The Plus One by Mazey Eddings on April 4, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Fiction / Women
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
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This is an enemies to lovers trope. This one also touches on mental health issues. I’m still not sure how I feel about this one. It felt very YA, except it had too many open door scenes to be a YA book. It just felt a bit immature and like it was written but someone who has read a ton of romance but maybe not been in a very serious adult relationship.
It starts out with Indira and Jude hating each other. Indira has a good job and a boyfriend. Except, she walks in on her perfect boyfriend with another girl and a jar of peanut butter! Yuck!! So she is suffering some damage from being left by her father when she was younger. I thought I would be able to relate to her, but I just couldn’t. The author tried to paint her as all together. Then the next minute she is falling about about her daddy issues.
Then there is Jude, a dorky yet cute surgeon. He travels to war-torn countries to help other people. He seems like he should be the package. Only he is crying in between every sex scene! (WTF!!) I feel like the author made him too much a wimp. I wanted to like him. I felt sorry for him though. Mental Health issues are no joke so I’m glad the author brought them to light but it was done in such a disjointed way.
Anyway, they both come together for Indira’s brother’s wedding. Collin and Jude are best friends. So that makes the getting together of Indira and Jude funny. Indira felt weird about getting together with her brother’s best friend. I did like the Collin and Jeremy parts.
I feel like this was a good premise just poorly executed. I could have liked Jude if he wasn’t crying all the time. And I did like Indira a little. She was always trying to help. But as a mental health professional herself, I feel like her letting Jude cry on her then jumping in bed with him was just odd. Lots of good open door scenes in this one though! Five pickles for the mattress mambo scenes! Two stars for the odd character interaction. I think I will round this to a 3 star.