I love being gay. We have such good books.
I absolutely adored Andie Burke's debut novel, and because of that, I went into this book with very high expectations. I also immediately loved the premise of this story, so those expectations got raised even higher. I've beyond happy to say that not only were my expectations met, but they were exceeded. Andie Burke's writing style is so uniquely perfect for the romance genre. She creates such well-rounded and loveable characters, the romance she writes is so earnest and touching, and she manages to include so much genuine humour in her stories. But most of all, she writes in her themes so well. This book, although incredibly fun, also contains a lot of conflict. Some of it is the contrived type of conflict that any story needs to create tension, such as the roof falling in, the meddling neighbour, and the Jake plot. However, there were also a lot of deeper conflicts in this book as well, and while it sometimes became a lot to keep track of, I understood why they were all included. This book explores so many complex, but realistic themes, such as the intersections of queer identity, family values, grief, and mental health. Yes, all these themes explored simultaneously can get messy, but these are also all subjects that people have to deal with in real life and don't always have the luxury of tackling one by one. Overall, I was impressed by how expertly and considerately Andie Burke explored all these themes through Dylan and Derek. While there were some heartbreaking moments, this book also has so many moments of comedy, levity, and romance. I can't recommend it enough!

This was a spicy enemies to lovers that I read very quickly. There are a few deeper themes explored here, but ultimately I enjoyed it and that was the more memorable take away.

Posting on Instagram on September 21, 2024
I enjoyed the story of how Dylan and Derek went from enemies to lovers along with the family drama. Dylan was such a sweet character and dealing with so much including ADHD and anxiety. Both men have family issues and pasts they need to deal with, and yes there was lack of communication on both sides. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Derek sticks up for Dylan at Dylan’s family grill out.
Their relationship goes through a lot of ups and downs and that’s what makes it relatable. There is a third act breakup. But there is also a really good ending for anyone wanting an HEA.

This was a nice romance where enemies became lovers in forced proximity. It was mostly a light read with a contraband dog and a nosy HOA lady taking up a lot of the sub-plot space, but it also touched on serious topics like mental health and the death of a friend.

The two things that are keeping from being five stars for me are that the main characters names are very similar. It took me too long to figure out who was Derek and who was Dylan, and while they were voiced by different actors in the audiobook, that didn't help much. This made the beginning of the book pretty difficult to navigate. Secondly, and this one is pretty personal, it is set in a city I am very familiar with, but the location very rarely came into play. I'd rather it be set ambiguously than kind of set in a place I know.

When a flooded kitchen results in your neighbour falling through the floor and into your bed in the middle of the night, you either get close very quickly or you move out-

Neither Dylan nor Derek are leaving, so they reluctantly gang up to get the apartments repaired and keep Derek’s dog hidden from from the extremely noisy HOA president. Did someone say forced proximity???

I really liked both the characters of Dylan and Derek and their own emotional and relationship glow up that they go through. These two are great match and I loved seeing them finally find contentment and companionship together.

I listen to the audiobook narrated by Kyle Omori and Liam DiCosimo. I enjoyed both of their voices, but I did find that the voice actor portraying the voice of Derek did not do the character differentiation between the two leads as well as the other. I find that this can be problematic when you have two leads of the same gender. Other than that difficulty, I did find both voice actors to embody their character well and when the narration switched, it felt very organic. In general, it was a good listening experience.

Overall, I really like this book and as it’s my first Andy Bourke romance, I can easily say that it will not be my last. I’m already anxious to pick up the book that came out before this one and catch up with those characters that were mentioned and see Dylan during that time!

Thank you to SMP Romance for the advanced reader copy and to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

How I enjoyed that this book began with a literal fall! And a poorly timed but hilarious "It's raining men" joke. But all the problems with the apartments also made me a little more anxious looking around my own space. Dylan lives above Derek, and his ceiling collapses right onto Derek's bed. From there, the two are forced into proximity, as Dylan tries to fix the damage.

Derek is an ER nurse, and wow, I just have to give so many thanks to nurses and other health care providers in hospitals. I've spent a lot of time in hospitals in the last year, and this book was a beautiful tribute and reminder of just how amazing the caregivers there are.

The book explores many themes around toxic masculinity and bullying. They were presented well, but I still found them quite challenging to read. I had to put the book down and wash dishes for a bit at the most difficult scene. So take care of yourselves. I really appreciated the ADHD representation.

The dual narration by Kyle Omori and Liam DiCosimo helped with telling the two MMCs apart, especially early in the book when the names Derek and Dylan seemed overly similar.

4.5 stars rounded up

This is a super cute romance with characters you can't help but root for. I was 100% on board when Dylan fell through Derek's roof onto his bed and promptly made an "it's raining men" joke.

Dylan is super sweet and relatable and puts up with a lot from his family who are generally well-meaning but baffled when it comes to him, causing all sorts of misunderstandings and headaches for Dylan. Which perhaps makes sense when you put a nerdy gay guy in with a family of beefy very straight jocks. His sisters though are all right.

Derek is pushing down so much pain and grief and just trying to hold it all together as an ER nurse and Dylan - and most definitely not a relationship requiring actual emotions - is nowhere in his plans. His friends are great and I look forward to reading Olive's book next.

They are forced into proximity while Dylan renovates Derek's apartment and end up realizing that the other isn't as bad as they at first thought.

Plus all the shenanigans with Olive's dog and the HOA Karen who is determined to catch them doing something wrong.

The audiobook was excellent and the narrators did a great job giving all the characters easily recognizeable voices, as well as just generally bringing the story to life. It was a wonderful listening experience.

*Thanks to St. Martin's Griffin and Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy for review.

Fall For Him- Andie Burke
Narrated by Liam DiCosimo and Kyle Omori

Rating ⭐️⭐️
Spice 🌶️🌶️
Narration 🎧🎧🎧

This book was messy. The writing was messy, the characters were messy, and while I appreciate the narrators individually, I think coming together on this book made it messy. It was hard to keep up with whose pov I was in because it was written in 3rd person (why do trad published books all seem to be in 3rd person? Do they really think that’s what the reader wants?) and the narrators voices weren’t different enough to associate a voice to their respective character to determine who’s pov I’m listening to. While I can appreciate a joke here and there throughout the book, I also found the writing and the story to be overly juvenile. Too simple, the arguments the characters had were very immature, and maybe it was the way the arguments were portrayed by the narrator that they came off that way, but overall I was just not a fan.

Fall for Him by Andie Burke is a humorous, enemies-to-lovers romance following Derek Chang and Dylan Gallagher as they are forced to live in proximity to one another. This rom-com was an enjoyable experience that was easy to get through.

I did have a few issues with the book, for example, figuring out the point of view between the two characters was a bit difficult at times, but it was still an enjoyable read. Having a main character who was neurodivergent was refreshing since he was relatable as a neurodivergent reader. There were a lot of things that were relatable to me: the grieving, and the struggles of family.

✨ Review ✨ Fall for Him by Andie Burke, Narrated by Kyle Omori; Liam DiCosimo

Thanks to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Griffin and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

This is my first by Burke, and I found myself giggling my way through it.

It starts literally by raining men, when Dylan, after a water leak, falls through the ceiling on top of Derek, sleeping in his bed on the apartment floor below. Dylan's living in his uncle's apartment while he renovates it, and the ceiling debacle reveals layers of shoddy work in Derek's own unit. As the two stay together in Dylan's unit while hiding Derek and his dog from the absurdly nosy HOA Karen living there as well, they start to learn more about each other.

This story has
⭕️ hot ER nurses (Derek)
⭕️ ADHD representation (Dylan)
⭕️ lots of found family and real family all around, full of drama
⭕️ so many silly details that will make you laugh

The story is sweet and funny and really was a lot of fun to read!

🎧 I enjoyed the audio narration a lot and found the narrators to really exemplify the character they were voicing. The audio also amplified some of the hilarity that filled the book, as well as the more serious topics within.

Note: While this does reference back to the first book with some regularity, I felt like I was able to understand and appreciate it without having read her previous book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: contemporary m/m romance
Length: 10 hours 55 minutes
Pub Date: Sep 03 2024

Fall For Him by Andie Burke was a sweet queer romance.

Dylan quite literally *falls* for Derek when the floor to his apartment weakens and falls into Derek's bedroom. While the two didn't care for each other, they *crash* into a forced proximity situation which leads to a friendship and eventual relationship.

I really like the main characters Dylan and Derek. I appreciate their complex backstories and how the two men's lives already intertwine.

Tropes: Forced proximity and enemies to lovers!

I always love a story that can explore hard topics and still has levity. This story deals with grief and has excellent ADHD representation while also having two adult men trying to hide a great dane from a nosy neighbor and people meeting by falling through ceilings.

I really liked Dylan and Derek as a couple. I liked that Derek stood up for Dylan and made sure he was cared for. I also really liked watching them be reluctant roommates who both spoiled Gus (the Great Dane) but didn't spend much time together at first.

If you like mental health representation in romance this is a great pick! I recommend reading Fly With Me first as they do connect and you'll get a lot of insight into Derek.

I listened to the audiobook version of this title and loved it! Kyle Omori and Liam DiCosimo did the narration. I love when a book where the narrators are the same gender still uses two narrators. It makes it easier to know whose POV you are in.

Thank you Netgalley for allow me to hear this book on audiobook. Even though I sad that I wasn't able to complete it due to limit date between archive and pub on Netgalley. I was only in 52% out of 100%. In those 52% so far, it was good and a little funny. I can't decide my final score stars since I wasn't able to complete this audiobook.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this is my first ARC DNF (DNF at 64%)

I could not get into the story, and after stopping and starting this a few times, I had to call it.

The rivalry seemed to be too strong to end so abruptly - I found myself confused and wondering if I skipped a chapter when they were suddenly hooking up and calling each other babe. The cast of characters was nice but also felt too spread out to feel well-rounded.

I also read another review that I wholeheartedly agreed with about the scene with the cops being too positive. It felt too wholesome and whitewashed for my comfort, especially since one of the people being accused of crimes in the scenario was an Asian American man. It tipped over the line to copaganada for me and left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

YES! I loved this book. I listened to the audiobook and could not stop; I finished in one day with TEARS IN MY EYES. ADHD rep, good communication (after the initial misunderstandings), a renovation, ONE BED, the best spice and the best couple. This was beautifully written and even the side characters were vibrant and interesting and just overall a fantastic read!

This book has a lot to love—great main characters, a sweet queer romance, and a meaningful look at grief and mental health, especially with ADHD and anxiety. The banter is funny, though, after a while, it feels like everyone shares the same sense of humor, which can get a bit repetitive.

There are a couple of issues, though. The relationship between Dylan and Derek jumped suddenly, and I felt like I missed something important. Plus, there’s an awkward scene with cops that feels out of place and outdated. Hopefully, these things get fixed before the final version, because the rest of the story is really enjoyable!

Lovely sophmore novel from the lovely Andie Burke!

I really enjoyed this story. The banter was top tier and the chemistry was very present in every page, even when Derek and Dylan were not getting along.

My only complaint is the names! I love both names on their own, but I had an extremely difficult time remembering who was who with two 5 letter D names. The name complaint did take a way a bit of my enjoyment of the book, but overall it was a great book.

I thought this was a cute, fun, simple read, but nothing more than that.

This story felt a bit all over the place and everything was just too easy. From their romantic relationship to their personal journeys. I loved the personal journeys they went through as individuals. They were very relatable and very realistic. I just wish it had taken a little more work.

Their love was strange. There was no real build up. They hooked up once and suddenly were in a relationship calling each other babe. I wish there was more to them that made the reader really root for this pair.

I really loved all of the characters, especially the side characters. I think they really added to this story.

I really disliked their “Karen” neighbor and felt like her part in this story was bigger than it needed to be.

Thank you NetGalley for this audiobook.

This was cute!

I am still thinking that the gentleman that fell through the ceiling of someone's appartment needs to go to the doc and to get a tetnus shot. That still sits with me, all this time later. I know he's a nurse, I know that, but I'm still thinking it.

The ADHD representation felt spot on, and the description of grief and how it manifested for these characters were spot on and felt real. Their chemistry was good and I was rooting for them the who time, even if Mr. Nurse was sprouting from grief instead of thinking logically.

The narrators did a wonderful job brining the characters to life.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio, St. Martins Press and Netgalley for an e-copy.

I'm a huge fan of Andie Burke's, and not only was this a great follow up to Fly For Me, but it was fun, sweet, and sexy. Okay audiobook, but one narrator's quality wasn't as high as the other,.