and the mental health awareness is off the charts important and relatable.

I highly recommend this even if reality tv isn’t your jam.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for my copy in exchange for my honest review.

just finished! i absolutely adored this bachelor spin off queer rom com (TLDR; bachelor and his producer fall in love) — this book had great rep of anxiety, depression, OCD, asexuality, demisexuality and the conversations between characters surrounding these topics were both informative and affirming as a reader. i’m going to miss dev and charlie!! such a sweet beach read 💖

This was rather surprising to me! I had tried reading another romance written around a “dating show” plot and I could barely make it past the first chapter. I was SO pleasantly surprised that the reality show bits were much more background in the plot of this book! I did like how it brought a realistic take on how reality television works and how manufactured it is. I thought it was interesting how Dev took so long to GET the fact that the show was “fake” and love wasn’t really a factor but only for entertainment. Charlie was my favorite character for sure, but I think it’s because I related to him the most. I also felt he kept the romance plot moving while Dev kept trying to derail it lol All around it was engaging and I absolutely LOVE the pairing and ALL the lgbtq+ rep!

As a person who doesn't watch the reality shows on tv with the fast pass to love and rose ceremonies, I still held a lot of appreciate for The Charm Offensive and it's look behind the scenes. I think the actual reality that makes the on screen reality is a lot more interesting. Obviously that's not what this was all about, there was an adorable LGBT romance centered throughout. A story of a reality show about finding love with many unexpected twists. This one will have you cheering for the underdog.

On my TBR! Wasn’t able to review it in time but I have heard amazing things from reviewers across many platforms!