I’m not quite sure why this one seemed to miss the mark for me… maybe because it came across more like a YA novel than an adult romance. I listened to the audiobook version so that may have had as much to do with the narrators as the story- but I felt like Harper acted (and sounded) more like a teenager than a woman and Dan was an absolute pushover.

The cat scene is utterly absurd.

I have been reviewing a lot of great contemporary romance lately and I had high hopes for this one, but it just wasn’t for me.

What a sweet read while reminding me to floss and take care of my dental health! Harper and Dan were the sweetest couple. Dan was so much patient with Harper’s anxiety struggles and helped to soothe her. Dan deals with his own demons as he is forced to choose a career path that will uphold his father’s dental practice even though finance is his true passion.

Their internal conflicts as well as having to cope with each other’s issues really stood out to me and I appreciated their rawness and honesty. I related to this novel when it comes to my anxiety and finding ways to cope with not always being able to be in control of situations. I also really enjoyed the fact that Harper has an amazing support group around to help her navigate through life. Harper is my queen and Mazey Eddings is a brilliant writer, I want more!

I recommend listening to the audiobook because Emily Lawrence and Vikas Adam were perfection, seriously the voice of angels! Vikas has a knack for being able to reproduce so many different inflections and accents, it’s incredible.

Thank you to Mazey Eddings, Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC.

#ABrushWithLove #NetGalley #MazeyEddings

Harper is the most type-A student there is. She never makes a mistake, is always studying, and always doing anything she can to get ahead…that is until she meets Dan. Harper and Dan meant to be just friends, but that changes quickly. How will they balance school, their social lives, and emotions? I loved their sweet romance and the depth that each of their characters had. They both had struggles that the other could help with. The first part of the book was really slow and the ending was too quick. Can’t wait to read more by Eddings.

3.75 ⭐
Finally! A romance that genuinely depicts anxiety in such a relatable and real way. The author did not shy away from the bad parts of anxiety and the impacts it can have on ones life and relationships. I felt her pain throughout the book, and as a person with anxiety it hurt me to see how the other person in the relationship deals with their partners anxiety. I am not one for "Meet Cute" romances, but I really enjoyed this one. The audiobook was also very well done.

This book was fantastic...a diverse cast of characters, slow burn, romantic comedy.

Harper is a determined yet unsure woman.  She has crippling anxiety that often makes her doubt herself but her history has made her so strong-willed that she pushes onward.

Harper and Dan literally run into each other.  A first-year dental student and a 4th-year dental student - a quirky, shy, anxious girl and a handsome, tall, hunky man...could they be any different?

To say their courtship was a slow burn would be an understatement.  Harper has struggled her whole life with letting people in, she's afraid that anything with Dan will interfere with her goals. This holds her back and Dan's not letting her push him away!

As a Philadelphia Suburban girl, I am always a fan of books set in Philadelphia too so that was a bonus!

The narration was on point and brought Dan and Harper to life well!

Great debut for this author!

Harper Horowitz is a fourth year dental student waiting to hear if she is accepted into the top oral surgery when she runs directly into Dan smashing his mouth mold assignment. She offers to help him recreate it in the lab, marking the beginning of their relationship.

This debut novel by Eddings was adorable in its telling of Harper and Dan's story. Some big issues were tackled in this one, family expectations and living up to what your parents are on Dan's side, as well as the truth behind severe anxiety and an in page anxiety attach from Harper. Harper described her medication as making the world less sharp, which is exactly how I have heard some anxiety meds working for some people in my life.

The vibrant collection of secondary characters all felt full fleshed out, and added brightness to the story. Sometimes I find characters can get lost in a storyline, but these ones stuck around and added to the narrative.

I was also surprised and delighted by the Jewish rep in this book. I'm loving finding every day Judaism in so many of my reads this year.

This book is told from both Harper and Dan's perspectives, alternating chapters. I think this is the best format for a romance novel, and liked getting into both of their heads.

The two narrators of the audio version of the book really made me feel like I was inside the story in a way that I don't always find when reading traditionally.

A Brush With Love is a new adult friends-to-lovers romantic comedy told in dual, alternating third-person POV; the audiobook is performed by both a female and a male narrator. It is Mazey Eddings’ debut novel and is the first in an untitled series of interconnected standalones (the second installment set to follow Lizzie).

I was absolutely blown away by this story! The love between Harper and Dan was deep and moving, and yet they each went though tremendous personal growth outside of their romance that endeared them to me even more. I felt a strong connection to each of them, something that I typically struggle with when reading third-person POV, which I think that is a testament to this author’s talent for character development and emotionally resonant writing.

Harper’s character in particular had a profound impact on me, giving me insight into the struggles of my own college-aged daughter who lives with similar anxiety. Emily Lawrence (a new-to-me narrator) gave a phenomenal performance of the scenes depicting Harper’s anxiety attacks and inner monologue of anxious thoughts. Dan was super-swoony and a dedicated boyfriend, exactly the kind of partner Harper deserved. When their slow burn is finally set ablaze, it is explosive!

I highly recommend this book (especially in audiobook format) to anyone who loves reading romances featuring a neurodiverse heroine and a strong, dependable hero with as many laughs as swoons along the way.

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book. It made me smile and giggle but also incorporated heavier topics that are close to my heart. I really related with the main character’s anxiety disorder and the shame that can come with it. I thought the author did a great job handling this topic. I loved the fun relationship between the main characters and loved that the book offered a dual POV. The narration of the audiobook was also excellent!

Thank you to the publisher and @netgalley for providing a free advanced copy of this ebook and audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A Brush With Love
Mazey Eddings
This tale shines light on anxiety disorders. Harper suffers from panic attacks and extreme bouts of anxiety. Both Dan and Harper are unstable and damaged. They both carry heavy burdens, and they place too much pressure on themselves. Harper is a purist, a prodigy and extreme; she is hurting never having gotten past the loss of her family. Dan has his own painful issues. He is harassed by students that know of his father’s success. His father was a tyrant, difficult, calculating and enjoyed demeaning and verbally exploiting Dan for years. His mother whines constantly that she can’t handle the business by herself. Dan is so tired of hearing her complaining that he avoids her phone calls. He was successful in finance but turned to dentistry because of his mother’s nagging.
Harper is a driven oral surgeon student. She is awaiting word on her placement in an oral surgery residency program. She meets or rather smashes into Dan a first-year dental student. Dan is handsome, personable and oh so sexy, but Harper doesn’t have time for a distraction. Harper has a passion for dentistry/dental surgery/oral surgery. She is top of her class and determined to let nothing stand in her way. She has a very personal reason for her desperation to succeed. Dan hates dentistry. He was successful as a businessman but a disappointment to his father and mother. His father was a famous oral surgeon having developed certain techniques. Harper and Dan form a unique friendship and a passionate relationship. Harper doesn’t want to love him, but she does. She is afraid love will distract her from her goals. She discovers she needs Dan.
This is a sweet romance. I enjoyed watching as Dan and Harper discovered their love and their need for one another. Harper’s panic attacks were so realistic. Harper needed Dan, he helped her with her panic attacks. Looking back on this tale I can see that Harper had some deep emotional problems and should have had help along the way.

Things I liked about this book:
- Feminism
- Mental Illness
-Women in STEM
-Found family
-Dentist plot - I haven't seen many books with this.
-Dan's mom is from Lebanon

Tropes: Forbidden romance, friends to lovers

This is a 3.5 star book. I enjoyed some part of this, I really liked the emphasis of mental health in this book. But I think because of it, I had a hard time liking or connecting to Harper. She just came off as selfish. I had a really hard time understanding why Dan was at dental school, even if he wanted to help his mom with running the practice or she'd have to give it up, it made no sense because dental school would take at least 4 years.

I didn't like either narrators of this audiobook. It had a predictable plot but still a cute HEA. I was happy when Dan was cold to Harper because she was awful to him.

Content: Lots of swearing, its the first word in this book! And some intimate scenes.

It will be interesting to see what books this author does with future books. I received an audio arc of this book from the publisher and Net Galley and these are my own thoughts and opinions.

LIKES:
📝 quick, funny relatable writing
🆔 explores Jewish & Irish-Muslim identities
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 examines family dynamics
🦷 dentistry STEM vibes!
🧠 mental health themes
👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏽 friends to lovers (3/5 steam level)
❤️‍🩹 + slight forbidden romance (good tension!)
🥰 + tons a cute moments
👩🏻‍🏫 academia vibes
🥺 heart wrenching & heartwarming
🌱 personal growth themes
•
DISCLAIMERS:
⚠️ dm me for TW!
🤮 slight insta love
🍬 on the sweeter side
•
VERDICT: a sweet yet tense & emotional friends to lovers STEM romance exploring mental health, family dynamics, & personal growth - perfect for those who enjoyed the love hypothesis!

Dan and Harper are the cutest! They both have their own internal demons they are trying to deal with and the realness of their situations really hit close to home for me. I found myself smiling, laughing, crying, and questioning thought processes throughout this book. Definitely recommend and cannot wait to read the next book by Mazey!

Really cute read. The characters were complex and the hero was perfect. I loved Dan from the start, he's so sweet, caring, and has way more patience than me for Harper. I struggled with liking Harper at some points in the book but also understood her complex, anxiety, and grief-ridden mind. I did love the book, I laughed and smiled throughout! It wasn't an "I can't put this down", but it was a nice read.

Also revied on Amazon.

Thank you for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

A Brush With Love may just be one of my favorite romance books this year! I was enthralled by the heated romance and desire between the main characters, Dan and Harper. In addition, as someone who struggles with anxiety, I appreciated the author’s note about mental health and the main character’s bout with the disorder I have as well. This book was relatable to the core.

Audio note: The audio was good - the quality is definitely there, and having dual narration made it an enjoyable experience. I liked the female narrator, but the male narrator is not a personal favorite of mine. His voice was a little awkward when depicting Harper's character, and that sometimes pulled me out of the story. The story itself is good for a workday listen - it's a slow burn romance with very little steam overall, and the vibe is upbeat and easygoing for much of the story. The runtime is around 10 hours, so you can get through it in a day if you speed it up a little. This isn't one of those books that's better on audio, but it's not a bad way to read it either.

There's a lot to love about this unique, swoony debut, and if it wasn't plagued by some major pacing issues, then it probably would've been an easy 5-star rating for me. First and foremost, I LOVED the hero. He's a cinnamon roll sweetheart who is too adorable and patient for his own good - literally. He puts up with a lot from our anxiety-ridden heroine, even when she got on my nerves. Their meet cute is the thing rom com dreams are made of, and it took very little time for me to realize that I was going to love the writing. I loved the distinct, layered storyline, and how this felt so fresh and different. It pains me that I can't give this a 5-star rating, but there were just a few too many fumbles along the way.

The story follows Harper, a dental student who is at the top of her class. She loves what she does, and can't wait to graduate soon. When she meets Dan, they're both immediately smitten. He's also a dental student, but one who is still struggling to find his footing. As the two spend time together, they are forced to acknowledge their mutual attraction. Dan is ready for more, but Harper will be moving soon - and she can't have any distractions in the meantime. They agree to become friends, but it's tough to remember all of the reasons they should stay apart when they just want to be together.

If this is the author's debut, then I'm definitely excited to check out more from her. Dan is one of the sweetest heroes I've read about in a long time, and I loved the richness of the storyline. Dan struggles with family expectations while Harper tries to manage her anxiety, and the complexities added that special something to the story. It was easy to feel the connection between them, and the friends to lovers vibes worked here. Unfortunately, it's almost instalove for these two, so obstacle after obstacle was required to keep them apart. That kind of pacing meant that Harper pushed Dan away again and again and again. It was too much. I wanted to bask in the super swoony vibes and not let the story get bogged down by unnecessary roadblocks. It was enough to put a damper on this otherwise delightful read, but I still enjoyed it as a whole.

A Brush With Love is a sweet and adorable romance between two dental students, but it is so much more than just that. This book deals a lot with mental health, Harper is struggling with anxiety. I loved the portrayal and representation of anxiety in this book. It was heartbreaking to see Harper's struggle but also inspiring as she worked to accept and overcome it. This book was also hilarious and the romance was too cute. I absolutely adored Dan and Harper together, they were too cute. I listened to the audiobook. The narrators did a great job, I could really feel the emotions the characters were feeling through the way the narrators told the story. Loved this book and would definitely recommend to any rom-com lover!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audiobook arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was initially drawn to A Brush with Love because it seemed to be a unique and original storyline. I can honestly say that it was. The characters in this book were in dental school which is a setting that I've never read previously.

I had mixed feeling about this book as a whole. I think it was well written and had detailed descriptions. Where it fell short for me was that at times there was too much detail. As a casual reader, I didn't want that much detail about things going on at dental school. It was a lot for me to muddle through. I was fine with dental school being the backdrop for the story. I simply didn't need to be that in depth into the daily activities.

I thought the author did a nice job describing how anxiety can impact someone. Harper and Dan both had different forms of anxiety. She was spot on in how she described the emotions that flood your body when you aren't sure how something is going to turn out.

Overall, I found this to be a sweet story with a creative "meet cute." I liked Harper and Dan as characters and the development of their relationship was gradual and believable. In addition, I was pleased with how the storyline resolved itself.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The narration was strong and lent to the enjoyment of this book. 4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

DNF @ 10%. I could not get into this audiobook, I found myself restarting chapters often because I could not focus on the story. I may try this book physically someday though...

If you're looking for a cute and sweet romance that will make you laugh, this one might be it! I was surprised to find myself laughing out loud at some of the things that happened in this book and that's mostly thanks to the main characters who were quirky, funny but also had their own issues. Harper deals with anxiety and Dan will do all he can to help her and understand her point of view. She is driven to succeed her studies and career while he doesn't have the same drive for their dental residency.

Overall, this was a cute and easy audiobook to listen to! Would recommend!

(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

This was a sweet and charming slow burn, friends to lovers romance story with two very likable main characters! Their meet-cute was hilarious and had me dying of laughter.

Harper and Dan go to dental school together. I loved Harper. She was a brilliant, strong, driven, badass, no-nonsense doctor, and her character was very relatable! For Harper, school is her LIFE, and dental work, mainly oral surgery, is her passion. All she wants to do is help people to feel better. Dan's father was a dentist so he's been prepped for that role for his whole life. He is struggling a bit being in his father's shadow and dealing with the self doubt that his father's verbal abuse put into his mind. They each had great friends who I wouldn't mind seeing a story about!

I thought Harper and Dan had a sweet relationship with tons of chemistry! The characters were well developed and easy to root for. However, m y favorite parts of the book were those that focused on mental health. Harper struggled with anxiety and panic attacks, and the book deals with those issues really well. It gives a good glimpse into the life of someone who suffers with anxiety, and how it can affect so much of their day to day life.

I read A Brush with Love as an audiobook, and the Audiobook was done really well! I loved Harper's narrator so much. Dan's narrator was good too, but the parts where he read for Harper's character were a little awkward.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review. This. Book is out now, and my review will be posted to my blogs & Amazon soon.

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