The Plus One | ARC Review

Some facts are indisputable. The sun rises in the east, sets in the west. Gravity exits. Indira doesn’t like Jude. Jude doesn’t like Indira. But what happens when these childhood enemies find the only thing they can rely on is each other?

On paper, Indira has everything together. An amazing job, a boyfriend, and a car. What more could a late twenty-something ask for? But when she walks in on her boyfriend in an amorous embrace with a stranger, that perfect on paper image goes up in flames.

Jude has nothing together. A doctor that’s spent the last three years traveling the world to treat emergencies and humanitarian crises, a quick trip home for his best friend’s wedding has him struggling to readjust.

Thrust into an elaborate (and ridiculously drawn out) wedding event that’s stressing Jude beyond belief and has Indira seeing her ex and his new girlfriend far more frequently than any human should endure, the duo strike a bargain to be each other’s fake dates to this wedding from hell. The only problem is, their forced proximity and fake displays of affection are starting to feel a bit… real, and both are left grappling with the idea that a situation that couldn’t be worse, is made a little better with the other around.

Was this book actually a love letter to therapy? Definitley be sure to read content/trigger warnings before picking up this book, but also know it’s handled very well.

A few fun tropes were represented here, including but not limited to: brother’s best friend, fake dating, wedding things (which is not technically a trope, but I still count it).

As I briefly mentioned, this book talks a lot about healing and therapy. It’s really beautiful and clearly took a lot of thought from Eddings to write something so powerful. I applaud her for her research and vulnerability and delicateness in discussing such difficult topics. Honestly, this book might be worth the read just for the beautiful healing discussions.

On a negative note, the plot was going well and then all of a sudden we get to the wedding and things go off track. For one, the wedding, what I expected to be the culmination of the whole book, was one little bitty chapter with almost no details. Kinda disappointing. Two, the plot didn’t actually go off track, but the focus felt like it shifted. Suddenly, the whole book became about Indira and Jude and healing and figuring out their futures together. Like, that makes sense, but it was a jarring change from where the book had been headed just before that point.

Overall, an enjoyable book, but it’s kinda making me not want to read the previous two. Not that I think they’ll be bad, but I think they’ll be mediocre. We’ll see if I end up reading them.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a gifted and advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating

To check out my other reviews, click here. Or to check out more books by Mazey Eddings, go to her Goodreads profile or her website.