Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - A Brush with Love

Friends to lovers, he falls first, dual POV STEM romance, with mental illness rep and a badass girl friend group. I think the FMC’s anxiety was handled in a respect and accurate way. But genuinely, the amount of miscommunication needed to advance this plot for almost 350 pages is just too high for me. I know that some of this is anxiety logic, which felt accurate, but some of it just made Harper seem so dense and made me frustrated with her. But overall, I loved the banter and the way it tackles sexism and internalized ableism.

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xeniba's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I felt frustrated with Harper for refusing to get help for the majority of the book, but it was also realistic, at least based on my experience.

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beccaand's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-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

3.0

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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challenging emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I wanted to read this book as I've seen this all over the book community. I enjoyed this book but it did take me a while to get into this book and I felt like it was missing something.

This book has two points of view, the first one is Harper Horowitz, she 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 if he is super gorgeous. The second point of view is Dan Craige, he is 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 both of them agree to “Just be 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 drool-worthy Dan is.

I like academic romances with dual POVs. I like our two MCs. I can relate a lot to Harper and her struggles with her anxiety. I liked how both of the characters struggles were written without romanticing them. I liked that there wasn’t any miscommunication in this book and that the communication was clear and helped show Harper that people can support you if you let them. I liked Dan, I think Dan was sweet and I would have loved for him to have a bit more depth and maybe a sibling, because from what I could tell he was an only child. It think the only character that sort of saved this book (when the author needed to move the story along) was Thu, I wanted more of Thu, I want Thu to have her own book, I wanted more of her during this book. She saved this from me and made me change my rating from 2 stars to 3 stars.

I feel like I struggle with this book at time due to how slow it was at times, it kept going from fast-paced to slow-paced with kept hurting my head. I understood why the author did it at times but it was just messing with the flow a bit. I wish this book had more, more relationship development, I would have loved to seen the personal development between the therapists and the MCs. I also think that the side characters were only there when they were needed rather than in the storyline. I would have loved for Harper to pick up on Alex and Thu’s growing relationship. I didn’t like the insta love that Dan seemed to have for Harper I would have loved to have seen a slow burn in this book, especially as this book was like he insta loves her and then she drags out the growth and then tries to become a slow, if it was going to be an insta love book, then make it an insta love book but it was just sort of all over the place.

This book was fun and cute but I just wanted more and whilst writing this review, I've just seen that it’s part of a series so hopefully I will like the next one more.

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evie_dora's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

4.5

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bbbeth's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad medium-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

4.25

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