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A review by ssuprnova
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun
4.0
what a cute little book!!!! how adorable!!! how overridden by emotion i am!!!
i am fairly certain if i hadnt gotten so damn annoyed at one of the main characters near the end, it would have been a five stars one. my issue was not that he was making a mistake, but that i could tell the author orchestrated the mistake just to make the ending more impactful, and not because it was an honest, reasonable mistake to make. it depended heavily on him literally ignoring what everyone that mattered in his life was saying to him, in the way that makes you want to shake the bitch until they come to their senses. i liked the idea they were trying to portray, but i didnt think it was executed in the best, most believable way.
other than that, im rightfully CHARMED as hell. dev, despite getting on my nerves, was all around a fun dude, but charlie gets all the stars here. what an asbolute dork. what an IDIOT. i love him so much. and the side characters are so DELICIOUS as well. charlie's pr girl, parisa? would marry immediately. dev's asistent, jules -can i kiss her on the mouth?
and heres a thing that i really really liked about the story as a whole: it absolutely deconstructs the idea of "villains" in the antagonist sense. twice. first, we see it with megan, the girl who is picked by the production team to be the villain of the season -and charlie chooses to see as a human person. and then we see it with the "evil ex", and is that not incredible??? i LOVE FRIENDLY EXES!!! and i love that this book explores the idea that sometimes we villainize someone in our mind because we're hurt, but we gotta step back and look at the whole picture because they're really just... people. maybe with a different pespective than ours. and maybe with something we can learn from them.
on a similar note, the very gentle treatment of the concept of mental health, and how its not something that gets mentioned twice for drama or for excuses, but an actual, recurrent topic that actually has weight and repercussions and is a challenge for the characters. also: consent. consent is sexy!!!!! we stan a healthy relationship in this house!!!!
yet another thing: the racial and queer representation, on the one hand, and the feminsm, in the other hand, are two things that are very much abundant, but in an integrated way. its not a speech thrown at you out of nowhere, its literally weaved into the story. the characters are so diverse, and whenever someone is on the BRINK of belittling a woman for their choices, or judging them, or whatever, someone else swoops right in like "hold your horses this is unacceptable" and you know what?? i love that!!! more of this please. (it also calls out the "capitalist, heteronormative structures of matrimony and procreation" while separating it from the actual feeling of love and without diminishing romantic relationships as a whole. excellent job)
all in all, heartwarming, almost perfect little book. i deducted a star due to annoyance and slight incongruences towards the last third (and i do believe it could have simply been shorter -we didn't NEED a more impactful ending because it never mattered that it was predictable), but i really really really enjoyed it and it was very addictive to read. made my lil heart all warm and fuzzy (and then it also broke it a little bit). more charlie please?
i am fairly certain if i hadnt gotten so damn annoyed at one of the main characters near the end, it would have been a five stars one. my issue was not that he was making a mistake, but that i could tell the author orchestrated the mistake just to make the ending more impactful, and not because it was an honest, reasonable mistake to make. it depended heavily on him literally ignoring what everyone that mattered in his life was saying to him, in the way that makes you want to shake the bitch until they come to their senses. i liked the idea they were trying to portray, but i didnt think it was executed in the best, most believable way.
other than that, im rightfully CHARMED as hell. dev, despite getting on my nerves, was all around a fun dude, but charlie gets all the stars here. what an asbolute dork. what an IDIOT. i love him so much. and the side characters are so DELICIOUS as well. charlie's pr girl, parisa? would marry immediately. dev's asistent, jules -can i kiss her on the mouth?
and heres a thing that i really really liked about the story as a whole: it absolutely deconstructs the idea of "villains" in the antagonist sense. twice. first, we see it with megan, the girl who is picked by the production team to be the villain of the season -and charlie chooses to see as a human person. and then we see it with the "evil ex", and is that not incredible??? i LOVE FRIENDLY EXES!!! and i love that this book explores the idea that sometimes we villainize someone in our mind because we're hurt, but we gotta step back and look at the whole picture because they're really just... people. maybe with a different pespective than ours. and maybe with something we can learn from them.
on a similar note, the very gentle treatment of the concept of mental health, and how its not something that gets mentioned twice for drama or for excuses, but an actual, recurrent topic that actually has weight and repercussions and is a challenge for the characters. also: consent. consent is sexy!!!!! we stan a healthy relationship in this house!!!!
yet another thing: the racial and queer representation, on the one hand, and the feminsm, in the other hand, are two things that are very much abundant, but in an integrated way. its not a speech thrown at you out of nowhere, its literally weaved into the story. the characters are so diverse, and whenever someone is on the BRINK of belittling a woman for their choices, or judging them, or whatever, someone else swoops right in like "hold your horses this is unacceptable" and you know what?? i love that!!! more of this please. (it also calls out the "capitalist, heteronormative structures of matrimony and procreation" while separating it from the actual feeling of love and without diminishing romantic relationships as a whole. excellent job)
all in all, heartwarming, almost perfect little book. i deducted a star due to annoyance and slight incongruences towards the last third (and i do believe it could have simply been shorter -we didn't NEED a more impactful ending because it never mattered that it was predictable), but i really really really enjoyed it and it was very addictive to read. made my lil heart all warm and fuzzy (and then it also broke it a little bit). more charlie please?