I loved this book! Thank you to netgalley and to the publisher for this advanced copy! I’m back and forth between 4.5 stars and 5 stars but I’ll mark it as 5. I’ll be promptly reviewing this on all my socials because I need everyone to know how awesome this book is! I really really enjoyed the mental health representations in this book and they felt really honest and accurate (based on my experiences and those of others close to me). I think mental health discussions are so important especially in books and I don’t think I see it talked about nearly enough in the romance genre. I also really appreciated the message that you don’t have to be “fixed” or “healed” from all your trauma to be worthy of love and to love others. I couldn’t agree with this sentiment more! I will definitely be reading more from this author and I am so thankful to have received this book!

5/5 Stars

I truly loved this story and I think it's my favorite out of this series.

I thought that Mazey did a fantastic job in writing this story, especially with Jude and his struggles with mental health. The thing I love about The Plus One is the honesty that she brings to Jude's situation and the overall reminder that it's okay to ask for help. This story felt incredibly raw with the perfect balance of romance to keep the story realistic but optimistic.

I thoroughly related to Indira and her struggles with her abandonment issues and wanting someone to love her. I thought Indira was incredibly accepting and patient with Jude, which really blossomed into a beautiful love story between the two of them. Their relationship was extremely believable and made me reminisce about the people I grew up with. The spice was immaculate.

Overall, Mazey created this story with such grace and love, which truly made me feel happy. She continues to excel in normalizing mental health and neurodiversity with her writing.

I can't wait for the next one!

Thank you to Mazey Eddings, Netgalley, and St. Matin's Press for this E Arc in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC of the book.

The Plus One is an amazing story about childhood enemies Indira and Jude who reunite weeks before a wedding of their favorite person Collin. As the wedding approaches, we follow the characters though childhood memories, mutual teasing and some past trauma.
This book has it all - complicated topics, reminders of the importance of the mental health, humor, and some spicy moments.

book review: The Plus One by Mazey Eddings
rating: 4/5 stars

Mazey Eddings’ books are like a warm hug. I leave them feeling mushy gushy happy-in-love and, honestly, that’s exactly how I want to leave a rom-com.

the first book I read by Mazey was ‘Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake’ (if you haven’t read that yet, run don’t walk). Lizzie (as well as Harper from ‘A Brush with Love’) make cameos in this book — you don’t have to have read those before — but this girl group is so fun that I highly recommend reading all their stories!!

The Plus One is perfect if you love:
- childhood friends (more like childhood frenemies hehe)
- fake dating!
- angsty banter that’ll make you laugh
- important messages about mental health
- reality of how life can get messy & it’s okay to need help
- quick reads (read this in one day!)

I never knew that childhood enemies to lovers was a trope I needed in my life but *aha* I do. The ANGST between Jude & Indira… it is the type that can only be achieved by spending a lifetime being adorably annoyed by someone. i love how they need each other (even though they’re loathe to admit it) and how they compliment and care for one another in all those little ways that matter. there was a gentleness to this duo that got me right in the feels. that’s not to say that things don’t get steamy though (; the chemistry is 📈

the trajectory of Jude & Indira’s relationship felt very real. in fact, this entire book felt very real & raw. this is not one of those heads in the clouds romance books. it has very intimate & honest displays of mental health from both of our MCs. i could feel the empathy in Mazey’s writing; it was exceptionally graceful and well-done.

highly recommend this one and i can’t wait to read more from Mazey Eddings!! definitely an auto-buy author for me

thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

"𝘙𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴, 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘹, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳."

I went into this book not at all expecting to feel all the feelings that I felt during, especially during the second half of it. I say this in a good way, but seriously... lots and lots of feelings.

*SPOILER ALERT & TW/CW*
This book contains a lot of mental health talk, specifically around PTSD, and it deals with some really heavy stuff. That being said, the author has a lovely CW page at the beginning of the book for those who may not want to proceed.

Indira and Jude may just be my new favorite book couple ❤ and I mirror a lot of feelings Jude has about Dira being his "safe space" in my feelings for Matt. He's MY tether when the world starts to become too much.

Thank you Mazey, @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for this review!
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#bookstagram #booksta #books #booksbooksbooks #avidreader #ilovereading #thetwistedlibrarian #professionalbookworm #theplusone #mazeyeddings #whatsnikkireading #book20of2023 #judeandindira #enemiestolovers #childhoodenemies #mentalhealth #ptsd #therapy #philadelphia

This was fantastic! I loved Indira and Jude. They have known each other since they were young children since Jude was Indira’s brother’s best friend. They are not huge fans of each other but with Indira’s brother getting married, they somehow find themselves living in the same house. After deciding to be each other’s dates for all of the wedding festivities, the fake situation starts to become very real.

Jude and Indira were wonderful characters. Both Jude and Indira had a lot of issues to deal with personally and I liked the way they supported each other. I thought that the story dealt with mental health and therapy in a very positive manner. I thought that they were really good for each other and the chemistry between them was palpable. I really enjoyed their journey towards a happily ever after.

I thought that Imani Jade Powers and Joe Arden did a fantastic job with the narration of this book. I thought that they both did a wonderful job of bringing this cast of characters to life and I thought that their voices complimented each other very well. They added just the right amount of emotion to their reading and I am certain that their performance added to my overall enjoyment of the story.

I would definitely recommend this to fans of contemporary romance. This book is the third book in the Brush with Love series but it reads perfectly fine as a stand-alone. I had a great time with this book and look forward to reading more of this author’s work soon.

I received a review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio and St Martin’s Griffin.

🌶️🌶️
💜 This story was absolutely beautiful and so so meaningful! It was like a love letter to therapy, and as someone who has mental health struggles and goes to therapy, it really hit me in the feels.
"Because feelings matter. They’re chemicals mixing with experiences and some deep, unknown part of a human soul. They make us who we are..."
💜 I absolutely loved the 2 main characters, Indira and Jude. The journey of watching them grow and come closer together was so so funny and so sweet! Mazey truly captures the feeling of falling in love.
💜 There was also such good mental health rep.
"I always felt like this raw nerve. Everything touched me. Every feeling hit me with an overwhelming force." Um, is Mazey living in my head?
💜 The found family in these books is also just so adorable and I loved it so much! You get to see more of the characters from the last two books and see where they are at too.
💜 I'm truly so happy to have read this trilogy! I highly highly recommend and I can't wait to meet Mazey Eddings at Apollycon!

The third book in this series that I really like. Each book focuses on different neurodivergences or mental illnesses. She highlights them in a way I really like with the benefits of each. That being said, this book fell a little flat for me compared to the other two. The chemistry just wasn’t there and the end seemed too easy. I’ll still easily look to grab everything this author does though!

The Plus One by Mazey Eddings is the third book in her very popular A Brush with Love series and like all the books in this series can be read as a stand-alone.

Story Recap:
Indira has her life together. A great job, a terrific boyfriend, and her own car. But, when she finds her boyfriend on the couch in an amorous embrace with another woman, Indira realizes she doesn’t quite have it all together yet. She moves in with her brother, Collin, and his fiance only to find his best friend, and her childhood enemy, Jude, living there too.

Jude has returned from his job as a doctor who goes to remote locations to assist in humanitarian crises. His last assignment has left him feeling lost and not himself.

Jude and Indrira are thrown together often as they assist with Collin’s wedding and they decide to go to the wedding as dates as neither feels like finding a real date for the wedding.

My Thoughts:
I have been waiting for Indira’s story for a while. She was always the practical one of the friends, and I knew she has a big story inside her, and boy, was I right. There is so much more to Indira than I expected She constantly has feelings of anxiety and self-doubt and isn’t nearly as put together as she appears to others. Jude was a very complex character as well. His time abroad has changed him and left him with PTSD.

This is one really emotional book. Both Indira and Jude have a lot of deep-seated issues to deal with as well as falling for each other. And they are perfect for each other. I loved watching them each deal with their own issues as they fell in love and learned to trust each other.

Recommendation:
I highly recommend The Plus One to anyone who enjoys romance. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

There are so many elements in this book that I really feel as if I need to break it up into two different parts. I picked this book up fully thinking it was a romcom, and obviously, it is. It is also a look into mental health and the ways that we can help people who may be struggling in ways that aren't immediately obvious. When these two elements were put together, it made for a romance that really took the relationship to the next level.

The Romcom itself was adorable, it had a perfect mix of enemies to lovers and brothers best friend trope that had me swooning from the minute Indira and Jude started bickering. I loved watching their relationship develop and seeing them look back on their shared memories with new meaning. It was funny to watch as their banter went back and forth, but also as they teamed up to also give Colin, Indira’s brother and Jude’s best friend, a hard time as well. My only real problem with their relationship is that the switch from enemies to lovers seemed to happen really quickly. I didn’t feel as invested in the switch as I would have hoped.

So much of the story also revolved around mental health and it was beautiful to see the love and support that Jude and Indira gave to one another as they struggled with some really hard to deal with topics. Jude struggled with PTSD after working as a doctor in places around the world suffering from humanitarian crises. While I cannot comment on the realistic nature of the description of his PTSD because I have no experience with the topic, I can say that Indira’s support as he came to terms with his mental health was beautiful. I really appreciated that there was no misunderstanding or unnecessary breakup, there was only love and support as they started their relationship. Indira faced her own struggles with a father who left her family and Jude was supported Indira through the complicated emotions that came with her family and her brother’s wedding. There is so much more to this element of the book, but commenting upon it feels like taking away from the experience of reading it.

There are many situations and topics that someone could find difficult, please make sure to check trigger warnings!

⅘ stars
3.5/5 spice

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest opinions

I am in love with Indira and Jude. Friends since childhood, their witty banter and genuine love and support for each other is refreshing.

As with her other books, Eddings does a great job with the representation of mental health. Jude is suffering from PTSD and I appreciate the sensitive yet real life depiction of this illness.

While this is book in the series, you can definitely read as a stand alone. And if you love this book as much as I do, definitely pick up the other books. They are all great!

I have not read the first two books in this series and it was not a detriment.

Much more "real" than other romances. Very much in the mental health space. Probably one of the more realistic fake dating troupe books I have read.

Jude has PTSD and the book does a great job of being inside his head and trying to explain through his thoughts and feelings what that is like. Indira is a likable character with abandonment issues, and also a psychiatrist. The addition of their childhood relationship (he is her older brothers best friend) is a great part of this book.

Many many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ St. Martin’s Griffin for sharing the digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

I absolutely love this one! From the beginning I was drawn in until the very end. Such a cute story can’t wait to read more by this author.

I enjoyed The Plus One by Mazey Eddings. This is an enemies to lovers, fake dating, complex family interactions, forced proximity romance. Indira's older brother is getting married and his best friend, Jude--Indira's childhood nemesis/fascination--is home for the run up to the wedding. They find themselves in forced proximity and Indira finds out some things about herself and about Jude. Jude struggles with severe PTSD and anxiety resulting from his medical experiences in war-torn, refugee, and natural disaster situations. Their forced proximity brings their attraction to each other to the fore but there is some emotional baggage, angst, and feelings to sort through before they can move forward.

Jude is the best part of this book in my opinion. His trauma, PTSD, anxiety is so accurately and sensitively addressed. His self-doubt broke my heart. Indira's gentle compassion and empathy for him was wonderful to read--the way she recognized what was going on and was determined to help him.

This was an introspective book, about grief, fear, compassionate caregiving and self-love. I loved Indira and Jude's awkward initial interactions, her realization that he was not well, her efforts to help, the way he opened up to her eventually and let her help. This is about breaking and healing and putting yourself back together with compassion.

This was the part of the story I liked the best--the way the two of them found each other and saw each other in a different light as adults, acknowledging the bond and fascination they have always had for each other.

Worthwhile read. It is good to see PTSD and anxiety being represented more in the romance genre.

I think Mazey Eddings' series has been so unexpected. I have had different reading experiences with each of these books, liked them all in different ways, and maybe liked this one the best? Not sure yet!

The first book was cute and lighthearted; the second was a bit over-the-top, but this one is very grounded. It focuses on mental health in a meaningful way that I'm sure every reader can relate to. while I think many rom-com stories focus on the whirlwind nature of romance, I loved how this portrays a healthy, working connection between two people. it feels very real and genuine.

Would definitely recommend and will keep reading Mazey for years to come.

Thank you, St. Martins press, for the ARC!

I started out hating this book. I found the writing to be incredibly repetitive especially when the author used the character's name so often in one paragraph that it started to lose meaning. HOWEVER, I kept reading because I had seen so many glowing reviews and I am glad I did. I thought the focus on mental health was well done and brings awareness to PTSD and anxiety that I haven't seen many places before. I appreciated that it was the male main character with the mental health concerns and the journey we go on to get some peace was excellent.

This is the childhood enemies to lovers story that most people dream of. I thought it was the best in the trilogy and had a depth to it that was missing from the previous two installments. Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for an early copy of The Plus One.

Quick Breakdown:

Brother’s Best Friend
Sudden Roommates
Fake Dating
Only One tent
Mental Health Rep
Open Door - Moderate Detail
NO THIRD ACT BREAK UP


After walking in on her on again off again boyfriend with another woman, Indira escapes to her brother’s house, only to find his childhood best friend crashing there, too. Indira & Jude have been adversaries for over a decade, so being stuck together for the foreseeable future feels like torture.

But with her brother getting married & all the elaborate wedding events too much for both of them, they strike up a deal. They’ll pretend to date so Indira can save face in front of her ex and his new girlfriend while she’ll serve as a buffer for Jude when the celebrations become to much.

This book 👆🏻 is the perfect example of the brother’s best friend trope done right! I loved the realistic slow burn as they realized that their years of playful banter & nettling was really just a long game of foreplay 🤭 Teasing is my love language so it’s no surprise that this one hit that sweet spot for me.

Each book in Mazey’s A Brush With Love series tackles mental health in a beautiful & inclusive way. The Plus One is no different. It showcases Jude suffering from PTSD after serving as a surgeon for a (fictitious) global health organization that sends medical assistance to areas in crisis. Indira being a psychiatrist helped her to understand Jude’s needs & know not to give up on him.

I received an e-arc of The Plus One by Mazey Eddings from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I loved IndiraJude, from childhood enemies to fake dates to lovers, they have my whole heart <3.
I'm kinda sad that this is the last book in the A Brush with Love universe :( I already miss HarperDan and IndiraJude.
These books handle mental health and therapy, balancing the heavy stuff in life while also being sweet and soft and funny.
4.5 stars

The Plus One left me speechless! I have had the pleasure of reading all three books in the series and I must say, I am thoroughly impressed. The enemies to lovers, fake dating, and forced proximity tropes were executed flawlessly. I particularly enjoyed how the characters only lied to Indira's cheating ex and his new girlfriend, who were caught in the act. The ending was the cherry on top, as it beautifully incorporated the amazing characters from the previous books. Overall, this series has been a delightful and captivating read that I highly recommend to any romance enthusiast.

Let me first preface this review that I loved Mazey Eddings' first two books in her "A Brush With Love" series. Her characters are unique, have their own issues they are working through, and come out winning in the end... and they have been loveable for their quirks. I had such high hope for The Plus One, the third installment in the series. While there are some character updates from the previous two books, this could easily be read as a standalone.

Unfortunately, The Plus One just didn't work for me. In the series. We are forwarded in time a few years, and so the characters are now thirty-ish. Indira and Jude are just too cutesy and giggly for my taste, and their actions didn't ring true for serious-minded physicians who were dealing with pretty heavy emotional baggage in their lives. The rapid switch between introspective moral turmoil and tickle fights/baby talk didn't seem authentic for the characters or for any health professionals in their thirties based on my own personal experiences having lived through that decade of my professional life. The enemies-to-lovers plot was fine but predictable. The banter and gigging felt contrived and very young, got old very quickly, and became annoying. I would have preferred a more serious approach to their relationship rather than the cutesy overload in this installment. Plus, if I were to ever come home to my significant other having a peanut butter cheat fest on our couch, he would be the one kicked out on the curb with the couch, not I. Indira, have some self-respect girl.

Thank you to #NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.