The Plus One List

Author: Amy Ewing Title: The Plus One List Publisher: Alcove Press Date Published: 10/20/2026

Read Dates: 09/17/2026- 09/18/2026
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 📖 I received a gifted e-book ARC. The following is my honest review✍🏻

The Plus One List is a dual POV fake dating(ish) romance. Eloise manages her severe anxiety by keeping her circle small and her life routine- she has her best friend Rachel and her rescue dogs and doesn’t need anyone else. Except, apparently, a plus one for Rachel’s extravagant wedding. Journalist Augustín is working on a story that means a lot to him, but can’t get it published without an interview with a hard to pin down source. He knows his interviewee will be a guest at a high profile wedding, and manages to get himself added to the Plus One list as a potential date for any guests looking. Eloise and Augustín connect and, while she’s determined to keep their arrangement as transactional as possible, he finds a way to get through her anxiety and help brighten her world, broadening her small circle.

This was such a sweet story. I thought that Eloise’s severe anxiety was well represented and I adored The Pack, her group of senior rescue dogs who all needed some extra love and care. I loved that Augustín took the time to find out how to best help her without being pushy or delivering well intentioned but useless platitudes. I really enjoyed the found family aspect as Eloise allowed her world to open up a bit. All in all a really well done story!

Eloise, who struggles with anxiety, strongly prefers the company of her senior rescue dogs to people. But when her best friend announces she’s getting married in Mexico City and every guest must have a date, the pressure is on. Using an exclusive “plus-one list,” Eloise winds up with Agustín, a charming journalist and immigrant who recently moved to New York City from Mexico.

Agustín is on a mission to write the article of his career, but to do that, he’ll need to snag an interview with a man who’s proven impossible to track down. His only chance is to catch the source unaware at the upcoming “wedding of the century.” At first, being Eloise’s plus-one seems like the perfect solution, a purely transactional arrangement. Eloise is not looking for romance, and Agustín sees no need to tell her about his true motives for coming to the wedding.

As they play tourists in Agustín’s hometown, sampling smoky cocktails and delicious street food and meeting his family, Eloise slowly comes out of her shell. Suddenly, her blossoming trust in Agustín starts to grow into something deeper. But if Agustín wants to keep that trust, he’ll need to come clean—before their fragile connection is broken forever.

The Plus-One List is a deeply vulnerable and intimate romance novel that will make readers long for a dazzlingly romantic summer vacation.