A Brush with Love

January 17, 2022
An anxious dentist isn’t sure she can handle taking a study break for love in Eddings’s alternately raunchy and poignant debut. When final-year dental student Harper Horowitz falls down a flight of stairs onto first-year Dan Craige, she’s momentarily startled out of her habitual worry by his good looks and easygoing demeanor. As their paths keep crossing, Harper only likes him more but she’s afraid a relationship would interfere with securing an oral surgery residency or cause stress she can’t handle. Dan is also struggling: he left a job he loved in finance to please his mother, who needs help at her dental practice, but he’s bored by dentistry and struggles in class. The refreshingly diverse supporting cast includes Harper’s brash but well-intentioned friends and Dan’s endearing roommate—and it’s clear to all that Harper and Dan are made for each other, if Harper can just muster the courage to let Dan into her life. Harper’s struggle with anxiety is well drawn but sometimes threatens to overwhelm the rest of her characterization—and even the plot itself. Still, fans of Grey’s Anatomy will feel right at home at Callowhill University’s School of Dental Medicine. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary.

June 1, 2022

In this debut, fourth-year dental student Harper is stressed about everything--she's studying hard to get into oral surgery residency and her anxiety isn't helping. When she crashes into first-year hunk Dan in the stairway, she doesn't want to fall in love. Harper's life plan doesn't include romance, and she has no time for daydreaming or dates. Dan dreams of finance instead of teeth--he's only in school because of his mother's wish to keep the dentistry office in the family. Told through alternating viewpoints, their on-and-off-again romance is only rekindled satisfactorily when both adults have tackled their own mental health problems head-on. Narrators Emily Lawrence and Vikas Adam voice their characters with warmth and sincerity. Harper's nervousness and pain is perfectly rendered by Lawrence, and Adam's narration of the sexy lovemaking scene will make hearts pound. The novel begins with mental health trigger warnings from the author. VERDICT Recommend to listeners who want slow-burn contemporary romance with an authentic anxious main character.--Sarah Hill

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