Mazey Eddings is a neurodiverse author, dentist, and (most importantly) stage mom to her cats, Yaya and Zadie. She can most often be found reading romance novels under her weighted blanket and asking her boyfriend to bring her snacks. She's made it her personal mission in life to destigmatize mental health issues and write love stories for every brain. With roots in Ohio and North Carolina, she now calls Philadelphia home. You can find more of my reviews of her work here.
Harper Horowitz is anxiously awaiting placement into a top oral surgery residency program when she crashes (literally) into Dan Craige. Despite their immediate connection, Harper would rather endure a novocaine-free root canal than face any distractions from her career goals, even one this adorable. A first-year dental student with a family legacy to content 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 rule that the two will 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 she can't risk her carefully ordered life coming undone, no matter how droolworthy Dan is. Blood, core, and extra-long roots? No problem. The idea of falling in love? Torture.
My absolute favorite part about this novel was the slow burn romance. This was done extremely well, in my opinion, because it wasn't your typical slow burn. Rather than awkward meetings fraught with sexual tension, Mazey Eddings does something brilliant: constructs a best friends to lovers storyline, that still maintains the slow burn status quo. Watching Dan and Harper become best friends feels so real, that of course it makes sense that they'd break their original agreement down the line (especially since both of them really wanted to, in the beginning). Eddings is better able to get readers acquainted with both of Dan's and Harper's specific pasts and their hopes for the future in this way, too. It allows for reveal-through-dialogue, and for each of them to have the emotional access to one another needed in order to develop their friendship into something more. This element of the novel was my absolute favorite.
But that's not to say there aren't other shining stars present, of course! In fact, the depiction of Harper's anxiety comes a close second to being one of my favorite parts about this book. As readers can tell from Eddings's bio, writing neurodiverse characters is incredibly important to her, and important to the contemporary romance genre in general. These stories need to be told, and Eddings makes them shine. She is able to depict the evolution of Harper's anxiety with care and trust—meaning that readers who have a similar experience to Harper will probably resonate with her, due to Eddings's dedication to telling neurodiverse stories, and even readers who can't claim an anxiety disorder will trust in this depiction for the same reason. Of course, mental health can't be generalized, and I am no expert, but I really felt the truth of Harper's anxiety at the core of her character, and I was a huge fan of how Eddings developed Harper's character and story in line with one another.
Dan's character as well was very interesting. I should start by saying that I'm always interested when I note that the author is going to write the male perspective, in addition to the female perspective, of a contemporary romance novel of a straight couple. This is because I know I am not brave enough to write first person from a man's perspective, and so am always glad when I read a male first person perspective that feels genuine—and Dan's did. He could have seemed too perfect—great hair, pretty face, going to be a doctor—but Eddings completely tears that down once he is able to open up to himself and to Harper about what he wants out of life. People are complicated! I love how when I'm always reminded of that fact when I'm reading, even if the people that remind me of this fact are fictional.
Eddings is also just downright hilarious. Dan's and Harper's interactions with one another, the sarcasm between Harper and her friends, the inner dialogue is all just hilarious. This book is funny without sacrificing an ounce of its compassion, and that's what made A Brush with Love such a quick and enjoyable read for it. It's hard to find contemporary romances that genuinely make me laugh out loud—I do believe books can be funny without the need to laugh out loud—but this one was funny enough to get me to laugh. I know I will definitely be keeping an eye out for any of Eddings's future works.
It seems like Mazey Eddings has more novels in the works, which will definitely be quickly snatched up by readers! To find out more, visit her at her website.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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