Hannah B.'s Reviews > A Brush with Love

✨Did this book even mention toothpaste?✨

I get the summary says oral surgery but every piece of marketing laid so thick into toothbrush, toothpaste, and things that make you think “dentist” not “major and intense oral/facial reconstructive” surgeon. I get it, it’s on me. This is the one time the summary was actually very accurate. But the cover? The connotations? That’s on them. “Dental Dam” Dan being a dental student made zero sense and was only added to make it more dentisty. It honestly terrified me because he was really going to become a dentist, something he literally hated and that grossed him out. A DENTIST. KEEP HIM AWAY FROM MY MOUTH IN ALL SCENARIOS.

It did not feel like a dentist book. I thought they would be swooning over each other in a workplace romance way, but nope. They’re both in school and we barely got to see any dental or oral surgeon stuff. We rarely see them dentist. I knew Harper was an oral surgeon, but we rarely got good behind the scenes look at what it was like. It was mainly just about the rigor of the school and pressure of it all. Yes, that’s useful information for Harper’s character, but it didn’t feel like the book I signed up to read.

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As for Dan and Harper, I disliked them both. First it was Dan, then it was Harper, then it was both. What a journey! Like ping pong! Watch out for these balls of fury. Neither felt like they were actually 26-year-old adults. They acted like undergrads in most scenarios, even younger in others. Their decisions were embarrassing at times and I never felt the connection because this was the, and I mean THE, most instant case of insta love I have ever experienced.

I couldn’t even tell you the timeline of their relationship. They met and BOOM they’re all touchy feely, wanting to lick random extremities and graze teeth everywhere. (I assume this was because it was a “dentist” book? Tongues, mouths, teeth, etc. Idk just stick with oral.) He was saying she’s the most gorgeous gorgeous brained girl. She was saying he was her safe space from anxiety. It felt like a week for a relationship that had the familiarity of three years. He was kissing her forehead, slow dancing and humming in her kitchen, and being SO touchy before they even kissed. They were nearly getting it ON before they even kissed. It just seemed way too intimate, way too fast. Dan had absolutely nothing more to his name than being obsessed with Harper and being in dental school for a ridiculous ridiculous reason. Oh baby, lemme lick your nose.

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Dan was a spineless toad. Harper is kinda the worst to him and he’s like wow her brilliant mind and beautiful hands. His mom guilt-tripped him into dental school at 26, while he had a whole ass career which was fucking WEIRD. How do you let someone guilt you into DENTAL SCHOOL? He has Harper so high on a pedestal she can see across the Pacific. He’s eager in the worst way. Like just so obsessed with her. He is painfully obtuse, singleminded, heavy handed, and absolutely unrealistic. I was never attracted to this weird man child. He was never a cinnamon roll. He was an untoasted, unbuttered, unflavored piece of sandwich bread.

He is the type of man you dream up in the first draft. Dan is your ideal, your wet dream. Just so goddamn devoted to you. Then you start dating him and realize he is an absolutely boring shadow following you around. You realize the chase was more fun than the catch. Then you realize that this book didn’t even have the chase! It was so insta love I was distraught. They met, he was like wow, she was like wow, he was like marry me, she was like tbh I’m tempted but women can’t have a relationship and goals because that’s #hard. She blames him for making her like him so much that she forgets deadlines. Not just blames, but reads him to filth. HONEY WHAT THE FUCK.

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Harper as a character was trying to accomplish way too much in one book. Her character was being pulled in so many directions they effectively canceled each other out in the story as a whole. I just couldn’t with her blaming Dan for everything and let me remind you I PRETTY MUCH HATE THE MAN. I’m sorry but she’s very very bad to Dan and she admits she is being cruel and lying and wrong but she keeps laying it the fuck on. It was really fucked up. I support neither of these characters.

Right off the bat, this book tried to do something by making “shit” the first word. Personally, it just set the tone for me and it was pretty accurate. For me, it means the book is going to fundamentally understand my soul… or tell me to go fuck myself. What I mean by this is that I think being “a relatable teen” is a huge thing this book tried to do. It tried to do it too hard and too much. The main culprits were Harper’s caricatures dressed up as friends. Some of the words that came out of their mouths just really baffled me. Half of this book was Harper and Dan. The other half was a mix of weird phrases and cringey one-liners from the supporting cast. Most landed severely off beat for me.

Her friends were simply included to be “comic relief,” which is fine I suppose, but they weren’t funny, just cringey. Sorry, but I draw the line and one “titty” mention per book. Also randomly trying to get a Brazilian? So fucking bizarre. I have never wanted to strangle anyone with my Fallopian tubes, thank you very much. I would never go anywhere near a bone zone. Alex having sweet relief? Good God I’m sorry but NO. It was a bad mix of frat boy, dad, and Twitter language. I genuinely wouldn’t want to know any of these people in real life.

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As for the audiobook, I didn’t mind Harper’s narrator but good lord Dan’s guy just… went for it. Unfortunately, I didn’t particularly like any way he got the get. His voice for Harper was grating to say the least, making her sound about 16 years old. It was horrifying during the sex scenes. Not only did we have him doing Harper’s weirdly young voice, but we also had this man being so overcome. I’d wager he was damn near close to achieving orgasm. I would have preferred Harper’s narrator to narrate the whole thing. The narrators also talked super slow. I listened to this at 2.0 speed and never even broke a sweat.

Stripping away everything else, the main, driving force working against our “lovers” was Harper not being able to balance Dan and her school. Which I suppose is fine and realistic, but the way she blamed him was just so Not A Good Time. The third act break up was just so hard to swallow. It made Harper, who could have been an incredibly nuanced character, turn into one bad decision after another. Just a really bad crush. That’s all it was. I am, at once, absolutely not shocked that people loved this book and fundamentally shocked that people loved this book. And I think that makes perfect sense.

⭐️⭐️/5 🌶🌶🌶*/5

*idk the steam was fine but not great nor anywhere near good enough to save this book. It was like 2.5 scenes? Sex was always a solution to a larger problem, which made it more annoying than satisfying.

Btw, also who is Elizabeth. I literally couldn’t tell you. She appeared out of nowhere and I’m very confused. She had a mom that was bad? Did I black out? The probability is likely.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced audiobook. All opinions are honest and my own.