The novel, The Plus One, is full of "content warning" situations and dysfunctions, yet, Mazey Eddings makes it work. A heavy topics kind of book presented in a more light-hearted way that gives the reader all the feels. Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with an ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

For all the years of Indira’s childhood, Jude was her nemesis as well as her brother’s best friend. Circumstances lead to them teaming up to fake date through her brother's upcoming wedding festivities. This is a common trope, and it was done well.

The main theme of the book, though, is a realistic look into PTSD, anxiety, and debilitating panic attacks. Because of the deep dive into the mental health of both of our MCs, I felt there was less attention paid to the actual buildup of their romantic relationship. But there is still enough spicy romance to entertain readers just looking for love. I especially liked the snarky back and forth between Indira and Jude. 3.5/5 Stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin's Griffin for this ARC.

I absolutely adored everything about this book. I have been reading this series from Mazey Eddings since the beginning, and I have loved each one - more than the last. This is by far my favorite (and I loved them all).

Indira has always been the friend in this series I have been most intrigued with, and to pair her up with a "grumpy" Jude was perfection. This grumpy/sunshine is so much more than just that! Mazey Eddings threw in some romantic comedy vibes, enemies to lovers and brother's best friend! They all mixed perfectly together.

Jude has been through so much, and his "grumpiness" is well-earned. He tries to hide this part of him, but Indira sees him, and she understands him.

Growing up, Jude was Indra's brother's best friend, and she was the annoying little sister. They certainly didn't see eye to eye - they bickered back and forth. There was a time or two when Jude would show some concern for Indira, but it was so infrequent that she couldn't stand Jude for the most part.

Now she's grown up. She comes home to find her boyfriend, another woman, and peanut butter in a compromising position. She seeks refuge at her brother's house; low and behold, Jude is there too.
Indira's brother Jeremy and his partner, soon-to-be husband, now have 2 house guests, and the fun is about to begin. As the wedding festivities begin (and OMG, there is a lot of them), Indira and Jude need each other more, and a friendship leads to much more.

Jude is experiencing some PTSD, and Indira has her own baggage, and these two find solace in each other and not just in the bedroom. They support each other mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Mazey Eddings is becoming an instant read for me as her books are simultaneously unique, engaging, and funny. Her writing is immaculate, her characters relatable and loveable, and the story - is unputdownable!
PS. As a "Philly" girl - I absolutely love her Philadelphia references, and yes - Dellesandros' cheesesteaks are amazing, I agree!

As someone who is late in the game and did not read the first two “A Brush with Love” Series books, I found this book interesting and entertaining. It is not what I expected from the title or the synopsis, but still a book that I enjoyed reading.

Indira needs to move in with her brother Collin after finding her boyfriend cheating. When she arrives at his home, she sees his best friend/her childhood enemy Jude is already staying there, and they will have to share the same roof for the few weeks leading up Collin’s wedding. Jude, for his part, is home on leave from serving as an emergency doctor for an overseas organization dealing with disasters and is having a hard time dealing with what he’s lived through. During the lead-up to the wedding, Indira and Jude agree to “fake date” to help take the pressure of each of them, but they soon realize there is nothing fake about how they really feel about each other.

This book is part steamy romance/part serious novel regarding mental health. For the romance part, the author has us wait for almost half the book, but once Indira and Jude get together, I don’t know if STEAMY is enough to describe their relationship. There is chemistry between two characters from the beginning, and so it’s easy to root for these two to succeed together.

The serious part turns out to be the main conflict in the book. Jude battles serious demons surrounding his work overseas, leaving him fighting many internal and external battles. He’s home temporarily dealing with all these issues while knowing in a few weeks he will go back to the situation causing the trauma. Indira is the only one who can ground him and help him see through the pain he feels, and the author does a great job giving the reader a perspective of a very real issue that’s very hard to understand if you haven’t lived it.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. It was heavier than I thought it would be as a romantic fiction book, but I do think the author tried to balance this with the love between the main characters and some of the funny dialogue that happens between all the characters. I caught myself LOLing many times while reading. While I didn’t know the back story on some of the supportive cast, I didn’t think it was a big deal and didn’t change how I interpreted this book. I would recommend this book to others and think it’s a solid 4/5 stars for me.

**A very big thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Net Galley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for honest review**

4.75 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the E-ARC. I wanna start of saying that I tried to wait to read this book but I just couldnt it. I needed it my life. I have read the other 2 books and loved them so I could not wait to dive into this one and let me tell you Eddings did not disappoint.
I was here for it all. I loved the story of Indira and Jude that love hate relationship they had. I loved the way the topics talked about were brought to light and how much they are relatable.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I definitely went into it thinking it was going to be a light-hearted romance and definitely is heavier than other books I regularly read. It was a great book, just not what I was expecting.

Indira's brother's wedding is coming up when she walks in on her boyfriend with another woman. Her (now ex) boyfriend is also in the wedding party so she strikes a deal with her childhood enemy and brother's best friend Jude. He agrees to be her fake date to the wedding which helps him deal with some of his social anxieties regarding pre-wedding celebrations.

This book gives a really good insight into PTSD, anxiety, and panic attacks. The whole book had me wanting to hug Jude and protect him from the world.

*Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review! *

Rating: 3.5 ⭐️

The Plus One was a fairly enjoyable read. While, there were elements I really liked throughout this book, there was just something missing in the romance for me to fully love it.

This is the third and final book in the A Brush with Love series, and while it can be read as a standalone, I would recommend just reading the prior books first for better context and backstory on certain characters.

It is dual POVs of the main characters, Indira Papadakis and Jude Bailey, and there are some great tropes like, childhood nemesis to lovers, brother’s best friend, close proximity and fake dating. I would also highly recommend checking the content and trigger warnings before reading.

The overall storyline was a bit more heavier than I was expecting; this was definitely not a rom-com or a lighthearted read to be honest. The story also focused a lot more on Jude and his journey with his mental health instead of Indira’s journey, which was a bit disappointing because I was expecting more of her story and growth.

I will say though, the discussions regarding PTSD, therapy and self-love were beautifully written. The representation of mental health and all its struggles was so powerful as well. There were definitely a few moments that made me tear up.

The romance between Indira and Jude was fine. Their romantic development did feel somewhat rushed though. Their shift between nemesis to lovers felt quite sudden, as there really wasn’t a lot of tension or buildup in my opinion. But, there were some heartfelt, amusing and steamy moments between them that I truly enjoyed. I also really liked all the snippets of when they were younger.

Indira’s support and understanding of Jude’s struggle was truly amazing. I loved her devotion and commitment towards their relationship and their mental health. Her acceptance regarding her father was heartbreaking but beautifully written as well. I wished, that had been more discussed upon, especially with her brother.

There was no third act conflict, which I absolutely appreciated. They both communicated their feelings and agreed to worked through their obstacles together. The last few chapters were a bit drawn out though, but there was still a really heartwarming conclusion.

Overall, not my favorite book from this author but still a decent read with amazing mental health representation.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

From the publisher:Some facts are indisputable. The sun rises in the east, sets in the west. Gravity exits. Indira doesn’t like Jude. Jude doesn’t like Indira. But what happens when these childhood enemies find the only thing they can rely on is each other?

On paper, Indira has everything together. An amazing job, a boyfriend, and a car. What more could a late twenty-something ask for? But when she walks in on her boyfriend in an amorous embrace with a stranger, that perfect on paper image goes up in flames.

Jude has nothing together. A doctor that’s spent the last three years traveling the world to treat emergencies and humanitarian crises, a quick trip home for his best friend’s wedding has him struggling to readjust.

Thrust into an elaborate (and ridiculously drawn out) wedding event that’s stressing Jude beyond belief and has Indira seeing her ex and his new girlfriend far more frequently than any human should endure, the duo strike a bargain to be each other’s fake dates to this wedding from hell. The only problem is, their forced proximity and fake displays of affection are starting to feel a bit… real, and both are left grappling with the idea that a situation that couldn’t be worse, is made a little better with the other around.

What starts out as a fake wedding date turns into something these childhood enemies never expected in the next sparkling romantic comedy by Mazey Eddings.
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My review:
This book was everything I love in a romance: enemies to lovers without too much nastiness, realistic characters, romance (duh), banter, timely issues, and some pretty good bedroom romps.

One of the best parts is that the female MC is the savior. She supports, loves, and helps Jude to save himself. She is not weak, trite or simpering in any way. Indira does not need rescue....love that. Also strong is the focus on mental health and its importance. Jude's trauma is real and the realism Eddings uses to teach us about that is inspiring.

I laughed out loud a lot in this book...Jude and Indira's banter is great and creative. They made me smile. Their ability to go from insult to making out was perfect. (She regularly tells him he's "the worst" and if that isn't the most relationship thing ever I don't know what is.)

I worried how it would end (spoiler...rom-coms always end happy, but one can still worry). And then I was pleased with the wrap up. Great book. I will look for the author's other works.

5 stars
Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin for an advance copy ebook in exchange for my review.

I was so excited for this release after reading the first two in the series. Unfortunately this was my least favorite. Indira didn’t have the same character development for me as Harper and Lizzie. It went too quickly from “we’re childhood frenemies” to “actually I’ve always been in love with you.” I appreciated the mental health discussion but overall the book fell a bit flat. Indira and Jude weren’t believable for me as a lasting couple.

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4.75⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Contemporary romance📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
I truly adored this book! If you haven’t read it you need to!

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Fake dating
Bother’s best friend
Forced proximity
Childhood enemies to lovers
Great banter
Steamy reads
Romantic comedies

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
The authors note!
mental health rep
It felt so genuine
I wasn’t expecting such an emotional roller coaster but I loved every second of it

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

The Plus One
Mazey Eddings

Genre: Romance
Rating: 5/5 ⭐️
Recommended: Yes!

By far my favorite book of hers! What an amazing read and I highly recommend to everyone!

Read if you like…
* Mental health rep!
* Brother’s best friend
* Childhood rivals to lovers
* Healthy communication!

Give this book all of the stars!
After reading Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake, I was so excited to read this next release from Mazey Eddings. The Plus One did not disappoint!

Only giving this book five stars is going it an injustice!! All of the stars are needed! ⭐️ this was definitely one where I was sad to get to the last page.

Indira and Jude are couples goals. Indira is fiery and doesn’t take sh*t from anyone. Jude is quieter and watching him come out of his shell and back to life was great to see. Their banter was off the charts and had me laughing and smiling like a fool as I was reading. I loved how Mazey made it so easy to understand how they could go from being mortal frenemies to loving each other so hard. Relationships are 100% but aren’t always 50/50, and I think that is so evident with Indira and Jude. They step up for one another as needed, but also give each other the space just to be.

Note that there is a significant amount of trauma and PTSD discussed in The Plus One. I thought Mazey Eddings did a great job addressing these situations in a way that felt real and honest. There was no quick fix, but lots of hard work and understanding.

A big thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Mazey Eddings for an advanced copy. This is my honest review.

I will never view peanut butter the same after the first chapter

So glad Indira got her own book! I loved seeing cameos from Harper & Dan (A Brush With Love) and Lizzy & Rake (Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake).

Grammy the 🐈
Brothers best friend!!!!
Hate to friends to more
Forced proximity
Therapy positive
Fake dating
He falls first
One tent

A must read author for me!

Thank you netgalley for the arc!
This book took me months to read because I had a hard time connecting to the writing style and felt that the first 30-40% was hard for me to get into. Once I hit around the half way point the book really took a turn and I couldn't put it down. The first half is very traditional romance tropes and plot points but the second half was focused on the characters healing from trauma, especially Jude. This is the best PTSD representation I have ever read and truly can't recommend this enough to anyone that has PTSD or trauma (check trigger warnings just in case). It highlights several times that you don't have to be perfect and healed to be loved and I ended up with entire paragraphs highlighted because the author truly provided such a healthy relationship. I finished this book feeling as if I just got the warmest hug and best therapy session of my life.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book.

I ADORED this book, It was like a comforting hug on a bad day. I want to reread it and I just finished it, I cannot even put into words how good it was. One of the easiest 5 stars I have given a book.

Lot of love for this book. Loved Indira and Jude and their enemies to frenemies to more transition. It was a joy to see them revisit their childhood animosity to each other and see the complicated, love, connection and trust that underpinned it. Great chemistry, banter and heat between them throughout. I think I especially loved how even though Indira and Jude both reached out to try and help each other, neither was trying to fix the other. They were both broken/ hurt in different ways due to their respective traumas and as much as this book was about their romance and about them finding each other it was also about them each finding, understanding and truly loving themselves. Jude broke my heart so much and the author did a good job with portraying his PTSD and struggles. Indira was wonderfully open and self aware and willing and able to embrace the tools she needed to heal herself and move forward from her pain. I loved how she helped Jude find his own way there as well, with care and love. Also liked the glimpses of the friend group (love Lizzie and Rake always) and the supporting characters of Collin and Jeremy. A thoroughly satisfying read. 5 ⭐️

I absolutely loved The Plus One by Mazey Eddings. After reading A Brush With Love and Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake, Eddings truly knows how to discuss mental health in a way that I haven't seen before. As someone who has ~*a lot*~ of personal mental health history, I appreciate Eddings' insight into all of her characters and their individual hurdles. Throughout the entire series, Indira was a character that I COULD NOT WAIT to learn more about and her story is exceptional. What I loved most is that both Indira and Jude had individual struggles yet helped each other through them. I'll update my review after the book's release with more! I'd like to send a massive THANK YOU to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for granting me access to this story for an honest review. Also, thank you to Mazey for writing it!

A great love story that is equal parts swoony and spicy but also inspiring and relatable.

What starts as a fake dating plan to act as a buffer between an annoying ex boyfriend during her brother's wedding turns into a layered romance between childhood enemies.

I really enjoyed The Plus One! I truly found myself in between belly laughs and ugly tears throughout.

There's a hysterical introduction to characters and an overall engaging plot. Amazing side characters with great banter and characterization. The main characters are real and fully realized, and I enjoyed seeing the evolution of Indira and Jude's relationship. Praise be for alternating POVs!!! I also enjoyed the wedding in the background of this entire story and the circumstances the characters found themselves in.

Why isn't this a 5 star for me?
- I do think sometimes I lost Indira in all of the mental health conversations. Understanding that she is a mental health professional, but sometimes we lost the romance in exchange for her talking through Jude's issues in an extensive way. It sometimes took me out of the romance completely and forced most of my attention to be on Jude despite Indira dealing with heavy issues as well.
- There were moments that dragged a bit as they move to one event or scene to another especially given this is a slow burn where the romance didn't hit until the 40-50% mark.

Overall I can't wait for everyone to read this one!
Thank you St.Martin's for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

My first of Mazey’s books and I’ll be going back to read the others now. A romcom that delves below the surface into issues around anxiety and PTSD, particularly with respect to health care workers, wasn’t exactly what I expected and I was SO glad. It’s much more about that than “enemies to lovers” or “fake dating”, so those labels feel more like marketing than the story deserves. I loved the insight into therapy, I loved their chemistry, I LOVED that there was no 3rd act breakup. This was the opposite of a miscommunication action trope and thank goodness for that. Adults who have struggles and work through them together? Brilliant. I will be recommending to many.

Forced proximity, brother’s best friend, fake dating, and childhood enemies-to-lovers combine in this third book in the A Brush With Love series from Mazey Eddings. And, in my opinion, this is her best adult romance yet.

After Indira’s relationship messily implodes weeks before her brother’s wedding, she seeks refuge at her brother’s home with his fiancé, but when she arrives at their door, Indira unexpectedly finds her childhood enemy, Jude, staying there as well.

As the best man, he has taken leave from the global health organization that employs him in order to assist with and participate in all of the pre-wedding activities. But, as Indira quickly ascertains, this version of Jude—the one that has been amidst conflicts around the globe for the past few years—is not the Jude she grew up with.

They are prickly to each other—a carryover from childhood, of course—but begin to realize that perhaps they can help each other. Her now ex—being related to the other groom—is also part of the wedding party, and Jude? He needs an excuse to escape when the activities become too much. A fake relationship seems like the perfect way for them to shield and protect each other throughout all of the festivities.

Mazey Eddings is not afraid to take on mental health, and she handles both Jude’s trauma and Indira’s ongoing anxiety with such care here. So, while this is a love story filled with tender moments and comedic moments and steamy moments, it is also a story of finding, accepting, and claiming what you need. It is about healing. And it’s about finding and embracing the person that truly sees you.

It’s my favorite book from her yet.

I received an advance copy from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.