The Charm Offensive

This was fun I guess. Tbh I'm a sucker for anything that acknowledges the laughably loud queer undertones of The Bachelor

I will give credit where credit where credit is due—this book makes no qualms about what it is. Cheesy, sappy, silly romance between two gay dudes that could honestly work as a fanfiction if you tried hard enough. Just replace the names with your characters of choice. It has that over red white and royal blue, I'll tell you that much. I think what just irritated me and annoyed me to hell and beyond was the writing style. Every other page and every other conversation was some fucking GSA spiel about labels and their importance or mental health and so much of the cast of the book was clearly diverse for the sake of diversity. Dev being Indian doesn't impact him or his character in any way, and is about as relevant as the color of his underwear.

I do not understand how so many people love this book, and okay, sure, some books aren't meant for me, but the writing style for this book just infuriated me. If it wasn't some conversation about asexuality and neurodivergence, it was the attempts at being witty and funny that just felt flat. If it wasn't that, it was the random ass fucking metaphors (“his violin eyes” “hands spaced apart like she was building a small IKEA shelf”), and if it wasn't that, it was the way the characters just interacted with each other like every conversation was a Reddit thread or a twitter debate. Maybe people like that! I certainly didn't! Who even the fuck gives a shit! Dev could be a white gay dude and it wouldn't make a difference! You could cut out 30% of this book and nothing would change!

Still better than red white and royal blue tho so

i never knew happy tears before this.

DNF on 1/2/2022. Might just not be in mood. But the main guy feels stereotypically autistic without even labeling him. Being neurodivergent this was not hitting the spot for me.

THIS LEFT ME SOBBING. I love reality tv almost as much as I love reading romances, so I felt pretty confident I would like this going in, but didn't expect to like it this much! 

Charlie is an absolute gem. I need a sequel for Daphne (please).

Very interesting perspective from a reality TV show. The characters were likeable. and i really liked the discussions about asexuality and different types of love. What drove me a bit mad was how Dev kept running off. Felt like the story was drug out 2 more hours than it needed to be (audiobook) because he couldn't just be honest and talk. 🤦🏻‍♀️😅 very frustrating. But great resolution

Once in a while I try to read a queer romcom. And every time I'm disappointed. I truly don't know why I do this to myself and I'm amazed that I made it to 50% in this story.

The plot of this book is kinda cute. An awkward guy goes on The Bachelor to date multiple women, but falls in love with his producer. But the execution of this story was just bad. The characters (yes, all of them) are one-dimensional and unrealistic, the dialogues are incredibly cringy and to top it all off the book is full with awful representations of mental health struggles.

I really had to try so hard to power through this book! I did not like Dev at all, he was just very annoying to me!

that ending completely and truly devoured but the rest of the book was just slightly above average in quality to me.
reminded me both why I read romance every now and again and why I don't read it often

3.5
Cute! Breezed through this. Dev kinda pissed me off sometimes.

Charlie my beloved

adorable sweet cheesy gay rom com and an easy read. pretty much perfect for what it is. it's not trying to be anything it's not. though i do think there was some room for nuance and complexity in some of the storylines that could've taken it to another level. still a great read.

writing is very fast paced. they were kinda cute, didn't feel too attached to them, ending was predictable.

I didn't think some MM romance will feel as good as Red, White and Royal Blue to me anymore, but The Charm Offensive really managed to do that. It felt so nice, sweet and lovely and I would love to stay with Charlie and Dev forever, similar as I have it with Alex and Henry from RWRB. I can only recommend this one to everyone who loves a good MM romance. You just cannot be disappointed by this one.

3.75 ⭐️

2.5

4.5 stars. I absolutely adored this story. These characters stole my heart. I will say the setting and plot of this story is as cheesy as it gets, but it's the best kind of escapism. It was so heartwarming, and sad, and vulnerable. I appreciated the discussions of mental health and how it approaches queerness. I cried, screamed, and laughed. I absolutely recommend this book!

Rating: 4.5/5
Rounded down to 4 stars

This book... is wonderful and is so needed. Could it have been a better representation of Indian culture and characters? Yes, completely. Were all the women in the show carbon copies of one another and forgettable? Yes (although that definitely seems to be the point).

Mental health awareness and representation was fantastic. The natural and awkward cuteness of both Charlie and Dev. I loved that their initial sexual interaction wasn't forced. It felt entirely natural and good. Everything started slow and there was fear and worry involved (one of my complaints of other MM romance books–oh, I've never done anything with guys before... first time, let me do every gay thing there is to do!)

Charlie and Dev are adorable. Charlie is adorable and I think he deserves the world. I'm so happy that Dev did leave and choose himself for a couple months. I just really enjoyed this one. I loved that a major theme was being seen for who you really are, being wanted and chosen, and being someone that always, always reaches out to the other person.

My only complaints: I am tired of every single guy in romance novels being absolutely chiseled and perfectly muscled. Sure, it's attractive, I get it. But there is so much toxicity in the gay community and in everyday life, that it just doesn't feel like I can see myself–a gay, average dude–in these characters. I want this. I want the adorable moments with someone. I wish I could find a book that I can see myself in. I did enjoy that Dev mentioned that he doesn't usually like muscle dudes, but still, I just wish that I didn't feel like I had to have muscles upon muscles just to find love. I know that's not what the author is saying, but it definitely feels that way a lot.

Additionally, I would have liked more description of the sex scenes. Cause those are always hot. :) .

the amount of tears i cried...this is perfect

You know you still deserve to have this love story.

I want to start off this review and say that I am not a romance girly. Never have been, never will. Despite this, I really enjoyed this book and I think that's because of the themes of mental health. It's almost as if mental health is the main plot and romance is the subplot - my favourite type of books.

Stop pretending you're okay. You don't have to pretend with me.

I don't think happily ever after is something that happens to you. I think it's something you choose to do for yourself.

I wanted to give this book the “just okay” three stars it deserves for the way it handled mental health, but I was constantly thrown off by having to wonder about how the anatomy works, unbelievable scenes (not in a good way) and the cringe of already old popular media references that I had to remove half a star. (Seriously, I'm pretty sure a lot of those references were old even before the book came out)

I'm feeling generous cause I didn't drop a whole one.

Also, what's up with the constant vomit?!

I love a great romance and this was a great romance.

What brings this to 5 stars, though, is the thoughtful depiction of OCD in this book. It's a rare thing when I am able to consume a piece of media where OCD is described on a level that I can actually relate to (you know–the character with OCD is not a serial killer in this book). Accurate depictions of mental health are important, and it made me so happy to see that in this book.

DNF

I only got through about a third of the book. Charlie and Dev hadn't yet got together, but it seemed eminent and there was still two thirds of the book left. Which tells me that it's going to be another two hundred pages of the same stuff, which no resolution until the end (because rom-com book). And it's not worth my time for all that.

Charlie has OCD and severe social anxiety (so he says... doesn't really seem that way to me...but...) and decided, with his publicist/best friend, that going on national TV as the Bachelor is going to help him improve his image. This is beyond ridiculous. Even if the Bachelor wasn't fake, the pressure of interacting with twenty different women in so many ways, no one thinks that is going to be good for his mental health. Well, not in real life. Also, he's a germaphobe, but only when convenient.

And Dev. Dev has worked on the show for years and somehow thinks that it ends up with true love. Ick and naive.

And no other character had more than a few sketches of them.

truly one of like 5 romance books which check all my boxes was SUCH a happy fuckin camper btw

edit: this is like months later but i just read a romance book i REALLY didnt like so heres my update: this is quite possibly one of my favorite romances, ever. It was a great introduction to the genre to convince me I CAN enjoy romance like everybody else, but it kind of made me annoyed about...every romance ive read since. The charm offensive is downright smart with its' satire, playful with its' romance, and thoughtful when it comes to thinking about the impacts of reality TV on its contestants. Even though the focus of the book IS the romance, very few of the characters are one dimensional, from the mains to the supporting cast we see a lot less of. We get strong platonic relationships between BOTH of our main characters and their various friends, and good platonic relationships between the various supporting cast! Genuinely a DELIGHT to read. 

Also i still cackle every time I think of Lauren, 23, “former student” who's “so ready to be a mom”.  And honestly! While the supporting cast of women DOES have some bits re: some of them being Stereotypical Romance Reality Show Contestants...a lot of them have depth! Even the ones taken out of the running quickly are discussed with imo lots of grace. 

ummm wow?????????? this book perfectly and i mean PERFECTLY encapsulates me as a human being :')

although i can't speak on charlie's OCD, the representation of dev's depression really resonated with me and the depiction of what it's like to struggle with depression was really well done in this book in my opinion; i relate to dev heavily, not only because i struggle with depression, but because i'm a hopless romantic!

NOT TO MENTION I AM 10000% OBSESSED WITH REALITY TV!!!

charlie & dev's romance actually CURED ME. my 2 gay dads with a house in venice beach takin care of plants :') they're so perfect for each other & this book is perfect for me thank you very much!

ugh and the way you can just FEEL how real charlie & dev's love is & how deep it goes? everyone is deserving of that unconditional love. of their own happily ever after :')

the queer rep in this book just makes my little bi trans boy heart happy, i literally wanted to cry at times.

a masterpiece.

Their relationship was cute and all but this really wasnt for me because I haven't ever watched any sort of reality dating so I wasnt into all that at all but that's just my situation. My main gripe with the story was that as an indian if you changed the name of mc dev to Dave and made him white there wouldn't be any difference in his character so I felt the characterization of both the mcs was very shallow.