First off, I want to say a huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with an ARC of "Fall for Him" by Andie Burke in exchange for an honest review!

When browsing NetGalley, I came across this book and was immediately invested. I really liked the cover and the premise of this book sounded so good and with that, I requested an ARC! I normally am not a fast reader, but I read this book in under a week so I call that a win! It’s an easy read + what I would consider a fun little palate cleanser romance even though it does touch on heavier topics such as workplace violence. Derek is an ER Nurse + I really enjoyed how his character was portrayed both when he was working at the hospital and not. Dylan is a software engineer/handy man + I also enjoyed how his character was portrayed. I will be honest and say that there were a handful of times that I was confused when reading the story because I kept mixing up Dylan and Derek. I also feel like there were a lot of side characters that I just really didn’t become attached to. I felt like Carol’s character was meant to be annoying, but to me it just seemed a little bit much after a while. Gus however, I LOVED Gus! Gus was the star of every scene he was in! You put a dog in a book and I’m immediately excited!

I enjoyed the ADHD + mental health representation throughout this book, it definitely does help to connect with the characters more.

This book definitely had some cute scenes that I really enjoyed, and there were parts where I physically laughed out loud. As a huge Grey’s fan, I enjoyed the Grey’s Anatomy references & as a lover of Taco Bell, I loved the talk about T-Bell. However, there were also times when I was reading where I felt like I missed a few pages or something and was confused on how we got to where we were.

All in all, there were things that I enjoyed about this book and there were things that I didn’t enjoyed as much about this book and you know what? That’s okay! Would I still recommend this book? Yes! It comes out in September and if you enjoy forced proximity and/or enemies to lovers, then I would suggest trying it out!

First off, thank you so much to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Found this one a little hard to get into, but after the 40% mark everything was much better! I thought that the story was a little underdeveloped at times and also Carol was such an annoying character. I get that she’s meant to be irritating but she did not have to be there all the time only for her to eventually get shut down in what I thought was such an anticlimactic way.

I did enjoy the representation of ADHD and mental health issues, it made everything more real and really showed the characters’ struggles.

I will say it was a little weird to read about a character named Dylan because that’s my brother’s name 😂 I wasn’t connected to the characters and both of them having names that start with D did not help at the start…I would get them confused all the time and not know who did what and what was happening to who.

Generally a pretty okay book, personally just not really my thing.

Note: This review has temporarily been posted on Goodreads without a rating, as I am aware that certain publishers/authors do not want any ratings under 4 stars to be posted before the book is released.

The storyline or plot of this book was funny. It was a fresh idea, but I think the execution could have been better.

Someone falling into your bed through the ceiling is hilarious. Add in a cute dog, hot nurse, and family you get a fun dose of chaos. I did get confused about who I was reading about as their names were very similar.
The way the texts were phrased also confused me as I couldn't always tell if it was a text or an inner monologue.
I did feel like sometimes it was very much middle school drama vibes. Simple clear discussions could have solved the problem. The characters felt a little underdeveloped. Their relationship had tension but the constant relationship shifts happened quickly, felt like I was getting whiplash and actually would have to go back and make sure I did not miss anything in the previous chapter. It didn't feel like a natural progression.

The "Karen" neighbor felt a little overdone.
The flashbacks did not seem to have a clear formatting change so it got confusing.
Although the side characters had some promise their storylines didn't add anything to the story ( like Mom and batman)
The ending was not only anticlimactic but also underwhelming. I was expecting something different maybe a little more romantic. or rom-com adjacent. The family issues felt unfinished and rushed.
Both Dylan and Derek experienced growth throughout the book but the growth was rushed as with the family issues being dealt with.

This book has promise but needs more development.

FALL FOR HIM by @andiewritesalot is a stunning romcom & follow-up to her debut, FLY WITH ME. it’s a story about how messy healing from past traumas can be & how even the most imperfect versions of ourselves are deserving of love.

it’s full of heart & made me laugh out loud. ♡

also as someone who was recently diagnosed with ADHD it brings me so much joy & comfort to read love stories with characters that have ADHD because getting to see them get their happily ever after gives me so much hope :'))

Dylan Gallagher lives above Derek Chang, who hates his guts. One day after a Sou vide water incident Dylan crashes into Derek’s bedroom through the ceiling. The two must live together why Dylan fixes the damage. Close quarters, a huge dog, a nosy neighbor and a massive hole in the ceiling and the two start to reconsider everything during their time together.

This is my first M/M romance. I know that’s remiss of me. But I really enjoyed this. It’s a slow burn but you really use this to get to know the characters really well. Dylan and Derek’s love is gentle with hand holding and lots of babes and I think that’s my favorite part. Dylan’s sister and Derek best friend make witty side characters.

The only nit pick I have of this book is that the main characters names are really similar. Dylan and Derek, so when I started reading I had to recheck sentences a lot to be sure I know who was being referred to. The author even makes a joke about how much “D” there is. The more I read the easier it got. Derek also refers to Dylan by his last name a lot which is helpful.

M/M romance, forced proximity, Parental loss, enemies to lovers, slow burn, AHDH Rep, Male nurse/ Tech guy , grief

This was a lot of fun! I always looked forward to picking this back up.

I adored Dylan, and loved the way his struggles with adhd were explored. Dylan and Derek had a sweet relationship and I was eager for them to get their HEA. This book is highly readable, and I got through it super quickly and enjoyed myself quite a bit!!

I had a hard time understanding and sympathizing with how asshole-ish Derek was in the first half of this book. He was so sweet in Fly With Me, and such a dick for a lot of this.

I felt Derek’s storyline with his sister Michelle was not properly fleshed out, and was dealt with extremely abruptly at the 80% mark.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and will be reading whatever the author puts out next.

The premise of this story drew me in right away and it did not disappoint! Derek Chang is abruptly woken up when his neighbor from upstairs, Dylan Gallagher, literally falls through his ceiling and onto his bed. Things seem to go to hell from there when Derek needs extensive repairs to his apartment and Dylan offers to help him out. Little does Dylan know that Derek already knows of Dylan and absolutely despises him.
What follows is a story full of so much banter and laugh-out-loud moments, a little family dysfunction, heart-wrenching grief, self-discovery, found family, and new love. We also get to see characters from Andie's previous novel, and I loved catching up with them.
I really want to touch on the representation of mental illness in this book. Andie wrote Dylan's struggles and accomplishments with ADHD so well. I'm sure her personal experiences contributed to the nuance of managing ADHD and all of the emotions that come with it. It is always refreshing to have an accurate take on a mental illness I also have experience with.

*Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this complimentary advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.*

I loved this so so much. After reading (and loving) Olive & Stella’s story in Fly With Me, I knew to expect to love this one, but it still surprised me in the best way. We get to revisit Olive through her best friend Derek and his enemies to lovers upstairs neighbor, Dylan. The grief representation was top notch and I loved every word of this story.

Mein Leseerlebnis

Genauso wie”Fly with me” von Andie Burke hat mich auch das Buchcover von “Fall for him” sofort in seinen Bann gezogen. Es sieht nicht nur toll aus, sondern passt auch gut zur Geschichte, Daumen hoch dafür.

In der m/m romance ist so einiges los und die Ausgangsituation ist frisch sowie spannend. Ein Loch in der Decke zwischen zwei Wohnungen, dass zwei Männer zu mehr Kontakt zwingt, ist schon außergewöhnlich. Als enemies to lovers - Liebesgeschichte würde ich den vorliegenden Roman nicht ganz bezeichnen, aber Freunde sind die Helden zu Beginn des Romans auf jeden Fall nicht. Vor allem Derek steht Dylan doch recht abweisend gegenüber.

Beim Lesen bin ich schnell in eine guten Lesefluss gekommen und ich konnte mir die vielschichtigen Charaktere gut als echte Personen vorstellen. Teils wirkten beide auf mich etwas jünger als in den Dreißigern, damit konnte ich beim Lesen aber gut leben.

Es war spannend und schön zugleich, mitzuerleben, wie sich Dylan und Derek nach und nach näher gekommen sind und die Missverständnisse zwischen ihnen aus dem Weg geräumt haben.

Im Leben von beiden Helden ist recht viel los, mir war das teils zu viel. Vor allem Ereignisse aus Dereks Leben übernahmen gegen Ende etwas die Geschichte, ein Erzählstrang weniger hätte ich bevorzugt. Denn so kam die eigentliche Liebesgeschichte für mich etwas kurz und nicht alle Ereignisse aus Dereks Leben wurden im Roman zu meiner Zufriedenheit aufgeklärt (Kontakt zur Schwester und Besuche einer homophonen Kirchengemeinde der Mutter und der anderen Schwester).

Das Ende des Romans hätte ich mir insgesamt etwas ruhiger gewünscht, die Unruhe in der Beziehung war in meinen Augen unnötig und teils sogar etwas störend. Von so etwas bin ich ja generell kein Fan.

Insgesamt hatte ich mit dem romance Buch aber eine gute und unterhaltsame Zeit. Ich mochte den Humor und habe gerne Zeit mit den Hauptcharakteren verbracht.

🖤🖤🖤 1/2

PS: Es hilft “Fly with me” zu kennen, das ist aber kein Muss, da “Fall for him” größtenteils für sich steht.

Für wen?

Wer frische Liebesromane mit vielschichtigen Helden mag, in denen zusätzlich so einiges los ist, für den könnte “Fall for him” ein schönes Leseerlebnis bieten.

After receiving an ARC for Andi Burke's first book Fly with Me, I could not wait for her next one! Fall for Him did not disappoint. I immediately loved Derek and Dylan, from the moment Dylan fell through the ceiling. Their chemistry was great, and I thought the book was pretty funny. I enjoyed it so much I read it in one sitting.

There were some small things off with the pacing, and some plot points that felt out of place, but those didn't really take away from my enjoyment of the book. Overall I really did love it and will be recommending it to my friends!

DNF.

Wanted to love this one. The cover and premise alone had me in a chokehold, but the writing style left much to be desired.
So wordy but not saying much at all. Not for me.

That cover truly got me, the tropes got me also, I really wanted to love this one, but I just didn't. The writing was not for me. Some scenes felt underdeveloped, the characters just didn't do it for me.

First of all, this cover is absolutely gorgeous and drew me in immediately. I love seeing ADHD accurately represented in books, and Andie Burke did her character justice when it came to his struggles with ADHD. Derek and Dylan both have struggles, from mental health to family, but I enjoyed reading about them and their dynamic. This is an enemies to lovers, forced proximity book and I think the author did so well with these tropes. I like that these characters had flaws, and could easily be misjudged but under the surface, they were so much more. I would say that the pacing was a bit off, and it seemed as though some things were just thrown in there for the plot and to shake things up, but overall, this was a really good read that I enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Andie Burke for the eARC of this book.

Dylan literally falls for Derek (through his kitchen floor into Derek’s apartment below) in this neighbor romance. Loved the cast of characters, both main and secondary. A bit of a found family feel to it, although bio families were also involved. I love a good found family storyline.

There was more drama in this book than I expected, but it played out very well. Very good ADHD representation by one of the main characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Watch for Fall for Him to come out September 3, 2024.

5 stars

Angie Burke writes believable characters so well. Derek and Dylan were two people with a lot of past issues trying to figure out how to be in a relationship. I really enjoyed the way they navigated these issues and the communication they had.
I also really enjoyed the renovation chaos in this book. It literally starts off with Dylan falling through the ceiling onto Derek’s bed…there was so much tension between them all throughout them fixing up the apartments and living together.

This book was funny and charming and all the characters were so easy to love.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC!!

Sadly, despite an amazing premise, a rather boring read that didn’t add much to the tropes it so heavily relied on. Some scenes felt underdeveloped and the writing style wasn’t as polished as it could’ve been.

i was given an arc of this and holy shit. as someone with adhd i LOVE seeing it accurately represented in books. the author said that she recently had an adhd diagnosis, and i really liked how she incorporated it into the book. adhd as an adult is often overlooked, and i loved the representation of stuff that is often not discussed because it doesn’t fit the stereotypical adhd mold. other than the adhd portion, i loved the plot. it was very random but fit perfectly to the story. this is one of my favs of the year by far. i will be reading more of her books.

Andie Burke’s sophomore novel brings us into the enemies to lovers, close proximity relationship or Derek and Dylan (the two D names did make it hard to follow at times, to be honest). Both Derek and Dylan have their own struggles from family to ADHD that impact their romantic relationships. I enjoyed watching the two of them find their step with one another and see their relationship progress.

Thank you to St. Martins Press for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Fall for Him by @andiewritesandreads
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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After reading Fly With Me and getting to hear Andie talk about her writing at an author event hosted by @curiousiguana , I was THRILLED to get an email from St. Martin’s Publishing to have the opportunity to read an ARC of Fall for Him!
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One thing I absolutely love about Andie’s stories, is that it takes place in my city: Frederick, MD! There is nothing quite as fun as reading a book and some of your favorite places are mentioned! (@curiousiguana @frederickilforno @cafenolamd ) It feels like I could be a part of their story since I live so close to the downtown area where this story takes place.
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Another thing I absolutely loved about Fall for Him was the banter between Dylan and Derek! A rom-com will always suck me in when the banter has me giggling!
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The way Andie writes her characters make you instantly love them (or hate them…. aka the nosey annoying Karen neighbor). I absolutely loved meeting Felicity and getting to know her throughout this story, on top of getting to know Dylan and Derek!
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Finally Andie has a beautiful way of talking about hard topics throughout her stories. In this case there were a few different topics but the one that stuck out was the hazards of being a nurse and getting assaulted by patients. This is something that happens far too frequently and is always swept under the rug.
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If you are looking for a rom-com that is cute, queer, and a lil spicy, look no further than Fall for Him!
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You definitely don’t NEED to read Fly with Me first to enjoy the story, but I highly recommend reading it because it’s SO GOOD and you get a lot of background info!

2 Stars – Promising but poorly executed…

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing me with an ARC of “Fall for Him” by Andie Burke in exchange for an honest review.

I think the simplest way to sum up my impression of “Fall for Him” is to say that it reads like basic fanfiction; which is to say that there are some great and interesting ideas at the core of the story, but that it’s quite lacking in the technical aspects of narrative construction overall.

The characters are generally fun, if not fully developed; the dialogue is natural and engaging for the most part, though the different voices don’t always feel distinct; and there are several delightful scenes scattered throughout the pages, though there are just as many moments that don’t feel particularly necessary or well-executed.

The book does start strong. The whole ‘it’s raining men’ scenario that kicks off the story is quirky and put a smile on my face. The tension between Dylan and Derek as they’re pitched into a construction nightmare and somewhat antagonistic roommate agreement is delightful and positively full of snark and grudging attraction. And Dylan’s ADHD is wonderfully portrayed. Dylan is smart, successful, and downright capable, but there are constant complications he has to deal with to be “functional” and it grates on him when he forgets things. He’s really the star of the book and I mostly kept reading for him (sorry Derek).

That being said, this is not a book that gets better the further you get into it. By 50% in my interest had already begun to wane, and by the time I got to the third act break up I was just dragging through because I’d already invested so much time into the story that I was reluctant to shelve it as DNF.

There are just so many things that didn’t work:
• The “Karen” character was funny the first time but the more she comes up the more she just feels like an overplayed joke that’s wasting page space.

• The flashbacks and memories have no discernible formatting change to set it apart from the rest of the text, so those sections can feel muddled and difficult to follow.

• There are some really abrupt shifts in Derek and Dylan’s relationship that made me do a double take and check to make sure I hadn’t somehow skipped a chapter or something.

• There are subplots that just don’t add anything to the story (like Derek’s mom and the bats).

• The natural driving force of the story all but evaporates after Derek and Dylan get together and then there’s almost half a book left of loose ends that get tied up in the most contrived and unsatisfying ways possible. I was fuming at how the issue with Derek’s sister played out after she’d been missing for like 90% of the book—I mean, why not give a non-essential person like Karen entire chapters devoted to her damn shenanigans but roll Michelle in and out in no more than a handful of pages? Ugh, I’m peeved just thinking about it.

• The increasing frequency of grammatical errors and such also disrupted my reading experience. I’d get to the end of a line and be like “wait” and have to go back and mentally fix or fill in what’s missing to make the sentence make sense before moving on.

• And that ending was practically criminal! Somehow I started the book in a light contemporary rom-com, and by the time I reached the end I was stuck in all the swell and pomp and melodrama of a daytime soap opera. No, that is not a compliment.

“Fall for Him” does show a lot of promise, but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me.