I really loved Burke’s first book and I liked the premise of this one, but the writing style of this book really took me out of the story. Maybe it was the names were too close and I frequently forgot whose pov I was on, or a lack of communication at times was just not for me.

Fall for Him is a very sweet enemies-to-lovers/forced proximity queer romance. I felt invested in both Derek and Dylan (though I think it’s a weird choice to give you main characters similar names). This is an easy book to fall into (whoops) and enjoy your stay, though I do feel like it goes on a bit longer than necessary.

Talk about a meet not so cute! Derek has disliked Dylan since Dylan moved in upstairs but now, now they're stuck together because Derek's fallen through the ceiling into Derek's apartment. Wow. These two are anclassic opposites trope but I liked that Derek is a nurse. that there's good representation for dealing with ADHD, that there's found family and.....a dog! We all know these two will overcome their issues (really more on Derek's side) to become a happy couple but it's the journey that's important. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

lovely cover, lackluster story!

I feel like this book started off strong, but it eventually became incredibly boring. I also think the pacing was very off. It went from zero to one hundred, and that resulted in oddly paced character development.

also, why the heck are the characters named so similarly?

I found this to be a cute story!

The premise was pretty funny, where they literally fall into each others lives. I did find that there was a distinguishable switch at one point where Dylan and Derek go from fighting to spicing things up and then they immediately fall into a relationship from there? It seemed like there could have been more of a build up/ease into that part of their relationship in a more natural way.

Overall this was an intriguing read!

The way I fell hard for Dylan and Derek. ❤️❤️
The premise was kind of ridiculous with him literally falling through the floors, but if you get past that it just works. This book is funny, tender and so touching. I will be thinking of Dylan & Derek for a while.

It was my first read by the author and although it’s interconnected with another book it can 100% be read as a stand alone.

I love their banter, love the ADHD rep, especially being inside Dylan’s mind. This book is full of tenderness, seeing them fall in love while trying so hard not to. I highlighted half of this book.

“Mostly because he was still supposed to hate this guy. This guy who just spent twenty minutes saying goodbye to his best friend in this tragic, tender way and eating her mushrooms, and all of it made Dylan want to tuck the man into bed, brew him chamomile tea, and put on that strange dance movie he had three copies of. This was probably worse than thinking about him in bed for other reasons.”

“And maybe not wear that hat ever again. Seeing Dylan’s hair fanning out under the cap made Derek want to touch it. Yikes. Must be early signs of Stockholm syndrome. Dylan’s destruction of his apartment forced him into captivity. Derek was a sad, lonely, heterosexual pirate seeing a manatee as a mermaid.”

Swoon. 🥰

Thank you NetGalley & Andie Burke for an ARC, all my opinions are my own.

What an absolute delight!

There’s not much more to say about the meet cute in this book other than the fact that Dylan falls through the roof of his apartment and ends up on top of his neighbor Derek then awkwardly makes an “It’s Raining Men” joke.

I’ll back up.

Derek moves into a building owned by his uncle when his job forces relocation and his own house is occupied by renters. Inadvertently causing a flood that damages the floor, it collapses into his hot and generally annoyed with him neighbor, Derek’s apartment.

The repairs are going to be extensive and both guys want to keep it on the down low from the suspicious and nosy HOA neighbor, so Dylan, being quite the fixer upper, offers to handle the repairs. And so the two are thrust into each other’s lives. Tensions build, lines are crossed, and shoulders are rubbed.

And this all sounds very typical romcom-y but there’s so much more here. The book focuses on the effect Dylan’s severe ADHD has on him, his life, and his relationships, while conversely addressing Derek’s struggle with a savior complex that, instead of fixing things, only drives people away.

There is grief and buried feelings, communication, banter, spice, and real heart in this story. It’s such a refreshing queer romance that reminded me often of The Prospects in tone and feeling.

Don’t sleep on this one!

Thanks to @netgalley, @macmillanaudio, and @stmartinspress for the audioARC/ eARC in exchange for an honest review. This one comes out September 3, 2024.

I really enjoyed this book! It is a very cute contemporary romance book. It does a great job of balancing humor, romance, and more serious topics regarding mental health.

The relationship between Dylan and Derek had me giggling and kicking my feet. The side characters were also very lovable and I hope they get spin off books. Overall I would definitely recommend this book!

3.5 stars ⭐️
Thank you, netgalley, and St Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Dylan crashed through Derek's ceiling, landing on his bed when Dylan's kitchen flooded. Dylan noticed that there were a lot of structural issues in Derek's apartment and promised to fix it up for him at cost. Dylan also let Derek stay in his apartment until the construction is completed.
First of all, I want to mention how gorgeous the cover is! I'm so obsessed! So I enjoyed this book overall, but I felt like the middle dragged a bit, while the end was rushed. I really liked the ADHD representation in the book. I also think the theme of grief was done well. The relationship between Dyaln and Derek was very sweet, but the third act breakup wasn't my favorite. I think it needed to happen, but not so late in the book.

Was excited for this one because the cover is beautiful and the synopsis grabbed my interest, but unfortunately the writing didn’t work for me.

It was pretty unstructured, and with it being third person and two male main characters names Dylan and Derek, I was completely lost on whose pov I was in on almost every page leaving me to struggle through the messy plot and character building.

Read as much as I could, but I was not enjoying the read, so this was sadly a DNF.

Thank you to SMP and Macmillan audio for the review copies. I really enjoyed Andie Burke's debut last year and was excited to read this next book. For me though the sexy slow burn mood in her earlier book was missing in this one, I found I just could not quite get into the rhythm of this book, perhaps because the characters were not 100% likable, and I felt as a reader I landed in the middle of a story with the immediate "crash into each other" start to the story, and I didn't have a good sense as to who was who, esp with similar names and some lack of clarity about which voice was which character, though the audiobook handled this better and the voice actors did a good job even if I didn't like the book as much as I hoped I would.

I was confused from the first few paragraphs of this book and unfortunately, I was still getting confused near the end of the book. The biggest issue is that the two main characters both have D- names and we are never actually properly introduced to them; literally it’s a crash introduction. I needed some pause in the story to say this is Derek and what he looks like and this is Dylan and what he looks like. Their families also being thrown in and them having a mutual connection to Jake - even more confusion! AND they were both dealing with grief (I think so - I’m still confused). The author really needed to reorganize this story. Additionally, it was just way too long! There were so many unimportant things that occurred and made the storyline more convoluted. I’m also convinced neither main character was actually ready for a relationship. They both had some work to do and one really needed some maturity. Their chemistry was fine, the neighbor was too much and too weird, and the ending was forced. Honestly, this would’ve been so much better with more serious editing. 3⭐️, 2🌶

Daryl falls through the ceiling and lands on Derek’s bed on page one. Love a book that gets to the point right away more room for the couple to, in this case, get to know each other because they have a different perspective of the other. They are forced to spend time together in Daryl’s apartment while Dereks’ is being fixed.
My only negative would be giving the two MCs a D-name, my brain had a confusing time trying to place who was who in the beginning.

[arc review]
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Fall for Him releases September 3, 2024

In all honesty, I was ready to DNF this after reading the first page. Meet-cute disaster aside, I find it very hard to believe that an apartment building would have a kitchen directly above a bedroom instead of mirroring the same layout of the unit below with the same square footage.

I really did not like Burke’s debut novel, but wanted to give them a second chance, mostly because my interest was piqued when I saw this included an Asian lead.
Turns out, Burke is just not for me!
It probably didn’t help that her sophomore novel was pretty much a companion novel instead of a true standalone, given how extensive a role Olive and her brother played in Derek and Dylan’s lives.

With a dual pov MM romance, featuring two characters with <I>very</I> similar names, it would have been extremely helpful to have labelled the chapters accordingly in order to minimize confusion as there was little distinction between their two voices.

I found that the tone of their dialogue and interactions were laced with a lot of judgment and hostility rather than it being a feel-good, swoon-worthy romance. For that reason, it was hard to become invested or find enjoyment in a relationship between two people that appeared to have little to no compatibility or chemistry.

Much like Burke’s debut, the plot was so cluttered with multiple components that none had the time to really shine. Not only was there the development of a romantic relationship, but also familial drama with Derek’s sister’s debt, his mother’s elopement, Dylan’s siblings and his ADHD, the busy-body HOA “Karen” and her hyperfixation with the dog, home renovations, and Derek’s unresolved issues with Jake who ended up feeling like a third wheel from beyond the grave.

If I have to read the word “kay” one more time, I might actually bleach my eyes.

𝐌𝐂𝐬: Derek + Dylan
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭:
🌻 Neighbor Shenanigans
🌻 Badly Timed Jokes
🌻 ADHD Rep
🌻 Wrong First Impressions
🌻 Grief & Acceptance
🌻 3rd Act Youknowwhat

Call me surprised…

I’m not usually one to enjoy traditionally published books compared to indie books, but I really ended up enjoying this one.

The negative: like others have mentioned, the first third or so of the book (and periodically) I would confuse the POV because the names are Dylan and Derek and it got jumbled sometimes. I also thought the 3rd act youknowwhat was a bit forced and not necessarily needed. Not for the length of time. I also felt like a few scenes jumped around or were a bit abrupt, like maybe the author had a thought but couldn’t quite pen it in time before a new scene was written.

The positive: the ADHD rep was handled so well as was the grief. I adored the romance. Dylan was a bit scatterbrained and Derek was a bit of a stiff, but when they started letting down their guards, they were just perfect for each other.

𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘦: September 3, 2024
𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠. 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣.

Fall for Him was a cute dislike-to-friends-to-lovers story with a dash of something deeper. The premise pulled me in; however, the writing style made it difficult to stay. This story is written in third person and it’s difficult to tell who’s talking. Having both MMCs names start with D put my squishy mind to work trying to remember who was who. The Dylan/Derek confusion lasted for longer than I’d like, and it made it more difficult to be invested in them as individuals.

The standout to me in this book was how Dylan’s life looked with ADHD. Without spoiling anything I appreciated the insight and representation that the author included. The third act doesn’t feel forced and, for me, that deserves a whole star on its own. I would’ve loved more time spent with some of the supporting characters. The renovations don’t take up nearly as much time as the synopsis makes it seem, I think that time could’ve been better spent on Derek or Dylan’s relationships with their families. Although I did have higher hopes for this book, I’m grateful for the opportunity to read it.

I absolutely loved Fall for Him! The banter between the characters was sharp, witty, and had me grinning from ear to ear. The chemistry between them was palpable, making their connection feel genuine and deeply engaging.

I also found myself relating strongly to Derek and his dad. Like them, I love to travel and explore, but there’s something special about the quiet moments—just sitting back with a good book or listening to music, soaking in the serenity. People often tell me to live life more actively, but I find true joy in those peaceful, reflective times.

Overall, Fall for Him struck the perfect balance between humor, romance, and heartfelt moments. It’s a story that will stay with me, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great read!

I don't really know how to rate this one. I had high hopes for it as it sounds like such a cute story but at first I was just so confused as to who was who. Both MC names started with D and the beginning of the chapters didn't say which character it was. This could be just me but it was hard to connect with them at first. I also felt like they went from fighting to loving so quickly that it felt like I missed something.

I did like the Main Characters but I just wish it was executed a little better

This MM romance begins with a quirky meet-cute: Dylan literally falls into his neighbor Derek’s bed. Though they start as enemies, their relationship quickly shifts, diving into deeper themes. I appreciated the ADHD representation, but the pacing felt off, with some chapters seemingly missing. Overall, a decent read, but not particularly memorable.

Thanks to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for the
E-ARC! Loved this so much! Loved both characters and the chemistry. Excited to read more from this author!