Charming! The character's attraction felt natural and the circumstances were fun and light hearted. I am enjoying discovering this new to !e author.

Indira and Jude grew up always at odds — a childhood mutual dislike which carried over into adolescence and became a staple of their relationship. The two frenemies are brought back together as adults when Collin, Indira’s brother and Jude’s best friend, invites them to be in his wedding. What begins as a cautious truce turns into something much more, as fake dating tropes, problematic exes and surprising feelings up the ante.

My favorite element of this book is the positive emphasis on therapy — and not just in the context of healing with mental illness, but as a vital ingredient for every person. What I wish the author had also touched on was the inaccessibility of something like therapy in the U.S. Therapy is expensive, not always covered by insurance and just not a possibility for many cost-burdened households. Of course, this book centers around two protagonists who make a lot of money in their career paths of choice — one’s a psychiatrist and the other a surgeon — but as a reader, I would have connected with either Indira or Jude more if they had addressed what a luxury being able to afford therapy is at least once in the text.

That said, I thought the author’s note about her personal experience with trauma driving this book really inspiring, and I appreciated how honestly and carefully she approached PTSD in the story. It was really powerfully done.

All in all, The Plus One is an easy to read romance that dives into mental health issues with sensitivity and grace. Would absolutely recommend.

*Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

I’m honestly struggling to write this review – this book was another amazing gift from Mazey Eddings, one that once again has taken the time to carefully explore mental health issues and representation in a nuanced and respectful way. I love that her books seek to give a voice / a lens into different life experiences – and I also love that they each exploration is a love story. Her books are heartwarming, thought provoking and while they have some appreciable romantic comedy moments of levity, they are romantic dramas that give careful consideration to larger life experiences and issues.

An (non-exhaustive) list of some of the many highlights I appreciated about this story:

• The initial premise / set up: Childhood Nemesis to Lovers scenario (Enemies To Lovers) via the Older Brothers Best Friend Trope
• Fake Relationship – I am a sucker for this trope – always 💖
• Mental Health Representation in the form of Anxiety, Panic, and PTSD – the descriptions leave it feeling so real and relatable in an eerie way. You can feel the pain being experienced as though you yourself are experiencing this painful reality. It was hard to read, but so incredibly important to have a voice for that experience.
• Forced Proximity
• All the teasing and banter = love language – I adored this, I loved the banter between Jude and Indira, I loved the jokes and the teasing and nicknames. This is a love language I could relate to and appreciate.
• I’ve said it before, but I love the characters in this world – loved seeing our old friends and adored getting to know Indira better and seeing her and Jude grow together.

I loved all the feels this book brought and that it managed to deliver both light-hearted moments of laughter and joy, as well as bittersweet moments of emotion and catharsis. The balance was delicately managed and delivered a beautiful story, that will continue to stick with me. Simply a moving and wonderful read, and I cannot wait to see what Mazey will have for us next.

Mazey Eddings’ books are so wonderful!!! I loved this one so much! They are perfect romance novels. I would highly recommend!

Jude and Dina are thoughtful and overall likable characters. The trauma and healing feels authentic. Beautiful story.

The cover and title are lovely but not representative of the beautiful and sometimes painful story this book is. It’s real and raw and authentic, and while it’s a romance, the self love was far more prominent. The current trendy covers of modern romances don’t feel like justice for this story and it feels misleading as well.

- Brother’s best friend
- Enemies-to fake dating-to lovers
- Witty AF banter
- Spicy spicy spicy scenes (69-ing?!?)
- Mental health representation
- Normalizing therapy!!
- Lots of characters from her other books!!


I love the way that Eddings can tell a beautiful story, with a swoon-worthy romance, on top of individual characters with depth. Her stories are always spicy and always make me laugh. But they also deal with some really heavy topics. The character development was amazing for both characters. And I loved that Jude was really the first book boyfriend I’ve ever read with such DETAIL!! men in romcoms are just good for sex and swooning over the heroine. Which is wonderful. However, he just has so much DEPTH!!

This is a 4.5/5 ⭐️’s for me. Would highly recommend!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I read three books of the series! And I loved each and every one. This is book 3 and it did not let me down it was everything, I wanted and more. This is a great contemporary romance. These books can be read as a stand loan, but when you read them together you get so much more from the story. Once I started I could not put it down.

Indira and Jude have been enemies since childhood. The constant bickering never subsided as they'd gotten older, and now circumstances have them living with Indira's brother as he prepares for his own wedding.
Jude is coming home from overseas medical work and is struggling with PTSD from the war-ridden countries he worked in. Indira, a psychiatrist herself, knows exactly what to do to calm Jude. Quickly, she becomes his "safe person" back home. Coming out of a relationship with a man who is also in the wedding, Indira needs to save face. She and Jude strike an unlikely deal to be dates to the wedding. As the duo spend more time together, it turns out the line between love and hate are a lot closer than either of them thought.
**
O.M.G.
LOVE LOVE LOVE
I absolutely adored Jude and Indira. I thought Indira was hilarious, witty, and independent. I love that she had her own struggles with her father and sought therapy, even while being a psychiatrist herself.
But what I really admire was the portrayal of Jude's PTSD. I felt so much of the description of anxiety Jude experienced was similar to my own experiences with anxiety. I often struggle with authors misrepresenting anxiety and depression as personality quirks of sorts. I could tell Jude's was rooted in someone's own lived experiences.
And the steam *insert heart-eyes*. Perfect balance of romance, sexiness, and real life issues to keep this reader happy.
Did Mazey propel her into my top authors list?
She might have!

This book is sooo perfect! I went into this book expecting a typical, romcom book and I was so pleasantly surprised! Every single character was so memorable and amazing. This book is so pure and I love how we got to watch the characters develop and I also love how this book can help readers going through similar experiences! I love books where the characters are imperfect and realistic and this book 100% had that! This book had some of my favorite tropes including enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and of course fake dating. One of my favorite things about this book is how we got to watch Indira stay with Jude the entire time pushing him out of comfort zone and supporting him throughout the whole book!

Such a inspiring and heartfelt book that I’ll be recommending to everybody! Thanks so much to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC! All opinions are my own.

Wow. I think this was my favorite out of the three! This was emotional and I truly felt the connection between Jude and Indira. There was some great chemistry here.

Jude is Indira's brother's best friend and they grew up together. Jude and Indira hated each other all throughout their lives and would constantly annoy one another. A wedding, temporary leave, and an unfortunate peanut butter incident bring Jude and Indira to stay at Collin's house. Forced proximity, enemies to lovers, fake dating, only on tent, what's not to love?

I LOVED how this book discussed and handled Jude's trauma. And how Indira approached it. How they tease one another and their banter is so fun, but they also work through heavy stuff from both of their lives. This was a beautiful story! Just know that there's plenty of cute romance, but there's also some heavy stuff that goes on.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press!

CW: medical trauma, PTSD, panic attacks, infidelity (not main characters)

This book was super cute!! The characters felt so real and relatable, and you could tell that they truly cared for each other. I wish that we got a little more backstory from their past so it didn't feel as insta-lovey but that's my only complaint. Would definitely recommend this for a fun but emotional read!

When Mazey Eddie‘s newest book The Plus One showed up on my inbox I squealed with delight, a literal squeal! This book literally blew me away. I didn’t realize how much I needed Indira’s story until I got to read this beautiful book! The whole series is wonderful and amazing. This series has amazing romance and even more importantly it has real friendship between women. Mazey Eddings’ showcases stories of women who have careers and lives but also want love. The Plus One has some trigger warning as the story really went deep into how trauma and family really shape us into our adulthood. Mazey Eddings has become one of my go to authors in recent years and I am so happy for her success.

Thank you @mazeyeddings and @SMPRomance for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I finished this book a few days ago, and just needed to sit with my thoughts before writing a review. Because this book was everything I hoped it would be and more. The third book in the ABWL series, and it ended on the strongest note. "The Plus One" is officially my favourite book in the series, and an undisputable 5 star read.

This book takes incredibly hard issues and treats them with an incredible amount of love and compassion. I fell in love with Jude and Indira from page 1, and have never rooted for two characters more in my life. I appreciated that Eddings didn't write in a 3rd act breakup for these two, and they overcame their trauma together through love, openness, and THERAPY.

This book made me laugh and cry in equal measure. It's burrowed its way into my heart, and even writing this review I feel like I can't express how much this book impacted me and how much it means to me. I hope when it comes out, you will all give it a read because it has immediately become one of my favourite books ever.

I wish I could articulate my feelings for this better, but suffice to say I vocally, staunchly, and forcefully recommend this book and all of the other ones in the ABWL series.

I think it's a testament to how much I loved this book and this series that I'm actually crying as I write this review, realizing that I will never get to revisit these characters again. They mean so much to me, and I just want everyone to feel this way about these books.

I know this book isn’t due out for awhile but after gleefully cheering when I was approved to read this I couldn’t wait! I am late to this author’s writing, as I read Lizzie Blake before the first one. But now I know! I have read and listened to the first couple books, they can be read alone. Let me tell you, with this author there is no bad times while reading. I smiled broadly and laughed so hard, I snorted! There is no other way to describe this book except absolutely 100% enjoyable!!

PS the audiobooks for the first two are incredible. I know I must have looked silly laughing my butt off driving. But the good mood it brought was worth the looks!

I happily and volunteer reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and this one was a real winner. Some vague spoilers, so if you don’t want to read on just know I loved it.

I really enjoyed the banter between characters and the deeper topics of mental health. I love a book where the love interests end up anchoring each other through hard times like Indira and Jude did. I also really liked that it didn’t have the typical “big misunderstanding breakup” 80% in, it felt raw and real. I really enjoyed this read and these characters. I was sad to see it end because I loved living in this world for the length of this book!

The Plus One

5/5 stars

This book was so good! I am for sure a Mazey Eddings fan! Her previous novels, A Brush With Love and Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake were such good reads for me, I could not wait to dive in to Indira’s story.

After walking in on her boyfriend with another woman, finding her car out of commission, and in need of a place to go, Indira Papadakis shows up on her brother’s doorstep to find her least favorite person in the world: Jude Bailey. Home for his best friend’s wedding (who, consequently, is also Indira’s older brother, Collin), Jude is grappling with life and a job he does not enjoy. Living under the same roof has Indira and Jude seeing more of each other than they would like (right?). As Collin’s wedding approaches, chaos ensues. Jude’s anxiety continues mounting, while Indira keeps running in to her cheating ex. To survive, the two hatch a plan: pretend to date. At this point, what could possibly go wrong?

I think The Plus One is Mazey’s best book yet. With each book, her writing and character development continues to improve. I fell deep in love with each of the characters and didn’t want the story to end!

Also, I want to note that the way Mazey pens mental health in her novels is so real and so respectful. Mental health is not talked about enough in society, nevertheless books, so I am so glad they are at the forefront of her novels.

Also also, can we talk about her book dedications? They are THE BEST. 😭

If you have a chance, preorder The Plus One, add it to your TBR, or request it from your library ASAP.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader copy of the book!

I will never understand how Mazey Eddings is able to balance humor, romance, and mental health so well to create characters whose journeys are so amazing to watch!
Jude and Indira’s relationship is tension-filled and so sweet. I loved seeing them fall in love! The combination of them knowing each other since childhood and the drama of the impact of Jude and Colin’s friendship made for a great love story.
PTSD is handled really well through Jude’s story arc. I’m always so impressed when I can understand and empathize with a character’s experience that I’ve not experienced myself.
Also, I loved seeing Dan and Harper and Lizzie and Rake again! Found families are so realistic and make this story so much richer!

I felt very close to love for A Brush with Love, and I liked Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake, but I full-on loved The Plus One. I thought Dan was top tier, and then we met Jude. Jude just completely tugged at my heartstrings, and I wanted the best of everything for him. I loved that Indira really saw him. She saw his hurt and his heart and she handled him with such care. I love her as well. I love that we got glimpses of their past growing up but didn’t get overloaded by whole flashbacks. I appreciated that Jude’s trauma wasn’t exploited by adding detailed descriptions of the losses he faced in his assignments. The therapy-positive message and mental health destigmatization in this book is so well done and so important. I was rooting so hard for these two and felt very proud of their journeys, both individually and together. I believe this is the last book in the series and, in my opinion, Mazey Eddings wrapped it up with the best of the three with this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC.

I wasn't sure if I'd love a book in this series as much as I loved Lizzie's book, but this book was incredible! I adored the characters of Indira and Jude. They had amazing chemistry, and I appreciated their communication skills. I really love how Eddings writes characters who are flawed, and extremely relatable. This was just an overall beautiful story and I can't wait for another book from Mazey!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Despite the cute cover and title, this is not a fluffy rom-com (see trigger warnings in the author's note). It is actually well rounded and contains a little bit of everything: deep, fluffy, sad, funny, sweet, romantic, spicy.

I enjoyed the author's take on the enemies to lovers trop as she explored the many facets of a romantic relationship enmeshed with real world problems. The two main characters, Indira & Jude, have a long history and a lot of baggage to work through. This book was laugh out loud funny and well as deeply insightful. I especially appreciated the way in which mental health and mental illness was addressed in a healthy and positive way.