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.

While this romance did touch on a lot of very important issues I felt that it was very disjointed and a little boring.

4.5⭐️

I don’t even have words for Indira & Jude 😭 my god, these two were so special and I’m eternally grateful to Mazey for creating these special characters 🥹

I knew I was going to love Indira since I first met her in A Brush with Love ! She’s so sassy and funny and I couldn’t wait to see her personality come out in a romantic setting.

Jude was just… JUDE 😭🥹✨ he was precious and a little grumpy and my heart was bleeding for him so much 🥹 when he understood he could let himself go with Indira and she just wanted to be there for him and love him through it all… did anyone else get Nesta & Cassian vibes with Jude starting as Nesta ?? 😭😭😭

Sidebar, Mazey knows how to write her spice 🥵 this is my third read by her, so this shouldn’t be news to me, but it kinda slaps me in the face every time… lol so here for it 🫠

I also didn’t realize that this would be the last book in this series, so the epilogue absolutely had me in shambles, like I was crying in the club so hard 😭

The Plus One was yet another beautiful, heartfelt and emotional read that delivered so many laugh-out-loud and sweet moments, while also diving into some deeper themes, such as PTSD and complicated family dynamics. I think at this point it’s safe to say that Mazey simply can do no wrong!

What a cute, but emotional and meaningful, read! This book does a great job of tackling PTSD in a respectful and genuine way. It is not over the top or built on stereotypes. I found myself so invested in both main characters’ emotional journeys throughout the book. It was such a good childhood enemies to lovers book! “The Plus-One” is the third in Mazey Eddings’ “A Brush With Love” series, but this book can definitely be read as a stand-alone. Overall, it had romance and spice along with longing, angst, and real-world issues! I found myself so entranced by the story and could not stop listening once I started it!

**4.5-stars**

Fantastic audiobook. The narration was perfect for the characters. I absolutely loved it!

Full review:

The Plus One is the newest installment in the A Brush with Love series by Mazey Eddings. This series consists of companion novels, set in Philadelphia, following a strong and supportive friendship group of women in their late-20s. Each of the women we meet over the course of the series is incredibly-well fleshed out, with their own distinct strengths, weaknesses and personality quirks.

In this third book, it is Indira's turn to take the leading role. We have met Indira in the previous two books, but it was nice to really get to know her through this story. I've always liked her, after this though, I love her. This starts off horribly for Indira after she walks in on her live-in boyfriend, Chris, having a bit of a tug and cuddle with a stranger. It's clearly not the first time.

Indira is horrified, she can't believe her eyes, like really can't believe her eyes. Is that peanut butter?! She's ticked, she's done, she wants out. Quickly packing her things, including her adorable cat, Indira races over to her brother, Colin's, house, heartbroken and distraught. Well, maybe not heartbroken per se, but definitely distraught. Adding insult to injury, when she gets to Colin's she discovers his best friend, Jude, is currently staying there as well. Ughhhh, life is unfair.

Of course he is. With Colin and his fiance's wedding rapidly approaching, of course Jude would be there, it just couldn't be worse timing for Indira. She can't stand Jude. Even growing up, they were always at odds with one another.

Jude, a surgeon, has been traveling the world for the past few years working in the most dire circumstances, war-torn and impoverished communities; humanitarian crisis zones. Returning to the United States for Colin's wedding, Jude is having a hard time adjusting. He's suffering from lack of sleep, paralyzing guilt and anxiety stemming from the things he has seen; the patients he has lost. The last thing he needs now is Indira.

While Indira is happy to have a place to go to escape Chris and his new lady friend, that doesn't solve all her problems. Chris is friends with Colin and part of the wedding party. With many pre-wedding events planned and the actual event itself looming on the horizon, she's rattled with anxiety, how can she possibly face him?! It's going to be awful.

Knowing of her predicament, Jude feels for Indira. He's not heartless. Together they form a pact to fake date over the course of the wedding festivities. It will be great for both of them to have support during those events. Indira has noticed something off about Jude since he's been back. She's hoping she'll be able to provide some help for him if he begins to get overwhelmed.

As Indira and Jude spend more time together, it becomes clear that maybe their opinions of one-another have changed. It's hard to deny the spark that fires between them. Will it last, or will it fizzle out once their need for fake dating is over?

Mazey Eddings is becoming quite the star in my eyes. My goodness, this series just keeps delivering the steam, the humor and all the feels!!

I loved both Indira and Jude. I also love how Eddings brings real-life issues to the page for her characters. No one is perfect in these stories. Everyone has something, sometimes multiple things, that they are working on, or through. I was again impressed with how quickly Eddings is able to develop such flawed, sympathetic, witty and charming characters. It's gripping right from start, mainly because you get sucked into the characters lives.

Jude's story. in particular, I felt was incredibly well done. It was powerful, hard-hitting, eye-opening and honestly, quite serious. His PTSD was laid at your feet. It's a heavy topic to tackle in an otherwise funny, romantic story. I thought Eddings did a great job balancing the serious with the more light-hearted aspects. With this being said though, I did feel the tone of this one was a little different, heavier in a way, than the previous two.

It's still fantastic, don't get me wrong. I think part of it actually may stem from the relationship dynamic between our two mains. Jude and Indira have known each other a long time. They have an established relationship. In the first two books, some of the fun and excitement came from two characters meeting, dating and falling in love. There's always some underlying excitement in that process because it's all new.

Here the exploration of the relationship was different because they came in with a history. That history did allow them to go deeper though, I felt, than the previous two couples. That's not a bad thing, it just tackles romance from a different angle.

The humor, wit, steamy scenes and hilarious situations did not change though. Eddings knows how to shock, surprise and impress. I was completely absorbed in this story. Jude and Indira will always have a special place in my heart.

Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin's Griffin, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I am in love with this series and cannot wait for the next book!

💐The Plus One 💐

Thank you @netgallery for this gifted audiobook. The audiobook was really well done @macmillan.audio I enjoyed this sweet romance which involved topics that I found really moving such as mental health, therapy and PTSD.

I didn’t realize this was a series so I’ll have to catch up on the first two however, I definitely think it can be a standalone.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
💐The Plus One 💐

Thank you @netgallery for this gifted audiobook. The audiobook was really well done @macmillan.audio I enjoyed this sweet romance which involved topics that I found really moving such as mental health, therapy and PTSD.

I didn’t realize this was a series so I’ll have to catch up on the first two however, I definitely think it can be a standalone.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This childhood frenemies-to-lovers romance was the perfect balance of spicy, sweet, and emotional! More importantly, the mental illness rep (PTSD and anxiety) was handled with care and respect. I also appreciated that, once they finally got together, the two main characters didn't have to go through a ridiculous argument for the sake of the plot. Their relationship comes across as genuine and hopeful.

Overall, I think you'll enjoy this one if you're looking for a contemporary story that includes a romance and spicy scenes but also a great deal of personal growth by imperfect characters!

This was a touching and emotional journey that didn’t shy away from the darkness and sweeping romance.