Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - The Charm Offensive

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

525 reviews

quillyreads's review

medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This sounded promising based on the premise, a contestant on a reality dating show having a forbidden romance with a showrunner.

Sadly, it just wasn’t for me. 🫠

There were some nice elements, but a lot I couldn’t forgive. Porticularly the portrayals of Charlie’s anxiety and panic disorders, and Dev’s depression. I know these are complex, varied conditions. But to me, it felt stereotyped and unrealistic. But, it was good to see some representation for two guys that struggle with mental health conditions, support each other, and eventually seek the help they need to start recovery.

It just feels a shame that so much of the plot relies on miscommunication (or complete lack of communication), and there is little character development until the close. 🤕

Felt like a bit of a slog tbh!

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courtsport's review

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emotional funny hopeful 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

4.75

Devoured this adorable queer romance filled with all the tropes. You can see the plot coming from a mile away and I was HERE for it. Everyone was gay, plus a full serving of ace rep, and three (3) they/thems. We love to see diversity within queer experiences the intersectionality of race and mental illness. Highly recommend to anyone who wants The Bachelor to be hella gay. Spiciness level: 3/5

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jojothefool's review

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emotional funny hopeful medium-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

I loved EVRRY SINGLE SECOND OF THIS BOOK!!!

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tdigiorgio's review

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funny inspiring lighthearted fast-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

4.0

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albasapri's review

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Ah. I just can't. I'll come back to it later but this it's what it's all about. THIS is what I want to read about in queer books, all the wonderful differences that exist within the human experience and having them all be okay, no matter how different they are.

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alyxinthestars's review

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emotional 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

4.0

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lucyhargrave's review

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emotional funny medium-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

3.0

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thatsssorachael's review

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted sad medium-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

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wardenred's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring medium-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

4.0

“There is nothing wrong with believing in happy endings.”
“Isn’t there, though, when statistically, you know half of those endings are actually divorce?” Jules sucks on a lime. “Shouldn’t orchestrating love stories for our crappy show spoil the magic for you a bit?”
“No! Never!”

I expected something fairly lighthearted from this book, but I ended up spending most of it feeling upset and worried for the characters. I'm not saying this as a bad thing; if anything, it means that I cared for these fictional people. Just a case of misplaced expectations, I guess? I should really stop trusting the packaging and pay more attention to reviews. Especially, apparently, when it comes to romcoms. I swear some of the most nerve-wrecking books I've read were marketed as romcoms.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the mental health representation here. Both Charlie's anxiety and Dev's depression were described in a way that I found really relatable, as well as their respective journeys to getting better. There was so much attention put into how certain things appear on the outside and how they actually feel when your brain is actively working against you. Despite being intimately familiar with depression, I was kind of tricked with Dev when it came to the portrayal of this dichotomy. I was genuinely growing frustrated with him for a big chunk of the book for his dedication to orchestrating the reality show love stories. How could he be directly involved in all the staging and framing and nudging people toward specific actions and outcomes, and still believe in those happily ever afters? And then it was revealed just how depressed he was, and it all clicked. Like, oh. Of course. He's not so much ignoring what's right in front of him, he's avoiding what's *inside* of him, until it becomes too personal to go on. To make it clear, I liked this effect a lot.

All the inner workings of the dating show were fun to read about, too, in that somewhat darkly entertaining way. There was exactly as much cynicism and manipulation as I expected, but there were also some sweet moments amidst it all between the core group, as well as some witty dialogue that made me smirk.

I'm not sure I bought Charlie and Dev as a couple by the end of the book, though. They're both wonderful characters, but I feel like Charlie put it best right before the ending:

perhaps they were meant to enter each other's lives for a while, and that didn't make what they shared any less real or important.

Or maybe, upon further thinking, I would prefer it if they ended this specific part of their story separately, yet got a sequel where they could reestablish their connection a few years later, after figuring themselves out more, getting more therapy, and without any cameras watching them or crews looking to splice their narrative in a way that would be palatable to all the people watching at home. I honestly didn't like

that whole part where Ever After was this big part of them getting together in the end. On one hand, yay for the show changing to the better, I guess. On the other hand, It felt like the narrative was hastily shoehorned into the romcom mold.

In many ways, this story reminded me of Alexis Hall's Winner Bakes All books that are also marketed as romcoms and are very much not. Great books, all of them! Just. Misleading packaging.

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ktame001's review

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.75

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