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A review by hedonicbooks
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun
5.0
Thoughts after reading this again: I forgot how funny this is. And how beautifully anxiety and depression are handled. This is such a good book, damn it.
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This book is everything.
I'm not even kidding. I love it so much that I've slept with it under my pillow. Well, I forgot it was there, so it was unintentional, but nevertheless! IT IS AMAZING. Read it now, please.
The book follows Dev and Charlie.
Dev is a producer on a reality show about finding love. I mean, really? What a ludicrous idea. Gonna be honest, I don't watch reality TV in any form. I just don't get the appeal. I find it extremely privacy invading and .. well, ridiculous. But the structure of the book was brilliant. We get enough tv show content, but not too much so it distracts from the other important things.
Charlie is a contestant. Actually, no. He's the star of the show. He has to date 20 women and find true love by the end of the show. Hilarious, I know.
It reminded me of the TV series UnReal that I really really loved. It has the exact same premise and it also talks about a few sensitive subjects.
I'm going to restrain from giving too many details, but let me just tell you, Dev and Charlie have such amazing chemistry. It's absolutely heartwarming to see two insecure people finding someone that understands them and loves them just the way they are.
Love story aside, the book tackles so many important subjects, like sexuality, depression and anxiety. While I absolutely loved reading about these topics, be advised that it can be quite triggering.
The portrayal of depression is very vivid and accurate. Like, I know how Dev feels and I've been there, ignoring stuff and not really taking care of yourself. So that particular part struck a chord.
I heard in an interview recently, one of my favourite authors was saying how publishers ask to dial the angst down, because people want to read about happy things in romance books, but I think this story is just perfect. Yes, it's quite emotionally charged and heavy, but it's also so incredibly funny.
The portrayal of anxiety is also spot on. I wish this particular issue was more talked about because it's shameful how many people make fun of it.
Also, the characters are so freaking diverse and relatable.
I particularly enjoyed the discussion of sexuality. I wish more of us would educate ourselves about this. Page 185 is quite informative on this topic.
Favourite quote:
"Sexuality isn't always a straight line from closeted to out-of-the-closet. You can take time to explore and evolve and figure out exactly what kind of queer you are, if that even matters to you".
- I just love the idea of not needing to put a label on your sexuality, although I can understand and appreciate the need to belong to a community, to have people like you to talk to.
------
This book is everything.
I'm not even kidding. I love it so much that I've slept with it under my pillow. Well, I forgot it was there, so it was unintentional, but nevertheless! IT IS AMAZING. Read it now, please.
The book follows Dev and Charlie.
Dev is a producer on a reality show about finding love. I mean, really? What a ludicrous idea. Gonna be honest, I don't watch reality TV in any form. I just don't get the appeal. I find it extremely privacy invading and .. well, ridiculous. But the structure of the book was brilliant. We get enough tv show content, but not too much so it distracts from the other important things.
Charlie is a contestant. Actually, no. He's the star of the show. He has to date 20 women and find true love by the end of the show. Hilarious, I know.
It reminded me of the TV series UnReal that I really really loved. It has the exact same premise and it also talks about a few sensitive subjects.
I'm going to restrain from giving too many details, but let me just tell you, Dev and Charlie have such amazing chemistry. It's absolutely heartwarming to see two insecure people finding someone that understands them and loves them just the way they are.
Love story aside, the book tackles so many important subjects, like sexuality, depression and anxiety. While I absolutely loved reading about these topics, be advised that it can be quite triggering.
The portrayal of depression is very vivid and accurate. Like, I know how Dev feels and I've been there, ignoring stuff and not really taking care of yourself. So that particular part struck a chord.
I heard in an interview recently, one of my favourite authors was saying how publishers ask to dial the angst down, because people want to read about happy things in romance books, but I think this story is just perfect. Yes, it's quite emotionally charged and heavy, but it's also so incredibly funny.
The portrayal of anxiety is also spot on. I wish this particular issue was more talked about because it's shameful how many people make fun of it.
Also, the characters are so freaking diverse and relatable.
I particularly enjoyed the discussion of sexuality. I wish more of us would educate ourselves about this. Page 185 is quite informative on this topic.
Favourite quote:
"Sexuality isn't always a straight line from closeted to out-of-the-closet. You can take time to explore and evolve and figure out exactly what kind of queer you are, if that even matters to you".
- I just love the idea of not needing to put a label on your sexuality, although I can understand and appreciate the need to belong to a community, to have people like you to talk to.