This is my second book by Mazey Eddings and what I’m discovering I enjoy about her characters is their complexity. Her books are overall rom-coms, but her characters face very real, heavy struggles that I enjoy seeing represented. In this book, #3 of the #abrushwithlove series, there is a wonderful emphasis on the importance of mental health as one of the characters is struggling with PTSD. I also loved how therapy was suggested as something everyone can benefit from.

I enjoyed this enemies to lovers tale, but there are two things I would have liked more of: 1. the build up of the evolution of the romantic relationship between the two main character 2. a more dramatic problem in the plot and journey to the final destination of love. These two things are really my own preferences and I definitely recommend this if you enjoy this genre.

Read if you enjoy:
🌸 Enemies to lovers
🌸 Forced Proximity
🌸 Mental Health Representation
🌸 Painfully Awkward Pet Names
🌸 Peanut Butter…

I really really loved this book! It did have a fair amount of steamy scenes that I think took away from the story a little. A closed door romance would honestly have been just as good, however, even with these scenes the book was incredible. I appreciated the enemies to lovers dynamic, as well as the discussion about real life issues like PTSD. I also very much appreciated that the audio had a trigger warning from the get go. Thank you Mazey Eddings and NetGalley for this Audio ARC!

This was my first Mazey Eddings book, and it did not disappoint! The romance was sweet, the characters were interesting, and the storyline seemed very realistic. The banter between the two main characters created the perfect level of tension for a classic enemies-to-lovers situation. I love the de-stigmatization of therapy and mental health struggles as well as the lack of a third act breakup.

The narration was very well done by both actors! I will definitely be pursuing more of their work as well. They did a great job portraying the characters thoughts and emotions without being too over the top.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this advance listening copy! Mazey Eddings can do no wrong, and being 3/3 for her ARCs is a joy I did not know I needed in my life. I absolutely adored The Plus One and the experience of listening to it on audio was even better. The narrators captured Jude and Indira so well and you felt so in the moment with the more intimate scenes when you're in Jude's head about his PTSD and Indira's more vulnerable moments. Overall, I adored this book so much and the audiobook made it even better when I didn't think that was possible.

Normally I love stories about broken people finding closure as they reach for each other, I wanted so badly to love this book, but I didn't. I loved the main characters, so dynamic and deep. I loved the premise that people's pain, their trauma deserve equal care and attention even if they come from vastly different reasons. I loved the steps the couple took toward each other, looking past the surface to the person within.

However, instead of giving me hope that my broken self could find love, I found myself more dejected than ever. She was someone he could save. He was a therapy patient she could help untangle. I feel like after the book. When they were healed and life fell into steady day in and day out, these two would realize they loved each other's problems, not each other.

Indira has it all—great job, cute boyfriend, thriving social life. Until she walks in on her boyfriend and someone else. Jude is a doctor who travels around the world treating patients in dire situations. Indira and Jude are childhood friends who clearly hate each other. Indira’s brother is getting married and who else would be each others fake dates?! It’s got it all. Enemies to lovers…fake dating…adorable love story.

I love seeing discussions of mental health and therapy in books now. It’s an important topic that people shouldn’t be afraid to talk about.

Quick read and totally predictable in typical romcom fashion!

3.75/5 stars

I read A Brush with Love a while back, and was excited to have a chance to review The Plus One. Pitched as enemies to lovers, this book follows two childhood frenemies as they reunite at a wedding. They agree to be each other's plus ones, and I think we all know what happens from there.

I thought this book was going to be lighthearted and fun... but it definitely is heavier than the description makes it sound. If you have trauma from working in a medical field or disaster relief, just know there is some detailed descriptions that could be triggering. I do think Mazey Eddings addresses PTSD well but based on the description of the book, I was expecting something a lot more fun and a lot less heavy. (Note: I'm totally okay with this book addressing that topic, but I think the description needs to be less focused on the fake dating and more focused on this, as the fake dating piece really didn't strike me as the biggest plot point.)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the book!

This is a great read! Normally the enemies to lovers is not my trope but I really enjoyed this one. I liked that they were childhood friends (sort of) that as adults instinctively came to each others aid. It dealt the seriousnesses of PTSD in a very good way. I am looking forward to reading others by this author.

LOVED LOVED LOVED this book.

Seriously cannot stop thinking about it.

We have best friend’s little sister, frenemies to lovers, just one tent, formed proximity, fake dating, dirty talk, DUAL POV and seriously what more could anyone ever want???

Jude is struggling to adjust back to life when he is back in town for his best friend’s wedding. He is coping with PTSD after serving as a doctor in war torn countries. Idrina is coping with an embarrassing breakup and moves back into her brother’s house as he preps for the wedding. Both Jude and Idrina hatch a plan to fake date for the rest of the wedding festivities; for her its to save ace as her cheating ex is in the wedding party… and for Jude, its because Idrina is almost the human version of a weighted blanket, helping keep his PTSD at bay.

Watching these two flirt and banter and turn from frenemies into lovers was MAGIC. Watching them handle the outside conflict as a couple send strengthening and empowering each other was GOLD. I cannot believe this is my first Mazey book and I cannot wait to dive back into the other two books!

I should have stopped myself from reading this book with all of the trigger warnings at the beginning. Personally I don't like trigger warnings. I find that they spoil the plot for me, however I understand that many people need them. I found this book to be more about PTSD then romance and I am just not into that in a book that is being sold as a rom com. I didn't like the characters. None of them felt real to me.

I truly was not prepared for this book. I didn’t expect to love this one as much as I did! From the cool philly references to the fun sibling relationship and everything in between i loved this one! The author did an incredible job balancing the serious aspects that the main characters faced in this storyline while adding in light hearted moments to keep it entertaining. I cannot recommend this read enough to people struggling with a breakup, with a job situation, with depression or really anything out there. This one is just so good


This review has been added to Goodreads, Literal and Storygraph, as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon. This will be posted to my instagram (@manymerrybooks) within the week.

Thank you for allowing me to listen to this story!!

This romance has an excellent conversation about PTSD and therapy. I felt the a big chunk was missing and it went too quickly from enemies to lovers. Overall, okay but not memorable.

I received an ALC on Netgalley in exchange for a review.

Mazey Eddings is a new to me author and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am not a fan of third person POV and at times it was distracting to me, but I think what captured me most about this book was the story line itself. Indira and Jude were both likeable characters from the start. I loved Indira's sense of humor and enjoyed the banter between her and Jude.

I felt like the emotional/serious scenes were done really well and there was a good balance of them mixed with the comedic and romantic elements as well.

Both Jude and Indira have some emotional trauma to work on and their journey and from where they were when the two got reacquainted to the ending of the book they grew so much as characters and I loved how Mazey showed that in that story.

The narration was perfect for this book. Imani Jade Powers is a new to me narrator and I enjoyed her style and felt like she brought Indira to life perfectly, especially during the scenes with banter between them. When she narrated Indira internal thoughts I felt invested in her character.

I I don't know what it was about Joe Arden's performance in this but it gripped me hard. The steamy scenes were done in a way that captures you. There was both a lot of emotion and spice. The emotional performances from Joe in this is probably in my top 5 by him. You can hear his voice breaking while he speaks the lines.

Overall I enjoyed both the story line and narration and would definitely read more books by this author.

The author does an amazing job of showcasing all of our main characters in an endearing and very relatable way. It highlights mental health and the importance of taking care of our minds even if we feel unworthy or undeserving of it and that is so so crucial. Mental health IS health. I fully stand behind the power of that in this story. It also promotes self-love and about entering healthy relationships with others and ourselves which is amazing.

I also absolutely adored their constant picking on one another and the older brother's best friend trope (a personal fave of mine). The teasing leading to more was sexy and perfect. It wasn't over done and it didn't take the characters for-fucking-ever to get together like they do in some books which was *chefs kiss*.

So why didn't I rate this one five stars? Great question. It had to be the length. I honestly felt like we could've done the entire book in about 250-275 pages. The constant back and forth with Jude was a little frustrating, realistic, but frustrating and it got old me for fast. I think if they cut out one of those scenes it would've been soo much better. A little less repetition or maybe put in another scene for the wedding where Endira causes hilarious chaos again and I would've been sold!

Overall, this was a really great first read for me by this author! I'm excited to see that this is the third book so I'm going to definitely take a look at the first two and see how many more in the A Brush with Love series there are going to be. I imagine they're all going to be as equally funny as this one!

I absolutely LOVED this book! Mazey does such a wonderful job writing neurodivergent characters in a real and relatable way. I also loved the way therapy was represented throughout this book. Indira and Jude were great on their own but fit so well together and made for a fantastic couple. I would highly recommend this book to any romance fan. The audio was very well done by both narrators. I loved having the different narrators for the 2 POVs.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Mazy Eddings for an arc of the audiobook for The Plus One in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely loved every second of this and the narrators did such a good job. This was the first time I listened to an audiobook and actually loved the voices of both narrators!

This book contained some of my favorite tropes - childhood enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and fake dating. However, this isn't just your regular childhood enemies to lovers story, but it deals much more with the two mc's lives and their healing journey. Both Indira and Jude have been through some traumatic events and find their way to each other and help each other heal. I found myself rooting for both Jude and Indira from the beginning individually, and even more when they starting growing closer together.

Everything was perfect in this book for me and this is exactly what I wanted from a contemporary romance!

Jude and Indira were the healthiest couple i think I have ever read about!!! 🥹

This was my first book by Mazey Eddings and I definitely am going to read the rest of the series!!

"He'd forgotten that happiness wasn't a banging, violent emotion like all the others that bombarded him every moment. Happiness was soft. Uneventful. It was holding Indira's hand. Sitting next to her on the couch and listening to her talk. It was a quiet cup of coffee with her next to him reading a magazine. It was teasing her, being goofy and pretending to pass out after sniffing her feet, making her shriek in outrage and giggle. Happiness was them."

read if you love:
-brother’s best friend
-childhood enemies to lovers
-the best banter
-healthy relationships

Thank you so much to Mazey Edding and Netgalley for the arc!!! 💘

Against all odds, I did not enjoy this audiobook. It started off interesting with Indira and Jude deciding to fake date to avoid uncomfortable run-ins with cheating exes, and escape rooms which triggered PTSD breakdowns, but it quickly ran out of steam for me. It felt very ‘tropey’ (which is saying something because I LOVE a good trope) despite it attempting to be written as very character-driven. However, the main issue I had was with the voice acting which genuinely made the hair stand up on the back of my neck at points because I was so uncomfortable. At times it felt so theatrical I laughed during scenes that would have been heartfelt if I had read them, and the ‘intimate’ scenes were so cringey that I did have to press fast forward multiple times. Overall I don’t think this a bad book at all, it just didn’t connect with me personally, and this disconnect was only exacerbated by the voice acting making me want to crawl out of my own skin.

Oh my goodness! This one had me reeling. Indira and Jude are a hoot. They are thrown together so many times in this wedding that is too elaborate with too many parties. When Indira notices Jude is having a panic attack, she steps in and rescues him. It does not matter that they do not get along or that they do not trust each other, she is his rock. The chemistry between these two is off the charts. They can finish each other's sentences because they know each other. There are a lot of triggers in this one and mental health is real and is treated as a living thing. Thank you to the author for getting it right.

This book was excellent. It was truly an ode to peanut butter. Jokes aside. This was one of the top books of the year so far to me and I'm 100+ books in so far.

Jude is holding on to everything with his fingernails. He works for a Doctors without Borders type organization to pay off his med school loans and it is rough. He came back fundamentally changed and will grab on to any safe harbor and for him, it's his best friend's prickly sister.

Indira ends up moving in with her brother as he gets ready for his wedding and ends up roomies with her brother's equally prickly best friend. They all go through many, many wedding events as people in fiction are apt to do and find a middle ground between heckling each other publicly and pretending to date to save face in front of her horrible, cheating ex boyfriend.

These two made sense and were lovely once they got together.

Joe Arden was masterful in the narration. Every time Jude got choked up, it was there and it was excellent in the audio.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.