Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Charm Offensive

just finished this and am writing the review because yes i'm a huge forgetful mess and i know i would forget about it later. however, there is just so much that i want to talk about.

first of all, i don't know whether to rate it full 5 stars, keep it to 4.5 or reduce it to 4 altogether, so you might consider mine a 4.5 for now. of course, i would never hesitate to give a book 5/5 if i love it so much, but there is just something that i didn't completely like as well so yeah i'll be taking away a 0.5 for that.

before we proceed to the good part where i'll be GUSHING about this amazing book, i'd like to address something that i didn't find appealing. that is, Dev Deshpande as a character. as a person who is Marathi (Indian) (take this review as ownvoices), i didn't like how the character was portrayed with almost no part of him showing his (even the slightest) attachment to his desi-ness. His parents are said to be first gen immigrants, he says he wants to produce a desi queer romance and he's said to have brown skin and that's about it. and not to mention there is just ONE Indian food reference and it is vegetarian tikka masala.

although i know that maybe the character must not be having too close of a connection with his culture, i also think that as a POC main character, it was necessary to be shown. having a desi MAIN CHARACTER just for the name and not mentioning anything else about them is so meaningless. there were times when maybe if not constantly reminded of his skin colour, i would've completely forgotten that Dev was Indian. so what i've been trying to say here is that the author could've used some more research and i'll be happy if i get to see a better POC character in their future works.

coming to the part that i liked about the book, i have to say this has to be my most favourite queer joy book ever! i have not read a lot of them but my heart swells with love and yearning whenever i do and it's just to pure to know that being queer is amazing. i absolutely loved the ace-spec rep and the M/M romance, along with queer side characters and them getting stories of their own. there wasn't any character who was baseless or had no real role and was just standing by. NO. literally every character contributed to the story and i liked that so much!

ALSO DID I MENTION THIS IS ONE OF THOSE BOOKS THAT MAKE YOU FEEL YOU AREN'T READING?? i felt like i was there with the characters, feeling this attachment to them that i have rarely felt so strong.

also liked how the ex wasn't the evil doucheboy who loves to ruin his ex's stuff? at first when the ex was mentioned i was like ew here he comes he's going to ruin everything but by the end i ended up liking him too and understanding that some relationships don't work out and it's absolutely okay!

i liked the narrative based around mental health and how it is important and how loving someone else isn't going to magically cure you or make you healthy. the author intricately focused on how people view getting therapy or help as a weakness and how it has to change, i loved all of it so much.

in the end, i'm going to end this review while asking Parisa to be my life so yeah we'll probably end up falling in love, y'all have a good day though!

Content Warnings

jezebelligerent's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

emfass's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

Perhaps I will come back later to leave a longer review, but for now: this book made me cry multiple times, more than any other romance has, but in the best way: for mental health rep, for aspec + queer rep, for allowing people to be with us in our darkest and messiest moments and helping us realize we deserve love then too, for the idea that every kind of love/orientation deserves to be recognized as valid and is worthy of being represented widely.

Content Warnings