I really enjoyed this book, it definitely dove into tougher topics and focused really heavily of mental illness. It has some moments where it’s a cute, flirty rom-com, but it wasn’t a light and fluffy book overall.

I found a bit of the language to be too trendy sometimes which I think may date the book moving forwards, but overall I really enjoyed it and read through it quickly!

The enemies to lovers trope where they are “enemies” just because they grew up not liking each other for some unknown reason isn’t my favorite, and I felt like they got over that dislike quickly and began leaning on each other almost immediately, which I believe was due to their trauma and need for comfort, but if that is a major draw for you I would just be aware that it isn’t a huge part of the plot.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Dating your brother's best friend has never been a very appealing book trope for me because usually the brother sucks and with that logic why would his best friend be any better? Except Mazy Eddings said "only fathers are garbage" and "brothers and their best friends are actually the most wonderful, kindest people - court adjourned."

This was the sweetest romcom for my cold, cynical heart to feast on to stay warm in this depressing North American winter.

Indira is a psychiatrist and her older brother's best friend Jude is a trauma doctor treating emergencies and humanitarian crises across the world. Jude comes back home for a few weeks attend Indira's brother's wedding and this is where their story comes to life. Indy has to live with her brother in the short term after splitting from her boyfriend and it just so happens that Jude will be staying there too. Growing up Indy and Jude severely disliked each other so the forced proximity is opening up a whole bag of worms neither of them expected or needed.

Yet, somehow they both needed each other the most out of everyone else. Jude is suffering from complex PTSD due to his time in such intense crisis situations and Indira hasn't healed from all the trauma in her life.

This is a story about how they learn to trust each other, find comfort in each other and realize that love doesn't solve everything but it does make our tiny world a better place for us.

Mazy Eddings did an incredible job portraying the struggles both Jude and Mazy go through. Even when they fall in love, their problems aren't magically solved. They still have to communicate and learn from one another. This elevated the fantastic and steamy chemistry between the two characters.

The banter and the dialogue were so crisp and hit the nail on the head every single time. Couples that have great banter have great chemistry and Mazy Eddings knows this formula well. Her characters in this book are so easy to love and relate to because sound just like the person reading it.

I loved Indira and Jude so much. The fact that Mazy Eddings has me loving a character named Jude that's how you know she's powerful.

This was an incredible third installment to the 'A Brush With Love' series and I am so overjoyed to have had the chance to read it early.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this the opportunity to read this ARC and review it.

I just love the fake dating trope. This book was a very fun jaunt, with Indira and Jude at odds, both with reasons to require a fake partner for the wedding. I haven't read the rest of the series, but I certainly will get on that !
The flow of the book was at a great pace, and the camaraderie of the two main characters escalates nicely. I liked how they opened up to each other gradually, and found ways to help each other out, with consideration. There is a great depiction of anxiety, PTSD, and the way it is dealt with is like poster child for being an advocate for a friend/family member with a mental health issue. Kindness, compassion, consideration are all keywords.
PICK UP THIS BOOK !! if you like rom-coms, fake dating, friends to lovers, proper mental health depiction ,
thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ARC

Mazes has done it again! I actually stumbled upon Mazey’s books via Instagram and I am so glad I did! I knew when I read the synopsis for this book I would just love it. I love how Mazey not only bring humor and love to her books she also discusses serious issues such as mental health. It’s not something that is talked about a lot so I love that she is so honest and raw about it.

Jude and Indira. What can I say? I just love them so much! I love the sassy banter. The angst. And I love that they were there for each other during their dark times. Mazey, if you’re reading this just know your an auto buy for me!

Jude and Indira have always been at each others throats over everything. They picked on each other their whole childhood but those things are changing. Indira seems to have the perfect life...that is until she walks in on her boyfriend and some other girl and a jar of peanut butter...She is destroyed. Jude on the other hand is a wreck. He is currently a doctor who has to travel to low-income, war zone areas in order to pay off his student loans. Jude is also best friends with Indira's older brother so he comes back to town for his wedding he reconnects with Indira. When Jude learns of Indira's recent mishap with her boyfriend, they decide to "fake date" to make him jealous. It works and they are spending a lot more time together than they expected and they realized it isn't all bad.

I absolutely loved this book. There were so many topics that were addressed that I flagged to go back to such as supporting someone you care about even through their trauma and not being there to fix it, but to work through it together. The topic of mental health was very prevalent in the book, but I liked how it was something that was discussed when the characters were comfortable and how Indira gave him time to open up on his own. Just so many things about this book made me smile and I really enjoyed it. It had a little bit of spice, but not too much.

I received a advanced reader copy for an honest review.

So lets just say this book surprised me . It had my favorite tropes grumpy/sunshine and enemies to lovers.

For Indira and Jude it seemed so simply be each other fake wedding date. But with all that said this was not your typical rom com.

Just shows that broken people need and are deserving of love. Then add the banter, bickering and the amazing spice.

This book is definitely not to be missed.

Mazey Eddings is now three for three on 5-star books and also making me cry 😭

Indira and Jude's story was so so so good. It took me a bit to get into it because I had so many other books going on at the same time, but once I was about 25% into it, I couldn't put it down. Their relationship and feelings for each other were so intense (partially because they'd known each other their whole lives) that it felt like I was running to catch up with them (but not in a bad way?).

I loved how supportive Indira was to Jude while he was working through all of his feelings and his hurt. She never wanted to fix him, but she was just THERE for him through everything. It was a perfect balance of her using her skills as a psychiatrist to nudge him the right direction to seek help without actually becoming his therapist.

I'm sad this is the end of this series because I've loved living in this little world that Mazey has created! I love this little friendship group and the partners they've found (and especially the emphasis on mental health in all her books!!!), but I'm also super excited to read what she writes next because I know it will be amazing 🤩

I love every second of this book.
The enemies to friends to lovers. The therapy and mental health representation. The banter. The spice. I loved it all. I am very excited for the world to see this book and experience Jude and Indira!

Mazey Eddings continues to blow me away! Her writing style is so thoughtful and witty. She is excellent at creating characters with great depth of personality that the reader really gets to know throughout the story. I thought the mental health rep in this book was extremely well done and felt so realistic. At times the book did get pretty heavy emotionally but this just helped you feel for the characters even more.

I cannot wait to read more of Mazey's books in the future.

The Plus One was my first book by Mazey Eddings, and I'm really looking forward to going back and reading the first two books in the "A Brush With Love" universe. Excellent characters. Realistic emotions. Hilarious banter. Some decent steam. I absolutely loved this book. A+!

This book had it all for me and that was it. I had to read this to see what it was all about. I was not disappointed and enjoyed the content. Enjoyed this book. I want to find more of her books.

4 ⭐️’s!

This was adorable! Absolutely delightful. I’m not a fan of third person POV, but Mazey Eddings made it seem more personable and fun. Even quirky.

I loved Indira’s character so much. She was such a spitfire. Watching her with Jude was a sweet romantic journey that I’ll want to reread.

And I can’t forget Jude! Loved the mental health representation in this and the support of therapy. Definitely will recommend this book and will be adding Lizzie Blake’s book to my TBR as well.

I read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Once I read the acknowledgements, it became clear why the tone of the book was sometimes so serious and sad. Eddings said she had been living with PTSD for a long time.
While I found the process of the two main characters coming together enjoyable, it was also very draining at times. I feel that it's where I am right now, not the writing itself that has made me feel this way. Was lovely to see the other characters from the previous books though.
3.5 stars

Mazey Eddings continues to deliver! I really loved this book too. Such a sweet and hilarious romance with tropes that will such you in and not allow you to put your book down! I love how she beautifully portrays different types of mental health issues in all of her latest books. In The Plus One, Mazey Eddings introduces us to someone dealing with PTSD and she brilliantly portrays this issue and how one (and their significant other) copes with it through her raw and emotional characters. I was really invested in this story and I was attached to every character. I can’t wait to see what she give us next.

Mazey Eddings is such an exciting voice to have as a writer. She clearly cares about her characters and the things she is writing about. I enjoy her ability to make a swoon worthy romance that also touches deeper, this time with PTSD. The couple was so sweet together and I loved that there was not any sort of crazy conflict or miscommunication. I loved how sensitive Eddings was to PTSD and mental health while also not making it the only thing about the main character because real people are multifaceted and so should the characters.

A very steamy enemies to lovers trope with forced proximity and fake dating. Some heavy topics are covered with an intro and trigger warning by the author. There were some moving and thought provoking moments that were overshadowed by the fast progression of steamy scenes and excessive use of repittion and expletives. The book is not what I consider a rom com and could have been shorter.

i loved this one. Personally, I think it's Mazey Eddings' strongest work and I was cracking up on one page then bawling my eyes out the next. I love seeing actual comedy in a rom-com

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffin and Netgalley for an ARC of this book! I’ve willingly read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.

THE PLUS ONE by Mazey Eddings is the third installment in the A Brush with Love series and, just like the novels that came before it, involves characters coping with mental health struggles while falling in love.

Mazey Eddings has absolutely crushed it with each of these books, so skillful in portraying different types of mental health issues caused by a myriad of outside (and often internal) forces that I’ve been able to find tiny pieces of myself in all of her characters, making them widely relatable to any reader.

THE PLUS ONE follows Indira, a psychiatrist, who has moved in with her brother and his fiancé after catching her boyfriend cheating on her—the boyfriend who will also be in her brother’s wedding because he is the other groom’s cousin. However, her brother’s lifelong best friend and Indira’s “nemesis,” Jude, is also staying with the couple, on leave from his job as an emergency medicine surgeon who is posted in war-torn countries where he has seen too much trauma and is struggling with his mental health while trying to hide it from his friends and family.

There were so many other things to love about THE PLUS ONE in addition to the focus on mental health: a fake dating plot that turns into much more, one tent to be shared by two people with simmering tension between them, reuniting with characters from previous books, and, perhaps the most exciting, no third act break up! And while the resolution to Jude’s work situation was definitely bittersweet, it was a good reminder that life sometimes changes in ways that are necessary and for the best.

I am in love with Mazey Eddings and her characters. This was incredible. We've got brothers best friend, childhood frienemies, one bed while camping, a halloween fiasco, an over the top wedding, family drama, forced proximity, fake dating, incredible back stories. I doesn't get any better. I thought the mental health rep in her was great and how it was handled was great. I couldn't put this down because I needed the two characters to just shut up and kiss eachother already. Their support of one another was perfection.

Childhood enemies reunite years later only to discover that there just might be something between them. Indira has a perfect life on paper: an amazing job, a boyfriend, and a car... except she’s just walked into said boyfriend hooking up with a stranger in their place and he locked up her cat? Yeah relationship over. In order to recoup, she decides to stay with her brother and his fiancee for a while... but what she doesn’t expect is to run into her childhood enemy who just happens to be back in town for her brother’s wedding. Jude is a doctor, he’s spent the last three years traveling the world to treat emergencies and humanitarian crises and made a trip back home for his best friend’s wedding... except he’s barely hiding the fact that he is most definitely not okay. Jude is cracking under the pressure of his job, he suffers from extreme PTSD, has sensory overloads, and is riddled with guilt, anxiety, and trauma. He’s not okay and the only person who seems to notice and actually see him is the one person he least expected, his best friend’s little sister, Indira. Indira and Jude can barely be in a room together without bickering and fighting... yet underneath the arguing is something more, something safe and soft. Both Jude and Indira are now living in the same space and when Jude notices that Indira’s cheating ex... who just happens to be the fiancee’s cousin is also attending the wedding with the woman he cheated on her with he offers her a bargain: they pretend to be each other’s fake dates to the wedding and in exchange Indira will help him because for some reason she’s the only thing that’s been helping him feel grounded lately. Both Indira and Jude are dealing with heavy baggages and they both know that there is something between them, but can they overcome their pains and differences to embrace the affection that started off fake but has grown to be something more between them? This was an absolute gem of a book, filled with cute rom com moments as well as angst and such heart breaking moments. I cried, I’m gonna be honest, I cried while reading this because it was just so deep and wonderful and heart wrenching. I’m gonna say it, Jude and Indira are my favorite couple from this series, and while we get cameos of the other couples and friends from the previous books, it was such an amazing read. I adored the way Jude and Indira constantly fought for each other, they fought for their love and their relationship, and it was glorious. Please add this to your tbr immediately!!!

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*