5 stars, hands down.

I went into this blind. I had heard only snippets of how this book was adorable with just a dash of spice. I was expecting something terribly cheesy. Let me just say, what a pleasant surprise.

This book was all-around delightful. A rom-com (And yes, I do mean rom-com...I laughed out loud a lot throughout this book) set in a dentistry doctoral program. Our FMC is an extremely anxious overachieving type, who works herself so hard she doesn't give herself much room for a personal life. Our MMC is a non-traditional first year legacy at the school and is currently working through complicated grief of both his recently departed father and the life he left behind to help with the family dentistry practice. While more laid back in nature than the FMC, he is still very driven...just not for dentistry.

The story touches on aspects of complicated grief, severe generalized anxiety disorder, general mental health, the importance of a support system, and the overwhelming stress put graduate students.

While covering these topics, the story also provides a fun romance with delicious spice as well as my favorite women friendship groups I have ever read about. The amount of true support and love shown among that friendship group is so heart-warming, you'll wish they were your own friends.

I loved everything about this book, including the main character's Maine Coon. I want one.

Please go read this now. Tell your friends. Shout it from the roof tops.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Emily Lawrence and Vikas Adam, via NetGalley. An advanced reader's copy of this audiobook was provided to me via NetGalley by Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

A Brush with Love is a cute and sweet rom com with some surprisingly heavy content, like mental health, racism, and death. The characters are lovable but also feel real and relatable.

I absolutely loved so many parts of this book! It was a nice light read, with some real-life struggle moments built in. The realness of Harper's anxiety and Dan's hate of dental school created the struggle and tension you want to see in books. The fun of Dan meeting her cat for the first time. These moments built a story together that made you want to keep reading (or listening). Harper, of course, wanted nothing to do with Dan because he wasn't in her plan; Dan refused to take no for an answer creating a 'just friends' trope that was a struggle for both of them. At the breakup to makeup part- it was difficult to read- they both had to really find themselves and their new goals for the future, creating a possibility of it not being with each other.

Audio book review

A cute and fun rom-com, narrators Emily Lawrence and Vicas Adam really give you a feel for the characters. I don't personally deal with anxiety but I really felt what Harper was going through. I truly felt the attraction between the two characters, also the struggles they dealt with individually and together.

I thought this audio book was absolutely delightful. I've read quite a few medical romance books, but this was the first one that I've read about dentists!

Now granted, I'm terrified of the dentist, however I thought this book was great.

This book gives you all the feels. Love story of college students, Dan and Harper, trying to make their way through dental school. There is a fun group of friends that give you laugh out loud moments but then also show the true meaning of friendship when they would do anything to help their friends. I appreciate the author giving a warning on anxiety being in the book because it does consume quite a bit of it. It makes you love the character even more and keeps you rooting for Harper to get all she wants in life.

“A Brush With Love” was cleverly named and it is a romance that takes place in dental school. There are real life complications-anxiety, loss of a loved one, etc, I thought it started off stronger, but I just felt it dragged a bit in the middle. It’s a solid piece of romantic fiction, but it’s not a book that will stay with me for a long time. There was some steam to the bedroom scenes. 3 stars ⭐️. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy for review.

OH MY GOD. I loved this book. The way Mazey Eddings writes about anxiety is SO relatable. I loved the representation of someone who has panic attacks in this book. Loved the plot, loved the ending. These characters were so cute! 4/5 stars.

A Brush With Love is the first novel by Mazey Eddings. This is the tale of two dental students, Harper and Dan. Harper is about to graduate and is waiting for placement in an oral surgery residency. Dan, although the same age, is a first year after a stint in investment banking frowned upon by his parents. After his father’s death a year ago Dan had been guilted into going back to dental school so as to work with his mother in the family practice.

Dan has hated every day of this semester until literally running into Harper. Now, there is someone he is actually interested in seeing. Trouble is, although there is definitely chemistry, Harper avoids his every advance. You see, Harper does a very good job of masking her anxieties. In fact, she does so well that her best friends have no idea of the extent of effort Harper must put forth.

This is a very intricately written story that has not only a deep understanding of the issues presented but also a lovely story of finding the right people to have on your personal journey. I did enjoy this story and do recommend it

When this book first came out, I decided it wasn’t for me because I have extreme phobia of the dentist. But I am so glad that I gave the audio book a chance.
This was a great read that touches on the pressures of women in stem, anxiety disorder symptoms, and what a difference a supportive friend can make in those situations.
I loved the love story. I can’t wait to read Mazey Eddings next book. I enjoyed the way she writes.
The audiobook performance was very good. The only downside was I like to listen to the audio sped up, and it got somewhat distorted when I would try to listen faster.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to A Brush with Love.

Throughout the book, I felt like there was a disconnect between the way the characters were supposed to feel versus the way the scene actually seemed to demonstrate. Some of the characters had situations where their words or actions didn't align with their described personalities or mannerisms. Toward the end of the book, I was able to feel more alignment.

There were scenes throughout that brought great value and detail, which I appreciated. Some of the comments and phrases were laugh out loud funny. The title was clever. It was interesting to see the characters defend stereotypical comments, actions and remarks. Shining a light on these areas was done with ease and nicely intertwined.

4 ⭐️
2 🌶


This book touched my soul and made me feel so seen with my anxiety disorder and how it manifested while I was in school. I’m so thankful for the author for writing that into the world so others can connect with that. It normalized getting help and that’s a good thing.

I loved that this was a slow burn and build to the relationship with friends to lovers.

I enjoyed the honesty about anxiety that is woven throughout the book. The story was okay but not as engaging as I thought it could be. It was a little too drawn out and could have been more concise.

This book is a book that truly touched my heart. Mazes Eddings made the most honest and raw characters. Harper is a dentistry student in her fourth year, she suffers from severe anxiety and panic attacks and is just trying to get through year four and get placed in a residency program. Daniel is in his first year of dentistry school and is there due to family guilty and wanting to help his mom in their family practice than truly having a passion for the job.

Harper falls for Daniel, literally, and the two become friends quickly. Daniel becomes Harpers confidant, friend and lover through the book and truly is the dream book boyfriend. The characters are neurodiverse and that is truly beautiful to see, especially for me since I am also on the neurodiverstiy spectrum. The audio book was so immersive in the story I fell more in love with the characters. Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and Mazey for the #gifted copy.

This book I will be buying a physical copy so I can reread it in the coming months.

A Brush With Love by Mazey Eddings is an absolute delight and I loved I every second of it!!

I switched between reading my physical copy and listening to the audiobook. I am a big fan of dual POV novels but have a hard time with them in audiobooks with 2 narrators. I also found the narration slow. Even with the speed turned up, it just didn’t do it for me and I much preferred my physical copy.

If there is one thing I could have changed it would be that I wish it was written in first person instead of third person. I will definitely be picking up more of Mazey’s books in the future!

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 0.5 🌶

Thank you @netgalley for the audiobook! I purchased the physical copy myself :)

#romancereads #bookstagram #booknerd #books #readingislife #smutsquad #netgalley #abrushwithlove

neva eva eva did i think i would read a DENTISTRY romance but oh boy here i am… this was goood i can’t even lie like. it definitely was a tad bit goofy at times and mega unserious but i throughly enjoyed myself! loving the stupid cheesy rom coms with the emotionally unavailable fmcs! dan u are too good for this world i need you to know that my pookie pie. (would like to note that i DID pick up on the subtle philly mentions here and there!!)

Love this book! I kept thinking I had a solution to everyone’s problems but the author solved them better than what I had figured out. Cute book!

I was able to listen to an audiobook of this cute rom com. The audiobook uses a male and female voice to go back and forth between the main characters as the book is written from both alternating perspectives. This was a cute romance and friendship story. There is some language for those who are sensitive to it.
I recommend this book to rom com lovers or someone looking for a story of different types of friendship and successful women.

This book was wild to me because I was invested so fast and then wanted to DNF so bad. The meet cute was CUTE. It was hilarious. It had me laughing out loud, I had to stop listening at work cause I couldn't stop. But then.... there's no tension, no wait. The insta-love is real and disgusting. Our two mains, Harper and Dan, are instantly obsessed with each other for no reason. Like, be attracted to each other, that's fine, but they're in LOVE.

Unfortunately, this book ended up feeling kind of dumb. The premise of the conflict is that Harper refuses to date Dan because dental school is so hard and she can't balance the two. Which, fine. But then they basically date and just don't have sex and wish they were having sex. So, like..... it's dumb. There's SO MUCH of the back and forth it just becomes annoying.

The characters... The friends start out funny but they're not in the book enough to be fleshed out and interesting. Dan, our love interest, is too soft and sweet and obsessed with Harper. He's like a lost puppy. Harper, on the other hand, is kind of awful to him. She has high anxiety and she treats Dan like shit throughout the book because she isn't taking care of herself or her mental health. When he eventually tries to help her, Harper drops Dan as meanly as horribly as she can manage and then she gets her feelings hurt when he leaves her like she wanted. Like, he really apologizes to her at the end and I was like???????

So, overall, it was pretty cute sometimes and has some funny moments and some good rep(?) but I struggled with a lot of it.

The audiobook was okay. Harper's voice actor was nice but Dan's was pretty bad and when he had to read lines for Harper, he edged on creepy. I almost threw my phone multiple times when he read the sex scenes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ALC!

After recently reading and reviewing an ARC of Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake, the soon-to-be published work by Mazey Eddings, I realized I hadn’t gotten to her previous book, A Brush with Love! Many thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest opinion, even though it’s coming 5 months after publication - oops!
A Brush with Love centers around a group of dental students in Philadelphia. Dental school sounds really tough! Harper is at the top of her class, but she is also hanging on by a thread due to her anxiety. Mixing in a new relationship is enough to push her over the edge, but her friends and love interest are supportive and help her find the help she needs.
I enjoyed listening to A Brush with Love. The dual narration is good (aside from my pet peeve of a mispronunciation of Haverford, my alma mater, by the male narrator!), and the story is really sweet. I liked the book’s focus on the importance of mental health and that just because things look perfect on the surface, much can be lurking right below. This book introduces Lizzie Blake, the MC of the upcoming book, but both can be read as standalones. I look forward to reading more from the author!