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I am all around smitten with this book and it's characters. I couldn't help rooting for Charlie and Dev right off the bat. They were both so sweet and so deserving of love. 🥺

Not only does this book have expansive LGBTQA+ representation (I don't think ANYONE in this book was cishet!) but it also highlights mental health. I was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder in 2017 and seeing someone with the same struggles in a love story made my heart soar.

I LOVED this book. Not only does it spread a wonderful message, but it also made me laugh all the way through. (And cry a bit, let's be honest.) I gave it 5 stars on my goodreads and now I need a physical copy for future rereads. 🥰

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

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I wanted to love this one, because I loved One to Watch and I've dreamed of an LGBTQ version of dating shows like Bachelor, but I just couldn't connect. The characters irritated the hell out of me. A regrettable DNF but an extra star for the cover.

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We just loved this one! The premise hooked us - lead of a Bachelor-style TV show falls for his (male) producer? Yes, please! - and then the execution gave us a compatible couple and adorable love story on that backdrop. Dev and Charlie are both working with their own mental health struggles, and seeing them support each other throughout the relationship was wonderfully heartwarming. Also the sexual tension was real!!!

In addition to the love story, the Bachelor-style TV show backdrop perfectly encapsulates the reason why we watch. (One of our favorite lines references the "large conservative fan base" and the "even larger feminist fan base that claims to watch ironically" - we feel seen and called out in equal measures!) For a faithful viewer of the Bachelor franchise (she hesitates to say "fan" but she's watched every season since 2003) who also calls herself a feminist and claims to watch for the producer interference, this book was the culmination of every Bachelor fantasy. Cochrun serves us with the behind-the-scenes producer manipulation and storyline construction while also managing to give us that ooey-gooey lovey-dovey feeling we really want when we sit down to watch.

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I"m not sure where to start with how perfect this debut novel is. The story tackles with such immense care and authority the topics of queerness & mental health that I recommend this book to basically everyone as required reading.

The story follows a reality dating show where a prince seeks his princess and eliminates a couple of women each week. This sounds very much like the Bachelor and it totally is however our "prince" as it turns out is Charlie a tech genius looking to get back into the industry that pushed him out. The good PR from the show is supposed to get him back to work. He has zero intentions of falling in love. Dev his newly assigned handler/producer is supposed to make Charlie TV ready since as it turns out Charlie is a completely socially inept. Their love story is what happens behind the scenes of the reality dating show where Dev is an out gay man and has been since forever, Charlie is just discovering his identity and isn't ready to label it. They are total and complete opposites and yet they fit perfectly in all the ways. The story's heavy topics feel so natural and so nuanced. The fun uplifting moments are so swoony and on point.

I'm in love with Dev and Charlie and their love story and their growth and their self-healing and their everything.

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When you're skeptical, but you really want to believe in happy endings . . . in a nutshell, that is The Charm Offensive. I'll start here: I have seen exactly one episode of The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise. My sister-in-law suggested I watch because they were filming an episode in Capetown, Sout Africa - where I was heading a month or so later for my honeymoon (because I feel I need to explain why I succumbed to viewing). But that was all I needed to grasp this concept of the reality television series presented along the production timeline of a TV series where you'll get a glimpse of how the, uh, the strings are pulled to make the magic happen.

Charlie (Charles Winshaw to the audience) is cast as the prince for a fairytale romance-themed reality series where contestants compete to win the prince's heart and hand in marriage. Feminists of the world are cringing, but keep reading - it's actually a fun read that points fingers in the right direction. Dev Depashande has worked on this series for years and he's typically a handler for the women on the show. But because Charles Winslow, a tech guy trying to improve his image, is super awkward and plagued by anxiety, Dev is reassigned to Charlie and they connect! The season will be saved! Dev just broke up with his boyfriend, who also works on the show, and he's bordering on the edge of depression, about to tumble into the darkness. So, there's a whole mental health layer to this story that is "praise hands" all the way. This is Charlie and Dev's story and it is tender, funny, poignant, and HOT.
What you get is a love story, steamy romance, social commentary on reality television, sexual spectrum discussion, positive mental health discussion - The Charm Offensive contains so much goodness, while serving up some entertaining delight.

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ASEXUAL REPRESENTATION!!! LIVING WITH MENTAL ILLNESS!!! (And not conflating the two!!!)

A perfect new-adult story for fans of Red White and Royal Blue.

At one point a character jokes that their production studio put together the queerest team possible, and it’s true and I love it. There are so many stories and representations weaving through this narrative and it is adorable and wonderful. I want sequels and/or fan fiction of all the side characters I KNOW were hooking up while the cameras were off!!

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This is a quick and light read, perfect for a summer reading list. The romance between Dev and Charlie is sweet and has a really important message about empathy and anti-ableism. I did feel there were times where the writing came off overly preachy, but I appreciated Dev's transition away from apathy toward workplace injustices. I'm not a fan of The Bachelor/Bachelorette or similar "trash TV" dating shows, so that part of the novel wasn't appealing to me. But for readers who are big on that form of entertainment, this one will be a winner.

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This book was SUCH a special, immersive, ROMANTIC escape. The representation of neurodiversity, mental health struggles, and demisexuality/asexuality spectrum in this queer romance was so wonderful to see and will mean a lot, I think, to a lot of people. Dev and Charlie were each such standout characters; I loved them both equally, and loved watching them love each other, and themselves, even more. I literally could not put this down, and can't wait to buy a physical copy when it releases.

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I am in love with this book. It was simply put, a perfect read. Such a great plot line and such great characters. Wow I want to read this over and over again. This book will definitely be flying off the shelves!

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I enjoyed this book a lot. The romance was hot, the Bachelor style set up was fun and very accurate if you’re a fan of the show. It felt a little bit like a Red White and Royal Blue copycat but the premise was different enough that I didn’t mind.

Knowing that the author is white, I do appreciate that there is a diversity rep but I hope that they had some Indian sensitivity readers to confirm that it’s an accurate representation. It felt a little bit like checking the diversity box without delving in to the culture much, BUT it’s a romcom so I’m ok with a light touch.

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Since he was little, Dev Deshpande has believed in fairytales, which has led him to devote his career to crafting them on the reality dating show Ever After. As a producer, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own relationship crashes and burns. When the show casts the disgraced tech prodigy Charlie Winshaw as its star, Dev realizes he has his work cut out for him. Charlie is awkward and anxious in front of the cameras, and worse, he doesn’t believe in true love. As Dev tries to get Charlie to connect with the contestants, they open up to each other, and Charlie soon realizes that he is falling for Dev instead of any of his contestants. But reality TV has a script, and in order for Dev and Charlie to get their happily ever after, they’re going to have to go off it.

I absolutely adored this book! This book is the version of The Bachelor that we all deserve. Alison wrote a story that is inclusive and diverse and gave it so much heart. The representation was beyond: Dev’s Indian-American and has clinical depression, Charlie has OCD, anxiety, and panic disorder (and is possibly on the ace spectrum), there’s a Chinese-American bisexual character, a Black bisexual character, and many others! Alison also delved deep into plot lines about mental illnesses and mental health. It wasn’t a topic that was resolved quickly; the characters struggled with their mental health, they acknowledged that they needed help, and they took care of themselves. Finally, Dev and Charlie were wonderful together; their love story was so sweet but also felt very real.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for this gifted copy! This book comes out September 7th, and what are you waiting for? Go preorder it now!

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Incredible, Iconic, No Complaints, A STAR, stunning, beautiful, made me feel EVERYTHING, I will be making everyone read it.

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This book made me so unbelievably happy, the characters were so easy to love and the characters are very amazingly developed. I read this book in one sitting, it was such amazing writing and plot i couldn’t resist. The mental health representation in this book was one of the best i’ve ever seen. I recommend this book to everyone!!

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I adored this queer romance novel about a reality tv star falling for this producer. I found both Charlie and Dev to be very likeable and realistic characters and I thought that the queer representation and the representation of mental health to be stellar across both main and secondary characters. It is a fascinating look into the heteronormativity of reality tv dating shows as well.

I do think that there was a lot of focus on the nuances of queer representation and on mental health, but that the subject of ethnicity was not treated the same - there are characters of a multitude of backgrounds, including an Indian main character, but you don't hear much if at all about their culture or the way it has shaped them. I'd want to see more of that in a subsequent book, or even just more of an acknowledgement of the way that those intersections can affect someone's life and the way that they live.

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As someone who has never even seen a single episode of The Bachelor, I was genuinely shocked by how delightfully enthralling I found this book. Charlie Winshaw and Dev Deshpande are a fairy tale couple for the ages, and the cast surrounding them is so vibrant and full of life I could read a whole series books focused on them.

Charlie Winshaw is, for all intents and purposes, the perfect star of Ever After, a show very much like the Bachelor, but Fairy Tale themed. He's perfect- except for the fact that off-camera, he is an anxious wreck who doesn't believe in love.

Dev Deshpande works on Ever After because he wants nothing more than true love, and he's here to help other people find it. So what is he supposed to do when the show's next star vomits on his shoes on the first night and informs him this whole fairy tale is fake?

The best thing about this book is that these characters are real people, with very real emotions, in contrast with the fictional romance that they're attempting to build around themselves. There are discussions about mental health, romance, and being your authentic self in this book that I have yet to find elsewhere in a YA romance, and they are so wonderfully written and carefully considered that it is absolutely worth anyone's time to read. There are a few cheesy stumbling points in the writing, but those moments are so minimal, and are somehow so fitting for a book about the cheesiest reality show concept I've ever heard.

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When I think of romance, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels and satisfies every romance junkies' heart. This is a perfect books to snuggle up with on any day. I really enjoyed this new to me author.

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to Atria books and NetGalley for my early copy to read and review!

Oh. My. Heart! This one was so fun and adorable!

This has all the greatness of a reality TV show trope with a male to male romance. What an impressive debut! I don’t even know how to explain in words how fantastic this book is!

A lot of people have described this as when Red, White, and Royal Blue meets One to Watch and that is literally the PERFECT comparison.

There’s a lot of humor, cuteness, self-discovery, and drama. I fell in love from the first page and was so eager to see how Charlie and Dev’s story would play out. It was just so FUN! The cast of characters was great, the plot was juicy, and the love story was just simply adorable.

There is also amazing representation and diversity in this book, not only with sexuality, but with mental illness and racial identity too, making it relatable for so many readers!

Honestly, I need more! I would love to see a sequel following these two or even a companion novel following Daphne!

This will definitely be a book I reread and love forever!

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4.5 stars!
I absolutely adored this book! It was such a breeze and I absolutely loved everything about it! Charlie is a multimillionaire techwiz who decides to participate in a reality dating show in order to get his reputation and career back on track after he’s fired from his own company.

Dev is one of the producers of Ever After, a reality dating show he’s been working with for six years. This year he’s in charge of the bachelor in question, and needs to get him to connect with the contestants because he’s a literal mess everywhere he goes. This eventually leads to sparks flying and they need to work against all odds to make their relationship work.

Can I just start by saying that the plot for this book is so unique? I’ve never read anything like it! I know a lot of readers compare it to Red, White and Royal Blue (I mean, even the synopsis is), and yes, it has its similarities, but while I wasn’t a fan of RWRB, The Charm Offensive stole my heart!

The banter between the characters made me laugh out loud all throughout the book and all the relationships between the characters were so sweet and I couldn’t help but root for them! It was full of giddy feelings that was just so heartwarming to read!

“But Charlie doesn’t know how you show someone they’re worthy of being loved. So he just stays.”

The Charm Offensive also deals with topics like anxiety, panic attacks, OCD, and depression and I loved that even though the author took us through these themes in depth, it still managed to be a light read and overall very enjoyable! Charlie and Dev work so well together and seeing them help each other through their hardships and sometimes losing themselves along the way was awe-inspiring to read.

The ending, like all good contemporaries drove me to tears. It was an overload of cuteness and emotions and I just couldn’t control myself.

I’m going to shove this down everyone’s throat till September 7th and even afterwards. Mark your calendar guys. An amazing and witty rom-com is on the way!

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This novel is a wonderfully diverse and positive in representation story. The Charm Offensive has Charlie Winshaw appearing as the star of this seasons Ever After (similar to The Bachelor). He is doing it to rebrand his image after making millions but getting ousted from his own tech firm. Dev Deshpande is assigned as his handler on the show. No one knows Charlie suffers from OCD and anxiety. But Dev is there to help every step of the way to keep the show on track and deliver the fake reality.

This isn't the first book I've read about produced reality tv. But Charlie and Dev are the sweetest of men. Even in all his awkwardness Charlie is genuinely kind and it doesn't hurt that he is a hunk. Dev is Asian/Indian-American, gay and suffers from depression. But together they can talk and share about their wants and lives. Parisa and Jules are fabulous as the supportive friends of each. Beyond the main characters there is more representation of the queer spectrum as well.

One of the surprising elements is mental health being openly discussed in depth. Taking care of your own mental health is as important as physical well being. This is a delightful book to read and for any who would enjoy a thoughtful, funny, m/m romance. I will look for future books from the author after this winner of a debut. (4.5 stars) Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

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Dev is not looking forward to filming the new season of Ever After, especially since he will now be working not with his boyfriend of six years, but his ex. When he gets put in charge of their Prince Charlie, he definitely has his work cut out for him, but their working relationship quickly blossoms into a true friendship, and both are left wondering if there isn’t something more there…

It’s hard not to compare this book to the bachelor franchise, so I am not even going to try. If you are a bachelor fan you need to grab this book! It has all the typical bachelor drama we love to see, but mix in a bit of Colton and a bit of Chris Harrison drama. I loved that this book seriously represented everyone. We had almost all levels of the LGBTQ spectrum, anxiety disorders, OCD, panic attacks, and pretty much every skin tone you can think of. I expected a gay love story, but got so much more! Especially when it came to the mental health conversations, the way they were treated in the book was as just a part of who the person was instead of a reason to ostracize them. If you love the bachelor, or love to hate it like I do, you don’t want to miss this one!

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