Harper wants nothing more than to secure a highly sought after place in a top oral surgery program. She is hyper focused on it as she is with everything in her life. She lives by a set of rules and beliefs and never strays for them for control is how she keeps herself together. Or does she? She lives each and every moment of her life in fear of…almost everything. Dan is a classmate who isn’t living his best life. He has given up what he wants to do to keep his mother happy. She wants him to keep up his fathers legacy. He wants nothing to do with dentistry and even though he is dead, hates his abusive cold despicable excuse of a father. Harper and Dan literally bump into each other and so begins a rocky road to romance. So many different issues within this romance and all handled gracefully. It is clear that the author did her research and didn’t just write them in for shock value or to gloss over them. There’s a thought/saying that whatever the maturity level people enter med school at (or the like) is the same when they finish, which is not a good thing. Harper’s friends and most of their classmates are book smart, but immature children. The ridiculous almost constant immature comments (6th grade level ones), the bullying were over the top and the only thing I wanted less of. I look forward to more from this author. This was a great listen and I look forward to whatever comes next from this author.

I’m gonna start out by saying that I think a lot of people are going to LOVE this book. I was not one of them. I liked it fine, but there were parts that I didn’t like and they weigh heavily on my mind as I write this. But again, I think I may be in the minority.
Harper is a hyper critical, stress and anxiety filled dental student who does all she can to keep people at arms length after the loss of her mother leaves her with panic attacks and makes her feel weak and not wanting to let people into her safe world of studying and working. She has a few close friends that have been with her all along, but doesn’t let others in until one day she literally crashes into Dan at school and he crashes her whole world apart. She fights against letting him into her life so he won’t see her vulnerability and think less of her, but he persists until she breaks down her walls and let’s him in. It doesn’t last long before she pushes him away and goes back to her same old life, but now with a broken heart, leaving her friends to try and help get her and them back together.
There are some triggers-death, anxiety, panic attacks and they are very thoroughly addressed so this may not be for everyone. There’s also lots of steam, so if you like things clean, you need to know that too.
I didn’t mind the narrators-I’ve heard them before on other books but at times I wanted to turn the woman off. She came across as so whiny at times it grated my teeth. Again, it may be just me. There were parts that really worked for me and overall this was a good way to spend my morning.
Thanks to St. Martins Griffin and MacMillan Audio for this arc in exchange for my review.
Publication date: March 1, 2022

I really appreciated the trigger warnings statement in the beginning of this story. That being said, just because you’re expecting something, doesn’t always make it easier to deal with - the author’s descriptions of Harper’s anxiety, well, I had to forward through some of it because it was so bothersome.

I really wanted to like this more than I did, but I couldn’t connect with it. The whole weirdly intense (and seemingly unrealistic) experience in the lab just threw me. Insta-love isn’t a favorite of mine and I likely wouldn’t have read this, had I known that was what to expect. Perhaps I might have enjoyed this more if I was reading it instead of listening to the audiobook.

I appreciated the dental school setting and the realistic portrayal of an anxious character.

I loved reading the story of Harper and “Dental Dan”. The intro by Eddings was a trigger warning and insight into how carefully she treated anxiety. The insight into Harper’s mind was great.

I might try this again physically later down the road, but the audiobook is just not working for me at the moment, I love the concept, but the characters are just annoying me and I don’t think that it has much to do with the narrators, just the characters, but I think it would be easier to not be bothered if I read the book physically. There also just isn’t anything that is making me want to continue, but I do want to try again eventually because it does seem like a good book, it just may not end up being for me. Also I love the fact that the authors gives a trigger warning, it is something that should be used more.

Thank you @smpromance @netgalley for a copy of A Brush With Love. What a fun debut novel from Mazey and following her writing journey on IG.

I love how the book dealt with mental health and the relationship between Harper and Dan. I love Harper’s friends and their fun dialog. The attraction and denial between Harper and Dan was amazing and their moment was hot!!

I enjoyed the narration with the exception of the male doing female voices. He sounded like an old lady which was a bit distracting but didn’t impact my enjoyment of the book.

A Brush with Love is sweet enough to remind me I’m overdue for a dental cleaning. Harper and Dan are two dental students navigating school, career paths, mental health, and loss. The book is fun and surprisingly lighthearted while covering such heavy topics. Harper and Dan’s relationship is a reminder to treat those we love gently. The audiobook brought life to the characters in such a dynamic, compelling way. Thoroughly enjoyed the story and the audiobook!

A Brush With Love features two main characters that are in dental school. Both characters had a lot of great aspects about them, but I found both characters a little frustrating. I felt like the way Harper treated Dan in the middle of the book was extremely frustrating and I felt as though Dan should have had held Harper more accountable for how she treated him. I thought all the side characters were great and added a lot to the story. I did enjoy seeing both of their grief journeys. I am not someone who suffers from anxiety but felt that the description of anxiety and the emotions of both characters were genuine and personal. I like the fact that it was set in dental school. I thought that was a really unique setting and loved how that aspect was incorporated into the title.

While overall I enjoyed the story, I found the pacing to be a little off. The characters fell for each other right away but then we spent the middle of the book with them trying to be friends. I think if the friendship had been developed first then the romance, the book would have been a little more enjoyable.

The audiobook was overall good but was not a fan when the male narrator read the dialogue in a female voice and vice versa with the female narrator. This always took me out of the story a little bit.

This book is a 3.5 for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillion Audio for this audiobook arc in exchange for my honest review.

A Brush with Love by Mazey Eddings is such a “tooth-aching” sweet romance. It tells the story of Harper, a fourth year dental student finishing up school in Philadelphia. As she is dealing with the stress of finishing school and getting into a residency for oral surgery, she is also grappling with consuming anxiety and past trauma of her mom dying at a young age. There is a lot going on in her life and then she meets Dan, a first year dental student with his own past issues he is dealing with. The book delicately handles the topics of mental health while also telling a fun and entertaining story. I would highly recommend this book!

I listened to the audiobook, and the narrators (there were two – one for Harper and one for Dan) were both great. They each read the story with such emotion and were both very engaging!

Special thanks to Net Galley and St.Martin’s Press for the audiobook ARC.

A Brush With Love was so much more than I expected. Not only was it a beautiful romance that builds between two friends, but it brings up intense issues of anxiety, and of living someone else's dream.

Harper is at the top of her dental school class, and works hard to be there. One day. she literally crashes into Daniel at school, and there is an instant attraction. Offering her help to Daniel who is a first year student while Harper is almost finished, the two begin a friendship. Both want more, but Harper is convinced that she doesn't have more to offer. A tragedy in Harper's young life has left her with crushing anxiety, and the need to be the very best in her class, offering little time for a relationship.

Daniel had a life he loved where he had a job in finance, but put his life aside when his father died suddenly, to take up dentistry in order to keep the family's dental practice going. Daniel hates everything about dentistry, but doesn't want to let his mother down.

The romance between these two is a slow build that is worth waiting for. The way each helps the other through their challenges is heartwarming, and at times heartwrenching to watch. The perils of anxiety disorder are showcased in a very realistic manner, and was eye-opening to read about. I enjoyed everything about this book!

Thank you so much to St Martin's Griffin Press and to Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

While the romance in this story is loving and sweet, it is the descriptions of Harper’s anxiety that really brought me in. Anxiety is so unique to each person, but I really felt such a strong connection and understanding of what Harper was feeling. The concepts of family obligation, balancing personal life with work life, and sexism in the workplace was also so well represented and made this story much more relatable and deeper than your average romance novel. I also enjoyed that the relationship between Dan and Harper was slow building and much more realistic than any love at first sight storyline. Also who would have thought all of this would be in a book about dentists? I really enjoyed this so much more than I thought I was going to from the synopsis.

The version I listened to was the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. I really loved the narrators’ voices and thought the audiobook was very well done. The only thing I found somewhat distracting was the male narrator reading the dialogue in a female voice and vice versa with the female narrator. Every now and then, especially during some of the steamier parts, this could take me out of what was happening for a moment. But overall, I really did enjoy it.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for this advanced copy in exchange for this review.

Am I the only one that thought that was a tube of paint on the cover and that this was a rom-com about artists? I’m pleasantly surprised it’s about dentists, though. I don’t think I’ve ever read about a dentist MC. Since my boyfriend is in medical school, it was fun to compare his experiences with their dental school experiences.

Usually I identify more with the female characters in rom-coms, but in A Brush With Love I was all about Dan’s perspective. I really enjoyed his complicated family background and how he grew throughout the story. Harper’s anxiety and perfectionism seemed very real and relatable. All around, these were very well-developed characters with good representation.

While I loved these characters and their chemistry, I do think the pacing of this book was a little off. Harper and Dan fall for each other right off the bat, but a large middle portion of the book is spent watching them pine for each other and try to be just friends. I think it would have been more enjoyable if we developed the friendship and then the romance, instead of romance-friendship-romance. I felt like Dan could have held Harper a little more accountable for how she treated him.

Audio Review: This book was narrated by Emily Lawrence and Vikas Adam. I’m not sure I’d recommend the audiobook. The way the male narrator voiced the female characters was irritating to me. No complaints about the female narrator or the production, but I don’t really think the audio added anything special to the story.

I wasn't sure what I was going to get going into this novel, but I fell in love with this novel about romance and dealing with personal struggles in life. I absolutely loved the characters Eddings created (including all the side characters) and they way they related to each other was amazing. What I appreciated the most was how the realistic the scenarios were and how real each character felt.

This book features characters who meet in dental school, and I always appreciate a story of women in STEM. I would say this romance was an insta-attraction but slow burn friends to lovers story. Harper is Jewish and has anxiety and panic attacks. She must deal with sexism in the school and work environments. She is goal focused and less inclined to start a relationship and is reluctant to get help with her struggles. Dan is dealing with family pressure to take over his family's dental practice after the loss of his controlling father. This book features lots of dental related puns! Overall, I enjoyed it!

Have you ever read a romance with dental students as the leads? I have not and I thought that was such a fun and interesting angle that provided something unique to the genre. There was so much to like about this one besides the career paths of Harper and Dan. I thought their meet cute was adorable and it showed just how lovably goofy Harper can be. The anxiety representation was also really great and I appreciated how Harper’s anxiety tied into her grief and felt the way she dealt with things was authentic. Dan has his own issues, the main one portrayed here was his struggle to live up to family expectations even though dental school is absolutely miserable for him. It was kinda nice to see a truly flawed hero. The audio was dual narrated just like the book and both narrators were enraging and showed emotional depth in their performance. My only minor complaint is the insta love aspect, I really hate that trope but that’s just a personal preference. Overall a really nice debut and I’m excited it’s the start of a series.

I cannot tell you how much I love this book. Not only does the main character Harper deal with mental health issues such as anxiety, but she is also a strong feminist who stands up to gender inequality in her profession. This story is a perfect example of why there a so many layers to the “chick-lit” genre on top of just romance. Not to mention I enjoyed the two narrators of this audiobook, they make the story easy listening. I highly recommend A Brush With Love and will be following Mazey Eddings for future projects.

I am not sure where the disconnect was with this book. It should have been something I really enjoyed. Yet it took me 5 days to read. (Which for a normal person, wouldn't be weird. But as someone who nearly finishes a book a day- at least 5 per week- five days is unheard of.)

I just couldn't get into it. Looking at other reviews, it is apparently me, lol.

I listened to the audiobook. It is dual POV- told by Harper and Dan. There is a narrator for each of them. I don't recognize either narrator by name (Emily Lawrence and Vikas Adam), but both did a fine job.

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Brush With Love is the debut novel of Mazey Eddings.

It’s the story of Harper and Dan, two dental school students. They are both adorable, charming, and complex characters. Harper is in her final year of school and is preparing to leave for a residency program. She suffers so much hurt from her past and has anxiety disorder, and she pushes herself so hard to be perfect. Dan is a first-year student, trying to lead his life in a different direction and uphold his father's legacy. Like Harper, he also has grief and issues that he is dealing with.
Harper and Dan are drawn to each other from the start and quickly form a unique bond. Their romance is sweet, humorous, and so heart-wrenchingly beautiful. I enjoyed Mazey's writing and felt that the depiction of anxiety and the emotional journeys of both characters were authentic and personal.

The dental school setting was a first for me and it was refreshing. I hope all of Harper and Dan's friends get their own stories and look forward to reading Lizzie and Rake’s story next.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

This was a cute read. Definitely not a light or easy read, in fact parts of this book I had to skip over because of the descriptions of Harper's general anxiety disorder. There was a trigger warning at the beginning of the book which I appreciated but it was still difficult to read/listen to at some points.

I was really hoping for a light, sweet romance. This was definitely sweet but a little too much so. I struggled to finish this one and skipped to the end to see what happens. I really enjoyed getting to know Harper, a very dedicated oral surgery student who can stand up for herself and is the consummate professional in a work setting. Dan, however, was not my favorite male lead. Their interactions were cheesy and very immature. I cringed during most of their conversations. And the reason he was in dental school didn't make sense - his mother would have to wait YEARS for him to help her. Why wouldn't she just take on a partner? I wanted to like this book but it didn't work for me.

No issues with the audio but was not a fan of the two narrators.