The Charm Offensive: A Novel by Alison Cochrun
This is the best romance novel I have read in a while (and I do not say that lightly).
Dev Deshpande happily works on the production team of the long-running reality dating show Ever After (which is mostly inspired by The Bachelor). Dev has loved Ever After since he was a kid, and he fully believes in the romantic fairy tale he helps craft. Normally, Dev helps the contestants during the show, but this season is different. This season, the star is Charlie Winshaw.
Charlie is unlike previous Ever After stars. Sure, he is conventionally handsome with killer abs and the best hair, but he is not, well, charming. Instead of joining Ever After to find a wife, or even just time in the media spotlight, he agreed to be cast on the show to repair the image of him as, well, "crazy." Not that Charlie approves of or even likes that phrasing, but it was the phrasing that was weaponized against him, and that ultimately ousted him from the tech company he cofounded.
What is immediately clear on day one of filming Ever After is that Charlie will need a better--no, the best handler the show has. While Dev's ex, Ryan, usually handles the star, Dev is instead pulled to work with Charlie because Dev is nothing if not a true believer and a team player. Dev works hard to understand Charlie and to get Charlie some low-pressure practice in dating so that he can be more natural on screen.
Practice. That's all they both say it is.
But, it becomes increasingly clear to both of them that practice is a lie they are telling each other, and themselves. And that makes for a season of Ever After that no one could have predicted, especially not Dev and Charlie.
When I picked up The Charm Offensive, I anticipated a fairy tale to whisk me away with a dash of poking fun or turning a critical eye on romance reality TV. What I did not anticipate was identifying so strongly with the story and feeling so seen.
Even though I knew Dev and Charlie would find a happy ending (as the romance genre promises), I could not predict exactly how they'd get there or what it'd look like. Although I am not a queer man, I strongly identified with Dev and his perception of everyone wanting him to be "fun Dev" all the time.
Without giving away many of Alison Cochrun's story beats or prose, I will just say that I loved the path that Dev and Charlie each took over the course of the book to get to know themselves better, find the help and support they needed (including recognizing the supports they already had), and open up to one another (as well as other loved ones). It was so genuine and realistic in a way that sometimes romance novels falter in delivering.
If you want a lovely romance with queer, neurodivergent, and/or mental health representation, I highly recommend this book.
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