Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - The Charm Offensive

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

137 reviews

bootsmom3's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

thesawyerbean's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was such a beautiful book. It is a story about finding yourself, friendship, love and realising yourself worthy of a happily ever after.
The writing was tender, but at the same time vivid, intense, gorgeous. The way they described each other was stunning, truly some of the best I’ve seen to properly portray love:

“In this moment, in this light, his eyes remind Charlie of the dark wood Mendini violin he played in his high school orchestra, almost black around the strings, a well-loved umber brown on the edges of the lower bout. He loved that secondhand violin.”

An aspect I adored about this book was the amount of valuable representation in its characters and themes. Queer identities, a range of ethnicities, mental health discourse - all lovingly and sensitively included in a way that was uplifting and celebratory. The discussions on what it means to be queer were so affecting for me:

“Labels can be nice sometimes. They can give us a language to understand ourselves and our hearts better. And they can help us find a community and develop a sense of belonging.”

The mental health discourse and the imperative emphasis on looking after your needs was such an important one to depict. Charlie learns to deal with and accept his OCD and anxiety diagnoses. Dev suffers with depression, and Cochrun does a fantastic job of describing the emotions and the despair in a poignant way.

“Burning that bright and that fiercely must be exhausting; no one can sustain it forever. Charlie wishes he could tell Dev it’s okay to flicker out sometimes. It’s okay to tend to his own flame, to keep himself warm.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It felt so cozy and loving; the characters were extremely endearing, the story was high stakes, tense, thrilling and fundamentally delightful. I will leave you with a fabulous quote that makes me feel warm inside:

“He didn’t know it was possible to love Dev more, for love to become a bottomless well inside of him he could spend his whole life filling. Coming together with Dev in this new way makes the well inside of him pour over. It feels like an unzipping of his skin, as if he’s stepping outside this costume version of himself to become his actual self—that he’s discovering something true buried so deep he thought he would never reach that person, but there he is, and Dev is with him, holding his hand, guiding him through.”

Content Warnings

cady_sass's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolute perfection. Chefs kiss. Change nothing. The representation?! Immaculate. Multiple types of neurodivergence across multiple characters, people across the entire spectrum of sexuality across multiple characters, racial diversity throughout and a mixed race couple at the forefront? Oh, and of course a heart melting queer romance to boot. This is unREAL (rest in peace 🙏🏼) if it was remotely heartwarming and had any happy storylines. I can’t ask for more. 1000 stars.

I will actually fight someone over this book, don’t you dare come over here with your slander 🤣

Content Warnings