I love this so much! I dont even watch any Bachelor Nation shows and I was obsessed. It was so sweet and funny and I was smiling like a fool by the end.

Very sweet, honest, lovely book. I will say if you have any form of anxiety or experience with panic attacks, this might either be a book where you feel seen or might make you feel anxious yourself. I think I would like this one more if I was more of a fan of the Bachelor/ette franchise, but those shows give me second-hand embarrassment and so did this book a bit. I loved the development between Charlie & Dev. I loved how they grew together and for each other.

**Actually a 3.75-rating**

Let me open this review by saying...the last, maybe 15-20% of this book kind of makes up for what we had been going through the first 75-80%. I wrote a majority of my review after I had gotten through 60% of the book and it still managed to have all those same issues and problems that irked me, until the small bit at the back half, near The End.

DO NOT GET ME WRONG. This book is gloriously life-affirming in some ways, but still has a little bit of a ways to go in some minor ones. And unfortunately they can become glaringly flashing to certain Readers when you were looking for proper rep or a certain lean toward what is promised to you in the Summary.

I think I understand why some character choices were made and why some decisions for Plot/story were made but yeah, there are some very real issues I have with this book that prevent me from giving it wild praise and massive gushiness. I still adore Dev and Charlie and would always want them to end up as a couple, no doubt about it.

Everything about this book on its own is giving me life and breath.

I liked the faked Reality TV Show, especially about dating via The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise. Although, wow, talk about a timely welcome when the REAL reality TV Show is going through its own motions of coming to terms with how "problematic" it can be. I am not genuinely sold on the TV concept on the show from the book. But I understand needing to generate a perceived popularity of some long-term reality dating show that is less akin to The Bachelor franchise, but yet still mirrors its episodic breakdowns

I would dearly wish for an eventual outcome like what this book gave Readers in the end, but alas, Bachelor Producers cannot even grasp racial divides before making a move toward diverse sexualities. I do know there have been certain attempts at queer Dating Shows and some newer Dating Shows have brought in sexually fluid contestants, but well... I think this story delves expertly into the sheer fact of Lies vs Truth but also... when is TV born of reality not manufactured--truly scripted by Producers or organically allowed to melt or permeate off the screen? One wonders, huh?

It was great to get those Mini-script notes, in-between some chapters, of what Producers of the show wanted the Show's Executive Producer to make of their scripts, and then of course all HER notes were to scrap everything that remotely leaned on a possibility of a "different" type of love, but more toward keeping the atmosphere heavily hetero-normative but also... Drama-filled that bordered on cat-fights between the women contestants, which seemed like sickly emotional and verbal abuse. The showing of how The Villain of the show, Megan, and her "handler" was possibly egging her on to keep instigating negativity just for the Drama moments, but this woman would never make it to the end, kicked off the show eventually.

I thought it was kind of shocking that one of the script suggested by a Producer was simply about the Front-runner contestant, Daphne, showing her truth where she DID NOT have sex when the show edited it to make it appear like she and Charlie spent the night in a Suite together... and the idea was scraped for an extension of more cat fights between the women and backtalk...eesh...

Everything is here that one would want:
-There is BIPoc rep in not just Dev, but several minor characters surrounding him.
-There's wonderful Queer rep, also, in not just Dev but several co-workers below and above him... many of them women.
-And there is very excellent rep for mental disorders and anxiety issues that can run the gamut of problems in a young millennial life.

When you peer at this summary two things "pop" out at you, which is fine being compared to RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE for the great M/M Romance that blew off the Romance Reading charts 2yrs ago. And then the minimally popular ONE TO WATCH which was a small take on Fat rep in a THE BACHOLORETTE-type styled REALITY TV SHOW.

I enjoyed RW&RB, but I was not bowled over by it, mainly because there were some wonderful, stunning moments I had been wishing could hit mainstream Romance Readers about queer rep, but then there were some wonkier moments where there's some not-so-nice levels of... well Accountability and Responsibility when you take on some Hot Topic moments social media would hold your feet to the fire for.

ONE TO WATCH was an instant dud for me... even though I wanted to see myself repp'd in an overweight heroine... until this rep went a little too sideways for me and I DNF'd.

For many Readers, each book is a subjective meter. So, hmm...when one COMPARES a new offering to two highly popular books...there is not a lot of gray area to move in. One either has to love it lots and lots or just plain judge-y in the content on the problematic issues it trudges up for you.

And yeah, I would suppose there can be burnout from over-popularized books. A Best Selling beloved book can end up NEVER being your cup of tea. And you almost begrudgingly read because you hate the LOVE-fest and seriously cannot believe that any book can be THAT amazing...simply to prove a point to yourself.

This is going to be a very difficult review for me, and also one of the hardest to rate. I wondered why when I began reading this wonderfully queer-positive and Romantic-charged read... why I kept getting a very soft, yet gentle tug when Dev, one of our main male protagonists, was on-scene.

I am going to touch on 3 issues here about this book and it's going to be a, somewhat, PRO and a CON side for each. Some are going to make it tough to review and rate because ultimately...I always want to be the best Reader I can and leave one of the most HONEST reviews I can'

Look, I am a 47yr old White Heterosexual overweight woman who is quantified by her "disability" these days, who also has her own mental disorders, from depression on into panic/anxiety issues. So, I try my damndest to make sure what I read and consume not only represents a diverse community like I have always dreamed could exist inside this Romance genre I have been reading for 35+yrs, but also that I not overlook problematic issues that as a hetero-white woman I would never see on my own, if my mind was not wide open to receive, hear and listen closely.

And like I told you before, even while I was reading and enjoying this book and this entire amazing story unfolding... some really difficult issues were cropping up. It made me feel distracted because there is such wonderful and amazing rep for ALL of those demographics I have mentioned earlier but things feel... massively OFF, at times.

FIRST: The queer rep is off the charts.

And for this story being in an industry where they seem more afraid than ever to represent our diverse world to be honored BOTH behind and on-screen. There are 4 LGBTQ+ characters who work on this Romantic Reality show... and many of them hold high ranking positions on-set, many as Producers.

The problem is the main creator/showrunner of this Reality TV Show, Maureen, is problematic, and majorly homophobic. It seems like they once accidentally had a woman contestant who turned out to be bisexual and... yeah, Maureen is starkly emphatic THIS WILL never happen again. Nor will she ever turn a full season of her show into a queer dating show.

What becomes painful to watch is Dev and his co-workers cowtie to this woman, umpteen amount of times. Feeding The Beast, as I like to say. They always give her what she wants at great cost to not just the women, but also Prince Charming, who this time around is our 2nd male main protagonist, Charlie. At every turn Maureen is undermining things inside of his signed contract, but also... simple things like freakin' human decency.

It happens quite a few times, but TWICE there are massive blowups where EVERYONE who is queer... hears, sees and listens to Marueen's hogwash backtalk...and then shuts-up and does their job in painful silence. It hurts more the 2nd time because this time Charlie is now "part of them"...he feels like family and they turn their backs on him and it's pointless and cruel.

What is also painful to witness is... Dev's ideal of love is basically THIS WHOLE REALITY SHOW... the Fairy-tale aspect and the hetero-normative angle, even though he can bear witness to some real struggles these women and Charlie are having. He scoffs at Charlie when he dares to call his favorite show FAKE... or manufactured, but it truly is. The thing is -sadly and most disappointingly-... DEV sees love in an over-washed Hetero-Norm... he cannot even fathom that a gay man like him could ever have THAT EXACT Fairy-tale life he dreams about.

Basically to think Dev forces himself to work in an environment that will never acknowledge him is quite scary and disappointing. But especially that he let's it roll down his back like water and says NOTHING, each and every time his boss just said some pretty homophobic words right in front of his face.

SECOND: The mental disorder and neuro-divergent rep is, once again, off the charts.

Our two main male protagonists--Dev and Charlie--both have mental disorders.

While it is wonderful when Like discovers Like and the men can BOTH help the other because they understand and know the world the other lives inside of, it can become overpowering that neither man can find genuine healing, nor just simple truth without being triggered, time and time again.

This faked reality show is NOT a healthy environment for either man to thrive. Dev has often powered through, but I do not think Dev actually was allowed to ever see someone else who is trying to "cope" with serious struggles try to BE on his show or even around him. He was often given over to the women contestants as their Handler. But for this season... Charlie appears to be so antisocial and difficult... they feel like FUN [and Sunny]-Dev can actually transform awkward Charlie into the Prince Charming they need for television.

If Dev and Charlie were in separate books as single male leads... wow, what a startling reveal for their Love Interests. I can just imagine how their counterparts could help them through as they become a couple. And this is never to say that Dev and Charlie are horrendous together, but for some Readers... the emotional turmoil and triggering moments can be overkill. Take it from me, some of Charlie's "spirals" were downright maddening, so I can only imagine that for some folks who are overly sensitive and triggering, these scenes could be exhaustive and massively traumatic for them.

It was confusing sometimes to wonder if Charlie would ever cope, for even a mild set of time. Simply to be filmed in segments for TV, and Dev kept having to pull him out... what is left for Dev? What ends up triggering him and his on-set for manic depression?

Somehow the Author has finagled it to be that when one is DOWN and manic, the other can uplift. But sheesh... it seems like too much sensory overload for Charlie AND Dev where what happens when they spiral at the same time?

It seems overly cruel to me...especially with Charlie who has kept his mental anguishes [OCD/Panic attacks w/anxiety and also small episodes of germaphobia...] a secret for years, but who has been suffering since childhood. For him to be ridiculously thrust into this REALITY TV WORLD where he is basically fodder where EVERYONE feels like they can "handle" and cajole and coerce and TOUCH him at random moments when he seems like he is 2-seconds, every time... into a complete and utter panic attack or a meltdown.

Alison Cochrun writes these moments with Charlie, mostly, and then eventually with Dev. It felt as if she has some personal insight into what it feels like. A Reader is really immersed in Charlie's POV for his spirals/panics... in his head as he keeps spiraling off camera and on camera, requiring the show to repeatedly film him over and over again. It makes it even more apparent that this REALITY TV SHOW is more than just fake...it's hideously & horrendously cruelly manufactured.

My problem comes with...what a terrifying manner in which to reveal these men's personal secrets and peel back their characters to the point where it is making them face them on a daily basis, and sometimes ON CAMERA.

Charlie gets it the worst because not only does he NOT want to be in the show... he knows the show is fake and he is NOT willing to fall in love--just because. Charlie is the most exposed and Dev is right there... as his Handler and... Dev keeps calculatingly feeding the Beast until he is faced with the reality that Charlie HAS serious mental disorders that plague him. This dumb reality show is NOT helping him deal and course-correct his tech career.

At 60% into the book, Dev was in a serious spiral/depressive state... his depression was near manic at that point because he has DENIED DENIED DENIED and won't take time for himself or even remotely seek out some kind of therapeutic measures to combat the onsets of his depression. And Charlie manged to help him through, but at what cost to Charlie's own issues and anguish?

I understand it is romantic to think one can help a Lover cope and uplift and ease them through and BE THERE to support... but when you ignore your own capacity to mend and heal YOURSELF... how can you fully BE with your soulmate and actually be PRESENT, so you can HEAR and PAY ATTENTION and LISTEN? Being "present" for them in their time of need is honestly key to both of them healing properly.

My take-away is really that having TWO MCs with mental disorders and both of them attempting to cope...is overkill. I never want to swipe away great mental health rep, but man... can only ONE of them be suffering? Why does it have to be BOTH and then forcing one of them, Charlie who has it worse and has not been capable of coping help urge Dev out of his depression? Watching Charlie robotic-ally hand Dev exactly what he wants him to BE on a stupid TV show just wrecks my heart for Charlie who is struggling with several personal issues at once.

Charlie has NO sexual experience. ZERO. NONE. He is a virgin. In fact... he has never had a intimate sexual moment with ANYONE to even be fully cognizant of his sexuality. So, when he is forced to face 20 women?? Of course he panics and has a meltdown.

But when Dev is "handling" him and gently coercing him to keep giving the show what it NEEDS for film...what he thinks is simple anxiety is actually a bonafide mental disorder and Dev checks himself, managing to understand "coping mechanisms" being used by Charlie to combat panic attacks/meltdowns. So there is forced intimacy going on between Dev and Charlie to the point where Charlie is a different person... a REAL person who begins to find out and learn for himself... that he could be queer, somewhere on the rainbow spectrum...because he begins to fall for Dev, never having felt sexual attraction for anyone before. Nor emotional attachments.

It feels like one is being excessively cruel to Charlie, for no good reason. Charlie is awkward and anti-social, on a neuro-divergent level...but so much of his character reveals are being forcibly yanked back to skin-peeling levels, where it seems cruel and unusual to have this not turn him into a complete and utter basketcase.

And making Dev his "lodestone" seems problematic because Dev wants Charlie to GIVE too much to a fake reality show he still fathoms has some mode of "real romance" involved. Actually time and time again...Dev will start to force Charlie to LIKE/love a woman... and then once he knows Charlie could never like/love a woman in a hetero-normative manner... he is still making Charlie BE ON TV, because this has always been the way Dev SEES love...and it's scary, quite sad and disappointing.

THIRD, and LAST [and maybe most important]: Dev Deshpande is an Indian-American, possible 2nd/3rd generation. He is an only child of two Indian-American parents who went to college [at Cornell] to become doctors, as their families desired, but ultimately they changed their minds and both became... Artists, almost "hippie-like". So they have truly raised Dev to be exactly whomever he wants to be which was always as a filmmaker, writing scripts and then filming them with his little camera.

Yeah, culturally, Dev is massively Californian...he even dresses like a white Frat douche-bro PA... Cargo shorts, Chucks and threadbare T-shirts with deep-Vs...he has thick glasses he wears constantly. So, ya know...I cannot say just because an MC is told to me to be an Indian-American... and he has Indian-American parents with Indian names. I was quite shocked and really concerned why Dev was made Indian-American...at all. He bleeds California, LA/Hollywood and heavily embedded in White culture.

Yikes... this is one of those weird issues that silently creeps on you because something was feeling OFF while you were reading and you could not pin point exactly WHAT?... Then it makes me wonder if I am building things up because there can be moments of being TOO WOKE. And maybe the rep is as it should be...

I did say there is BIPOC in this story... there are several races represented who work with Dev--Black and Asian. Characters are of different races but it shows no impact on the story. They are minor characters, but for Dev it seemed really important to make some kind of impact on him being whom he was.

Dev has flaws. Normal character flaws. He is not a monster nor is he a saintly figure, but I am unsure why he was made of a diverse race. I know with myself... when there is overweight rep or disabled rep...I kind of want to be able to figure out why those important choices were made and this one stumps me.

I think this book has awesome potential to be a huge hit like RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE because so many Readers will not have such a sensitized nature as a reader of Romance as I do. This story and these two men really deeply have charm and charisma melting off the pages...alone and together. there is great humor and there are many wonderful lighthearted moments.

I will give this warning for excessive use of crying and vomiting. Dev and Charlie are BOTH men who are IN THEIR FEELS, at 100%. This Author was not afraid of hitting gross descriptive levels. For some people... you might be angered by too much male crying...and others will be turned off by the mere mention of scenes where the MCs vomit...just FYI...

**I received this e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

3.5 stars

Overall, I thought this was a solid and fun book. I am not a Bachelor/Bachelorette fan, and other books with a similar setting have not been my favorite, but it was done well in this book. I found Dev and Charlie to be really fun characters, and I actually enjoyed the reality show setting in this instance. I also liked that the book addressed many of the problematic aspects of these types of reality shows. The author portrayed a variety of mental health issues in a realistic way, and it truly added to the charm of the characters.

I'd recommend this book to anyone that enjoyed Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an e-ARC of this book.

Rating: 5/5
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Fiction
Warnings: OCD, anxiety, depression, queerphobia
Read if you liked: Red, White and Royal Blue or One To Watch
Steam: 2.5

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

There aren’t enough stars or heart eyes in the world that could give this book justice. Seriously I just want to hug it. This is the follow-up book you need after RWARB because it gave me ALL THE FEELS. The Charm Offensive is now up there with my Top-10 RomComs.

I’m having a really hard time writing a long review because I just want everyone to read this book…it was so delightful and effortless to read. I’m also so impressed this is Cochrun’s debut novel because she knocked it out of the park.

Things I loved: Banter and dialogue. Unexpected chemistry + self-discovery journey the characters embarked on. Just the human nature of this book and the actual representation of real people + they struggles. Focus on normalizing mental health and all that comes with it. Diversity of cast in race, gender, sexuality, and neurodiversity. So much consent, consent is sexy friends! I genuinely just loved their love and all the characters.

Things I didn’t care for: Absolutely nothing.

The Charm Offensive is out September 7th, 2021! Request the ARC, pre-order, request at your local library…JUST GET THIS BOOK.

I'm perfectly content to read a romance that is sort of surface level - there's something very comforting about reading an easy-breezy love story with low stakes and a guaranteed happily ever after. That said, there is definitely an uptick of romances that do and say more, going above and beyond what is expected of the genre and tackling more serious issues all while providing a swoon-worthy love story. The Charm Offensive is an incredible example of this. On first glance, you may think that it's impossible that this book can touch on so many things - depression, anxiety, neurodiversity, queer identity - in such a thoughtful way, but when you stop to think about it, that's real life, isn't it? So often books generally and romances specifically focus on one aspect of a person's identity and highlight the issues surrounding it, and that's certainly a great and important way to include diverse representation in books. But most people can't be boiled down to one specific identity, one aspect of their life that reigns supreme at any given time. In the hands of a lesser writer, Charlie's panic attacks, anxiety, neurodiversity, and his own journey in grappling with his sexual identity might not have been addressed as deftly as they are here. But Charlie feels so REAL, and each aspect of who he is felt so naturally developed and explored that in retrospect I'm blow away at how well done it is. To then see Charlie and Dev, who has depression, slowly fall for each and both realize that who they are does not make them any less worthy of love was incredibly special to read.

If that sounds heavy, don't be dismayed; this is a romcom, after all! I laughed out loud so often while reading this book. The banter between Dev and Charlie is great, and the cast of supporting characters also bring a lot of humor while also serving as important emotional touchstones for both Dev and Charlie. I also loved the construct of the book and how the story pushes back on the heteronormative "love" stories depicted on TV while also holding space for people who love those shows and want to believe in those sorts of happily ever afters; having Dev himself be the most ardent believer in the show was a very clever way to do this.

Thank you SO MUCH to Atria and Netgalley for the advanced copy.

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun is the queer bachelor rom-com of your dreams. Dev Deshpande is a successful producer on Ever After, a show that manufactures love fit for reality tv. Even getting over the end of a six-year-long relationship with another producer on the show cannot stop him from crafting the perfect love story. They will need the best in the biz if they are going to sell tech superstar, Charlie Winshaw, to the public after his recent PR catastrophe. Charlie is awkward and shy with an 8-pack fueled by anxious situps. Not a natural reality tv star. But, if he wants a job in tech, he needs a complete rebranding, and this show is all he has. As Dev coaches Charlie through the season, their natural friendship eases into something truly extraordinary. Unfortunately, they are currently working for a heteronormative powerhouse that cannot be stopped by unscripted love behind the scenes. Or can it?
Let me get this out of the way. The book delivers on the promise of a Rom-Com. Everyone has a different sense of humor, but I was laughing aloud in public. The internal and character dialogue is uniquely witty and fun with a good mix of physical comedy thrown in to boot. To do so in a book that also tackles complex sexuality, race, harmful workplace dynamics, and the representation of mental health on and off-screen was pleasantly surprising.
Part of the book's success is due to our wonderful leads. Dev is good at his job because of his high emotional intelligence and likability. He is still dealing with a difficult breakup while coming to terms with what he wants from his future and how he wants to handle his depression moving forward. I thought it was nice to see the representation of a character with depression who didn't have a great traumatic past. While those stories are also valuable, experiences like Dev's are important too. Dev could empathize with Charlie and have patience for his anxiety. Taking pauses during filming, allowing Charlie to stop and recalibrate, and talking through what he wants and how those wants change help to build their early relationship. Charlie is a wonderful aspec character who is getting over losing a position at a company based on his technical work. I was delighted to come across a character discovering his place on the asexual spectrum. It helps that Charlie is an adorable tech nerd with a rough childhood who just wants a quiet night in and a puzzle.
Now, the female contestants, show staff, and friends in the novel are all gems. Cochrun has done a great job characterizing people with specific descriptors, gestures, and turns of phrases. I felt like I understood people's relationships and attitudes immediately. The book could have struggled drawing my interest to the female contestants in a storyline where none of the women will end up with our prince. Instead, I was totally committed to seeing the cast work through dates, trials, and unfortunate side conversations. The show draws you in, the cast is fun to read about, and the staff has interesting off-screen dynamics that pull it all together.
So yes, I do in fact love Dev and Charlie. Please give me this season of television. The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun is set to release on September 7, 2021. Thank you, Atria Books via NetGalley for providing the eARC of The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun in exchange for my honest review.

A quick and sweet read that will warm your heart. With great representation of LGBT+ and mental health issues.

Adorable fluff that got me in the feels! The characters were funny and charming and vibrant and the emotional depth in this book was a wonderful surprise. It is simultaneously light-hearted fare with a dose of "things are getting real" and it worked!

Also, and most importantly, THE REPRESENTATION WAS EVERYTHING!!!!!

Thoroughly enjoyable!

Dev is a hopeless romantic. He believes in true love, so it makes sense that he'd work for a reality TV show that tries to find someone their soulmate. He is known for scripting the final confession of love and coaching the women of the show to be their best selves to optimize their chance to fall in love. But their new "Prince" is a nervous wreck. Dev is the only one who can get through to Charles and help him push past his anxiety to meet these women. But like these women, Charles has an ulterior motive for starring on the show. After being fired from his own company, he wants to make himself more marketable. He's not looking for true love, he's looking for a job. Dev and Charlie go on practice dates so Charlie can get the chemistry right on screen, but he realizes he has more chemistry with Dev than any of the women. But Dev is his producer, so they can't ever be together. Right?

This book made me full on SWOON. Dev was such a fun, patient character to his complete opposite: Charlie, who was an anxious, nervous wreck. Their dynamic shouldn't seem like it'll work, but it DOES. Dev is so caring and patient with Charles, never judging. I couldn't help but fall in love with both of them as the book continued. By the end, I couldn't keep the smile off my face ever single time they interacted. In addition to the pure rom-com amazingness that this book was, there were plenty of deep, important conversations about sexuality and mental health. I thought they were done super tastefully and respectfully. It was impossible not to get hooked to this amazing, romantic, hilarious book. Charlie reminded me a lot of Maxon from The Selection in the best way possible, too!

If you like The Bachelor, stories with POC and LGBTQ+ rep, and lots of slow burn tension, this will be perfect for you!

I absolutely loved this book! It was so sweet and charming and gave you all the feels. For someone that doesn't like or watch The Bachelor / The Bachelorette franchises, I thought the book was so spot-on with depicting how fake and toxic these shows can be.

I adored that the MC was neurodiverse and thought it was so thoughtfully and respectfully written. Like the MC, I too, deal with generalized anxiety and a panic disorder on a daily basis - I thought the author did a phenomenal job accurately portraying what a "day in the life" looks like for people that have these disorders. For an outsider, it's hard to understand these disorders and many people don't try to understand or don't know how to help. I love that the H was very accepting of the MC's disorders. He was kind, didn't judge and truly cared for the MC when he was having his episodes - he spent the time to learn how to support the MC as best as possible.

I also loved that the H was Indian-American. It's hard enough to get South-Asian representation in books as it is, but for him to be queer as well, was absolutely brilliant.

Honestly, I can't find any faults with this book. Cochrun - you truly hit it out of the park with this one. I appreciate you bringing awareness to mental disorders (and destigmatizing the conversation around mental disorders) and including queer representation in the book (and I'm not just talking about the MC and the H!). Brava on your wonderful #OwnVoices debut novel. I can't wait to see what you come out with next!

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 (rounded up to 5).

A huge thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books and Alison Cochrun for providing with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very sweet and—dare I say it?—charming read! I loved the queer rep as well as the mental health angle, and I thought the portrayals of each MC were mostly realistic and well done. If I had one pet peeve, it was that this book still fell into the trap of the two MCs refusing to discuss their feelings at times, though they did so less than a lot of similar books in the genre. It’s a frustrating aspect of romance books I would like to see dropped, and I did appreciate that the author mostly stopped this in its tracks before it could get too annoying. I also liked the BTS aspect of the reality show. The comparisons to Red White and Royal Blue and One to Watch were very accurate, and this book made me smile a LOT. I would definitely recommend it!

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review! This one was my pleasure for sure!

I was very lucky to get an advance copy of this book through NetGalley, so thank you to them and to the publisher.

I don't even know where to start with how amazing this book is! To see so much representation - queer, race, neurodiversity, mental health - all in one book is amazing enough. But for that book to be laugh out loud funny, fantastically romantic, and tear-jerking, too? I'm already recommending this to friends, and it's not even out for another 3 months! Dev and Charlie are my new OTP. I want to see more more more books like this, and I cannot wait to see what Alison Cochrun does next! Also, like, a movie or Netflix original of this? Please?

This unconventional "Happily Ever After" is one of the best books I've read this year!

This story unfurled in such a natural progression, it felt so real, nothing forced or contrived, which is absolutely counterintuitive for a book centering around a dating show a' la The Bachelor.

Let me preface this by letting you know I absolutely despise the fake crap that is a show wherein people debase themselves to "win" the "love" of a stranger. However, the love that grew between Charlie and Dev was absolutely beautiful and they are so so damn imperfectly perfect!! I love them both so much!

I was struck by how realistically mental illness and neurodiversity was handled, as it is something common (which it SO is), and the notion that seeking professional help is not only accepted, but necessary. That the overall message was that you can be dealing with issues, and still be worthy of all the love in the world. That you need to be healthy for you, before you can be healthy for anyone else.

And the queer rep hit so much of the LQTBQIA+ spectrum. And it was so normative, just a part of these wonderful, multi-faceted characters, not their main, defining trait. And did I mention the racial diversity of the cast? Truly, this book is so deliberately and consciously inclusive, but in a totally organic way that never felt artificial or forced.

I read this book in one sitting, I have already pre-ordered it, and I will be recommending it to everyone I can!

You all know I love anything reality t.v. inspired. "One to Watch" was one of my favorite reads of 2020! So when I was approved for this take on "The Bachelor" franchise, I was all in.

This was such a cute book! Alison Cochrun did an absolutely fantastic job of portraying mental health at the forefront and how it affects absolutely everyone. I loved the twist on the typical romantic reality show trope, and what better time to read this queer romance than during #PrideMonth?!

I found this romance to be, well, charming! I couldn't help but root for both Dev and Charlie, especially in the confines of a very heteronormative backdrop. If the real "Bachelor" franchise ended the way this book did, let's just say it would be the most dramatic ending ever.
•••
Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Ok so think the Selection by Kiera Cass but with representation on everything, mental health, lqbtq, and people in general. Ok now imagine it 100 times better than the selection...because it is! This book has everything you could ever need one bed trope it’s there, romance check, diversity done, a love story with a plot that demands you turn the next page... got that to. Charlie is adorable, sweet, and has never been appreciated. Charlie is forced to participate in a show where he has to date women and in the end get engaged to one of them. Charlie is very closed off and keeps quite because he thinks that if he speaks every one will hate him...but what happens when one of the producers of the shows becomes his handler, and then he realizes maybe this won’t be the worst experience of his life. This was a 5/5 star rating for me and I will be recommending it on my social media pages.

This is such an entertaining, fun, and eminently readable book. The writing is breezy but never insipid, the reality show set-up ensures that there was always something interesting going on, and the main characters are both wonderfully drawn and so very lovable, and though I was pulled, in particular, to Charlie, I really liked that we got both his and Dev's POVs. Perhaps most importantly of all, though, is how well-paced this is: there are never any lulls, or overly prolonged moments, but then again, neither is there any skimping on any development of the romance.

There are a few things I wish could've been a bit more fleshed out (like...what exactly did Charlie's company do?), a number of the side characters weren't really well-defined, and there were perhaps a touch too many "you deserve to be loved" speeches (valid, but...in a book I can only stand so many of these in a given chapter), but none of these things really take much away from how enjoyable a read this is. I definitely recommend this book to every romance fan out there.

I absolutely adored this book. I was hooked from page one. I loved the concept, the characters, the discussions around mental illness and sexuality. The main characters and supporting characters were so well written and fully fleshed out. This book was exactly what I needed right now and I'm going to be waiting impatiently for its release day so everyone else can fall in love with Dev and Charlie, just as much as I have.

Sweet story. A queer take on reality shows like The Bachelor with spot on demisexual rep. As an OV demi reviewer, I really appreciated how the rep was handled.

The love story between Dev and Charlie centered on mental health, questioning sexual orientation (for one of them) and finding love unexpectedly.

The Charm Offensive offers an inside look at the manipulative world of reality programming, and how people are typecast into certain roles (villain, virgin, desperate, etc.)

I wanted more about Daphne and her journey (I love a good side character), and I also wanted more from the world travel scenes since most of the reality show filming took place in various countries. I didn’t really feel like I was there with them in South Africa or Germany.

But I really appreciated the deep and thoughtful discussions on mental health, anxiety, OCD, and depression. It was very genuine.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC. I look forward to more from Alison Cochrun.

Firstly, I should like to start by thanking NetGalley and Aria Books for providing me with an e-ARC in return for an honest review. Let me say that this is one of the easiest honest reviews I have ever been able to write. Not since Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston have I been so excited to have read a book. The Charm Offensive is definitely top for me of all the books I have read so far in 2021 and I know like Red, Hot and Royal Blue I shall have to reread it.

I think that Alison Cochrun's students have been especially blessed to have had her as their teacher but I think Alison should concentrate on writing.

I don't like retelling stories in my reviews. I like to leave a lot for the reader to experience and find out on their own. To say that I totally loved this book would be an understatement. The story reaches out to so many people and thank you Alison for showing that fantasy endings can and should happen in the LGBTQ community. I am sure fans of the Bachelor and Bachelorette might be a light perturbed but I truly wish that ABC would do LGBTQ versions of their shows. Not only did the book highlight gay and lesbian relationships but it went one step further and tackled in a minor way interracial relationships.
So many other issues were touched up and were done so in a very touching and professional manner. Nobody could ever be offended by the contents of this.

I found it charming, provocative, and I didn't want to put it down. Usually we tell people to "not quit their day jobs" but I would say to Alison " please oh please quit your day job". I cannot wait to read this again and for your next book.

This is a must read for lovers of reality and fantasy television, LGBTQ relationships and romances that are not typical or predictable. Was a very easy 5 stars to give.