Alison Cochrun Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Alison Cochrun is a high school English teacher best known for her debut novel “The Charm Offensive.” The Portland, Oregon based author has always loved reading literary fiction and spends her days torturing teenagers with Charles Dickens and Shakespeare.

As a child, she loved watching Charlotte’s Web, a cartoon movie which was the first movie that ever made her cry. She had immediately run into the bedroom so that no one would see her crying. She was then five years old and it was at this time that she came to acknowledge the power of storytelling.

However, the biggest influence on her has always been literary fiction and particularly Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” She believes that it was an amazing example of perfectly developing romantic tension. It also became the prototype that has been used in so many tropes in the romantic genre in the contemporary writing world.

She has also been influenced by contemporary romance. Some of these works include Alexis Hall’s “Boyfriend Material,” Casey McQuiston’s “Red, White,” Talia Hibbert’s “Dani Brown and Royal Blue.” She also loves romantic comedies, especially anything heavy on the comedy rather than the romance part.

Cochrun was inspired to write her debut novel “Charm Offensive” after years watching “The Bachelor” among many other reality dating shows. While she loved watching these shows, she found the stories of love on many of them to be heteronormative.

One day while she was working, she was so bored that she started imagining how someone like her could end up an actor on something like “The Bachelor.” It was from this afternoon session that the plot of her novel spun out.

In some way “The Charm Offensive” was the way for Alison Cochrun to pen a version of a reality TV show that she always craved for. She wanted something that ordinary people just like her could find love. The most rewarding and challenging part of her journey to become a published author are intertwined.
While she has been writing stories ever since she was a six year old, she had never shared it with someone that was not friend or family. The biggest challenge she had at this time was allowing herself to be vulnerable and to share her work with strangers.

She finally published “The Charm Offensive,” her debut novel, in 2021 and has never looked back since. Cochrun has said that the most rewarding thing about being an author is having people write to her telling her how life changing her novel has been.

As a high school English teacher and now author, life balance is a thing that she has to deal with. Alison Cochrun still has to teach Shakespeare to her students and also find time to write given that she has a dream of one day becoming a full time author. One of the ways she finds balance is by doing things outside of writing and teaching.

When she is not in class or writing and reading queer love storeis she can be found spending time with friends and family, searching the neighborhood for happy hour nachos, watching and rewatching reality dating TV shows on Netflix and coming up with travel itineraries to satisfy her wanderlust.

Alison Cochrun’s “The Charm Offensive” is a heartwarming and witty romantic comedy. Dev Deshpande has always been a huge believer in fairy tales and hence nobody is surprised that much of his career has been spent chasing them on dating reality TV shows.

He has been a producer on “Ever After,” a long-running dating show on TV and is deemed one of the most successful producers for the franchise. While his own love life is always crashing and burning, he is known for scripting the perfect love story for the contestants of his show.

But things change when Charlie Winshaw the disgraced tech wunderkid is cast as its star. Charlie is not your typical romantic Prince Charming they usually have on the show. He has never been a believer in true love and only agreed to do the show as he wanted to rehabilitate his tattered image.

He is anxious and stiff in front of the camera who does not know what to do in front of a national audience that expects him to date twenty women. Behind the scenes, he is emotionally closed off, awkward and cold.

Dev does his best to get his star connected with the women as they go on a worldwide tour and over time they open up to each other. It is not long before Charlie discovers that he likes Dev better than any of the girls he is supposed to be dating.
But the problem is that he is acting in a reality TV show and there is a script that needs to be followed.