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allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The hype for this book was so real for me. Harper's a Jewish dental student with anxiety, weighed down by the lingering trauma and grief of losing her mother as a child when they were both in a car accident. Dan's in dental school at the insistence of his mother, trying to live up to his deceased father's legacy, even though he hated the man and hates returning to school for something he's not passionate about. Unfortunately, this was a miss for me in the romance department and a full raging mess in the friendship category.
Instalove vibes are pretty *shrug* to me as a general rule. In this case, it's at least instant infatuation. it reminds me of a teenage crush in timbre but with two adult people. I have great fondness for both teenagers and for occasionally acting like them. It's probably good for your health. But the overall lack of maturity from two 26-year olds, one of whom gets to be addressed as "Dr." was jarring. Even their language felt like a badly written teen drama at times. For example, who asks a friend if she "humped" last night? For that alone, I would kick a friend to the curb, and this group has worse to answer for.
This could have been friends-to-lovers except they go on a date before the whole friends thing comes about, which casts a weird vibe on the whole affair. I felt like it placed more emphasis on the very intense lust they were mutually ignoring rather than actually building a friendship. Also, after one month, she considers him her best friend, so sorry to the previous holders of that title. It's less surprising once you've met them. More on that later. Dan's solicitousness towards Harper could be charming at times and overbearing at others. Like it's good he respected her wishes and the degree of intimacy she's comfortable with to stay friends only, but it always felt like he's just in the wings, waiting for her to reverse her decision and date/be in love with/have sex with him as if it's a foregone conclusion.
In general, Dan's white knight complex was a bit much for me. He wants to fix Harper's problems, even when it's not appropriate, i.e. in a work setting where she is the higher ranking person in the room. He also beats up her academic rival/tormentor, who is the cartoonish face of misogyny. So tada! he saved her from all the other sexist micro-aggressions, as well. Miracles happen, as they often do for cishet white men. His possessive caveman behavior (his words) isn't any better because of his self-awareness on the matter. Dan also wants to save his mom, who is cast in a decidedly helpless yet somehow also domineering role for most of the book. Also, his dad is an emotionally manipulative POS end of story, but I can't be the only one amused slash perplexed that Dan's most subversive/slackerly decision was to seek a job in ~finance~, where he is impassioned to make money and (in his own words) climb the corporate ladder. The shame! The piles of money! How could he not have pursued the noble profession of dentistry?? Like I would be ashamed of that, but your typical upper middle class white dad probably wouldn't be.
Now for my complete meltdown about the friendships. Harper's relationship with her best friends feels very 3-vs-1 Mario Party mini-game, where her friends reinforce her feelings that she's odd or not making the right choices because they all side against her. And it's true that Harper isn't living her healthiest life. Her anxiety runs rampant through everything, and her laser focus on school leaves room for little else. But apparently instead of asking what do you need? or how can I help? these friends decide that for themselves. They don't know about Harper's struggles with mental health, but they've intuited some aspects of it and could be responsive. They are pushy to the point of manipulating her into a bikini wax so she can "feel sexy" and entice Dan. I can't fathom an argument where that's a healthy crossing of boundaries. She is pressured into attending a party even though they know she doesn't like them, and then they lose track of her when she has a panic attack due to the conditions they introduced her to. wtf. The next morning, they show up to ask her if she's ok before moving on to the "important" questions about if she had sex or not afterwards. Even hearing she had a panic attack, they persist in asking follow ups that completely ignore her mental health. Harper (rightfully) blows up at them for their priorities, and they bring up therapy (maybe not the right time) and her dead mother (probably never a good time) and then everyone pretends the conversation didn't happen as if no changes need to be made. "Strong female friendships" were part of the hype for this book, which left me especially disappointed. Dan's best friend is somehow worse because I never observed him to have a positive quality. He judges him loudly and for all to hear about how he ignores his mom's calls as if there aren't a million reasons somehow may have a less than positive relationship with a parent, all valid.
Humans, this anxiety representation in the genre (or anywhere) was meant to be so powerful. But I spent the whole time distracted by what a shit support system Harper had and wondering how her experience would have been different with friends and a love interest who worked with her instead of for her.
Instalove vibes are pretty *shrug* to me as a general rule. In this case, it's at least instant infatuation. it reminds me of a teenage crush in timbre but with two adult people. I have great fondness for both teenagers and for occasionally acting like them. It's probably good for your health. But the overall lack of maturity from two 26-year olds, one of whom gets to be addressed as "Dr." was jarring. Even their language felt like a badly written teen drama at times. For example, who asks a friend if she "humped" last night? For that alone, I would kick a friend to the curb, and this group has worse to answer for.
This could have been friends-to-lovers except they go on a date before the whole friends thing comes about, which casts a weird vibe on the whole affair. I felt like it placed more emphasis on the very intense lust they were mutually ignoring rather than actually building a friendship. Also, after one month, she considers him her best friend, so sorry to the previous holders of that title. It's less surprising once you've met them. More on that later. Dan's solicitousness towards Harper could be charming at times and overbearing at others. Like it's good he respected her wishes and the degree of intimacy she's comfortable with to stay friends only, but it always felt like he's just in the wings, waiting for her to reverse her decision and date/be in love with/have sex with him as if it's a foregone conclusion.
In general, Dan's white knight complex was a bit much for me. He wants to fix Harper's problems, even when it's not appropriate, i.e. in a work setting where she is the higher ranking person in the room. He also beats up her academic rival/tormentor, who is the cartoonish face of misogyny. So tada! he saved her from all the other sexist micro-aggressions, as well. Miracles happen, as they often do for cishet white men. His possessive caveman behavior (his words) isn't any better because of his self-awareness on the matter. Dan also wants to save his mom, who is cast in a decidedly helpless yet somehow also domineering role for most of the book. Also, his dad is an emotionally manipulative POS end of story, but I can't be the only one amused slash perplexed that Dan's most subversive/slackerly decision was to seek a job in ~finance~, where he is impassioned to make money and (in his own words) climb the corporate ladder. The shame! The piles of money! How could he not have pursued the noble profession of dentistry?? Like I would be ashamed of that, but your typical upper middle class white dad probably wouldn't be.
Now for my complete meltdown about the friendships. Harper's relationship with her best friends feels very 3-vs-1 Mario Party mini-game, where her friends reinforce her feelings that she's odd or not making the right choices because they all side against her. And it's true that Harper isn't living her healthiest life. Her anxiety runs rampant through everything, and her laser focus on school leaves room for little else. But apparently instead of asking what do you need? or how can I help? these friends decide that for themselves. They don't know about Harper's struggles with mental health, but they've intuited some aspects of it and could be responsive. They are pushy to the point of manipulating her into a bikini wax so she can "feel sexy" and entice Dan. I can't fathom an argument where that's a healthy crossing of boundaries. She is pressured into attending a party even though they know she doesn't like them, and then they lose track of her when she has a panic attack due to the conditions they introduced her to. wtf. The next morning, they show up to ask her if she's ok before moving on to the "important" questions about if she had sex or not afterwards. Even hearing she had a panic attack, they persist in asking follow ups that completely ignore her mental health. Harper (rightfully) blows up at them for their priorities, and they bring up therapy (maybe not the right time) and her dead mother (probably never a good time) and then everyone pretends the conversation didn't happen as if no changes need to be made. "Strong female friendships" were part of the hype for this book, which left me especially disappointed. Dan's best friend is somehow worse because I never observed him to have a positive quality. He judges him loudly and for all to hear about how he ignores his mom's calls as if there aren't a million reasons somehow may have a less than positive relationship with a parent, all valid.
Humans, this anxiety representation in the genre (or anywhere) was meant to be so powerful. But I spent the whole time distracted by what a shit support system Harper had and wondering how her experience would have been different with friends and a love interest who worked with her instead of for her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Ableism, Car accident, Death of parent, and Mental illness
Moderate: Grief, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Racism and Sexual harassment
lovinglyread's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexism and Sexual content
100_pages_hr's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted so badly to love this book, but it really didn't work for me. Many others have loved it though, so I'm quite positive it is a me thing...but here are my thoughts.
1. I LOVED the meet cute. It was adorable and then she helped him fix his project and she was so patient and sweet and Dan was just adorable.
2. I didn't appreciate how one minute she didn't want Dan to stand up for her at the dental school but he could later in a social setting...
3. This book was incredibly crude/crass and it totally ruined it for me. Those parts were so frequent that they kept interrupting the flow of the book for me.
4. I did think the anxiety rep was decent. I like how it ended with some characters getting the professional help they needed.
But unfortunately the parts that didn't work for me far outweighed the good.
I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. This is my honest review.
1. I LOVED the meet cute. It was adorable and then she helped him fix his project and she was so patient and sweet and Dan was just adorable.
2. I didn't appreciate how one minute she didn't want Dan to stand up for her at the dental school but he could later in a social setting...
3. This book was incredibly crude/crass and it totally ruined it for me. Those parts were so frequent that they kept interrupting the flow of the book for me.
4. I did think the anxiety rep was decent. I like how it ended with some characters getting the professional help they needed.
But unfortunately the parts that didn't work for me far outweighed the good.
I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley. This is my honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, and Gore
becks_reads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook A Brush with Love by Mazey Eddings, in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to love this book so much. It seemed like a cute romance that also dealt with some heavier topics. However, this book fell just short of my expectations. Don’t get me wrong there was plenty of cute moments and discussion of anxiety. It just didn’t land the way I expected.
Let’s talk about Harper. From the beginning, it was insta love for me. Meaning I liked her character a lot. She had depth, was funny, and was enjoyable to read about. However, the more I listened the more she became unbearable. She started to make decisions that bugged me and would repeat the same things over and over again. I understand that she had major anxiety, and these are some things you would do if you had anxiety. However, the way they were written was annoying. In the end, she had the chance to redeem herself but by that point, I was too annoyed.
Now Dan. I love Dan, and wish the story was mostly about him. He is in dental school against his will. Wading through familial guilt and loathing. Yet he keeps moving forward, always making sure those in his life are cared for. He was the perfect gentleman to Harper. However, Harper walked all over him. He honestly deserved better.
The story. It was cute if you ignore the annoying Harper moments. There were ups and downs, cute dates, funny friends, real situations. I have one major qualm with the story though. Harper got majorly drunk one day, and Dan was pretty sober. Harper made a complete full of herself, taking off her dress and trying to seduce Dan. Being the gentleman that he is, he put her shirt back on her and tucked her into bed. That whole moment just felt gross, and unneeded. Made Harper feel like a 16-year-old girl, not 26. So in short, I guess I didn’t like the story that much.
Finally, the audiobook portion. There were two narrators for this story because it was told from dual perspectives. I loved Emily Lawrence! She did such a good job with her pacing, and tone. Vikas Adams did great while narrating Dan's thoughts or conversations with men. However, as soon as he had to voice a female, the voice got all breathy and cringy to hear. It made all the women sound young and like a seductress, even in serious moments. Besides that, I liked the audiobook portion.
I wanted to love this book so much. It seemed like a cute romance that also dealt with some heavier topics. However, this book fell just short of my expectations. Don’t get me wrong there was plenty of cute moments and discussion of anxiety. It just didn’t land the way I expected.
Let’s talk about Harper. From the beginning, it was insta love for me. Meaning I liked her character a lot. She had depth, was funny, and was enjoyable to read about. However, the more I listened the more she became unbearable. She started to make decisions that bugged me and would repeat the same things over and over again. I understand that she had major anxiety, and these are some things you would do if you had anxiety. However, the way they were written was annoying. In the end, she had the chance to redeem herself but by that point, I was too annoyed.
Now Dan. I love Dan, and wish the story was mostly about him. He is in dental school against his will. Wading through familial guilt and loathing. Yet he keeps moving forward, always making sure those in his life are cared for. He was the perfect gentleman to Harper. However, Harper walked all over him. He honestly deserved better.
The story. It was cute if you ignore the annoying Harper moments. There were ups and downs, cute dates, funny friends, real situations. I have one major qualm with the story though. Harper got majorly drunk one day, and Dan was pretty sober. Harper made a complete full of herself, taking off her dress and trying to seduce Dan. Being the gentleman that he is, he put her shirt back on her and tucked her into bed. That whole moment just felt gross, and unneeded. Made Harper feel like a 16-year-old girl, not 26. So in short, I guess I didn’t like the story that much.
Finally, the audiobook portion. There were two narrators for this story because it was told from dual perspectives. I loved Emily Lawrence! She did such a good job with her pacing, and tone. Vikas Adams did great while narrating Dan's thoughts or conversations with men. However, as soon as he had to voice a female, the voice got all breathy and cringy to hear. It made all the women sound young and like a seductress, even in serious moments. Besides that, I liked the audiobook portion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
decklededgess's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
trigger warnings: anxiety attack, abusive father, social anxiety, misogyny and sexism, bullying and harassment, physical violence, depressive episode, sexual content, alcohol, death of parents
Dude this book was so fucking cute my chest hurt reading it. It's got only one sex scene but the emotional turmoil this put me through more than compensates for the lack of titillating content if you know what I mean.
Harper is such a strong character and her anxiety and panic disorder is folded into that really well. I loved also how caring Dan was, how willing he was to work within Harper's boundaries and flirt with her (consent given obviously) until she was coaxed out of her shell. I was also really glad that his character allowed for him to put his foot down when it seemed like emotionally he was getting the shorter end of the stick. It was a great balance of both characters setting boundaries and learning to fit each other into their lives.
Lovely story!
Dude this book was so fucking cute my chest hurt reading it. It's got only one sex scene but the emotional turmoil this put me through more than compensates for the lack of titillating content if you know what I mean.
Harper is such a strong character and her anxiety and panic disorder is folded into that really well. I loved also how caring Dan was, how willing he was to work within Harper's boundaries and flirt with her (consent given obviously) until she was coaxed out of her shell. I was also really glad that his character allowed for him to put his foot down when it seemed like emotionally he was getting the shorter end of the stick. It was a great balance of both characters setting boundaries and learning to fit each other into their lives.
Lovely story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, Sexism, Misogyny, Violence, and Alcohol
mrsbennettreads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this e-ARC! Fans of contemporary romance will love this new book by Mazey Eddings. The main character, Harper, spoke to me as an anxiety-ridden overachiever. I felt SEEN with this anxiety rep! The setting of dental school also was very intriguing- it was almost like a mouth only Grey’s Anatomy vibe.
To go from 4 stars to 5 stars for me, personally, the instalove could have been a little less insta. I know it’s a thing in Romance, but it still takes me out of the story a bit. I am excited to read the next book in this universe!
To go from 4 stars to 5 stars for me, personally, the instalove could have been a little less insta. I know it’s a thing in Romance, but it still takes me out of the story a bit. I am excited to read the next book in this universe!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Car accident, and Sexual content
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