A review by booksta_adventure
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

5.0

“𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙄 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨?" 

𝘿𝙚𝙫 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙚, 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙥 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣. "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮," 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨, 𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩. "𝙉𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮𝙨.”

🥹 I had such a great time listening to this one. 

Dev has been in love with the reality dating show, 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳, since he was 10 years old, and now he works on it! Charlie is attempting to use the show to rehab his reputation and get his tech job back, but he’s definitely not a “natural” Prince Charming… So now Dev is his “handler”, and yeah, you can say they grow “close”.

I really enjoyed the reality show (picture: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘳) aspect of the story. I watched a season or two of the show, and it was fun imagining a full blown alternative “story” happening in the background.

Charlie and Dev were so adorable, both not thinking the other could possibly be into them, and Charlie finally experiencing sexual attraction for the first time. 🥰 

And the ending! ❤️ It definitely had me tearing up. 🥲

(Sidenote: The fact that they were watching 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘦, which I am ALSO currently watching. 👌)

Audiobook notes: I really enjoyed both MMC narrators: 👍. They were both individualized, but complemented each other. Plus, there was a bonus female narrator for certain interim parts, which also helped breakup the chapters a bit.

What this book is giving:

✅ Romcom

✅ MM

✅ Reality TV show

✅ Demisexual rep

✅ Mental Health Rep

✅ “Oh, love”

Rating: 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 

🌶️🌶️½ / 5