e-Audio, 10:31:02
Narrated by: Emily Lawrence & Vikas Adam
Release Date: March 1, 2022
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: February 24 * March 1, 2022
Untitled Series, #1
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Loss of a loved one, Living life wit General Anxiety Disorder, Grief, an on page panic attack, sexism, and ableism.
For Readers Interested In: Women in STEM, Romance, Spice Level II, Dual POV, Mental Illness Rep, Realistic Fiction, Grief, AdultHarper 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 one this adorable.
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 with the greatest of intentions and the poorest of follow-throughs, the two set out to 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 can’t risk her carefully ordered life coming undone, no matter how drool-worthy Dan is.
Blood, gore, and extra-long roots? No problem. The idea of falling in love? Torture.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I don’t really know why, but the idea of reading a romance book about two dentists was super exciting to me. I was super excited to read this book for whatever reason. I’m glad it was able to live up to what I thought in my head.
Harper has been working her ass off to get into the oral surgery residence program. But after falling down the stairs and damaging some teeth in the process, Harper is suddenly distracted because of everything to do with Dan. Now Dan is a first year student, and even though he is quickly falling for her, he knows from his own journey into dental school just how challenging this is, so he agrees to play by the rules Harper has made. But as they get closer to each other, they both begin to realize getting a root canal might be easier than falling in love.
I have really got to start reading synopsis…. I thought I was going to be reading a rom com where someone falls down the stairs, some teeth fall out, and that’s the meet cute and the rest is a rom com where I was laughing my butt off. This was no rom com. In fact, the addition of the GAD being present was even less silly for me. What I wanted was a book about about romance, filled with dental and toothpaste puns, but what I got was so much more. I’m so glad I had just low expectations, because it made me able to enjoy the fact that it was much more, even more. If that makes sense at all.
OK, I wasn’t the biggest fan of all the baggage that everyone had. I’m a firm believer that you have to work on you before you try being with anyone else, so this was a lot for me. So from the very beginning I wasn’t the biggest fan of them being together. But then when it came to them individually, I LOVED them. Harper was like a dental superhero lol She is uber smart and I didn’t understand any of the terms she was saying, but she sounded so cool saying them. And Dan…. He was my favorite. Such a sweet character! The way he waited until she was ready, was there through EVERYTHING. It was torture seeing him hurt because he wasn’t with her, but I did love seeing him pine for her. But the romance didn’t really seem real to me. I guess because her anxiety had such a hold on her. It didn’t seem like her feelings for him could break through what her anxiety was telling her brain. I don’t know how to explain it.
There were some things I had trouble with while reading this tho and I thought it needed it’s own section in my review. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Harper, but I think it was because I had seen so much of myself in her. I also have GAD and I found myself thinking, “do I do this? Do I react like this? Do people get this reaction from me too?” I know it does nothing to compare my illness to someone else’s but sometimes it slips in when you least expect it. That was the long winded way of saying that Harper’s GAD was a great representation of what living with GAD is like.
I also listened to the audio of this from Netgalley, so I’ll speak a little about the narration. I loved that there were two narrators because of the Dual POV. I love getting the experience of both voices. Idk it makes it more “real” to me? I think Lawrence did great, but it was Adam that stole the show. The smexy part that they read? Holy smokes. I was blushing and there wasn’t even that much described. He just had the right intonation and pitch. He’s been one of my favorites tho, so that was no surprise. I also have read and loved other books that Lawrence did as well, so it was great to see two of my faves get together. They were both great picks for this book.
Women in STEM is always a win for me. And I am so grateful we have one about an area like dentistry. It’s not something that’s always seen, so to have someone come in to represent and to “pull it out” like this? I loved it.
Overall, I give this
