Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

20 reviews

cozy_tea_reader's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I really liked the idea of the book it being set around a hetero-normative reality dating show. I think at times it felt like I loved the idea of the book but often felt like the writing didn’t live up to the potential and that the representation of mental health often fed into stereotypes - especially the portrayal of OCD. 

While I was glad the characters got their happy ending it felt like as a reader we were robbed from seeing a proper conclusion to Dev and Charlie’s romance.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexism, Vomit, Homophobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Misogyny, Child abuse, Racism, and Ableism

Minor: Eating disorder and Sexual assault

The book heavily discusses the mental health of its main characters and while I agree this should be de-stigmatised I don’t think this was a good representation of mental health problems particularly OCD.

toofondofbooks_'s review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcoholism, Ableism, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Biphobia, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Acephobia/Arophobia

joensign's review

emotional funny hopeful 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Sexual content, Biphobia, Vomit, and Homophobia

Minor: Sexual assault and Alcoholism

axel_p's review

challenging emotional funny sad 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

The way that Alison wrote about depression in this book hit close to home.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness, Misogyny, Vomit, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Bullying, Drug use, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

infjkiki's review

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness

Moderate: Vomit, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault

gem114's review against another edition

emotional 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 love Dev and Charlie and the queer and neurodivergent rep in this book. Sobbed for the last 20% of the story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, Vomit, Cursing, and Bullying

Minor: Alcoholism and Sexual assault

starklinqs's review against another edition

3.25

So I was super into this book at first but it unfortunately suffers from a few setbacks. While it delves into pretty deep topics in mental illness (as well as performative wokeness and heteronormativity), I couldn’t help but feel like the book rang hollow at a lot of points. Dev in particular - I’m not going to lie, I definitely get more excited when I see the main character in a book is Indian. I love characters who are like me and even if they don’t share my personality traits that doesn’t matter - representation is nuanced and varied and just because I don’t relate to one doesn’t make it bad. That being said, I did feel like a lot of the representation with Dev boiled down to “Dev’s dark brown skin against Charlie’s pale white skin.” There’s no real nuance for him being a first gen Indian American, or how that might affect his issues with therapy. When it came to Charlie vs Dev, Dev on the whole felt more villainized at times - he cuts off contact (and in what felt wildly unrealistic to me, that Dev would have no knowledge of certain things that happened by the end of the book), people flippantly tell Dev that “everyone” is in therapy and expect him to know that they seek professional help, it borders on portraying as him not making enough of an effort for therapy. 

There’s also just inconsistencies with the writing for him. He’s spent 6 years on this show but believes that the love on it is real (?) and is SHOCKED when people think differently. There’s an Indian queer romcom screenplay  that is apparently incredibly meaningful to him, yet it’s barely mentioned nor does it actually go anywhere. It just felt like there were a lot of aspects to Dev that didn’t feel fleshed out, and that really bothered me. 

I did however, find it cute and I love a nice queer romance. I like cheesiness and I do appreciate a happy ending. I might rate this lower later on but I don’t see myself giving this any less than a 3. For the most part I did like the book, but I wish white authors would put a little bit more thought into writing their POC. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault

penguin_loves_reading's review against another edition

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, and Mental illness

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism and Sexual assault

skudiklier's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

Okay so I just read this book in one sitting (ebook--my phone is at 3%) and I couldn't put it down. I had so many other things I planned to do and I'm about to go to bed late but arg I just haven't been pulled into a story like this in too long. 

Even the parts of romance novels I usually don't like (i.e., the part where they always leave each other over some stupid miscommunication) were better in this one than they usually. The problems seemed real and not forced, and the characters tried their best to say how they really felt, pretty much all the time. I loved this book and I love all the queer representation too. I relate to it in so many ways, and it made my heart ache.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Biphobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gun violence and Sexual assault

thefatpaperback's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

The writing in this book is incredible. Cochrun crafts humor, intimacy, and care into the characters and plot seamlessly. I gasped, squealed, blushed, and cried my way through this read. If you’re thinking “I can’t read another reality show romance”—Yes, you can. And you should. Because this one is special. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Biphobia, Ableism, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Fatphobia and Sexual assault