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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
Oh man what a good book! I devoured this in about 6 hours and loved every second. Charlie is a precious bean who deserves the world and I'm so happy he got his prince
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
this was fun to read. i just need a book about daphne now *starts screaming*
The Charm Offensive is a book I’ve been seeing everywhere for the past couple of years. Honestly, from the cover alone, I somehow assumed it was a male-male romance set on a reality singing competition like American Idol. No clue why—that’s just the vibe it gave me!
I finally picked it up…and I absolutely adored it. This is hands down one of my favorite contemporary romances ever.
For me, it was all about the characters. I wanted to scoop them up and keep them as friends in my real life. The story follows Dev, a hopeless romantic who’s a producer on a reality dating show à la The Bachelor. Enter Charlie, the newest so-called “Bachelor”—a wildly successful tech millionaire who, it turns out, is so not the suave, confident leading man the producers expected. Instead, Charlie struggles with significant social anxiety, and Dev is assigned to help him feel more comfortable on camera.
I absolutely loved watching these two grow, both individually and in their relationship. Their chemistry and emotional connection were everything.
My only complaint? I wish the book had been longer. I’m genuinely sad it’s over—I just wanted to curl up each night and live in this story. I’ll definitely be picking up the short epilogue today because I need more Dev and Charlie in my life.
I finally picked it up…and I absolutely adored it. This is hands down one of my favorite contemporary romances ever.
For me, it was all about the characters. I wanted to scoop them up and keep them as friends in my real life. The story follows Dev, a hopeless romantic who’s a producer on a reality dating show à la The Bachelor. Enter Charlie, the newest so-called “Bachelor”—a wildly successful tech millionaire who, it turns out, is so not the suave, confident leading man the producers expected. Instead, Charlie struggles with significant social anxiety, and Dev is assigned to help him feel more comfortable on camera.
I absolutely loved watching these two grow, both individually and in their relationship. Their chemistry and emotional connection were everything.
My only complaint? I wish the book had been longer. I’m genuinely sad it’s over—I just wanted to curl up each night and live in this story. I’ll definitely be picking up the short epilogue today because I need more Dev and Charlie in my life.
emotional
funny
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:
Complicated
Mental health representation that’s not stigmatized. Sexuality written in such a nuanced way. Maybe it’s where I’m at in life, maybe this book is just truly fantastic - all I know for sure is that I just loud sobbed through the last couple chapters.
So very very sweet (nearly sickly) - I adore an MLM romance with a lil bit of smut. I’m also a big Bachelor fan so was hooked by the premise of seeing a gay romance involved in the filming of a reality TV dating show! I enjoyed the writing a lot, and most of the characters were dynamic there was a lot of representation amongst them too !!! I did love Jules and Parisa and would have loved a bit more of their plot lines.
I really tried to like the portrayal of struggling with mental illness, and I’ll give it props for tackling multiple struggles in both main characters, but it felt like Charlie’s OCD was seemingly fixed as soon as he fell in love with Dev (besides the three deep breaths thing) which I thought was quite dismissive and not very realistic; love doesn’t dissolve mental illnesses. Both Charlie and Dev were struggling hard through the novel and having them hide their romance and also have to support each other was hard to read at times.
I don’t work in TV production but the schedule of filming and the amount of travel seemed so disproportionate to the point where I had to suspend belief - it felt like SO much overseas travel just for the sake of it? Also definitely think the book could have been shorter because of this, there was an awful lot of random travel and romantic moments that didn’t drive the plot forward that much.
I think for the most part the plot was pretty predictable (if you’re familiar with the timeline of a season of the Bachelor), so I really liked the last 100 pages or so where it went a little ‘off-script’. For the minor flaws it has, the story of Ever After’s first gay romance is worth the read knowing that ultimately this is YA.
Side note - why was Dev’s ‘smoky-sweet scent’ mentioned so many times, it felt weird having to read that descriptor every time. And Charlie’s blushing at EVERYTHING; he can be innocent but this was insane.
I really tried to like the portrayal of struggling with mental illness, and I’ll give it props for tackling multiple struggles in both main characters, but it felt like Charlie’s OCD was seemingly fixed as soon as he fell in love with Dev (besides the three deep breaths thing) which I thought was quite dismissive and not very realistic; love doesn’t dissolve mental illnesses. Both Charlie and Dev were struggling hard through the novel and having them hide their romance and also have to support each other was hard to read at times.
I don’t work in TV production but the schedule of filming and the amount of travel seemed so disproportionate to the point where I had to suspend belief - it felt like SO much overseas travel just for the sake of it? Also definitely think the book could have been shorter because of this, there was an awful lot of random travel and romantic moments that didn’t drive the plot forward that much.
I think for the most part the plot was pretty predictable (if you’re familiar with the timeline of a season of the Bachelor), so I really liked the last 100 pages or so where it went a little ‘off-script’. For the minor flaws it has, the story of Ever After’s first gay romance is worth the read knowing that ultimately this is YA.
Side note - why was Dev’s ‘smoky-sweet scent’ mentioned so many times, it felt weird having to read that descriptor every time. And Charlie’s blushing at EVERYTHING; he can be innocent but this was insane.
emotional
funny
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
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
the cheesiest romance I've cried over this year
I love this book!! All the characters are amazing, it talks so openly about mental health and sexuality, includes non-binary characters like it is no big deal, and switches POV’s between both main characters. This was the first book that made me feel the way Red White and Royal Blue did, and I LOVED RWRB.