Thank you netgalley for the arc!
This book took me months to read because I had a hard time connecting to the writing style and felt that the first 30-40% was hard for me to get into. Once I hit around the half way point the book really took a turn and I couldn't put it down. The first half is very traditional romance tropes and plot points but the second half was focused on the characters healing from trauma, especially Jude. This is the best PTSD representation I have ever read and truly can't recommend this enough to anyone that has PTSD or trauma (check trigger warnings just in case). It highlights several times that you don't have to be perfect and healed to be loved and I ended up with entire paragraphs highlighted because the author truly provided such a healthy relationship. I finished this book feeling as if I just got the warmest hug and best therapy session of my life.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book.

I ADORED this book, It was like a comforting hug on a bad day. I want to reread it and I just finished it, I cannot even put into words how good it was. One of the easiest 5 stars I have given a book.

Lot of love for this book. Loved Indira and Jude and their enemies to frenemies to more transition. It was a joy to see them revisit their childhood animosity to each other and see the complicated, love, connection and trust that underpinned it. Great chemistry, banter and heat between them throughout. I think I especially loved how even though Indira and Jude both reached out to try and help each other, neither was trying to fix the other. They were both broken/ hurt in different ways due to their respective traumas and as much as this book was about their romance and about them finding each other it was also about them each finding, understanding and truly loving themselves. Jude broke my heart so much and the author did a good job with portraying his PTSD and struggles. Indira was wonderfully open and self aware and willing and able to embrace the tools she needed to heal herself and move forward from her pain. I loved how she helped Jude find his own way there as well, with care and love. Also liked the glimpses of the friend group (love Lizzie and Rake always) and the supporting characters of Collin and Jeremy. A thoroughly satisfying read. 5 ⭐️

I absolutely loved The Plus One by Mazey Eddings. After reading A Brush With Love and Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake, Eddings truly knows how to discuss mental health in a way that I haven't seen before. As someone who has ~*a lot*~ of personal mental health history, I appreciate Eddings' insight into all of her characters and their individual hurdles. Throughout the entire series, Indira was a character that I COULD NOT WAIT to learn more about and her story is exceptional. What I loved most is that both Indira and Jude had individual struggles yet helped each other through them. I'll update my review after the book's release with more! I'd like to send a massive THANK YOU to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for granting me access to this story for an honest review. Also, thank you to Mazey for writing it!

A great love story that is equal parts swoony and spicy but also inspiring and relatable.

What starts as a fake dating plan to act as a buffer between an annoying ex boyfriend during her brother's wedding turns into a layered romance between childhood enemies.

I really enjoyed The Plus One! I truly found myself in between belly laughs and ugly tears throughout.

There's a hysterical introduction to characters and an overall engaging plot. Amazing side characters with great banter and characterization. The main characters are real and fully realized, and I enjoyed seeing the evolution of Indira and Jude's relationship. Praise be for alternating POVs!!! I also enjoyed the wedding in the background of this entire story and the circumstances the characters found themselves in.

Why isn't this a 5 star for me?
- I do think sometimes I lost Indira in all of the mental health conversations. Understanding that she is a mental health professional, but sometimes we lost the romance in exchange for her talking through Jude's issues in an extensive way. It sometimes took me out of the romance completely and forced most of my attention to be on Jude despite Indira dealing with heavy issues as well.
- There were moments that dragged a bit as they move to one event or scene to another especially given this is a slow burn where the romance didn't hit until the 40-50% mark.

Overall I can't wait for everyone to read this one!
Thank you St.Martin's for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

My first of Mazey’s books and I’ll be going back to read the others now. A romcom that delves below the surface into issues around anxiety and PTSD, particularly with respect to health care workers, wasn’t exactly what I expected and I was SO glad. It’s much more about that than “enemies to lovers” or “fake dating”, so those labels feel more like marketing than the story deserves. I loved the insight into therapy, I loved their chemistry, I LOVED that there was no 3rd act breakup. This was the opposite of a miscommunication action trope and thank goodness for that. Adults who have struggles and work through them together? Brilliant. I will be recommending to many.

Forced proximity, brother’s best friend, fake dating, and childhood enemies-to-lovers combine in this third book in the A Brush With Love series from Mazey Eddings. And, in my opinion, this is her best adult romance yet.

After Indira’s relationship messily implodes weeks before her brother’s wedding, she seeks refuge at her brother’s home with his fiancé, but when she arrives at their door, Indira unexpectedly finds her childhood enemy, Jude, staying there as well.

As the best man, he has taken leave from the global health organization that employs him in order to assist with and participate in all of the pre-wedding activities. But, as Indira quickly ascertains, this version of Jude—the one that has been amidst conflicts around the globe for the past few years—is not the Jude she grew up with.

They are prickly to each other—a carryover from childhood, of course—but begin to realize that perhaps they can help each other. Her now ex—being related to the other groom—is also part of the wedding party, and Jude? He needs an excuse to escape when the activities become too much. A fake relationship seems like the perfect way for them to shield and protect each other throughout all of the festivities.

Mazey Eddings is not afraid to take on mental health, and she handles both Jude’s trauma and Indira’s ongoing anxiety with such care here. So, while this is a love story filled with tender moments and comedic moments and steamy moments, it is also a story of finding, accepting, and claiming what you need. It is about healing. And it’s about finding and embracing the person that truly sees you.

It’s my favorite book from her yet.

I received an advance copy from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

3.5/5 stars rounded down

This enemies to lovers (more like childhood annoyances to lovers really) starts strong, but quickly dissolved for me. Indira finds her boyfriend tangled up with peanut butter and another woman weeks before her brothers marriage to her boyfriends cousin. Realizing her ex is bringing a date to the wedding she quickly decides to hop into a fake relationship with her brothers best friend who’s she’s hated her life. That lasts for all of two seconds, before their in bed together.

None of the characters felt real to me, there were these great themes introduced and then quickly resolved and just in general it felt like the author was more focused on the spice than the plot and tension points.

Arc provided in exchange for honest review.

THE PLUS ONE by @mazeyeddings is absolutely heartbreaking and magical all at the same time.

Childhood enemies-to-lovers, Indira and Jude are thrown together in a forced proximity situation after her boyfriend cheats on her and she has to live with her brother during his wedding preparations. Jude, who is a doctor for an overseas organization, is back for his best friends wedding and dealing with the aftermath of everything he has seen and been through in his career.

I loved that despite how hard Jude tried to hide his PTSD, Indira saw right through his act and didn’t let him hide.

I honestly felt like Indira at times was speaking to my soul and I feel like a part of my own trauma has healed along with Jude.

Oh jude… PROTECT THIS MAN AT ALL COSTS!!

I just wanted to wrap him up in a big hug and never let him go.

This book was absolutely amazing and inspiring.

Eddings handled these topics with the Grace they deserved, and despite the heavier themes, there were still plenty of comic relief moments that had me smiling and giggling.

Thanks to NetGalley for an arc of this book. Below is my honest review.

Note: TW’s are provided in the beginning of the book.

This is Indira’s story. Although this book can be read as a standalone, I enjoyed the references to the two other books in the series and recommend reading them first.

Indira moved in with her boyfriend Chris after five months of dating. It is a year into the relationship and things aren’t going well. She comes home one day to find him on her couch with another woman. Both of whom are covered in peanut butter. Yes, peanut butter…gross. Not only that, but her cat was locked in a closet. After she packs her things and leaves, Indira finds all of her tires slashed. Because, of course.

So, Indira goes to stay with her brother Collin and his fiancé Jeremy. Who answers the door? Her brothers best friend, Jude, also known as the person she has abhorred since she was a child. Let’s just say the feeling is more than mutual. Indira was always the plus one to Jude and Collins antics.

Indira is a psychiatrist, Jude practices emergency medicine, and Collin and Jeremy are anesthesiologists. Jude is staying at Collin and Jeremy’s so he can attend their wedding. He has a few weeks off from working at GHCO, an organization that sends doctors to places in great need of help. For example, somewhere that just suffered a natural disaster or is a war zone. Jude is struggling with everything he has seen but doesn’t want anyone to know.

All of this is going on during the weeks leading up Collin and Jeremy’s wedding. Of course, Chris is Jeremy’s cousin and part of the bridal party. Indira can’t stand to be around him. Jude is struggling with PTSD and has a very hard time being in crowds. How will Indira and Jude deal with all the pre-wedding shenanigans? Fake dating, of course!

Will their fake dating plan work out? Will everything implode? Will we see our favorites from books past (spoiler - yes!)

Just as with every other Mazey Eddings book, I’ve read them all, this was everything I could have hoped for and more. It has heart, laughter, emotion, and handles characters trauma with care. In my humble option, Mazey Eddings is truly masterful when writing characters who are neurodiverse, living with anxiety, depression, and/or recovering from trauma.

Not only are Indira and Jude exceptionally well developed main characters, but the secondary characters are wonderful as well. Collin and Jeremy are a trip as groomzillas (well, the groomzilla award mostly goes to Collin). Our favorites from books past add humor and heart. And, wow, did I vehemently dislike Indira’s ex Chris. I’m not sure I would have given as much grace to Lauren, but more power to Indira.

There were several scenes, which I won’t describe for spoilers sake, that I related to so much. They brought forth all the feels and I truly empathized with some of the things both Jude and Indira were going through. Different personal triggers, but similar emotional effects.

Don’t fret though, I definitely laughed out loud a few times, too. I might have (definitely) chuckled at the tent revelation. It was a fun spin on a classic trope. Also, Jeremy’s homecoming the morning after Halloween was a riot.

I cannot recommend this one enough for someone who wants to read about two characters falling in love while working on past trauma and healing. It isn’t always an easy read, but it is absolutely worth it.

This was given to my as an ARC and omg first book I read by Mazey Eddings and it did not disappointed.
‪Love that before you start the book there are warnings on it and not all authors do this and is very refreshing. Both MC are very relatable in their struggles and desires. Is a dual pov and I always love that. ‬
Indira feels like a very relatable character a bit angry at the world but at the same time wants to help everyone. Jude is a bit more lost and he is suffering from ptsd which is tactfully addressed in the book.
I love Indira and Jude banter and how their relationship develops. The side characters are fun and her brother is just gold, I haven’t had such a good laugh from a book in ages and this one did it. Definitely will recommend is a very nice and tactful rom com.

Indira has just caught her boyfriend cheating and now has to face him and his new girlfriend at her brother Collin’s various wedding festivities since he is a cousin to her brother’s fiancé. Jude has just returned from three years of doing emergency medical work in areas experiencing humanitarian crises to attend his best friend Collin’s wedding and is struggling with his return. Jude and Indira who grew up as childhood enemies decide to fake date in order to help one another get through all the wedding festivities, however, things don’t feel very fake as the two continue to spend time together.

This book covers a lot of Indira and Jude’s personal mental health journeys and how they support each other throughout. Indira is learning the best way to cope with the feelings of her dad leaving her family at a young age and still being a work in progress despite being a psychologist herself. Jude is learning to process the trauma he experienced while serving as a doctor in areas that were experiencing extreme humanitarian crises. I think the author does a great job of making Jude and Indira extremely relatable even if the reader hasn’t experienced their exact struggles. I really loved the growth of the characters throughout and the effort they put into building a better future for themselves. I loved the care that was put into talking through serious subject matter, while also having moments of such joy that balance it out. I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend picking up a copy.

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

While I was reading this, I absolutely loved it. I loved Indira and Jude together; their banter, born out of being childhood “enemies,” was top tier. I laughed out loud a few times. I loved the therapy representation, and just the mental health discussions in general. It wasn’t just “so and so went to therapy. It was great.” It actually gave readers an inside look at what therapy can be! Love it! The way this book handles mental health, PTSD, and how to just be a supportive human was beautiful. I think Jude and Indira are a great example of a healthy relationship. I also really appreciated that their relationship isn’t perfect; there is conflict, but it’s addressed and handled and learned from! Shocking.

I loved getting to see the previous books’ characters again. It’s such a realistic and sweet friend group! The ending was a lovely wrap up for the group (for now?…). I do think I was hoping for a little bit more out of the ending, but I’m not exactly sure what. It just didn’t feel quite as satisfying as I was hoping for. So take that with a grain of salt lol.

Ok, earlier I said while I reading I loved, so here comes the bit that didn’t bother me as much until I had time to reflect. Because this takes places, mostly, in a compact timeframe, it felt like I didn’t get to know the characters as *people* quite as much. It feels like it’s Jude and his PTSD, Indira as a psychiatrist, and then their relationship. Of course the friends are there and other things happen, but those elements felt a bit more underdeveloped to me. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to have a more narrow focus in a book, but I think *because* I loved these characters, I just wanted more.

Overall really enjoyed. My favorite of the three!

This book has been getting amazing reviews and I truly wish I could've been one of them.

This one was a two star for me. I wanted to give it 3 because of the mental health issues that were discussed in this book -- they truly were amazing.

However, the MCs had little to no chemistry. This book claims to be an enemies to lovers trope but I didn't see any part of their relationship as enemies. She was just the annoying little sister and he was the big brother's best friend growing up. There was no bad blood.

When they finally got together, it was enjoyable but they really didn't fool anyone with the "fake dating" because everyone knew except for the ex-boyfriend. They didn't play into that at all.

Overall, just fine. Would I recommend? Probably not.

I found Mazey Eddings’ books roughly a year ago and I have been smitten by them ever since. The Plus One is the third and final (queue the sadness) installment for the series a brush with love. Though it is the third in the series it is able to be read as a standalone book. If you are not familiar with Mazey’s books they deal with mental health and neurodiversity while still being beautiful and steamy books.

In this book we have Indira and Jude. Jude is Indira’s brother Collin’s best friend and they all were very close growing up though Indira had a hate / strong dislike for Jude and he shared the feelings. Jude comes back home for Collin’s wedding to his love Jeremy, while he was away he was a surgeon who helped in areas affected by civil unrest and during the time developed PTSD. I was not knowledgeable of PTSD when I started this book but the topic was handled delicately and really explained how hard it is for people who are dealing with it. Indira saw Jude struggling at one of the countless pre wedding events (after her long term bf was caught having sex in their apartment with the use of peanut butter….. ewwww) and they formed a pact to fake date until the wedding so she could help him get out of hard situations and so she didn’t have to see her ex at the wedding and be alone.

As we all know the fake dating trope is a high quality one. Honestly it was 10 out of 10 in this book. I appreciated how there wasn’t a silly third act breakup or miscommunication. The characters just realized they had feelings and worked together to find out what their relationship was.

This book also brought up couples counseling. I will say this was so nice to see it being used prior to an issue being present. Both Indira and Jude had issues from their past that they brought into the relationship and they started couples counseling to make sure that the prior issues did not affect their love for one another or how their relationship progressed in the future.

Listen, I could go on and on about the wonders of a Mazey Eddings book but honestly just go buy the damn thing and read it. These books are powerful and deal with real situations and emotions and are so beautiful. I am sad to see this group of friends end their book journey but I know Mazey is working on some other things and honestly I can’t wait to read what she writes next.

Mazey Eddings is now going to be added to my auto-buy list. I absolutely adored Lizzie’s story in the last book, since it’s so rare that I get to see neurodiverse MCs. But here, with The Plus One, Ms. Eddings solidified her hold on my book loving heart.

This is a sweet & snarky frenemies to lovers BUT it also very authentically addresses mental health struggles, including anxiety, abandonment issues and PTSD. It is so rare to find these topics addressed in a rom com that doesn’t just gloss over the surface and end in an easy happily ever after. I LOVE that this one includes lots of talk and action on the therapy front and the important fact that mental health isn’t a one and done solution…but rather an ever ebbing & flowing journey.

Well done 👏👏👏.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Griffin and Mazey Eddings for an advance copy of this gem. All opinions are my own. Now everyone GO ORDER THIS BOOK.

You know that moment when you're a couple chapters in and you get the thought that "I'm going to read every book this author has written and will ever write?" yeah, I had that while reading this one.

this was my first book by Mazey Eddings (even though this is the third in the series oops) and I loved it so so much that I immediately went ahead and started reading the first two books in the series one after the other. I also loved A Brush with Love and I am currently halfway through Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake and am loving it as well, even though both of these books have tropes that I usually don't care to read. Eddings books have that magic and charm that are making me read and even like the tropes and storylines that I usually don't even bother reading!

This book was absolutely amazing, I absolutely could not understand how it was able to make me laugh out loud at one moment and then cry my eyes out a couple pages later, but I can't remember the last time a book pulled that many emotions out of me.

I really really loved this book and will definitely think about Indira and Jude for a long, long time, so I highly recommend checking it out!

read if you like
- brother's best friend trope
- childhood enemies to lovers
- forced proximity
- found family/ friend group
- mental health rep
- books with weddings

4.5 ⭐️

I think this was my favorite in the entire series. I absolutely loved the banter between Indira and Jude. Jude is a precious bean who must be protected at alllll costs. Jeremy and Collin were also the absolute CUTEST. I don’t want to say too much to spoil it but I loved it so much!

If you haven’t read the first two books, I DEFINITELY recommend reading them before this one comes out! They’re all so amazing and you won’t regret it.

Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake was my top read overall in 2022, so I could not wait for The Plus One, and omg it did not disappoint. Wonderful, vulnerable Indira has just been cheated on, so she turns to her brother’s best friend and childhood nemesis Jude to be her fake date to the wedding. He’s just gotten back from being a surgeon in a country going through tragedy and is suffering PTSD. I was emotional from dedication to the final page. This book is perfection. It’s witty, with wonderful banter and dialogue and smart characters. It’s steamy, Jude is so sexy and his and Indira’s chemistry is off the charts. It’s vulnerable, going through topics of mental health, the amazing healing powers of therapy, and Jude’s struggles with PTSD. It is literally everything. I both never wanted it to end and couldn’t wait to see where these characters took me. It was fun and emotional and heartwarming and just every kind of wonderful! Indira is so beautifully strong and brave and bolsters Jude through his struggles, and Jude is so compassionate and sweet. I loved the enemies to lovers mixed with friends to lovers in this. It may just be my new favorite book.

I'm pretty sure this was my favorite of the series, and that's saying a lot because I really liked the first two books as well. I really liked Indira, the female main character, a psychiatrist who works with children and is also dealing with her own psychological issues, many of which stem from her father abandoning their family when she was young. The book opens with Indira walking in on her boyfriend, with whom she has been living for a while, cheating on her. She breaks it off immediately and goes to stay with her brother and his fiance, only to find that her brother's best friend - and her childhood/teenage nemesis - Jude is also staying with him. Jude is dealing with his own trauma, having signed up for an organization that sounds like of like Doctors Without Borders, which provided his med school tuition in exchange for four years of professional service in dangerous, war-torn locations around the world. He has what seems like very severe PTSD, and one of the things I liked about this was that he didn't just, like, get cured because he fell in love. This book does justice to the hard work that is surviving trauma of various types, and is a pretty strong advertisement for the benefits of therapy, even for mental health professionals. I also liked the inclusion of some old standard tropes - brother's best friend, enemies to lovers, fake dating - that all kind of magically melded together and added some lightness to balance out the heavier topics covered.