I started out hating this book. I found the writing to be incredibly repetitive especially when the author used the character's name so often in one paragraph that it started to lose meaning. HOWEVER, I kept reading because I had seen so many glowing reviews and I am glad I did. I thought the focus on mental health was well done and brings awareness to PTSD and anxiety that I haven't seen many places before. I appreciated that it was the male main character with the mental health concerns and the journey we go on to get some peace was excellent.

This is the childhood enemies to lovers story that most people dream of. I thought it was the best in the trilogy and had a depth to it that was missing from the previous two installments. Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for an early copy of The Plus One.

Quick Breakdown:

Brother’s Best Friend
Sudden Roommates
Fake Dating
Only One tent
Mental Health Rep
Open Door - Moderate Detail
NO THIRD ACT BREAK UP


After walking in on her on again off again boyfriend with another woman, Indira escapes to her brother’s house, only to find his childhood best friend crashing there, too. Indira & Jude have been adversaries for over a decade, so being stuck together for the foreseeable future feels like torture.

But with her brother getting married & all the elaborate wedding events too much for both of them, they strike up a deal. They’ll pretend to date so Indira can save face in front of her ex and his new girlfriend while she’ll serve as a buffer for Jude when the celebrations become to much.

This book 👆🏻 is the perfect example of the brother’s best friend trope done right! I loved the realistic slow burn as they realized that their years of playful banter & nettling was really just a long game of foreplay 🤭 Teasing is my love language so it’s no surprise that this one hit that sweet spot for me.

Each book in Mazey’s A Brush With Love series tackles mental health in a beautiful & inclusive way. The Plus One is no different. It showcases Jude suffering from PTSD after serving as a surgeon for a (fictitious) global health organization that sends medical assistance to areas in crisis. Indira being a psychiatrist helped her to understand Jude’s needs & know not to give up on him.

I received an e-arc of The Plus One by Mazey Eddings from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I loved IndiraJude, from childhood enemies to fake dates to lovers, they have my whole heart <3.
I'm kinda sad that this is the last book in the A Brush with Love universe :( I already miss HarperDan and IndiraJude.
These books handle mental health and therapy, balancing the heavy stuff in life while also being sweet and soft and funny.
4.5 stars

The Plus One left me speechless! I have had the pleasure of reading all three books in the series and I must say, I am thoroughly impressed. The enemies to lovers, fake dating, and forced proximity tropes were executed flawlessly. I particularly enjoyed how the characters only lied to Indira's cheating ex and his new girlfriend, who were caught in the act. The ending was the cherry on top, as it beautifully incorporated the amazing characters from the previous books. Overall, this series has been a delightful and captivating read that I highly recommend to any romance enthusiast.

Let me first preface this review that I loved Mazey Eddings' first two books in her "A Brush With Love" series. Her characters are unique, have their own issues they are working through, and come out winning in the end... and they have been loveable for their quirks. I had such high hope for The Plus One, the third installment in the series. While there are some character updates from the previous two books, this could easily be read as a standalone.

Unfortunately, The Plus One just didn't work for me. In the series. We are forwarded in time a few years, and so the characters are now thirty-ish. Indira and Jude are just too cutesy and giggly for my taste, and their actions didn't ring true for serious-minded physicians who were dealing with pretty heavy emotional baggage in their lives. The rapid switch between introspective moral turmoil and tickle fights/baby talk didn't seem authentic for the characters or for any health professionals in their thirties based on my own personal experiences having lived through that decade of my professional life. The enemies-to-lovers plot was fine but predictable. The banter and gigging felt contrived and very young, got old very quickly, and became annoying. I would have preferred a more serious approach to their relationship rather than the cutesy overload in this installment. Plus, if I were to ever come home to my significant other having a peanut butter cheat fest on our couch, he would be the one kicked out on the curb with the couch, not I. Indira, have some self-respect girl.

Thank you to #NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
The Plus One (ARC)
Author: Mazey Eddings
Source: NetGalley
Pub. Date: April 4, 2023

Mazey Eddings's new book, The Plus One, is a different romance novel than her last one, and I like the surprises. Firstly, both Jude and Indira are childhood friends/enemies reuniting for her brother’s wedding, but this time, it’s not all warm and cozy. The former frenemies are both coming into this arrangement as part of the bridal party but also with serious life issues and wounds inflicted on them by others. They both pretend to be happy under challenging circumstances, which affects their mental well-being. What I loved is that eventually, Indira and Jude have to unburden their weary souls together. A famous song states, “Only love can break your heart,” but this book might convince you that with Indira and Jude, only love can mend their hearts. These aren't silly feuds; these are serious life issues, and I like how Ms. Eddings treats their hurts and heals their hearts. #love #PTSD #war #cheating #brokenheart #doubt #anger #abandonment #ThePlusOne @mazeyeddings @StMartinsPress #Romance #Fiction #MentalHealth #CHickLit #AdultFiction @netGalley
❤️
I received a complimentary copy of this ARC. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and the author for the opportunity to read this book. Pub. Date: April 4, 2023.
❤️

I love a romance that also explores deeper topics and has great therapy rep and healing. The first half of THE PLUS ONE has a really great blend of enemies-to-lovers romance mixed with heavier topics. But the second half is just the heaviness and almost no romance. The balance gets thrown off.
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I did really like THE PLUS ONE, but I wish the second half had been trimmed a bit. Yes, therapy in romance books is a great way to explore a character and show positive therapy experiences, but there was too much in this book. The reader gets entire chapters of just therapy sessions—which would be fine except the main characters have already had these exact conversations with each other.
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Even so, Jude and Indira are so great together! I loved their banter. And when these two finally give in and go from enemies to lovers, it is scorchingly hot! THE PLUS ONE is a lot steamier than the previous books in this series and I was here for it.
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Overall, THE PLUS ONE is a good read if you want to feel all the feels and add some serious steam in the mix. But be warned that the second half gets very heavy. Be sure to check out my trigger warnings.

𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗟𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗟: Rated NC-17 / 5+ sex scenes, harsh language.
𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦: ptsd, mention of war violence, cheating, past parent abandonment
𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟𝗦: 5/5 - Broke my heart and then put it back together.

Thank you to #Netgalley and #stmartinspress for letting me read this before Pub Day (today)! It’s my favorite thing to do, particularly when the book is as great as The Plus One by Mazey Eddings.

This book is beautifully written. It is deep, it is mature, but it’s also fun and has lovable childish banter, which makes sense as the main characters have known each other since they were kids.

Indira Papadakis and Jude Bailey are both staying at Indira’s brother Collin’s house during the weeks before Collin’s wedding. Collin and Jude have been best friends since kindergarten, and Indira is the annoying little sister. They have both gone through a lot (read the trigger warnings) and it was fascinating to hear the inner thoughts of Jude in particular, as he deals with his “invisible illness”. I like how Jude and Indira behave in relationships and with one another. Indira is a psychiatrist and I appreciate that she sees a psychiatrist herself. We can see where her education and career help her teach US, the reader, how to deal with different problems, yet she isn’t perfect. I wanted to clap as she had one certain conversation IYKYK. I absolutely require the best for these people.

It was fun to see the couple from book two of the Brush With Love series in this one- it feels like an extra epilogue to Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake! I still haven’t read the first book, and feel that neither are necessary to enjoy this book.

Open door (and let’s just say there’s not only a number in the title)
4/5 stars
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
All opinions are my own.

4.8 rounded up
I absolutely loved this book

Childhood enemies to lovers
Spicy
Medial romance
Wedding romance
Mental health reps
Great character development
NO 3rd act break up!!!

I really love how this author incorporates mental illnesses into her books! I loved how complex Jude was and that his emotional trauma wasn’t glossed over. We really got to explore his emotional disconnect and the everyday trauma he lived with. Seeing him choose himself and love was so rewarding at the end. I loved how Indira wasn’t made to be his savior, but the person who was there to see him completely and wholly and letting him know that he can seek help. I feel like we often gloss over the fact that therapists are people too, with their own problems and inner struggles, and to see Indira, a mental health professional, also struggle with her own inner demons was a new perspective that I really enjoyed. While this was setup as an enemies-to-lovers, fake dating trope, it really took a backseat to the characters emotional healing, and I personally loved that.

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was sweet, charming, tender, fun and sexy. It held my interest and I wanted to find out what was going to happen. I enjoyed this book and will look for more books by this author.

I didn't think I could love a character more than Lizzie Blake – and just to be clear, she's still my BFF – but with book three in this series, Mazey Eddings has brought me a whole new level of character love. Indira (yay! finally!) and Jude are childhood frenemies thrown back together in the run-up to Indira's brother's wedding.

Mental health has been a staple of Eddings' previous books (and a big thank you to her for that much-needed rep), but this time she brings the big guns. Where the previous installments in this series were mostly sweet and light and lovely, this time we are down in the trenches with a Jude, who is dealing with some pretty severe and complex PTSD, and we watch him being consumed by flashbacks and anxiety and panic attacks. Indira is a psychiatrist struggling to heal herself after dealing with her own trauma.

Pushed together in a fake dating scheme, and forced to live under the same roof, Indira and Jude are just giant fountains of top-shelf banter. Seriously. The snark is strong with this one. As is the chemistry. The inevitable "maybe this fake relationship is not so fake after all" realization hits all of the right notes. And a bit of unexpected open door spice was chef's kiss perfection.

Indira and Jude's journeys to healing and to each other had me laughing in places and ugly crying in others, which in my book is the definition of a perfect story. See for yourself. Check out The Plus One, and if you haven't read A Brush With Love and Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake yet, you definitely need to. Tell Lizzie I said hi. 😊

Thank you to NetGalley and to St Martin's Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Plus One was an amazing book! It’s my favorite out of the three, but I really did enjoy them all.

Jude and Indira. Indira and Jude. Uh, my heart. I absolutely adored both of these characters. They felt so real to me and had such great chemistry.

This book had me laughing and crying and I sure am going to miss this friend group.

•fake relationship
•fake wedding date
•frenemies to lovers
•brothers best friend
•only one tent
•no third act break up

Indira is dating a guy named Christ when she catches him cheating at the very beginning of the story and her life is forever changed from that moment. She gets paired up with her old childhood enemy Jude for a wedding and they have to pretend to be each other's date while they deal with their own things that are going on in their lives.

This book was SO cute and I absolutely loved every second of it. It started off so fast with the cheating happening and Indira leaving her home to find a new place to live. Jude and Indira's story was so good and fake dating troupes are always my favorite to read.

I love how this book touched on topics such as PTSD and anxiety. I think the author handled these topics in a great manner and showed the realness of it without it being too much for someone who would have these problems.

This book was so cute and I loved every second of it. I can't wait to read other books by Mazzy Eddings.

Thank you to Netgally and the Publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

“You’ve always been my person, Jude. My annoying, wonderful person. And I think I’m your person too.”


tropes:
childhood frenemies to lovers
forced proximity/temporary roommates
brother’s best friend/best friend’s sister
fake dating
one bed tent
opposites attract
3rd person/dual pov

summary:
indira is a psychiatrist and jude is a doctor in emergency medicine; they have known each other since childhood since he’s best friends with indira’s older brother collin. they’ve disliked each other since then and has continued into adulthood.
when indira catches her boyfriend, chris, cheating in their apartment, she goes to stay with her brother and his fiancé jeremy, only to find jude there as well.
they’re forced to coexist as they’re both a part of collin and jeremy’s wedding and are helping them plan the many festivities. but, dira finds herself encountering her ex more than she’d like because he’s cousins with jeremy. so jude offers to be indira’s fake boyfriend for the wedding, more so when chris is around to distract her from seeing him with his new girlfriend. but they never thought that the fake actions could turn into real feelings…


“This is real,” Indira said, her voice level and powerful. “Whatever this is between us is real and it hurts and it’s beautiful and it matters. And I won’t let you deny that. You deserve happiness, Jude. I deserve happiness. And I think we can have that. Together.”


review:
this book had so many good tropes in it, but was done really well and didn’t feel like they were just thrown in for the sake of it.

i loved how indira and jude talked through their feelings like real adults and didn’t try to push things aside when things got tough or confusing. i also liked how indira emphasized how she didn’t want to be a psychiatrist for jude, but that she’ll be there for him as a friend or just someone whenever he needed it.

romance aside, this book touches on therapy, mental health, trauma, ptsd, self-doubt, and insecurities.

reading jude’s pov was heartbreaking; learning about what he’s experienced and seen while working.
despite their mutual dislike for one another, i liked how indira could just sense when jude didn’t seem like himself and would do her best to cheer him up/lighten the mood and let him know that she was always there if he ever wanted to talk; and always so mindful of his feelings. she understood him and that scared jude. but they slowly realized that they found a comfort in each other; they helped ground each other.

this book was sweet, spicy, funny, emotional, insightful, and overall so worth the read!


thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, for an eARC, in exchange for an honest review <3

HAPPY RELEASE DAY!

You have to buy this book! I’ve heard amazing things about Mazey Eddings and the hype was well worth it.

One of the things I love most about this book is the way mental health is a core piece of this novel and it doesn’t detract from love but gives it new life.

What is romance if it’s not characters feeling as if they’ve reached new heights with someone else and personally as someone who has struggled with mental health there isn’t anything better than someone seeing you for all of you and still love you anyways. (Friends, families, partners)

Though I of course am a sucker for a romance, and a GRUMPY SUNSHINE one at that?

The troupes might seem over the top but they fit so perfect in this story I really hope you buy and enjoy <3

Wow! I loved this book. This is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. Childhood nemesis? Brothers best friend? Sign me up.

I put this one off for awhile, because I was sure it’d disappoint. Boy, was I wrong. This was not your run-of-the-mill rom-com cheese-fest. There was DEPTH and trauma! My heart goes out to Indira and Jude.

Shout out to Mazey Eddings for the insanely real portrayal of real-life mental health issues.

4/5⭐️ - 3/5🌶️

Fave quote:
“You’re allowed to be broken, and you’re allowed to be repaired. I love every piece of you and however they fit together”

Ugh this book was precious! Dira & Jude have the spice for an enemies to lovers, the sass you get in childhood to adult relationships, and the maturity of two very eloquently written characters! A great continuation of the Brush with Love series, this book was not only romantic (and spicy), but addressed being in a relationship where you respect one another’s mental health and I LOVED THAT!

Tropes:
Childhood Enemies to Lovers
Forced Proximity
Fake Dating
NO Third Act Break-Up!

Brief Plot: Book 3 of Brush of Love Series
If it’s is helping prepare for her brothers wedding, while also dealing with a recent break up. When her ex keeps popping up, long time enemy and best friend to her brother, Jude, offers to be her fake date for the wedding. But as these two butt heads living next door to each other, they grow closer. Dira provides Jude emotional support through though times, and he shows her she can possibly trust her heart to someone.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for and eARC of The Plus One by Mazey Eddings! This is my honest review💚

Was this book actually a love letter to therapy? Definitley be sure to read content/trigger warnings before picking up this book, but also know it's handled very well.

A few fun tropes were represented here, including but not limited to: brother's best friend, fake dating, wedding things (which is not technically a trope, but I still count it).

As I briefly mentioned, this book talks a lot about healing and therapy. It's really beautiful and clearly took a lot of thought from Eddings to write something so powerful. I applaud her for her research and vulnerability and delicateness in discussing such difficult topics. Honestly, this book might be worth the read just for the beautiful healing discussions.

On a negative note, the plot was going well and then all of a sudden we get to the wedding and things go off track. For one, the wedding, what I expected to be the culmination of the whole book, was one little bitty chapter with almost no details. Kinda disappointing. Two, the plot didn't actually go off track, but the focus felt like it shifted. Suddenly, the whole book became about Indira and Jude and healing and figuring out their futures together. Like, that makes sense, but it was a jarring change from where the book had been headed just before that point.

Overall, an enjoyable book, but it's kinda making me not want to read the previous two. Not that I think they'll be bad, but I think they'll be mediocre. We'll see if I end up reading them.

Well we know that Mazey Eddings completely blew me away last year when I read the first two books in the Brush with Love series. I even had Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake in my top books of 2022! So I was so excited when @NetGalley and @smpromance gave me the opportunity to read/listen to this ahead of time!!

This book has a little bit of ALL my favorite tropes and let’s shout them out: brother’s best friend, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one bed, friends to lovers, fake dating… I mean COME ON!!! Does it get any better than this?!

Jude and Indira were childhood enemies based out of the fact that Indira was the little sister of his best friend who always annoyed him. Now he’s back in her life for her brother’s wedding and the story unfolds in such a fun but also heartfelt way.

You feel for both of these main characters right away. Eddings does such a great job of giving you a window into their trauma while still keeping it light and fun and fast paced. As the reader you truly want the best for both of these two and you are rooting for them to find a way to make it work. They are truly the sweetest pair. And also can get spicy!

I highly recommend this book! It’s such a fantastic read!