The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

Description from Goodreads:

Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder then that he’s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show Ever After. As the most successful producer in the franchise’s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star.

Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming Ever After expects. He doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. In front of the cameras, he’s a stiff, anxious mess with no idea how to date twenty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he’s cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off.

As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told.

In this witty and heartwarming romantic comedy—reminiscent of Red, White & Royal Blue and One to Watch—an awkward tech wunderkind on a reality dating show goes off-script when sparks fly with his producer.

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My Review:

I requested this book on a whim along with others from my library due to a Tik Tok recommending them for their ace representation. I'll be honest, I've never read books with this kind of representation and it was something I wanted to fix, especially since I have been questioning myself again. I wish I could remember or find the video again so I can thank the creator as I really loved this book. It was such a validating feel-good romance. Yes, there was some angst but it was done in a way that didn't want to make me throw my book lol.

I absolutely adored Charlie. I do not have OCD and cannot even compare my own struggles to that, but I have an Anxiety Disorder and suffer from panic attacks so I can kind of see where his character was coming from. I loved seeing him discover himself and realize that he is normal and can want normal things. I really enjoyed seeing him experience attraction and getting to explore that part of himself. I also surprisingly really liked seeing his friends build with some of the contestants. While I get that this is a romance novel, I do wish there were more scenes of Charlie building his friendships with them. It's hard to make friends as an adult let alone with mental health issues, I just thought it was a small wholesome part of the book.

I really liked Dev as well, maybe not as much as Charlie but he was a good character nonetheless. I liked seeing him try to understand Charlie without giving up even though it was definitely frustrating at times. I thought Dev was a very creative character despite the own walls he built for himself. I liked how the author used him to portray depression and get the courage to go back to therapy. Together, I thought they were really cute. They balanced each other very well and the romance constantly left me wanting. I went to bed really late just because I wanted to know what would happen to the two of them.

The plot itself was pretty good. I think the idea of a reality show was a fun setting and a really interesting choice. It definitely called out the token "gays" or people of color that are consistently added to the show but rarely if ever the winners. The ending was pretty satisfying as well. I was actually questioning how it was going to end.

Overall, this was a very great read and definitely worth the borrow or buy. I look forward to reading more by this author. If you are still looking for Pride month reads or just need a good book for your TBR you'll regret it if you don't add this to your pile.