Review by Booklist Review
Eddings' romances, including Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake (2022), are refreshingly unique while each is distinctly different; all address serious issues in a hilarious and rewardingly steamy way. Her latest is the most serious yet, with characters coping with mental health issues that include PTSD, but Eddings manages to weave a funny and heartfelt romance around this somber topic. Indira and Jude are like oil and water, and have been since childhood. Jude just happens to be the best friend of Indira's brother, Collin, and therefore has been a constant presence. Until he left to become a traveling doctor treating victims of disasters and crises. When he returns home after years away for a brief reprieve to attend Collin's wedding, he is close to crumbling. Indira battles her own demons in the form of abandonment issues; ever since her dad left, she's tiptoed through relationships and never really committed. When Jude and Indira are thrown together during the wedding preparations, they are surprised to find solace in each other's company and their passion slowly kindles toward a satisfying end.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Eddings (Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake) delivers a heartwarming enemies-to-friends-to-lovers romance between psychiatrist Indira and her brother's best friend. After Indira's boyfriend cheats on her, she takes up temporary residence with big bro Collin and his husband-to-be, Jeremy (her ex-boyfriend's cousin), not knowing that her childhood nemesis, Jude, Collin's bff, is also staying there for five weeks before the wedding, having taken an extended leave from his job as a surgeon with an NGO that operates in conflict zones. As their lifelong playful bickering resumes, both recognize a forbidden attraction to someone they consider off-limits--and realize that the other is in desperate need of emotional support. Indira, who is in therapy to work through abandonment issues, spots the signs of Jude's post-traumatic-stress symptoms from losing patients, while Jude sees Indira's discomfort around her ex at pre-wedding events, and suggests they pretend to be dating for the duration of the wedding. It's a fun combination of tropes, and, as their mutual trust grows, they eventually indulge their attraction in scenes both steamy and humorous. Readers will root for Eddings's wounded protagonists to find love and healing. (Apr.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Indira Papadakis seemingly has everything together--until she catches her boyfriend cheating on her, shortly before her brother's wedding. After that, the last thing she needs is her childhood adversary, Jude Bailey, crashing at her place, even if it is only temporary. Jude is also not happy, but Indira's brother is his best friend. He won't miss out on his wedding and needs a place to stay. As the new roommates settle in, they learn, despite their constant bickering and awkward attempts to make conversation as adults, that they have more in common than they thought. With Jude struggling with PTSD and Indira anxious about encounters with her ex, they strike a deal to be each other's fake date to the wedding. But then their fake displays of affection start to feel real, and they realize they might just have a chance at a beautiful relationship as they also work through their mental health struggles and trauma. Jude's PTSD, formed through his medical profession, and Indira's experience of parental abandonment and anxiety challenge their relationship throughout the story. VERDICT This is a must-read for fans of Eddings (Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake), filled with moments of comedic relief and steamy, intimate scenes.--Michelle Mistalski
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Childhood frenemies find that they have a lot in common when they reconnect as doctors trying hard to heal themselves. Indira Papadakis, a psychiatrist, rushes to her brother Collin's Philadelphia home after she catches her live-in boyfriend cheating on her. All she's hoping for is a comfortable couch until she can get her life back in order. Instead, she encounters Jude, Collin's best friend and her childhood nemesis. A doctor who's spent the last three years in conflict zones torn apart by humanitarian crises, Jude has taken a short break to attend Collin's upcoming wedding. Reeling from unprocessed trauma that he's concealing from his friends and family, Jude is already on edge before Indira walks back into his life. While he has always been wary of her perceptiveness, he is even more unnerved by the psychiatrist's capacity to see past his defenses. After a few conversations, the duo realizes that they will both be able to weather the endless events in the run-up to Collin's wedding with greater ease if they pretend to be a couple. But pretenses collapse quickly when the warm comfort of shared memories sparks an attraction that both find hard to ignore. Eddings dwells on Jude's and Indira's struggles with mental health with a vivid attention to detail. Consequently, the evolution of their relationship from enemies to lovers roughly parallels the individual paths they take from pain to recovery. Indira and Jude are easy to root for: Not only is there undeniable heat between them, but they each demonstrate a lovely willingness to work on themselves as they try to reach for lasting love. But the focus on pain and healing leaves several scenes sounding like a well-intentioned wellness manual. An uplifting and honest portrayal of the healing potential of companionship. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
