This is Mazey Eddings best book so far! This book was funny, spicy, and most importantly it addresses mental health issues that many other rom-coms don't. Reading this book felt like getting a warm hug but for your brain. Jude and Indira's chemistry was off the charts and I loved all of the banter that they had. Both of the leads had great character development and I love getting cameo's from Mazey's previous books. I can't wait to read whatever Mazey Eddings releases next!
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

After absolutely loving A Brush with Love & Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake by Mazey Eddings, I adored this book within 24 hours.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE AUTHOR, PUBLISHER & NETGALLEY FOR THE ARC❤️

This book is sooooo beautifully written😍💕💖✨️💫
It has Childhood Enemies-to-lovers, brother’s best friend, Only one tent + other forced proximity shenanigans trope.

We get to see New wonderful side characters & also Cameos from our old beloved side characters as well💗

The book is laugh out loud funny while also dealing with serious topics like anxiety, depression, PTSD, mental illness/health, and therapy.

THE PLUS ONE COMES OUT 04 Apr 2023!

This book was cute! I enjoyed Indira and Jude’s banter a lot! They were definitely an interesting pairing! They had a cute dynamic. There was points in the book that I felt dragged but overall it was a decent book!

Such a fun read! A delightful and sweepingly romantic story. I adored this funny,intelligent, creative and witty rom com.

Mazey’s books always take me some time to get to them. Maybe it’s because of how they are written and that I am not fluent when reading in third person (if that’s a thing). But even with that, I will read anything that says “Written by Mazey Eddings”. She knows how to write and describe everything so well. In this book, it got to me how much I felt the characters PTSD and anxiety. I laughed, cried, and fell in love. This has become a personal fave, including her two previous books. I am honored to have received this eARC.

Now on to the details…
Brother’s best friend
Dual POV (third person)
PTSD
Wedding
Fake dating
Childhood frenemies
Mental Health Rep

I have to say that this book was full of emotions and was very sentimental. Never underestimating trigger warnings with Mazey’s books. I always feel them too deeply.

MAZEY EDDINGS IS ONE OF THEEEE BEST ROMANCE AUTHORS OF THE YEAR!

I loved her first book in the series, A Brush With Love, and Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake was even better. I was SO excited to read the final book in this companion series, The Plus One. We follow Indira and her brother's best-man /childhood friend, Jude. This book is so wholesome but also steamy in the way only Mazey Eddings can pull off! Wedding vibes (Indira's brother is getting married), brother's best friend, fake dating, male pining (aka all the best tropes) with appearances from all our favorite characters from the other two books. I can't recommend this book enough!

Definitely would recommend. Quick cute read with lots of chemistry. Similar to The Love Hypothesis.

I would give this book a 4/5 stars. I read it in one day. The chemistry between Indirà and Jude was definitely there. I love the banter they had throughout the book. Jude is just adorable as well. He’s shy and reserved and she gets him to open up and finally express his feelings. It’s almost like a sub-trope of grumpy x sunshine. Some of the tropes in this book are:

- fake dating
- childhood enemies to lovers
- brothers best friend

This book is part of a series but it can be read as a standalone.

When Indira walks in on her boyfriend in a compromising situation, she moves to her brothers house and finds his bestfriend. Indira and Jude have never really gotten along, until now. Indira’s brother is getting married and her ex is going to be at the wedding. So when Jude suggests that he be Indira’s fake boyfriend p, she says yes. But what happens when things don’t feel fake anymore? Read The Plus One and find out.

(Thank you NetGalley for the ARC)

Following in the big footsteps of A Brush With Love and Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake, The Plus One proved to be a worthy conclusion to one of the best series I read this year, solidifying Mazey Eddings as one of my favorite authors!

In The Plus One, Indira finds herself an unlikely ally in Jude, her older brother’s best friend. In order to get back at her cheating ex-boyfriend, Jude and Indira plan to fake a relationship in the months before her brother’s wedding. Though they have known each other since childhood, they’ve never been particular fond of each other, making this master plan of theirs a bit trickier than expected.

Similar to her handling of Harper’s anxiety and Lizzie’s ADHD, I was impressed by the way Eddings tackled such heavy topics in this book. In particular, Jude’s struggles with trauma and guilt. Those feelings felt so intense and raw to me as the reader. To witness the journey he made back to himself, back to a place of healing and acceptance was wonderful.

Truthfully, I was never to say goodbye to this world and these characters that I have loved so much, but this farewell was perfect. I loved Indira and Jude’s growth and connection so much and can’t wait to see what Mazey gifts us with next!

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Mazey Eddings for this eARC in exchange for a honest review.

Frenemies to lovers
Brothers Best Friend
Only One Tent
Fake Dating
Light Grumpy Sunshine Vibes
PTSD
Childhood Abandonment

Jude and Indira go through a beautiful journey of healing in this book. It’s dealt with in a touching way that still holds true to the lightness and playfulness of these characters. Their love story is one of my favorites I’ve read this year. This book is funny with smart characters, fun banter, and an arc I am absolutely here for.

Masterfully done. I felt it all.

Mazey Eddings does it again! If you like fun romantic comedies especially with a wedding backdrop then this novel is for you. The romance is fun and Eddings as always brings to life fun and enjoyable characters with her writing. This is one book you will not wanna miss out on.

This book had its moments but there were some things that I just couldn’t look past which overall made this disappointing for me. Something that frustrates me is when the reasons for a specific characters actions/behaviour are kept a secret for so long or are not properly explained until the end, which was the case with Jude in this book. When the reason for Jude’s ptsd was brought up, I honestly found it a little hard to sympathize with him. (Kind of a side note, but what also unsettled me is that this author has said she wouldn’t be writing a book about thu and alex because of the racial backgrounds of those characters, but she wrote this storyline for Jude. I don’t know, but that didn’t really sit right with me.) As for the actual romance between Jude and Indira, they definitely had some sweet and vulnerable moments with each other which were nice to read about but something was lacking in their development. I didn’t feel that they knew each other as well as they said they did. I did appreciate that there wasn’t the typical third act break up and that Indira seemed to always handle things with Aude with emotional maturity, and they were supportive of each others’ healing journeys. as with each book in this series, no matter how I felt about it otherwise, I thought the mental health aspect was done (mostly) well and there were some things that really resonated with me. Because of that, I’ll be looking out for Mazey Eddings’s future books.

thank you to Netgalley/St. Martin’s Press for the arc!

Fake dating??? One bed??? Older brothers best friend??? Amazing!!

CW: PTSD, anxiety, abandonment, loss of a medical patient, humanitarian crisis

I was expecting this to be more cozy than I was however I really, really loved reading it. There’s no shortage of cute and sweet moments, of scenes that make you laugh and one’s that make you feel something. And the spice 🔥🔥

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. What a soft book. It felt like a love story to therapy and personal healing…Jude and Indira’s love felt inevitable and almost secondary to that. I loved their history and foundation, it made the fact that the love story didn’t feel central work. They had a history and could help each heal from their hurts without it seeming like they were trying to save each other (mainly Indira). If they had just met it would have felt like she was giving too much of herself when he was pushing her away.

I adored Jude. He was vulnerable but also hot as hell. And I liked their love. It was solid.

Despite the heavier topic of ptsd, I didn’t emotionally connect and feel my feelings in this book which kept it from being five stars. Maybe because the relationship was secondary and there wasn’t higher angst involved with it which I tend to enjoy as a reader.

Okay, I'm sorry, but this was just not good.

I've been seeing a lot of love for Mazey Eddings going around and a wedding-themed fake dating story seemed as good a time as any for me to see what all the fuss was about.

Spoiler: I still don't know.

I feel bad for saying this because The Plus One was apparently a very personal hard-to-write story for Eddings who explained at the end that she also struggled with PTSD. She obviously went into it with Intentions™ of making this meaningful book, and mental health was a big focus of the book. Unfortunately, wasn't done very well.

My biggest issue with The Plus One was the complete lack of a plot. The "elaborate (and ridiculously drawn out) wedding event" only popped up when convenient, the frequent run-ins with the ex and his new girlfriend seemed like a non-issue, and the fake dating was only relevant for like a handful of chapters. There was no story, no character development. Instead, there was a whole lot of sex. Like chapters upon chapters of it. If, like me, you're the type of reader who likes to skip the sex, you'll shave a good half hour off your reading time.

I honestly couldn't connect with either of the characters or the story as a whole. The third-person narrative certainly didn't help things. I'm normally a huge fan of third-person POV, but this is one of the few cases where I think a story would've been better served with a first-person narrative. Both Indira and Jude have their own emotional baggage they're lugging around but the narration choice put an unnecessary distance between the reader and the characters. It also didn't help that the writing was a bit stilted and awkward. The other issue was that neither Indria nor Jude were particularly developed as characters. I'm not sure well readers have gotten to know Indria from the other Brush with Love books (judging from the many appearances by Lizzie Blake and what's-her-name from the first book, I'm guessing she's fairly well-known to fans of the series,) but as a newbie to Mazey Eddings, I finished the book confused as to who Indria was. Cynical? Snarky? Caring? She was all of the above at different points in the story, but there was never any consistency. The one thing I do know is that she's got some abandonment issues thanks to her parents' divorce, but that's about it. Jude, on the other hand, seemed to be solely defined by his trauma. (and his lust for Indria, but more on that later.) There really was nothing particularly special about him other than the fact that he was the (allegedly) broody, broken love interest.

Now let's talk about the romance. It was...not there. We're told that Indria and Jude are childhood enemies who hate each other for no real reason, which was fine until we kept getting random sweet memories that seemed to contradict the fact. As adults, they "hate" each other which pretty much meant they insulted each other and told us how much the other person got on their nerves. I just wasn't convinced. Eddings seemed to play with the idea that they cared about the other person even while they were growing up but wasn't really willing to fully commit to it, so we ended up with this weird relationship that wasn't very consistent. In terms of the actual romance, it was a case of insta-lust at its finest. After a pretty early "opps I saw you naked" scene and a few "we need to engage in PDA for Fake Dating Reasons" moments, the two started getting physical and then told us they were falling in love with each other. The only interaction we saw between the two leading up to these epiphanies were literally either verbal sparring or some PG13 action, so you'll understand why I was skeptical this was True Love at its finest.

For the mental health parts of the book, all I can say is that Eddings really, really tried. Both Jude and Indira's struggles were mentioned a lot throughout the story but just kind of fell flat. There wasn't much of an emotional connection to the scenes when they grappled with their pasts, and the therapy sessions seemed more like excuses for Eddings to stand up on her soapbox rather than engage her readers in any meaningful way.

Judging from the fact that yours truly is the only one star review so far, Mazey Eddings did something right. Unfortunately, this just didn't work for me. Try as I might, it's hard for me to think of any major bright spots in The Plus One. The banter was fine but certainly not worth the hours I spent reading the book. And while I certainly appreciate Mazey Eddings' intent in writing a book that tackles some heavy issues related to mental illness, the storytelling-or lack of-didn't do her any favors. I appreciated the Taylor Swift reference, though?

I received an eARC from St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes what you've been looking for the whole time is the most annoyingly frustrating human being you've ever met. And sure, he might be a little cute too. Indira has been anything but lucky in love and coasting along has not done her any favours. Follow her as she rediscovers herself and becomes more than just the kid sister.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I will begin by saying that I have not read the previous two novels, so this was my first by the author.
The story was fun, and included many bickering moments between the two main characters. A usual enemy to lovers trope with a touch of fake dating and a lot of spice.
I do feel like it began to drag in the middle, and then wrapped up quickly.
The novel includes a strong mental health story line, and I felt the author portrayed it in a realistic manner.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and I’d recommend for an easy weekend read.

Mazey Eddings makes you fall in love with each character, couple, and crotchety cat.

The Plus One is another visceral look into self and life and love and mental health and family and friend-family. Eddings writes romance, sure, but she never leaves out laughable, struggle ridden, messy real life. Sometimes its an inappropriate use of peanut butter kind of messy. (Read and find out how 😏)

You can read The Plus One as a standalone, but be prepared to want to stock up on all the rest of Mazey's works.

Highlights:
frenemies to lovers
dual pov
grumpy + sunshine
spicey
fake dating

Favourite quote: “The sun rose in the East and set in the West. Indira annoyed Jude. Jude annoyed her back.”

About the book:
Indira and Jude have known each other since childhood. Jude is best friends with Indira’s brother but they always have had a love-hate relationship. Indira has her life together, successful career as a psychiatrist, boyfriend and car but when her boyfriend cheats on her, everything starts to fall apart. Jude is a Dr overseas dealing with emergency situations every day. He is back in town to celebrate Indira’s brother’s wedding but unfortunately he is having a hard time adjusting. What happens when these childhood enemies find the only thing they can rely on is each other?

WOW! This book. It is sweet, emotional, funny and portrays mental health in such a realistic way. I immediately fell in love with Indira and related with her in more ways than one. Mazey does such an amazing job with the way she writes her characters and the connections that she is able to form between them. This book is the third in a series but each one can be read on their own. I had not read either of the first two and I didn’t feel confused or lost at all. I was super impressed with how realistic she wrote about mental health. Mazey normalized it in a way it should be and gave the reader a practical insider view. Not gonna lie, I have a crush on Jude and I just wanted to reach out and hug him on multiple occasions while reading this book. Both characters are completely vulnerable in this book but they end up relying on each other and it's beautiful what comes together.

Great rom com covering the very serious topic of mental health and PTSD. Childhood frenemies are reunited by an upcoming family wedding, but both of them have emotional trauma that connects them through their empathy and understanding. The fun characters balance out the weighty issues being dealt with.

Maizey Eddings writes very thoughtful novels that fictionally address psychological issues that plague ordinary people. In The Plus One the issue is PTSD and the doctor who suffers from it. Jude works for an organization that sends doctors to disaster areas to service the wounded. He was ill prepared for the horrors and losses of his stint. Indira is a long time frenemy of Jude. They form an uneasy pact for him to be her plus one at her brother’s wedding. The turns and twists of their relationship are beautiful and hard, each somehow muddling through it all.
An excellent, excellent novel.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.