THE CHARM OFFENSIVE: A NOVEL
ALISON COCHRUN
� 2021 Atria
$17.00 / $23.00 Canada
368 pages

Dev Deshpande was good at his job. He knew it, his colleagues knew it — it was a fact. He might personally be terrible at love (case in point: he was still smarting from a break-up with his boyfriend, Ryan, three months back), but Dev was a pro at his job as producer for the reality TV show Ever After. In fact, he'd been in charge of making dreams happen for six years' worth of beautiful Ever After contestants. It helped that he believed in fairy tales.

Maybe one day, he'd find his own Prince Charming.

Just not this season.

This season, his lead director made him handle the "prince" instead of the usual "princesses," and that was a challenge.

Charles Winshaw was 28, devastatingly handsome, extremely wealthy, and a nervous, introverted nerd who rarely dated. Geeky, awkward, and prone to panic attacks, he sincerely had no clue how to be romantic. Truth was, he was only there because his best friend and agent put him on Ever After to counter his reputation for being weird.

Still, Charlie was weird, and it was up to Dev to make him fit in the show better.

Trying to shore up Charlie's confidence with pep talks wasn't working. He couldn't seem to just perform without freaking out, and it was becoming obvious. By the time Dev's assistant suggested Dev and Charlie go on few practice dates, Dev was willing to try anything.

He took Charlie to dinner. He spent time doing jigsaw puzzles with him, and he got Charlie to relax a little. If sparks flew, well, it was one-sided: Charlie was completely straight.

Wasn't he?

You know what's going to happen in the end, don't you? Of course you do. You know it by page 30, step by step, with virtually no surprises, which leaves a long way to the final sentence of The Charm Offensive.

Now, it's true that this novel is cute. It has its lightly humorous moments, and author Alison Cochrun gives it a good cast, from contestant to show creator. It doesn't lack details; in fact, reality dating show—watchers will feel right at home here. It even has the ubiquitous panoply of exotic locales for the contestants' "challenges."

At issue is the length of this book. There's too much of it: too many shirts that creep up, too many mentions of vomit, too much needless drama, too many will-he-won't-hes, when we know full well he will. These extras don't ratchet up the tension; they slow things down.

And so: cute story, familiar scenes, good characters. But if taut is what you want in a rom-com, leave this book and bow out.