Wow…well that was heavier than I expected…but so well done.

I love Indira and Jude together. How they found their way from childhood “enemies” to a tentative truce to then being each other’s person. This book is more in the realm of a Beth O’Leary novel where there is romance but the characters’ lives and experiences are more of the focus.

This book made me laugh out loud (I will never look at peanut butter the same way again) and cry (PTSD and parental abandonment issues being front and centre in most of the book) and most other emotions in between. These characters worked for their HEA and you rooted for them the entire time.

Rating: 4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and SMP Romance for the arc of this book.

PUB DAY REVIEW // THE PLUS ONE

4/5

“I'm not looking to fix you," she said, staring straight into his eyes. "I'm here to love you.”

Well, this was freakin’ ADORABLE!!!!!!

This was the perfect mix of romcom + tough topics with a dash of steam that was executed SO WELL.

The opening scene had me CACKLING…I will never EVER look at peanut butter the same again.

Indira is fierce, beyond smart and loyal to a fault.

Jude is sensitive, remembers allll the little things and is perfectly imperfect.

Jude was fighting internal battles, and the way that Indira helped him understand that therapy is OKAY and nothing to be ashamed of EVER.

The metal health rep was such a strong player and the way it was interwoven into Indira & Jude’s story was beautiful and meaningful.

While this was a brothers best friend trope, the childhood “frenemies” to lovers was soooo cuuute! I loved the trips down memory lane and realized THEN that there was a connection between the two.

This book gave me alll the warm & fuzzies and left me with the BIGGEST smile on my face!

SIMONE SAYS READ THIS IF YOU LIKE

brothers best friend
childhood frenemies to lovers
forced proximity
fake dating
mental health rep
lgtbtq rep
dual pov

what is your GO TO wedding song to dance to?!
I love “Let’s Get Loud” by JLo!

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

This romance made my heart so happy, these characters that Mazey has written are seriously the best! The mental health representation in this one is so amazing and the topics are handled with such care. We got to see so much personal growth from the main characters and I just really loved the positive light shed on coping strategies, therapy, and advocacy.

I also loved that this story was focused around a queer wedding and that it brought the whole gang back together! This group had me cracking up during the pre-wedding festivities, it was so cute! The fake dating and siblings best friend tropes in this novel were so well done and had me really shipping Jude and Indira as a couple. The childhood memories and shared experiences added an extra layer to their story and I thought they really let us see that invisible string that had tethered these two together for so long. This book brought the steam and also really sweet, quiet moments, it was a great balance of both. I really didn’t want this one to end, you definitely want to pick this romance up!

Thank you so much St. Martins Press for the arc copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. #partner

Mazey Eddings creates perfection with her third book, The Plus One. I loved each of her books, but if I had to choose, this is my favorite one yet! I appreciate the genuine and realistic characters Mazey creates. I want Indira and Jude to be my best friends in real life. Well, I would actually like Jude to be my boyfriend, but that's another fantasy. This book has some of my favorite tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fake dating, forced proximity, and brother's best friend. Do yourself a favor and read this whole series. You will not regret it!

Thank you, Netgalley, St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin, and Macmillian Audio for my gifted copies.

I'm sad to say I DNFed The Plus One. Indira and Jude both seemed so very hurt, overly closed off, self demeaning, and hell bent on avoidance. I have read and adored Mazey Eddings previous book, Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake, so I feel she can be trusted to bring her characters around. But I just didn't feel up to feeling the characters' hurts through lots of pages in order to get to the happy ending. This likely speaks more to my own mental health and protecting myself rather than negativity for this story.

The Plus One is an engaging childhood rivals-to-lovers story with an incredible amount of emotional depth and a major theme of mental health and personal growth. I really enjoyed it, and I would love to read the earlier books in this series next!

Fun romance with some steam too! Loved how the main characters interacted with each other but appreciated even more how the author included mental illness into the story. It made the story much more honest and authentic than any other romance novel I've read. This is part of a series which I discovered only after I read this book, but it totally works as a stand alone too! I will definitely be reading more books by Mazey Weddings.

“the problem with being self-aware and introspective while also being, admittedly, emotionally damaged was that indira could reason through her feelings and their source and how they didn’t serve her, but she also couldn’t stop the ruminating circles of feeling them.”
rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (x1000)

READ IF YOU LIKE: childhood enemies to lovers, brother’s best friend, forced proximity, fake dating, mental health rep

PRELUDE: after liking a brush with love and talking to a few friends about how much they loved this one, i was so excited to read it. this book blew me away and will forevaevaevaeva hold a special place in mi corazón.

LIKES: indira’s feelings toward her father were insanely well described and felt very unique while also extremely relatable, jude is like a grumpy cinnamon roll and i want to give him the world’s biggest hug, the nicknames had weak, the writing was exceptional - i'm not an annotator but you best believe this book is highlighted to shit on my kindle, indira’s character was perfectly well-rounded even with her rough edges, collin and jeremy were lovely side characters, loved getting an update on harper, thu, and lizzie’s lives, the therapy representation was understated and yet largely relevant which was just amazing. JUDE & INDIRA 5EVR.

DISLIKES: nothing. goodbye.

IN CONCLUSION: thank you to mazey eddings for writing this book. i'm having a hard time explaining with words what this book meant to me but just plzplzplz read it and love it and if you don’t love it just don’t tell me about it ok? ok thx.

EPILOGUE: i read and reread and then reread againnnnn chapter 30 and i just can’t even really explain the impact it had on me but it was deep and true and so so important.

thank you to netgalley and st. martin's griffin for the arc!

I loved this next book in the A Brushed with Love series.

We are now following Jude and Indira’s story. They both have gone through so much and must deal with past issues as well as current issues. The biggest thing to overcome …they can’t stand each other.

This book deals with some real issues in the best way. The characters are well developed and will make you feel with them. They are also hilarious and have many good moments also.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed Mazey Eddings' writing style: it flowed so naturally, and it made me fall in love with her characters so quickly.

Jude is a doctor dealing with PTSD, and Indira is a psychiatrist dealing with a cheating ex-boyfriend. Each have their own pain to deal with, but living under the same roof is sure to cause more hiccups on the road to healing.

This was my first "Childhood enemies to adult romance" trope, and I had no idea that I needed it so badly!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

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

The Plus One takes readers on an emotional journey as Indira and Jude pursue healing and happiness. Eddings shows us again, through another delightful novel, that we all deserve love, all parts of us. The neurodivergent parts, the messy parts, the anxious parts, the depressed parts, the broken parts. This book reinforces that, “Trauma and happy endings aren’t mutually exclusive.”

THIS BOOK. It tore me apart and put me back together. I loved it.

10 reasons to read The Plus One
1. The tropes: childhood enemies to lovers, best friends’ brother, forced proximity, caretaking.
2. Dual POV
3. Witty banter
4. Therapy positive
5. Invisible illness, mental health, and PTSD rep
6. No 3rd act break up
7. Mini trope- I am grateful for the privilege of touching you and watching you come undone.
8. Men being vulnerable and allowing their partner to hold them
9. Support without expectations, without fixing
10. Life updates from the lovable and endearing ensemble cast of characters from A Brush with Love and Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake

Praise the mental health rep! Mental health is health!!

I've been absolutely LOVING Mazey Eddings and this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year which DID NOT DISAPPOINT.

All the emotions, all the steam and all the butterflies. This book was so genuine and easy to connect to and I think it will resonate with a large breathe of readers.

I enjoyed this but it wasn’t my favorite. I am not typically a big fan of third person books so that could be why I couldn’t connect to the characters very well.

My favorite of the A Brush With Love trilogy! Mazey Eddings knows how to write people with big feelings, raw emotions and real experiences. I cannot resist an enemies to lovers romance and while the enemies part was much shorter than the lovers part, this one delivered! Actually, I wonder if they ever really were enemies, or if they were just young kids who liked the attention from the other. Either way, Indira and Jude just make your heart melt. They are strong, they are real, they are SEXY, they have FANTASTIC banter and they stand by each other when the going gets tough. I found the writing compelling, the characters lovable and the storyline just sucks you in! An absolute win for Mazey Eddings, I cannot wait to see more from her!! Keep them coming!!!

I got 25 percent of the way through this book and just disliked every moment. I have decided not to finish or post a review on social media out of respect for the author but this book was just not for me. I have seen so many people whom liked this book I just feel I wasnt in the mood for it. Maybe in the future I’ll pick it up again.

Well written, but….
This book is well written story of Indira and Jude who haven’t gotten along. I had a difficult time reading this, the characters didn’t mesh with other characters nor made me want to know what was going to happen between them. The book seemed to go on and on even though it’s just over 300 pages. I found out after reading it that it is the third book in a series, so maybe that’s why I really didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t find it romantic but more realistic in how all the characters are. If you’ve read Mazey Eddings other books and enjoyed them, you’ll probably enjoy this one, but for me there were too many things going on that had me questioning the main characters. I was given and ARC of the book through NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

This is the third book in the A Brush with Love series, but it definitely could be read as a standalone. With that said, I highly recommend reading the first two because they are wonderful and will offer more background information on side characters. I have nothing but great things to say about this book! It is funny and romantic, while also addressing tough topics like PTSD and mental health. I couldn’t put it down. The Plus One is out on 4/4!

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin for the ARC!

Another really cute one by mazey endings. The characters are adorable - and I loved the familiar faces from previous books. The dynamics were so fun, the growth was great to see. I truly felt for the characters and wanted to be a part of their world. It touched on difficult topics, but it wasn’t overly dark or depressing to read. It was the perfect balance of light and serious. The romance was front and center but not overly done. Just overall a wonderful read.

Thank you NetGalley for my advanced reader copy.

Indira is the last single friend in the Brush with Love friend group. But this series not only focuses on their respective romances but it also showcases important mental health issues in a thoughtful way.

Indira and Jude are childhood frenemies who have been brought back together for her brother’s wedding. Indira walks in on her boyfriend cheating on her and flees to her brother’s house only to find Jude staying there. Working as a doctor in humanitarian crisis areas, Jude is trying to hide the trauma he’s dealing with while celebrating his best friend. But Indira sees his suffering. In order to cope with all the wedding stress, they come up with a fake wedding date/dating scheme to help each other survive all the hoopla. You know what happens next!

Indira is a psychiatrist who regularly sees a therapist. She has been hurt by many men in her life but her father was the first to break her heart. Jude is broken, barely holding it together and with Indira’s help he begins to heal. They ground each other, are vulnerable, see behind the walls they’ve built up to keep others out. But this book isn’t all suffering and hurt. Their connection is genuine, they know how to tease and laugh with each other; and their chemistry is fiery, which leads to some sexy sexy times which balances out the hard stuff.

It’s overall a great ending to the series. And just like Indira, we will never look at peanut butter the same way! 😬

What we liked:
▪️Forced proximity & brother’s best friend
▪️Dual POV
▪️Indira’s nicknames for Jude
▪️Mental health/PTSD rep
▪️Seeing characters from the series

What we didn’t like:
▪️The timeline feels off (when you take the other book in series into account)

I really enjoyed this rom-com. I loved that the exploration of therapy was central to the main story. I will be recommending this one!