I recently read The Plus One by Mazey Eddings and it was an absolute delight! The characters are so well-developed and their stories and struggles so real and relatable. I found myself completely invested in their lives and the book was so beautifully written that I couldn't put it down! The story is full of heart and emotion and the author's writing style is so captivating. I loved the themes of family, love, and relationship which are explored throughout the novel. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good story about life and the struggles people face. It is truly a wonderful read!

I enjoyed this book! It does an amazing job covering the difficult subject of trauma. Specifically PTSD. It is taken seriously and handled with care all while telling a great story.

I completely fell in love with this book. I loved the characters and the plot. And who doesn't love a fake dating at a wedding scenario. This was so good "chef's kiss".
I just reviewed The Plus One by Mazey Eddings. #NetGalley
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A great story that tackles things ranging from walking in on your boyfriend and a stranger together, to hiding then handling PTSD, while still being full of tension and romance.

Indira is a psychiatrist who walks into her apartment to find her boyfriend of almost a year groping a stranger on the couch with an open jar of peanut butter. Unfortunately, said boyfriend is a groomsman in her brother's upcoming wedding. She runs to her brother's house to escape and wallow, only to find that her most loathed childhood nemesis is there.

Jude is back in town for his best friend Collin's wedding. He answers the door to find a cranky Indira on the step. The girl who annoyed him all through his youth has an uncanny ability to see through people, and he just wants to hide his undiagnosed PTSD and pretend everything is great so he doesn't cast a cloud over the wedding.

Both find themselves in a difficult situation and end up agreeing to be each other's fake dates to the wedding. Will they spend the whole time fighting, or will they become friends? Can Indira help Jude with his PTSD?

I really enjoyed this book, and kind of want to read it all over again, now that I'm writing this review. Obviously, I highly recommend this book to my fellow romance lovers.

*I received a digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘹 𝘺𝘰𝘶... 𝘐'𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶."

𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖: Indira was just cheated on by her ex and Jude has been living in humanitarian crises for the last three years. When Indira’s brother (and Jude’s best friend) gets married they decide to be each other’s fake dates.

𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒: you guys! I truly cannot get enough of Mazey Eddings. I am fully obsessed with every single book in this series. This one has fake dating, dating your brother’s best friend, and childhood enemies to lovers tropes – all of which were executed perfectly. I absolutely loved Indira so much and I loved how she just knew exactly what Jude needed anytime he was struggling. And Jude – you can just tell he has adored and doted over her since they were children. I seriously can’t say enough great things about this series as a whole & all the mental health rep inside of it. 10/10 recommend.

𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆: I loved it!

*Special thank you to St. Martin’s press, NetGalley, and Mazey Eddings for an ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mazey Eddings knows how to write a romance. This is the third book by her that I have read and it was just as good as the last two. Though, I will admit I still have particular fondness for Lizzie and Rake, of book two, Indira and Jude were still very compelling characters. They both were far from perfect and their relationship started out as enemies/rivals, but by the end of the story a believable relationship was formed. More than that, the characters each worked on themselves throughout the story with therapy and talking, especially Jude with his PTSD. I think that was one of the reasons this book was so good, the journey was handled so well. I would definitely recommend this book as both the third in the series, for those committed to reading anything by Mazey Edding's, or as a standalone. Though if you read book three first you will definitely feel compelled to learn more about the characters from book one and two who are referenced throughout book three.

Mazey Eddings has a stellar reputation for turning out delightful, sparkling, page-turning romance, and THE PLUS ONE hits all of these targets right in the center. Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review. CW: the book deals with serious health and relationship issues with care and sensitivity, but some readers may want to check out content warnings available online before reading.

Indira and Jude are both far from where they thought they would be in life. Indira's just fled her relationship and her home after finding her boyfriend having condiment-slathered sex with someone else; Jude will soon return to performing surgery in war-torn regions, which has led to PTSD. Both of them will be attending Indira's brother's wedding, where her will-o'-the-wisp dad will have a marquee chance to let everyone down...again. They hatch a fake dating scheme: stick together so Jude has a support person and Indira can stick it to her ex.

By turns tender and hilarious, THE PLUS ONE is a gorgeous read populated by Eddings's beautiful, detailed character development and deeply felt emotional journeys. I was swept into the prose and the narrative from the first chapter. Fans of hurt/comfort, brother's best friend, fake dating, and forced proximity tropes will laugh and cry through the characters' misadventures.

I really enjoyed this book, it definitely dove into tougher topics and focused really heavily of mental illness. It has some moments where it’s a cute, flirty rom-com, but it wasn’t a light and fluffy book overall.

I found a bit of the language to be too trendy sometimes which I think may date the book moving forwards, but overall I really enjoyed it and read through it quickly!

The enemies to lovers trope where they are “enemies” just because they grew up not liking each other for some unknown reason isn’t my favorite, and I felt like they got over that dislike quickly and began leaning on each other almost immediately, which I believe was due to their trauma and need for comfort, but if that is a major draw for you I would just be aware that it isn’t a huge part of the plot.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Dating your brother's best friend has never been a very appealing book trope for me because usually the brother sucks and with that logic why would his best friend be any better? Except Mazy Eddings said "only fathers are garbage" and "brothers and their best friends are actually the most wonderful, kindest people - court adjourned."

This was the sweetest romcom for my cold, cynical heart to feast on to stay warm in this depressing North American winter.

Indira is a psychiatrist and her older brother's best friend Jude is a trauma doctor treating emergencies and humanitarian crises across the world. Jude comes back home for a few weeks attend Indira's brother's wedding and this is where their story comes to life. Indy has to live with her brother in the short term after splitting from her boyfriend and it just so happens that Jude will be staying there too. Growing up Indy and Jude severely disliked each other so the forced proximity is opening up a whole bag of worms neither of them expected or needed.

Yet, somehow they both needed each other the most out of everyone else. Jude is suffering from complex PTSD due to his time in such intense crisis situations and Indira hasn't healed from all the trauma in her life.

This is a story about how they learn to trust each other, find comfort in each other and realize that love doesn't solve everything but it does make our tiny world a better place for us.

Mazy Eddings did an incredible job portraying the struggles both Jude and Mazy go through. Even when they fall in love, their problems aren't magically solved. They still have to communicate and learn from one another. This elevated the fantastic and steamy chemistry between the two characters.

The banter and the dialogue were so crisp and hit the nail on the head every single time. Couples that have great banter have great chemistry and Mazy Eddings knows this formula well. Her characters in this book are so easy to love and relate to because sound just like the person reading it.

I loved Indira and Jude so much. The fact that Mazy Eddings has me loving a character named Jude that's how you know she's powerful.

This was an incredible third installment to the 'A Brush With Love' series and I am so overjoyed to have had the chance to read it early.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this the opportunity to read this ARC and review it.

I just love the fake dating trope. This book was a very fun jaunt, with Indira and Jude at odds, both with reasons to require a fake partner for the wedding. I haven't read the rest of the series, but I certainly will get on that !
The flow of the book was at a great pace, and the camaraderie of the two main characters escalates nicely. I liked how they opened up to each other gradually, and found ways to help each other out, with consideration. There is a great depiction of anxiety, PTSD, and the way it is dealt with is like poster child for being an advocate for a friend/family member with a mental health issue. Kindness, compassion, consideration are all keywords.
PICK UP THIS BOOK !! if you like rom-coms, fake dating, friends to lovers, proper mental health depiction ,
thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ARC

Mazes has done it again! I actually stumbled upon Mazey’s books via Instagram and I am so glad I did! I knew when I read the synopsis for this book I would just love it. I love how Mazey not only bring humor and love to her books she also discusses serious issues such as mental health. It’s not something that is talked about a lot so I love that she is so honest and raw about it.

Jude and Indira. What can I say? I just love them so much! I love the sassy banter. The angst. And I love that they were there for each other during their dark times. Mazey, if you’re reading this just know your an auto buy for me!

Jude and Indira have always been at each others throats over everything. They picked on each other their whole childhood but those things are changing. Indira seems to have the perfect life...that is until she walks in on her boyfriend and some other girl and a jar of peanut butter...She is destroyed. Jude on the other hand is a wreck. He is currently a doctor who has to travel to low-income, war zone areas in order to pay off his student loans. Jude is also best friends with Indira's older brother so he comes back to town for his wedding he reconnects with Indira. When Jude learns of Indira's recent mishap with her boyfriend, they decide to "fake date" to make him jealous. It works and they are spending a lot more time together than they expected and they realized it isn't all bad.

I absolutely loved this book. There were so many topics that were addressed that I flagged to go back to such as supporting someone you care about even through their trauma and not being there to fix it, but to work through it together. The topic of mental health was very prevalent in the book, but I liked how it was something that was discussed when the characters were comfortable and how Indira gave him time to open up on his own. Just so many things about this book made me smile and I really enjoyed it. It had a little bit of spice, but not too much.

I received a advanced reader copy for an honest review.

So lets just say this book surprised me . It had my favorite tropes grumpy/sunshine and enemies to lovers.

For Indira and Jude it seemed so simply be each other fake wedding date. But with all that said this was not your typical rom com.

Just shows that broken people need and are deserving of love. Then add the banter, bickering and the amazing spice.

This book is definitely not to be missed.

Mazey Eddings is now three for three on 5-star books and also making me cry 😭

Indira and Jude's story was so so so good. It took me a bit to get into it because I had so many other books going on at the same time, but once I was about 25% into it, I couldn't put it down. Their relationship and feelings for each other were so intense (partially because they'd known each other their whole lives) that it felt like I was running to catch up with them (but not in a bad way?).

I loved how supportive Indira was to Jude while he was working through all of his feelings and his hurt. She never wanted to fix him, but she was just THERE for him through everything. It was a perfect balance of her using her skills as a psychiatrist to nudge him the right direction to seek help without actually becoming his therapist.

I'm sad this is the end of this series because I've loved living in this little world that Mazey has created! I love this little friendship group and the partners they've found (and especially the emphasis on mental health in all her books!!!), but I'm also super excited to read what she writes next because I know it will be amazing 🤩

I love every second of this book.
The enemies to friends to lovers. The therapy and mental health representation. The banter. The spice. I loved it all. I am very excited for the world to see this book and experience Jude and Indira!

Mazey Eddings continues to blow me away! Her writing style is so thoughtful and witty. She is excellent at creating characters with great depth of personality that the reader really gets to know throughout the story. I thought the mental health rep in this book was extremely well done and felt so realistic. At times the book did get pretty heavy emotionally but this just helped you feel for the characters even more.

I cannot wait to read more of Mazey's books in the future.

The Plus One was my first book by Mazey Eddings, and I'm really looking forward to going back and reading the first two books in the "A Brush With Love" universe. Excellent characters. Realistic emotions. Hilarious banter. Some decent steam. I absolutely loved this book. A+!

This book had it all for me and that was it. I had to read this to see what it was all about. I was not disappointed and enjoyed the content. Enjoyed this book. I want to find more of her books.

4 ⭐️’s!

This was adorable! Absolutely delightful. I’m not a fan of third person POV, but Mazey Eddings made it seem more personable and fun. Even quirky.

I loved Indira’s character so much. She was such a spitfire. Watching her with Jude was a sweet romantic journey that I’ll want to reread.

And I can’t forget Jude! Loved the mental health representation in this and the support of therapy. Definitely will recommend this book and will be adding Lizzie Blake’s book to my TBR as well.

I read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Once I read the acknowledgements, it became clear why the tone of the book was sometimes so serious and sad. Eddings said she had been living with PTSD for a long time.
While I found the process of the two main characters coming together enjoyable, it was also very draining at times. I feel that it's where I am right now, not the writing itself that has made me feel this way. Was lovely to see the other characters from the previous books though.
3.5 stars