"This is what regret tastes like, regurgitated tequila and dirty cotton balls."

The Bachelor meets a 90s rom-com in this witty romance about finding love on a television show.

Having your debut novel compared to the powerhouse that is RWRB is amazing and terrifying all at the same time. While those are huge shoes to fill, it has to be able to stand out on its own. This novel is one you should be really excited about.

This started off really cute and absolutely hilarious. The vibes were flawless as we travel the ups and downs of working for and on a television show about finding your soulmate.

Dev and Charlie were super adorable as they figured out what they both wanted out of life. It was interesting to see Charlie's thought process as he comes out about who he is inside, even though that may be scary. Dev was something else and the perfect best friend, I wish they wouldn't have made him somewhat stereotypical. Together they were explosive (in a good way) They brought the best out of one another and that's what we need to see more of.

Even though this was overall a good story, there were times where I got bored because it felt as if I was reading the same thing over and over again. Dev overreacted a lot. When his thoughts got the better of him, he would blow up and not think of anything else except the bad. Plus he was a little stereotypical for my tastes.

The Charm Offensive was totally hilarious to where I was laughing out loud, super sweet, and adorable. I loved reading about the interworkings of trash tv (even though I can't get enough sometimes) and I really enjoyed Charlie as he came out of his shell and found exactly what he was looking for. It was delightful.

I’ve absolutely fallen in love with The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun. Dev is a hopeless romantic who’s going through a bit of a rough patch in his love life, but that’s not stopping him from trying to help someone else find their happily ever after—literally, he works behind the cameras for a reality dating show called “Ever After”. The underlying drama this season: the prince who’s looking for his princess is only doing it for good press. Enter Charlie, i.e. the one who doesn’t believe in love. But you know what they say...opposites attract...eventually at least. As the season unfolds, Charlie starts to realize that maybe he’s no longer in it for his image, and maybe love exists after all, but not with anyone in front of the camera.

The story of Dev and Charlie pulled me in so fast and held onto me until the very last word. Their love story is full of ups and downs, so many laughs, and of course lots of fluff and romance. Beyond the plot, I absolutely ADORED the representation in this book from POC to the LGBTQ+ community to mental health—there is something in this book for everyone. I cannot recommend this story enough!

I really enjoyed this book a lot. Even though I'm really not about dating reality TV at all, I also really liked the way this played around that setting to build this surprisingly sweet and delightfully funny queer romcom. This book includes a very diverse cast in a lot of different ways, characters that cover a sexuality specrtrum: gay, lesbian, bi, ace; characters that are multiple different races and cultures, and of course characters that live with mental health issues. I love this representation, and the way that it feels natural and unforced.

As for the romance itself, both Dev and Charlie are likable characters, each with their own trauma and past history, but who see each other and start falling in love within the context of this fake dating show. I laughed and I empathised, and I definitely was cheering them on, and no spoilers but I loved the end in a lot of different ways.

If you're looking for a fun romcom with heart, you should definitely check out The Charm Offensive.

Well this was stinking adorable and charming as all get out. (I don’t really talk like that but this book makes me want to.😜)

I read the The Charm Offensive in 24 hours and could not put it down. I loved how this queer romance placed mental health front and center and it showed two characters that unexpectedly learned to love each other through their various ups and downs. And on a Bachelor-type reality show setting to boot.

This was a lovely hug of a book, and I loved it so much. Oh, and IMO, Medium steam level.

The Charm Offensive comes out September 7, 2021.

Thank you @netgalley @atriabooks and the for a free ARC!

This book was SO CUTE!!! I loved both main characters. They were so sweet and cute and I felt like I was really rooting for their love story. If you like to watch reality dating tv shows, you'll love this book! Also loved the representation for mental health.

I’m such a sucker for a cheesy romance, but this put such a different spin on your usual storyline.
Ever After has been around for so many seasons and Dev is lucky enough to work in the wings. When their newest hunk, Charlie, comes on…well…he’s not the usual suave hottie. He’s awkward and can barely hold eye contact or a conversation. He even vomits on camera when forced to talk to a gorgeous woman the first night. He’s hopeless.
It’s Dev’s job to get him camera ready every day. So he has an idea to do fake dates to make Charlie more comfortable.
Take a guess where this heads for these to sweeties….
The characters are drawn out so well and I loved how the story was so unique.

I am not one for reality tv shows so I was a bit skeptical about the premise of this book when I picked it up. I loved it. Dev's hopeful romanticism against Charlie's cynicism was a perfect match. I loved how they grew as characters and I look forward to reading Cochrun's next book.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of THE CHARM OFFENSIVE by Alison Cochrun. My favorite thing about this book was the behind-the-scenes on a reality dating TV show. I don't even know for sure how much of it was accurate, but I still loved the feeling of seeing what that's like. I've only seen like 1 1/2 episodes of The Bachelor, but it's prevalent enough in the collective media culture that I have my opinions on it and this book only solidified them, while also showing the possibility of a happier future where people get to celebrate who they really are instead of hiding it away, where reality shows could actually reflect a more diverse America. Both Dev and Charlie were lovely main characters with plenty of depth and growth and chemistry and I really appreciated the representation of mental health in this book as well. Basically, this book was lovely and I flew through it. It had great tension, great voice, and a great moral. I recommend it!

I was hoping to like this book more than I did given that I really liked the concept of this book.

I like how well done the the fake-Bachelor concepts were from quests and travel to behind-the-scenes glimpses.

While Dev and Charlie were adorable together, I felt that we din't get to know Charlie very much aside from his mental illness. I appreciated the OCD representation since I haven't seen it much in romances but I wanted to get to know his character beyond that as well.

I really liked the concept of this book! Unfortunately I was hoping to love it more. I thought the fake-Bachelor concepts were very well done, including all the quests, travel, and behind-the-scenes glimpses. However, while Dev and Charlie were adorable together, I felt that we never got to know Charlie much beyond his mental illness. I appreciated OCD rep (I've rarely seen this in romances!), I wanted to get to know his character beyond this part of his identity.

The Charm Offensive might just be my favorite romance so far this year.
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The protagonists are just so lovable. Charlie is an awkward, smart, adorable man who’s the star of this season’s bachelor-like reality show. Dev is a funny, larger than life, talented man who is his handler guiding him through this season.
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This book is a beautiful story about friendship, love, and what every person truly deserves. In addition to the central romance, I loved the friendships between the characters, the workplace drama, and the representation of real life struggles.
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This one comes out of September 7!
Thank you @atriabooks and @netgalley for the ARC of this novel.

Oh my actual gosh. I loved this book, so so so much. If you're a romance reader and you love queer romance, and representation/diversity in your novels, this is it. The Charm Offensive is funny, sweet, heartwrenchingly tender, honest, and devastating when it wants to be. The characters are beautifully unique and there is so much honesty about the devastation of mental health, the difficult process self care can be, and the journey to finding worth within yourself; all while a sweet fairytale romance falls into place. This book plays out so sweetly, I can't even handle it, honestly. I'm still gushing over it! My heart feels so full!!!

Even as I was expecting a happily-ever-after, it was still such an emotional rollercoaster because the author does a phenomenal job at invoking feelings and getting at your soft spots. Different moments of the book was triggering for me, as someone who struggles with my mental health, but it was all discussed so tenderly and honestly that it filled my heart and made me feel honored and seen. The Charm Offensive is a brilliant gay rom com in book format (because really, I've never read a book that felt more like a rom com than this one), but it also gets to the heart of bring a flawed human who is trying to find worth in oneself. And the characters are just so loveable and real - the diversity didn't feel like tokenism in a way that it sometimes can. Alison Cochrun did an excellent job being thoughtful about representation.

I feel like this review wasn't very coherent - I kinda just word-vomited all of my affection for this book here, haha. But I really did enjoy it, and I can't wait to buy it on release!

100% my new favorite rom-com. the set up is perfect and the relationship is adorable - i cared So Much and was rooting for charlie and dev every step of the way!! if you love reality tv and good queer romance, pick this up as soon as you can.

This story was one of the rare ones that had me deeply feel connected to both love interests. Most books, if I’m lucky, I connect with and understand one of the love interests but rarely both.

First off we have Dev, the producer, who feels like he always needs to be “fun Dev.” From a young age, Dev would go through periods of crippling depression. Growing up he was fascinated and in love with the idea of happily ever after. Even though he “loves love” he hesitates to fully show himself, to those around him, because he fears that maybe he’s undeserving of love…due to his depression.

Charlie was diagnosed with severe anxiety and OCD at a young age which has caused him to be misunderstood and have trouble interacting socially. Charlie has never been in love and thinks true love doesn’t exist. Charlie struggle’s to connect to others…in his experience, no one has attempted to truly understand him and his needs…instead, others mercilessly made fun of him and ostracized him.

Growing up with depression and anxiety is hard and affects so many aspects of your life. It’s hard to feel comfortable around people…to feel like it’s okay to open up to someone. At times when you open up to people you really think you can trust…you’re rejected or demeaned because they don’t, or don’t want to, understand what you’re going through.

My favorite part of seeing Dev and Charlie fall in love was when they could see the other was struggling and instead of telling them to “get over it” or some other insensitive comment…they’d simply ask “what can I do for you? how can I help you?” Honestly, those lines were so romantic. I also loved that Dev never rushed Charlie, he let Charlie really feel comfortable and let him explore at his own pace.

I am so happy that Netgalley approved me for this ARC…it’s rare to find romance novels with such great mental health representation. I look forward to seeing what other stories Alison writes for us.

PS…this is a sweet romance that doesn’t graphically depict sexual scenes. Thought I’d put that in there since some people prefer sweet romances whereas others prefer or explicit romances.

I am obviously in the minority here, but I thought this book was simply okay. I loved aspects of it, don't get me wrong. The friendships, the dynamic between Dev and Charlie in the second half of the book. But the Bachelor praise was too outlandish for me. In the beginning of the book, Charlie quite literally couldn't string a sentence together or ask a girl a question. He was like Raj Kuthrapali from the Big Bang Theory, His inability to function normally on dates with women made it difficult for me to believe that a network would select the young techie as the Bachelor, no matter how hot he is. So, while it's sickly sweet and cheesy all at once, I was a little too suspended in disbelief from the beginning to really believe something like this could actually happen. It's fiction-fantasy-esque for me. But the fantasy is very adorable and I'm glad Charlie finally found someone to love who he could completely be himself around.

As a fan of the entire Bachelor franchise, I was super excited for this book and it did not disappoint! It was heartwarming, angsty, hilarious, and fun. I think depression, OCD and anxiety were handled well. I think the general idea of not labeling and just figuring out what/who you like was done really well and felt lighthearted while also remaining a big deal. I loved this romance and would totally watch the show! The side characters were amazing and it read like a movie in my mind. Highly recommend!

Charlie, a young hot tech millionaire, is chosen as the "Prince" for the popular TV show "Ever After" where a group of women compete for his love (see: The Bachelor). Things get a little messy when Charlie drunkinly makes out with his producer instead.

First and foremost, this book is super cheesy and there's a lot of overdone tropes here. + I take problems with the unrealistic fact that ~can't-form-a-sentence-Charlie~ was chosen as the lead "Prince"for a tv show (no it would never happen, he literally can't speak to a woman) but overall, there are some great nuggets in here.

There is a lot of discussion on sexual preference/fluidity which I think was a nice touch and almost all of the main characters are neurodivergent in some fashion and have very open conservations about their mental health. Was some of it very staged/forced in the text, yes? but it was still ok.
This was a fun and fast paced read that had me grinning from ear to ear. I really enjoyed the romance that came out from it.

I did not enjoy the first approx. 25% because Charlie just couldn't function and it was a bit repetitive but all in all this was a good time.

Highly recommended for fans of "The Bachelor" & "Red, White & Royal Blue"

Thank you to the publishers for the arc.

Dev Deshpande has always been totally obsessed with the show Ever After. He grew up watching it and it’s why he believes in true love. Now, he’s working as a producer and handler for the show alongside some of his best friends and his ex boyfriend. When Charlie Winshaw signed up to be the next Prince Charming on Ever After, it’s to save his career and boost his reputation. He suffers from OCD and panic disorders and he wants America (especially the Tech industry) to see him at his best. Dev and Charlie meet and there’s automatic chemistry. As the show goes on, Dev and Charlie get to know each other better and find that true love doesn’t always have to look the same way.

I thought this was a very cute story that incorporated a lot of important topics. Mental health was a huge topic in this book and the way that the author explored it was realistic and refreshing. Charlie and Dev were fully developed characters with complicated feelings and I felt that it really added to their chemistry. I was irritated by Dev a lot of the time because he stood in the way of his own happiness and was so stubborn, but I understand that it had a lot to do with his depression. I was still mad though. I loved the behind the scenes feel of The Bachelor, which I have always loved and will never look at the same again.

This book was phenomenal! It was heartwarming, angsty, hilarious, fun and realistic. I think depression, OCD and anxiety were handled really well and as someone with depression I felt well represented. I think the general idea of not labeling and just figuring out what/who you like was done really well and felt lighthearted while also remaining a big deal. I loved this romance and would totally watch the show! The side characters were amazing and it read like a movie in my mind. Highly recommend!

This book charmed me to no end and pulled at my heartstrings! More than a romance, this smart, witty and refreshing book is a coming of age story rooted in the importance of self-love. I absolutely adored all the queer representation as well as the in depth exploration of mental health issues and the stigma associated with them. These characters were tender, raw, vulnerable and beyond endearing. We need more books like this!