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A review by bhnmt61
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun
4.0
I usually have a couple of books in my library queue that I’ve heard enough good things about to make me curious, but for whatever reason, I’m not interested enough to buy them. This was one of those books, and the reason I wasn’t sure I’d like it is because I’ve never been a fan of reality dating shows. I figured I would read the first two chapters and probably return it. But by the end of the first two chapters, I was hooked. I ended up really liking it.
The story opens with the filming of the first night of show, where the Prince Charming character — Charlie— meets the 20 women who will be vying for his affection. But Charm Offensive is never really about the 20 women. Many of them come and go without even being described. It is about everything going on behind the scenes.
Dev, a production assistant who has proven himself to be the best at handling difficult women, finds out minutes before filming begins that this season he will be handling Charlie, a nervous, anxiety-ridden tech millionaire who should never have agreed to be on the show. Before long their tentative friendship is blossoming into something more. Complications ensue. Of course.
Cochrun never ignores the moral ambiguities of a reality dating show, and there is some great honest talk about mental health, all of which I appreciated. The reason I’m not giving it five stars is because some of Dev’s reactions in the last couple of chapters are so out of character that they seem purely planted to draw out a big climax. At one point I found myself thinking, wow, Charlie deserves better than this. But it all comes right in the end, of course, and other than that, this is a fun read. Would be a perfect book for a day of planes and sitting in airports.
The story opens with the filming of the first night of show, where the Prince Charming character — Charlie— meets the 20 women who will be vying for his affection. But Charm Offensive is never really about the 20 women. Many of them come and go without even being described. It is about everything going on behind the scenes.
Dev, a production assistant who has proven himself to be the best at handling difficult women, finds out minutes before filming begins that this season he will be handling Charlie, a nervous, anxiety-ridden tech millionaire who should never have agreed to be on the show. Before long their tentative friendship is blossoming into something more. Complications ensue. Of course.
Cochrun never ignores the moral ambiguities of a reality dating show, and there is some great honest talk about mental health, all of which I appreciated. The reason I’m not giving it five stars is because some of Dev’s reactions in the last couple of chapters are so out of character that they seem purely planted to draw out a big climax. At one point I found myself thinking, wow, Charlie deserves better than this. But it all comes right in the end, of course, and other than that, this is a fun read. Would be a perfect book for a day of planes and sitting in airports.