wyarttist 's review for:

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

4.5

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

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I want to preface this review with the fact that I typically don't read rom-coms and in my few experiences I've had with them in the past they've felt too 'perfect' in an overly cheesy way. Despite that, I gave The Charm Offensive a chance and it has made its way to be one of my favorite books. Yes it was cheesy but not so over the top I cringed every paragraph. Alison Cochrun made these characters so real it felt they were going to come right out of the page. The mental health representation in this book helped a lot with that and actually tackled difficult mental health issues instead of tiptoeing around them to fit the 'love heals all' trope. My only gripe with this, however, was that the ending felt a bit rushed.

The final 'on-screen' conversation could have been longer or another chapter could have been added where Dev and Charlie discuss things off camera.

Besides that, this book was fantastic and is why I give it 4.5 stars.