Oh my gosh this book!! It is so cute and sweet and funny. I loved all of the characters. I really hope we get a sequel with another character as the main protagonist during their season of the show.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review this.
This book! Did I sleep on the hype?? Yes, yes, I did! However, I do feel that personally, that I read it at the exact right time for me personally. It discusses a ton about mental health as well as being queer or questioning. There are also a ton of fun quips in here that made me laugh out loud. I am not a fan of the Bachelor, or anything related to it for the most part, but I do appreciate the behind-the-scenes aspect that was presented in this story. Overall, I would highly recommend this story to anyone who has read Meant to Be: If the Shoe fits by Julie Murphy and wanted it Queer and deeper in the mental health aspect. Because of these points, I have to give it a 5 out of 5 stars.

Great book!! Can't wait to read more by this author! It kept me smiling and such a great love story!

Love love LOVED this book. 1) Loved that they were 28 years old (I need to read more books about people my own age). 2) Bisexual, gay, lesbian, pansexual, asexual, demisexual, and grey-sexual representation!!! 3) I’m a sucker for a good Bachelor-themed book (even though I never watch the real show). 4) Strangers to lovers REALNESS!! 5) Multiple types of mental health representation (OCD, general anxiety disorder, panic disorder, depression, therapy, etc.)

I’m not normally a huge romance novel fan, but this one was fun, was a good pace, and was overall just really well done. Charlie is such a sweetheart and really is a prince charming.

This was very, very cute while also doing a great job of tackling depression and anxiety throughout. I would give it more of a 4.5 star rating because the ending really won me over. However, this just wasn't quite perfect, mostly because this is very much a fade-to-black romance which I've noticed is common in queer romances through major publishers, but it's a little annoying to me because I think that sexual chemistry is an important part of the romance in a lot of cases. But otherwise, I highly recommend this as it's a pretty perfect setup for me, in terms of plot.

I am IN LOVE with this book. Dev and Charlie are the definition of cinnamon rolls. They are a new favorite couple of mine! First, this book has some of the best mental health rep I have ever read. I felt so so so seen in this story! Next, I love the commentary on reality television. I think it did a really job painting a picture of the reality of dating TV shows. Plus, the amount of rep in this book is amazing! I cannot say enough about the discussion that Charlie has about asexuality. I need a follow up with Daphne's season of Ever After!

Just amazing!

However, how come Dev is wearing cargo shorts not the cover?!

Cute book with a wonderful concept. Great representation overall as well.! Easy abs wonderful read.

How have not reviewed this book?! I read this book last year and it ended up being one of my top favorites for 2021!!! Ugh, this book is everything and more!!!

I do not like reality dating shows. I have seen maybe one or two, but the whole concept makes me cringe. Especially knowing how manipulated they tend to be (one of my coworkers was on a house remodeling television show—and I heard the stories). Still, when I read the description of The Charm Offensive, I got excited and knew I wanted to read it. I may not like the reality of these types of shows, but I enjoy them in a fictional setting.

Some background: Dev is a believer in fairytales and his job is to make sure they happen on the long-running reality dating show Ever After. While his own love life may not be what he dreamt of, he wants to make dreams come true for his contestants. In walks Charlie Winshaw, a disgraced businessman in desperate need of image rehabilitation. He proves to be quite the challenge--someone who does not believe in true love and is rather stiff and extremely uncomfortable in front of the camera. Off camera, Charlie seems stand-offish and cold on the surface. Dev pulls out all the stops to try and create a love connection between Charlie and his female contestants. He just needs Charlie to try a little harder. As the two men work together and learn more about each other, they soon find themselves in a not-so-planned romance—one that could jeopardize the entire show.

I still do not like reality dating shows. However. This is one of my favorite books of 2021. I fell in love with the characters and never in a romance novel have I rooted for a couple as much as I did Dev and Charlie. I really appreciated the author tackling the issue of mental illness head on as well, which added an extra dimension to the novel I hadn’t been expecting but was grateful to see. There were tears and laugh out loud moments, even a bit of swooning. I was all smiles by the end.

This book started off so strong: two lovable mains for this overtly romantic story. I was pulled into Dev and Charlie's narratives, and thoroughly enjoyed Cochrun's development of these two into three-dimensional and real characters. I felt for Charlie. I commiserated with Dev. I <i>loathed</i> the rushed ending.

I have rarely been so disappointed in the way that something was tied up. Disbelief was not suspended for this denouement: it was assassinated. The ending reads like a hastily-written fan fiction co-opting the Cochrun's beautifully human characters.

If you're looking for a story that foregoes the slow burn but fills you with the perfect amount of angst, this is the book for you. I just suggest you write your own ending and omit the final two chapters from your reading. Three stars.

***Note: I received an ARC of this novel from Atria Books and Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.***

As an AVID fan of the Bachelor (despite knowing that yes, it's terrible), this book was a treat. I've always wondered if there are any friendships or anything that pop up between contestants and the producers who they must spend a lot of time with, so I was really onboard with this plot from the get go. I really enjoyed it, it definitely lived up to my expectations, and I'm happy to have read it!

Can this book be any more adorable? We are introduced to a contestant on a reality show that is very much like The Bachelor. But, instead of falling in love with one of the eligible ladies, he falls in love with a male producer on the show. Their genuine and gentle advances were precious to read, and I loved the care they took with each other's emotions. The pacing of the book was nice, and I liked that it was told partially through scenes from the show. A great rom com!

This one was so fun! I love the reality show based books! They call to when I used to sit and watch nothing but reality tv when it first became popular! Charlie and Dev were adorable 😍 I loved how they weren’t perfectly but they worked!! Their love story is one I won’t soon forget!!

If you are a fan of reality TV, this book is for you. I am not a huge fan of them, but the storyline caught my attention since the very beginning. It is almost impossible to not like the main characters and the situations that they are put it.

I absolutely adored this book, and after I finished it, all I wanted to do was read more and more romance!

This one has a lot going on in my head! This book has a lasting impression on me, but it's not the one I had hoped for. However, despite my admiration for the characters, including the hidden relationship with the reality show producer, I was dissatisfied with the tone of the novel as a whole.

Finished book 4 in my Year of Netgalley. Sadly, it was only 3 stars for me. I know this is a super unpopular opinion but hear me out. Dev and Charlie? LOVE them. Individually and together. I also love Parisa and Jules and their friendships with Dav and Charlie. But for some reason I kept picking this book up and putting it down again. It took me until about halfway through to realize that I kept putting it down during all of the filming scenes. Because it seems I really dislike the dating show aspect. I probably should have known that going into it because I really am not a Bachelor fan but this book had such great reviews that I decided to try it anyways. And unfortunately I just didn’t love it.

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochran was a delightful surprise. With her debut, Cochran gives a witty glimpse into the back ground of a Bachelor type reality tv show. I think I went in expecting a fairly typical queer rom com, but these characters are kind, compassionate and lovely. (or petty, small minded and self serving, but you need a couple of those to move a story along!) Cochran portrays people with real struggles, and she treats them respectfully. Both Dev and Charlie live with mental health issues, and Cochran is able to show what day to day life with these issues might be like struggling alone and what it might be like with actual love and support. There are important conversations happening here, but it’s wrapped up in sweet, awkward characters that you also fall in love with and hope for the best. Truthfully, I swallowed this book up, then read it again slower to enjoy more time with these people.

I am a bit torn over this book which is why it has taken me so long to review. I really did enjoy the premise but it took me ages to actually like both the main characters. I kept having to restart the book until I finally got far enough that I came to care for both of the main characters. I think my other problem was that the rest of the side characters felt so flat that there was nothing really helping move the plot along. Once I settled into the book I was able to enjoy it. I love when love interests have talks about their insecurities with each other because it makes the relationship actually feel real. I just wish I had enjoyed this book from the start.

This was such a cute book. I love a good romance trope of 'fixer upper' falling for the person they are fixing. This was like reading The Bachelor, but the bachelor ends up being a techy millionaire that does not know a single thing about women. He then ends up falling for the man on the show in charge of 'coaching' him through the process.

It is super cute and has that "I didn't know I was gay" trope that can be very adorable. It worked very well for this story. I enjoyed the characters of Dev and Charlie and their respective friends. It really added to the growth that the two main characters had.

The synopsis nailed it perfectly as saying it was Red, White, and Royal Blue combined with One to Watch. I really loved both of those stories and this one was the perfect mashup of the two. It was cute and different as the main characters fought their attraction. There were dilemmas and a lot of personal issues due to public eye and scrutiny. I also like how the author tied in how demanding and staged reality tv can be. It felt realistic in pertaining to criticism that media faces with LGBTQ context and society as a whole.