4.5.

Find the person that wades through darkness that helps pull you through! I enjoyed this book. It was my favorite in the series. It show important it is take care of mental health. It is brother’s best friend and faking dating wrapped in one.

I had so many feelings while reading this. I liked A Brush with Love a lot and absolutely adored Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake, so I had high hopes for this one. I love this group of girls and how they battle their own demons to find love. Each one has been relatable in their own way and Indira was no different. Seeing her relationship with Jude grow and how she helps him open up and be vulnerable so he could fight for himself and give their relationship a chance was beautiful. I spent so much time wanting to hug both of them and the mental health rep was so well done. This was an emotional, heartwarming, wonderfully written story with the brother's best friend, enemies to lovers, fake dating, and forced proximity tropes. Their chemistry and banter was SO good!!! Highly recommend this one, definitely read the whole set as some of the characters appear throughout! Thank you to SMP Romance and NetGalley for this ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication: April 4, 2023

Eddings has been on my radar for a while now and I'm glad I finally got to sit down with one of her books. I'm at a total loss for words! I adored this book and didn't want it to end! I loved that Eddings uses mental health as a huge component in her romance novels.

This book focused primarily on PTSD but there were a few other smaller issues addressed as well. I loved that the guy (Jude) in this story is the one who needs "saving". I feel like so often in romance books, it's usually the woman that has the problems that need to be solved.

By making Jude the one working through his mental health (as is Indira), it made the characters so much more relatable and the characters more fleshed out.

I'm so glad to say that Eddings is now an auto-buy author for me and I can't wait to sit down with her two previous books!

Book Review: The Plus One by Mazey Eddings
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
This review may contain minor spoilers.

The Plus One follows Indira and Jude, her brother's best friend, as they navigate their own messes while preparing for her brother's wedding. As each elaborate pre-wedding event adds more stress to their lives, the pair finds solace together. Their fake dating plan quickly morphs into an emotional connection, helping the other feel secure to heal in their mental health journey. This book also includes forced proximity, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, and touches on the effects of PTSD.

Similar to other books by Mazey Eddings I loved the characters and their group. I enjoyed the scenes with everyone as much as the 1 on 1s. Each side character or throw back brought something sweet, enjoyable, or funny to the book. One of my favorite scenes was Jeremy coming home early from work. Indira's actions & responses thru that interaction were so great 😂

I loved the emphasis on mental health and the varying journey each person is on. As someone who is actively working on bettering my own mental health it is great to read about. The support in this story helped me to feel less "broken" and more empowered. Many of the insights Indira shared with her therapist and with Jude apply to situations outside of those touched on in this story.

The one thing I wish there was more of was the fake dating portion. They told their close friends and family they were being a fake couple and then *boom* no longer a fake couple. I wanted a little more of the "is he doing this for the audience or did he actually want me?" scenarios. Not over the top pining, just an extra little dash would have been perfect.

I received an eARC from NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for my honest review.

This book has ALMOST everything. Two self-aware characters, with fully realized personalities and personas. Great character arc that just ties up so neatly and quickly. Loved the build up but by the time it hit that high point it became a predicable ending

Would recommend for the awareness and very well written PTSD content.

The Plus One by Mazey Eddings is the story of Indira and Jude and it’s set in the A Brush with Love world, and I loved to see the characters from the other books, but you can also read this one as a stand-alone.
 
Indira was in a lackluster relationship, and it ended rather badly. Therefore, she moves in with her brother and his fiancé who are in the middle of the preparations for their upcoming wedding. She is a psychologist and I really liked how mental health was shown in this book. Indira is a very relatable character and I loved to follow her story.
 
Jude is best friends with Indira‘s brother and he is a first aid doctor who works for a global health organization. That is something very admirable, but at the same time it’s slowly killing him inside. I really liked to see his feelings and totally felt for him. For the wedding of his best friend, he comes back to the states and gets closer to Indira.
 
Indira had a crush on Jude but didn’t want to and therefore her feelings were rather hateful towards him. But they feel so natural together and I loved how they opened up to each other. The romance is very soulful and has so much depth and I absolutely loved that.
 
Overall, The Plus One is a stunning romance with a lot of depth and characters that open up to you and to each other. 4 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

This is not your average cliche childhood arch-nemsis rom-com. I did not expect the emphasis on mental health like that. Usually authors brush on the topic. This however, is a deep dive. Very interesting to see how everything came together. The MCs are well written. The side characters did lack a bit. Also the ending did feel drawn out and the epilogue wasn’t necessary. The ending could be condensed with the same delivery.

I haven’t felt this seen within a character in awhile. This book was so raw and real and funny and cute AND spicy. I went into this basically blind and coke out of it in awe.

Indira & Jude absolutely gave me hope in true love. The love and comfort they have in each other is so unconditional and real.

The topics in this book made me feel so seen and heard. I relate to the anxiety both characters felt in a lot of moments and it brought me to tears reading feelings I have that I’ve never been able to explain. Absolutely phenomenal.

Loved this! The two main characters, Indira and Jude, felt so real. I found myself genuinely smiling at the cute moments, and sad when they were sad. Jude struggles with PTSD, and I thought it was dealt with very well.

(slight spoilers)

Finally, a contemporary romance that doesn't have a breakup at the 75% mark!

I would have given this a 5 star, but I thought the ending dragged a little. I don't think the last chapter really added anything to the overall plot or characters.

Definitely recommend!

Reviewing a book like this is challenging because inherently I liked Indira and Jude. I liked their relationship and individual struggles. I liked Mazey's writing. Where I struggle is with some of her plot choices. For example, fake dating happens, but everyone knows it's fake, except Indira's ex, and they never seem to need to fake date.

What worked for me:
• This book highlights mental health struggles, PTSD, and how therapy is an important resource to assist in healing.
• The banter, jokes, pet names
• Secondary cast of characters
• The endless wedding festivities as the backdrop
• A real look at the trauma of medical professionals (and this absolutely includes those in the military) when they are dispensed to help overseas in war-stricken areas.
• It is a super slow-burn, but once they get there, there is plenty of 🌶️ through the end.

What didn't work for me:
• I found Indira too self-aware.
• Sitting in a therapy office happens too often. Though I understand Mazey's use of it in the story, it does lean a bit preachy at times. (I did appreciate some of these scenes though.)
• I have mixed feelings when a female character punches another character in the arm/shoulder/thigh. Why? Because if it were a male character doing the punching, even in jest, we would look at it as abusive, yet somehow we overlook that when the female does the punching. 🤷🏻‍♀️
• Epilogue is completely unnecessary.

Overall, it is a good book and I would recommend starting with book #1 in the series - A Brush with Love - to fully understand the full cast of characters.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy.

I received an arc for an honest review

This was a great read. It was much more emotional and gut wrenching than I anticipated. This book handles the topics of PTSD in a way that is compelling and thoughtful. I really enjoyed the romance, the tension and build up was amazing. I definitely recommend giving this a read if you are in a stable head space.

Thank you Netgallery and St Martins Press for this ARC.
4/5 stars!
This books tropes are only one bed, fake dating and so much more!!!

The plot was amazing and the spice wow was soooo good!

I didn’t know it was part of a series but could’ve been read as a stand alone!!

Overall a fantastic read. I can't wait to read more from this author and the others books previously to this one.

Mazey Eddings books are sweet and spicy crack and the tropes in this book alone are god tier: childhood rivals, fake dating, only one bed, older brother's best friend, etc. If there's one thing I know about her books, is that I'm going to be laughing, blushing, and crying within the span of a few chapters. I love that Indira finally got her own story and I think this book might be Eddings' best yet.

This is the first book I've read by Mazey Eddings, and it definitely won't be the last.

Indira thought she had her life together until she found her boyfriend cheating. And now she will have to endure her ex through her brother's drawn-out wedding festivities.

Jude's life is anything but together. For the last three years, he's been working as a doctor dealing with humanitarian crises around the world. And now he's coming home for his best friend's wedding, but adjusting has been difficult.

Indira and Jude hate each other, but they might just be what the other one needs to make it through the never-ending festivities.

I really enjoyed Jude and Indira's dynamics. I loved their banter, it is roasting that can only come from growing up together, and it makes their relationship so light among the heaviness of their trauma and mental health. There were also so many sweet childhood moments that they had held on to that made their relationship feel meant to be. Holding on to notes from 20 years ago!! I was obsessed!! Jude was so thoughtful and endearing. Indira is a shit-disturber like any good sister, and it was hilarious. Overall, I had a lot of fun reading this.

Even though the themes the characters were dealing with were heavy, their relationship made it easy to read. The author handled the characters' mental health and trauma in a way that was raw and real but also delicate and didn't make me feel like I needed to take breaks.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

2.5 stars / 3 spicy stars

Enemies turned fake dating turned lovers. I had such high hopes for this book, but unfortunately I was disappointed with this one.

Indira gets dumped and cheated by her boyfriend so she moves in with her brother and his fiancé right before their wedding. Little does she know her childhood friend/enemy is also staying with her brother. Jude and Indira are forced to spend time together, and the two of them come up with a fake dating plot for Indira’s brother’s wedding. They will fake date so 1) Indira doesn’t have to worry about her cheating ex 2) So Jude has an excuse to not be super social . Of course the fake dating starts to turn into something real, but, will Indira and Jude’s personal struggles get in the way of their HEA?

Let's start with the things I did enjoy.
- I liked the plot and the premise of the book
- The spicy scenes were PHENOMENAL
- Getting to see cameos from all the other couples in the books was SO fun

Now onto the things I did not like.
- I could not connect with the characters?
- I could care less about the characters
- I disliked Indirias family and thought she deserved WAY better.

A lot of the things I did enjoy were overpowered by the things I did not like unfortunately. I do think that this will be loved by a lot of people, and I wish that I was one of them, but it was not for me.

Thank you SO. much NetGalley and St.Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Of all of the books the A Brush with Love series, this is the one that worked best for me. I liked both Indira and Jude and felt their connection. Both of the enemies-to-lovers and brother's-best-friend tropes were well done. I appreciated the depiction of Indira in her therapy sessions. I liked how supportive Indira was of Jude. I struggled a bit with Jude's backstory of working in low/middle income countries. I think the complexities of a white person from the US working in non-white, low/middle income countries should have been explored more. Still, I was really engaged with this book and look forward to what Mazey writes next.

Such a cute idea, but sloppy writing. I feel like the male perspective wasn’t as strong as it could have been. I liked the incorporation of PTSD, but it just wasn’t strong.

Mazey Eddings does a wonderful job building characters who you love and root for. I did miss the tension that normally accompanies a third act breakup, and I wished Indira's background played more of a role in her relationship. Indira and Jude's relationship felt surprisingly easy once they got together despite years of not being around each other and I expected more problems to overcome within the relationship. Overall, I think this book is a great option for somebody who's looking for a great book with limited tension.

Mazey Eddings, I owe you my firstborn and my life. This was one of the best romance books I've ever read & I'll die on this hill. I have to admit, I did not know this was a part of MECU until I started reading it, and it's MY FAULT. Because now I will be going back & reading the other 2 books.

I loved this so much that I have no idea where to start this review. This was magic. The book touches on topics such as:
✨Childhood enemies-to-lovers
✨Importance of mental health
✨Family bonds
✨Children of a single parent
✨Therapy! Does! Not! Make! You! Weak!
✨PTSD

Our main characters, Indira and Jude have known each other for years and years and have always had an "I hate you" relationship. And now, right before Collin's (Indira's brother) wedding, their paths cross again. And since Indira's relationship just got destroyed by her cheating ex-boyfriend, she now has to walk down the aisle with Jude.

There's no miscommunication trope. I repeat. There's no miscommunication trope. I despised that trope with my whole heart and was SO glad this story didn't have that. Instead, you get Indira, one of the best FMC I have ever read about. She's not only funny and sassy, she's also gentle and kind. She's understanding and caring. That makes her a great psychiatrist because she sees the struggles of others and is able to articulate what she thinks well.

And you get Jude, who is a doctor who has seen the worst of humanity. And he has to go back to finish his contract. But he suffers greatly from PTSD and finds solace in his enemy, Indira. Who gets him, who sees right through him & who wants to help him as long as he lets her.

Their relationship blossoms as the wedding (and departure date for Jude) approaches. They face hardships but their willingness to open up, talk issues out and listen to each other pays off and strengthens their bond. I really loved how much they communicated - about what they love, their concerns, pains, and more.

We also get to see the way Indira deals with her cheating ex, how she has to work through her issues with a therapist and that focusing on yourself is not selfish. Collin and Indira are also dealing with their father abandoning them at a young age and their different ways of coping.

This is a beautiful and FUN story about love and loss and growth and how important it is to get help even if you feel like you don't deserve but. Because you deserve it, you deserve to be happy and healed. You are not your trauma.

5/5

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Harper. I adored Lizzie. But, Indira? At a loss for words. Mazey Eddings has hit her stride - this book is a triumph of love and reality and messy feelings and one I will/would read again and again.