Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book. A Brush with Love was so heart-wrenching but also so heart-warming at the same time. Eddings does a fantastic job at showing what it looks and feels like to live with such debilitating anxiety and the steps we must take to merely live with it, but take steps to move past it and not let it define us. Dan and Harper share many of the same tense sense of loss when it comes to grappling with their futures, but together they are able to find a way through it. They take charge of their lives in similar but different ways and I loved reading about their journey to finding love and the place where they belonged was. I truly felt for these characters and I'm excited to see what Eddings puts out next (Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake, I'm looking at you).

“I cling to routine and order and perfection, because I think I can control those things. If I can control my life, things can’t hurt me.”

Harper and Dan are at opposite ends of their dental school career. Harper is set to graduate top of her class, while Dan is just getting started...and hating every second of it. With a chance meeting, the pair strike up a friendship, because friends is all Harper can handle at this point in her life. But soon she realizes that some sparks are worth taking a chance on, even if she can't control the outcome.

A Brush With Love was a beautiful book. One of the things I love about romance is the ability to explore tough topics within the safe confines of a guaranteed happily ever after. Grief, familial duty and mental health are all at the forefront of the book. As always, I appreciated the author's note that sets the tone for the book. Anxiety and panic attacks are treated with care, yet honesty. The last 30% of the book blew me away with how relatable Harper's struggles were.

Harper is such a likeable character. She has an intoxicating sense of passion for dentistry and fulfilling her life goals. However, with that intensity and intellect, comes self doubt. Harper does her best to hide her grief and mental health underneath the surface. She finds support in Dan, who has an instant attraction to Harper. Dan is carrying burdens of his own, but is holding out for Harper to realize that he's been right under her nose the entire time. I loved how patient he was with Harper, yet he managed to push her out of her comfort zone with frank conversations. The pair was so awkward and cute together and I was laughing hysterically at the sexual innuendos with dental supplies. I'm never going to look at the dentist the same again!

Overall, I really enjoyed A Brush With Love. It was a friends to lovers, slow burn romance. While I liked the romance piece of it, I loved the mental health rep aspect of it. It was a great debut!

I struggled with this one. The concept was cute, but I don't know that the execution was all there. I didn't have a connection to Harper or to Dan, and felt that the bulk of their problems were a conscious choice to not face their problems and I found that a bit frustrating. I was most excited for this one because of the anxiety representation, but the way anxiety was presented in the beginning didn't even remotely reflect my own anxiety. In fact, Harper came off as more "socially awkward" than anxious and that turned me off pretty quickly. Her anxiety towards the end was the same kind of actual crippling anxiety that I face, but by that time, my trust was already lost and my interest was minimal.
I really wanted to like this one, I might even check out a sequel book, but this one was a miss for me.

A big thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for granting me an advanced copy of "A Brush With Love" by Mazey Eddings in exchange for an honest review!

Honestly, I felt more disappointed than thrilled with my overall reading experience with A BRUSH WITH LOVE. As much as Daniel and Harper's relationship is adorable by the end of the novel, it starts off as a very physical attraction that is touted as also being emotional despite there being no discussions/situations to back it up. That is not a terrible plot, as long as it doesn't masquerade as being "true love" when really, it is just that you are both mega-attracted to each other.

Very cute read! I really enjoyed the characters. My favorite part was the kisses in the snow. I also really enjoyed how Eddings depicted Harper's anxiety. It was very realistic, and I really liked that. However, I was a little confused based on the cover. It didn't really fit with the book. As I was reading, I kept an eye out for toothpaste, or something that would relate to the cover, but I didn't really find anything.

This book was simply just not for me. I find romance cringy very easily and sadly this hit that mark. Dan's point of view was hard to get through, so I'm not finishing it. The audiobook solidified my opinion that this just isn't the right book for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this e-arc.

A charming romcom with important and relatable anxiety rep-- what more could I ask for from contemporary romance?!

This story stole my heart like no other book has! I follow Mazey Eddings on IG and she is the most genuinely adorable and humble person... when she very clearly should be CALLING ALL THE SHOTS.

Every character was endearing and relatable and the hero and heroine have such a gentle chemistry that roared with fire at just the right times. It was the sweetest slow burn I've every encountered in a romance novel, and I squealed out loud each time they progressed a little further in their relationship. To be fair, I also cursed out loud each time they took a step back.

The banter is hilarious, and the girl-talk makes me wish I could hang out with this friend group. Eddings' portrayal of anxiety is REAL-not in a triggering way, but in a way that makes you say "ohh, that's exactly how it feels..." and with that REALNESS we see how much mental health affects our relationships.

LOVED:
* Swoony hero... confidence but you also want to squish his cheeks and boop his nose
* Unique setting... even though I have dentophobia, it was a unique world to "visit"
* The push and pull... delicious tension!
* Judy, duh.
* He makes sure she's fed-dies of swoons
* Brazilian waxing
* This quote: "As Dan sauntered toward the table with drinks--because of course he sauntered, heaven forbid he walk like a normal human instead of each step being adjacent to soft-core porn."

I have been putting off this review for 2 months, because I have THE most conflicting feelings about it and I didn't want to have to put it in to words, lol. BUT HERE WE ARE.

Let me just start with the fact that for the first 45% of this book I was truly ALL IN. The UST! The banter! The just overall cuteness! I was truly obsessed, I was telling other people how amazing it was and to absolutely read it. And then at around 50% (I can't believe I'm saying this) I got tired of it all. I love a slow burn, but at about half way through it just became a slog- it didn't feel like there was any progression and the start stop start stop of it all just kind of became exhausting. This lasted until about 70%, and imo, that's just too long. Too, too long.

When the progression of the relationship and story finally started (at 70%), I really disliked how it played out and how Harper and Dan treated themselves and others. Harper told Dan multiple times how she handles things and what she needs and then he completely ignored it for what he wanted and then was upset at her reaction (when she told him that's how she would react...). Granted, Harper also ignored what she needed, but don't we all. Harper's friends were great and I honestly don't know why they put up with her. Within the context of the book, we have no evidence that Harper is a good friend. She constantly puts up fights, doesn't want to hang out with them or go where they want to go, and keeps tons of secrets from them which just makes her seem combative. I know most of that stemmed from her anxiety, but when she won't let them in on it, it just seemed like she was being a sucky person. I would have loved some kind of background of their initial bonding or relationships to show why they were willing to put up with all the BS. There were a few other things I took issue with, but I feel like you can get a general idea of my issues by what I've already said, haha.

Overall, I loved the first half but was disappointed with how it played out. I can tell from Eddings' writing and the initial feel of the book that there's a lot of talent in her, I just think needs to be honed and tightened up a bit.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was so excited to read A Brush with Love since I love romcoms and dental hygiene. I’m one of those few people who genuinely love to floss and look forward to the day when I get to switch my toothbrush heads for a new one! This was such a sweet book.

Harper and Dan meet while they are both in dental school. Harper is nearing the end, and Dan is just starting after changing careers. They suddenly start spending a lot of time together and they definitely have an attraction to each other, but they decide to stay friends. Obviously, they get past this and it’s very cute how they finally get together.

Harper is A LOT to handle and Dan does a wonderful job with it. I think this is because his mom is also a lot. She is struggling after the death of her husband and is relying on Dan a little too much. Harper and Dan have instalove which I don’t always find genuine, but it did seem pretty real in this situation. The book itself had tons of dental puns which I’m here for and I loved learning more about what it takes to be a dentist.

I was very impressed by the author’s debut novel and I’m very excited she has another book coming out soon, Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake. Thank you so much to @smpromance, @netgalley and @mazeyeddings for my gifted ebook. A Brush with Love is on sale now!

Unfortunately for me, this book was a little overhyped because I went into it with really high hopes but it did not live up to my expectations.

Even though I have Anxiety, I personally could not connect to Harper. It was just all about school and teeth and I really don’t care about either of those things.

I have kind of mixed feelings about this book. I think anxiety rep in books is great, but at the same time I have anxiety so it’s not really something I want to read about when I’m reading for fun, especially because Harper really stressed me out. Dan was nice but also just kind of surface level so I really couldn’t connect with him either. I was very irritated by Harper for the majority of the book.

This book didn’t have any fun tropes. It was just a lot of back and forth, will they, won’t they and then it was also a very slow burn, overall it was just kind of boring.

Ahhh this was adorable and I loved this a lot, especially when compared to some of the recent romances I've read! I honestly was beginning to think it was me, not those other books, but this one proved me all wrong.

Even though I'm not generally interested in medical/dentistry school settings, and I felt like overall the author did a fantastic job of sucking you into the academic world of Harper and Dan. It felt relatable on a generally academic level, but even beyond that you found yourself admiring Harper and her ambitions, while on the other hand understanding why Dan despised the program. It also worked really well as a setting for all of Harper and Dan's trauma to be dealt with, and for their romance to originally flourish.

I also really appreciated and liked the mental health rep (anxiety) in this story, and thought it was extremely well-done, especially when compared to recent reads. It was a constant presence in Harper's life, not just appearing when textually convenient, and you could painfully see the depth of her struggles with it. There were some scenes that were really hard to read because of how true they felt, especially regarding academic perfection and success. It makes me really excited to read more of the books in this series, especially seeing the next one focuses on a character with ADHD.

The romance was also adorable, especially in the beginning. I'm generally not super into friends to lovers, but this wasn't wholly that trope, and even when it was just friends, Dan was just so completely obsessed with Harper that it was adorable. I've read a lot of colder, more hidden/mysterious male MCs in romance recently, so seeing a guy just outright adore this woman was really cute to read. It endeared me to both characters, and their budding relationship, really quickly, and from there I was sold!

Overall, I really enjoyed this, even more so since I got to buddy read it with a friend, and I highly recommend it!

Harper is what one would describe as Type-A, a perfectionist who is at the top of her class in dental school and airing to be accepted into a oral surgery residency. Her rigidity to school helps her to control her crippling anxiety that she struggles with daily. When she runs into Dan, a first year dental student, she has no desire to complicate her life with a boyfriend, but the attraction is just too great. While they try to be just friends, they eventually fall into their desire but the time they spend together means time spent not studying for Harper. She finds herself forced to confront the things in her life she most desperately tries to hide.

A Brush with Love was filled with sexual tension and two characters who you couldn’t help but root for. They are flawed but relatable and you find yourself cheering for them when they finally get together.

A Brush with Love is not what I would typically pick up- dental school is about as far from my experience as I can possibly imagine. But this couple is so incredibly gorgeous and squee-able that I was all in from the hilarious meet-cute through the pretty significant drama. This is one of the romance novels where the hero and heroine are always great together, but have so much of their own personal stuff to deal with that it is a herculean effort to make the relationship work. And I loved seeing them navigate it. These aren't light issues (anxiety and parental loss on both sides), but the novel stays hilarious and light almost all the way through. It isn't exactly a breezy romance, but it is tooth-achingly sweet (see what I did there?)
Go floss, and then read it!

I didn't know what to expect with A Brush With Love, but I really enjoyed it! Harper is an overachieving fourth year dental student anxiously awaiting her residency placement in an oral surgery field. Dan is a first year legacy student, who is only in dental school to fulfill his mother's wishes. When they literally crash into each other, Harper and Dan's worlds change almost instantly.

I appreciated this author's writing of mental illnesses - I was very frustrated with Harper for not helping herself for so much of the book and I'm glad she eventually figures it out. I really loved watching Harper and Dan fall in love, even if Harper fought it every step of the way. I also cheered for Dan when he finally stood up for himself and did what was best for him and his heart.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for this ARC.

Super cute romance, loved the plot and the characters. Plus the cover is adorable. Looking forward to her next novel!

Such a great book and the audio is fabulous! Who knew the world of dentistry was so sexy with rich and memorable characters? I loved it and can't wait to read more from Mazey. Also I loved the audio so much!

I’ve tried to both read this and listen to it and both times I can’t keep going. They are too old to act so silly.

I loved how this author dealt head-on with anxiety and how crippling it can be, even for those who seemingly have it all together. Harper is the epitome of Type A and she’s driven to get what she wants. Dan is the opposite, he’s not sure what he wants, except for Harper.

I thought this book was charming but yet had a serious edge to it as well. I loved Harper’s friends and how they pushed her.

This was an outstanding debut and such a sweet, yet realistic love story. The anxiety representation in this book really hit home for me. The romance between the main characters was so believable from the point of view of someone who also struggles with anxiety. I loved watching these characters work through their problems and come together. This will definitely become a comfort read for me!