A Brush with Love

• Author: Mazey Eddings
• Genre: Romance
• Publication Date: March 1, 2022
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Series: Untitled Series #1

Thank you to libro.fm and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ALC of this book. I am providing my honest opinion voluntarily.

CONTENT WARNING: misogyny, panic attack, mention of cancer, death of a parent, grief

Harper is anxiously awaiting placement into a top oral surgery residency program when she crashes (literally) into Dan. Harper would rather endure a Novocaine-free root canal than face any distractions, even one this adorable.

A first-year dental student with a family legacy to contend with, Dan doesn’t have the same passion for pulling teeth that Harper does. Though he finds himself falling for her, he is willing to play by Harper’s rules.

So with the greatest of intentions and the poorest of follow-throughs, the two set out to be “just friends.” But as they get to know each other better, Harper fears that trading fillings for feelings may make her lose control and can’t risk her carefully ordered life coming undone, no matter how drool-worthy Dan is.

Blood, gore, and extra-long roots? No problem. The idea of falling in love? Torture. 

What better time to read a romance, than on Valentine’s Day? When I started this book, I was seriously wondering how the author could make dental school sexy. But, the author managed it somehow!

The story deals with some serious issues, amongst a light-hearted funny plot. One of the characters struggles with severe anxiety and grief, while the other is trying to cope with the loss of a father with whom he had a difficult relationship, and the family pressures that are placed on him which direct his future. In addition, one of the MCs is Jewish, which I loved seeing, while the other MC is half-Muslim, and the side characters are pretty diverse as well. 

The characters are funny as hell, and the dialogue felt incredibly natural. It made it easy to get into the story. I honestly had no idea that dental school was so competitive, and while I’m still definitely scared of going to the dentist, it makes me feel better to know that they’re so well-trained and incredibly knowledgeable. 

However, there were some things that I didn’t love about this book. Which is disappointing, because I really wanted to. The pacing felt off for me. It was fairly slow-moving throughout the story, and then the end sped up a lot. And as much as I wanted to ship Harper and Dan, their connection kind of felt like insta-love. She crashed into him, and it suddenly became serious. There wasn’t much time for the relationship to build, and it kind of felt more one-sided for the vast majority of the book. Dan was all about getting into a relationship, and Harper was trying to stay focused on her future. I did find it relatable when meeting someone new and struggling to remain focused on what needs to be done day-to-day, which is what Harper was most worried about, and experienced in the story. But it was hard to root for them when all I wanted was for Dan to grow a backbone and stand up for himself. 

There was a little bit of spice in the book, but it just didn’t feel like it was enough to get me fully invested in their relationship. And sometimes it felt like the people around Harper just didn’t really understand her and her anxiety. They weren’t always sensitive to her needs, and pushed her into at least one uncomfortable situation that was bound to be problematic for her. Of the side characters, I absolutely adored Big Booty Judy the cat. I couldn’t help but laugh about that and some of the dialogue between characters, but overall this was just an okay read for me.