I really enjoyed this, even more than the first book in this series. The characters and their struggles seem authentic, and they are a really sweet couple together.

Mazey Eddings does it again! The third book in ‘A Brush With Love’ series (I’ve read all three this year.) and I couldn’t wait to read about Jude and Indira. A beautiful story of two broken people building each other back up again. Mazey has a way of writing with such compassion, awareness and heart. She has you laughing out loud one moment and wiping away a tear in the next. Childhood enemies, brother’s best friend, forced proximity and fake dating. I would highly recommend this entire series.

I loved every second of this story. EVERY. SECOND. The portrayal of therapy in the media is honestly so messed up that I generally steer clear of books where the main character(s) is in therapy. But this book did SO WELL. There were so many things that reminded me of stuff my own therapist says to me and that felt super validating. The plot and the characters were also great. But the portrayal of therapy is an automatic 5-star for me.

The Plus One is a witty, fun, and deeply emotional rom com. Indira and Jude have known one another since childhood and always have been enemies/rivals. When the wedding for Indira’s brother and his partner is approaching circumstances bring her and Jude together for quite a journey.

This book does an amazing job of addressing PTSD, other mental health concerns, and normalizes therapy. I really like that the male main character is the one who is struggling the most significantly with mental health. It felt unique to anything else I’ve read.

The Plus One has humor, depth, great spice, tension, and great tropes… one tent, brother’s best friend, rivals to lovers, and fake dating.

I previously read (and really enjoyed) A Brush with Love and went a bit out of order and jumped into The Plus One next. I love when the characters live in the same world but a new story is being told!

It was very fun to follow Indira and Jude's romance- an enemies to lovers tale. Indira and Jude spent their youth together, as Jude is her brother's best friend. It was endearing to hear them share their memories from the past, their different takes on things and to watch them slowly uncover that maybe, all along, they didn't actually hate each other at all.

Their story was filled with witty, quick banter, heartfelt moments and painful memories all of which made these characters so enjoyable. There are a lot of light hearted moments and also some really heavy ones as both characters struggle to cope with their past. I thought the author's portrayal of Jude struggling with mental health issues was done really well- not glossed over and a realistic telling of our society's struggle to prioritize mental health.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Indira and Jude and would definitely recommend this for romance lovers!

This was such a cute and fun read that it will be a favorite of mine!
I love a good rom com so this one wasn't any different. I didn't want to let go of it.
I'll be buying this book to add to my keeper shelf since it is a favorite.
This book really and truly made me laugh out loud. The fake dating was what was really funny and fun for me too.
I thought the author did an amazing job with this book.
Jude and Indira just seemed so realistic and believable.
What I especially liked about this book was I learned something about PTSD along the way. It gave me a better perspective on it.

I've adored every book in this series! I was actually expecting a lighter book than what this book turned out being, but I really enjoyed the emotional journey that Indira and Jude went on. I loved seeing their bickering and how they slowly let down their guard with each other.

The Plus One is the third book in the A Brush with Love Series by Mazey Eddings. I didn’t realize it was a part of a series until I looked up the author on Goodreads. Luckily, this book can be read as a stand alone and the series focuses on a different person in their friend group and their relationships they develop. You can see the friends mentioned in the previous stories but you don’t have to read them to understand this book. I thoroughly enjoyed this story of Indira and Jude. Growing up as Childhood frenemies the two find themselves reunited for the wedding of Collin (Indira’s brother and Jude’s best friend). Indira finds herself getting cheated on by her trash boyfriend and goes running to her brother Collin, where she sees Jude is staying at during pre wedding festivities. As the two find their footing around each other in the same house they come together with the idea to be each others fake dates for the wedding so Indira can get back as her cheating ex boyfriend and Jude can have a familiar face to rely on during all the chaos.

This book was deeper than I initially thought it would be, I knew there was a fake dating trope but the issues that it covered in the book was much more substantial than I originally expected. Indira is a psychologist so she was able to pick up that something wasn’t right with Jude. Jude is a doctor who has committed years of service to GHCO, an organization that sends medical staff to help countries and places of crisis. His years of commitment aided him during college with a scholarship, but now he’s facing difficult challenges such as overwhelming anxiety, depression, and PTSD with his experiences. As the two come closer and find comfort in one another they start to wonder why they were frenemies for so long.

This book covers everything I like: enemies to lovers, fake dating, grumpy sunshine, and dating your brother’s best friend. This book also came with trigger warnings in the very beginning which included: parental abandonment, infidelity, anxiety and panic attacks, and physical injury. I enjoyed the growth of the two main characters and seeing how they come together to get past some of these challenges they are facing individually. This book is also on the spicy side for readers that are a fan of that. Overall I really liked this book and would recommend it to others and would like to go back to read the other 2 books in this series.

This is rated 5/5 stars in my opinion. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Publishing group for this ARC!

I absolutely adore Mazey Eddings writing and was so delighted to have the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. Another beautiful and real love story all while shedding light on the very real struggles of mental illness. I loved Jude and Indira so much and thoroughly relished more time spent with the dynamic cast of characters from A Brush With Love and Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake. This book has all the best tropes enemies to lovers, fake dating, grumpy sunshine and it does not disappoint! Another gem from Eddings.

This was the perfect romance novel.

Childhood frenemies to lovers ✅
Fake dating ✅
Mental health representation ✅
All of the spice ✅
Allllll of the warm fuzzies ✅

Indira’s brother, Collin, is getting married to his fiancé Jeremy and Indria has just gone through the final breakup of a messy on and off again relationship after catching her now ex cheating. Indira then moves in with Collin and Jeremy while Collin’s best friend and her childhood frenemy, Jude, is also staying there.

Jude is going through a rough mental health crisis involving PTSD he has and has not yet dealt with and is keeping it all bottled inside. Indira is a therapist and starts noticing Jude freezing up and behaving differently as the two grow closer after she asks him to be her fake date to Collin and Jeremy’s wedding.

This book was perfection, it had excellent chemistry, emotional and intimate connection and an accurate lens on difficult mental health struggles. I also loved the Lizzie Blake and Rake cameos and life updates; what a treat!

If you are a romance reader I cannot recommend this book enough. There’s no third act breakup and outside of the serious topics involving absent parents and mental health crises the rest of this book is like a warm hug.

Hands down, five stars.

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I wanted to like this book more. I don’t know if it’s because I hadn’t read the other books in the series, or what, but I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I also felt it was a bit rushed, if that makes sense.
I think the storyline of dealing with PTSD is very important, but I just had a tough time connecting.
3/5 stars for me

thank you so much to netgalley for the eARC of this book!

once again, i feel like mazey eddings is NOT missing with her romcoms! a fun romance between her brother's best friend/childhood rival of sorts with fake dating? SIGN ME UP IMMEDIATELY.

i love the way eddings writes her characters–she has this incredible way of capturing deep, meaningful moments within these characters' lives that leave a heavy impact even long after finishing reading. i love how she embraces the topics of mental health in her books, and this one is no exception–the ptsd conversations as well as the candid, positive discussions on therapy & why it matters were so, so beautiful.

this book felt like there was something missing and i think its just that its a quite-fast burn, so definitely avoid if you're someone who favors 30 chapters of pining. if not, defo pick it up!

The Plus One
By: Mazey Eddings
⭐️⭐️⭐️: 3/5
🌶: 1/5

Thank you @netgalley for the advance copy of this book! This book comes out on April 4,2023

On paper Indira has the perfect life.. an amazing job, boyfriend & a car. Until she comes home one evening and finds her boyfriend with another girl. Indira is left with nothing, finding herself having to rely on her brother for a place to stay. When Indira arrives to her brothers, she is greeted by an old childhood enemy.
Jude has spent the last 3 years on leave traveling the world to treat emergencies & humanitarians crises when he gets the opportunity to take a leave to go celebrate his childhoods best friends wedding. Jude tries to readjust to his old life, but he finds it hard & impossible to enjoy. He comes up with a plan after seeing Indira having to deal with seeing her ex boyfriend and his new girlfriend at all the wedding events, pretending to be each other’s date to the wedding from hell. The only problem is the fake dating & forced proximity feels a little bit more than just fake…

This book had a lot of trauma that was being dealt with, between the two characters they had a lot of baggage. I loved that Indira wasn’t looking to “Fix” Jude but just show him that he deserved more in life and to be happy. Part of me felt like it kind of dragged on, there were parts in the story where you feel a lot of what Jude went through & not so much on the couple. I do love a brothers bestfriend trope, i wish it was more focus on them as a couple & the wedding & less on the trauma. But it was overall a great read!

Read this if you like:
Fake dating
Forced Proximity
Childhood enemies
Brothers bestfriend

Trigger Warnings:
⚠️ PTSD, parental abandonment, panic attacks, Cheating⚠️

Indira finds herself suddenly single after catching her boyfriend cheating, which would be bad enough. Factoring in her ex also being part of her brother Collin’s wedding party, it’s worse. Seeing him and his new girlfriend all over each other so often certainly doesn’t help.
Jude has been working as a doctor with the Global Health Care Organization overseas in various disaster and war zones for the past three years, with one left to fulfill his contract. Because he has been working basically nonstop that entire time, he’s been granted an extended leave for his best friend’s wedding. He’s having trouble trying to cope with things, and this break is not as easy as he wished.

In an attempt to make both their situations more bearable, Jude and Indira put aside their childhood antagonist tendencies (Kind of. Mostly.) and (Fake! Totally!) couple up. And I can see why Jude and Indira came up with the whole needing a fake date thing. The number of events the grooms planned for everyone to celebrate them before their Big Day was truly excessive. Being the pity magnet singles at all billion events would have been excruciating even without their extra circumstances!

While it wasn’t the lighthearted fluffy wedding date book I expected, it was very good. With both MCs dealing with major issues - Jude’s troubling level of ptsd, Indira’s abandonment issues, and both having fears of professional inadequacy - it is fairly heavy at times. The mental health rep was good though, imo. And I would say it’s almost kind of a love letter to therapy, while they’re learning how to love and support each other.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC!

This book took me by surprise in the best way. It gave me a lot of unexpected feels and took on PTSD and mental health issues in a compassionate and understated way. Indira and Jude are good people. Growing up, Indira was nothing but an annoying presence to her brother’s best friend but now things have changed. I loved watching them use the other for support. I’m a sucker for the fake dating trope. Jude’s illness was heartbreaking but so satisfying to watch him come to terms with it and start to get help. Indira is such a strong character. I adored her. Both Indira and Jude showed so much growth. There was wit, tenderness, laughs, tears. I loved it. It was my first Mazey Eddings book but it won’t be my last.

**Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Griffin and Mazey Eddings. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own.***

The Plus One by Mazey Eddings is a great story revolving around Indira and Jude, two childhood enemies who agree to fake date in order to get through a wedding event that seems to last forever. The story follows the two as they navigate their evolving relationship with one another while also attempting to deal with issues from their past.

The relationship between Indira and Jude was wonderful. Their banter was always very quick and witty and the sexual tension between the two was palpable. The characters communication with one another was great as well and the author's writing on anxiety and mental illness was realistic and respectful well done. I enjoyed how both Dira and Jude were working on themselves throughout the book.

The cast of side characters was fantastic, but never detracted from the main characters journeys. Overall, it was an excellent read and I would read it again. I recommend this book to fans of romance novels and general fiction as well.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for approving this ARC in return of an honest review.

Earlier this year I read Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake also by Mazey Eddings. While I was not blown away, I thoroughly enjoyed it. So, before jumping into The Plus One, I did not have high expectations. Boyyyyyyy was I wrong.

The Plus One is the story of Indira as she heals from heartbreak and trauma from the men along her life, while relishing the unconditional love her brother's best friend offers her.

(I know I say this about most books but) I loved, loved this book.

The character's chemistry was over the roof, over the ozone layer. Their personalities complement each other so well it is impossible to not root for them.

Of course, no book is perfect and this one is no exception. Like most traditionally published romances, the third act break-up undoes all of the good the book had set to accomplish in the beginning. However, the ending was sweet enough to make me forget about the bad taste it left in my mouth.

Read to understand the brain and the complexities and layers to all types of love better!

Mazey Eddings does it again! I really enjoyed this book - especially the characters, they were so fun. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review :^)

4.5 stars. It's not often that a book showcases mental health in a way that is relatable and relevant to the story line. Mazey Eddings did a phenomenal job doing just that. I also continue to appreciate the representation of medical providers and the repercussions of the student loan crisis (something I relate to on an exceptionally personal level 😭). This is my first book of hers and I will absolutely be going back and reading others in this series, including Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake.

I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers. Jude and Indira's relationship was a breath of fresh air. Supporting characters added to the charm of the story overall.

I found many of the intimate scenes to be repetitive in their phrasing so I subtracted .5 stars!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Enemies to lovers, fake dating, it's got it all! This one was so much fun. I tried to savor it, but I finished it in a day. Mazey Eddings is an incredibly talented writer, and this book is ADORABLE! LOVED.