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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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THE CHARM OFFENSIVE

Alison Cochrun

In this queer rom-com reminiscent of Red, White & Royal Blue and One To Watch, dozens of women on a reality show compete for the love of an awkward tech wunderkind who finds that his strongest chemistry is actually with his off-screen producer, Dev.
Ever since he was a kid, Dev Deshpande has believed in fairy tales, and he has spent his career crafting them for the 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 off-screen. That is, until the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star.

Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming he's playing on TV. He doesn't believe in love (at least not for himself), and his publicist 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 thirty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he's cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off. Only Dev can save the season--and possibly the entire show--by coaching Charlie through every scene. Dev always gets a happy ending, and he knows he can find a way to help Charlie find his.

Yet the more Dev fights to get Charlie to open up to the contestants, the more they begin to open up to each other, and it soon becomes clear Charlie has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. Travelling to romantic locations around the world, they begin to suspect they could both find their happily ever after if they're willing to let go of their ideas about whose love story gets told.

Alison Cochrun is a high school English teacher living outside of Portland, Oregon. When she's not reading and writing queer love stories, you can find her torturing teenagers with Shakespeare, crafting perfect travel itineraries, hate-watching reality dating shows, and searching for the best happy hour nachos. The Charm Offensive is her debut novel.
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Published 2021-09-07 by Atria

Comments

Alison Cochrun twines an earnest exploration of mental health and sexuality through a truly mem-orable love story in The Charm Offensive (Atria, $17, 9781982170714). Dev Deshpande works as a producer on the reality dating show 'Ever After.' It's a dream job until he's assigned to be handler of this season's 'prince,' germaphobic and touch-wary tech whiz Charlie Winshaw. Diagnosed with obses-sive compulsive disorder, panic disorder and gener-alized anxiety, Charlie hopes TV stardom will erase his reputation of being difficult to work with. But he's not particularly attracted to any of the women vying to become his soulmate, and he can't stop thinking about Dev, with his busy brain and big heart. Cochrun's clever behind-the-scenes glimpses of 'Ever After' will delight reality TV fans, but it's The Charm Offensive's tenderness and deep, believable emotion that will linger in readers' hearts.

Cochrun's polished, smart, and delightful debut romance delivers all the quintessential feel-good moments of a great romcom... In between the meet-cute, quippy banter, and red-hot sexual chemistry, Cochrun also offers readers a thoughtful and caring exploration of gay love and the mental health struggles people with social anxiety and depression deal with every day.

With its lush locales and LGBTQ and BIPOC representation, this novel shines, especially for readers underrepresented or underappreciated in mainstream romance. For fans of Kate Stayman-London's One To Watch and Casey McQuiston's Red, White & Royal Blue.

Brazil: Paralela/Companhia das Letras; NL: Z&K