The Charm Offensive (The Charm Offensive, #1)
Alison Cochrun
Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder then that he’s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show Ever After. As the most successful producer in the franchise’s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star. Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming Ever After expects. He doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. In front of the cameras, he’s a stiff, anxious mess with no idea how to date twenty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he’s cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off. As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told. In this witty and heartwarming romantic comedy—reminiscent of Red, White & Royal Blue and One to Watch—an awkward tech wunderkind on a reality dating show goes off-script when sparks fly with his producer.
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Cute but got repetitive probably could have been a bit shorter
3.5 stars
0Dev Deshpande has always been totally obsessed with the show Ever After. He grew up watching it and it’s why he believes in true love. Now, he’s working as a producer and handler for the show alongside some of his best friends and his ex boyfriend. When Charlie Winshaw signed up to be the next Prince Charming on Ever After, it’s to save his career and boost his reputation. He suffers from OCD and panic disorders and he wants America (especially the Tech industry) to see him at his best. Dev and Charlie meet and there’s automatic chemistry. As the show goes on, Dev and Charlie get to know each other better and find that true love doesn’t always have to look the same way.
I thought this was a very cute story that incorporated a lot of important topics. Mental health was a huge topic in this book and the way that the author explored it was realistic and refreshing. Charlie and Dev were fully developed characters with complicated feelings and I felt that it really added to their chemistry. I was irritated by Dev a lot of the time because he stood in the way of his own happiness and was so stubborn, but I understand that it had a lot to do with his depression. I was still mad though. I loved the behind the scenes feel of The Bachelor, which I have always loved and will never look at the same again.
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