audio-ARC from NetGalley.

3.75 stars.

In Fall for Him, we follow the escapades of Dylan Gallagher and Derek Chang. The former is an IT genius and brilliant construction worker who struggles with low self-esteem and late-diagnosed ADHD, while the former is a self-sacrificing ED nurse too busy shoving down his emotions to recognize them for what they are. Derek thinks Dylan broke his deceased ex's heart. Dylan doesn't know why Derek hates him so much. Then Dylan falls through his kitchen floor and lands on Derek's bed.

I had a lot of fun reading this. Both Derek and Dylan were sweet, wholesome characters, and I found myself rooting for them in their battle against HOA Karen. The exploration of repressed grief and the stigmatization of mental illness were also very important. The wide array of friends and family these characters had cultivated lent such warmth and vibrance to the story.

Honestly, I think the extended Irish family was my favorite part of the story. The three dumb Gallagher brothers, Felicity, the tiny uncle plumber. They just felt so chaotic and beautifully relatable. There's a kind of chaotic, stressful joy associated with big families, and Burke expressed it perfectly in this novel.

Ultimately, there are two reasons this book didn't quite hit a four-star rating from me. First, I genuinely hate third act breakups and the resulting grand gesture or dramatic speech. If the characters had experienced their blow-up and chosen to work through it immediately instead of breaking up for two weeks, I think the story would have ended more strongly. And, secondly, because I saw the cause of the breakup coming from the very beginning, I was interested in the story, but not invested.

Overall, this was a really fun read about really sweet characters, written by an author who actually knows things about the medical field she's choosing to write about. Thank goodness for that.audio-ARC from NetGalley.

3.75 stars.

In Fall for Him, we follow the escapades of Dylan Gallagher and Derek Chang. The former is an IT genius and brilliant construction worker who struggles with low self-esteem and late-diagnosed ADHD, while the former is a self-sacrificing ED nurse too busy shoving down his emotions to recognize them for what they are. Derek thinks Dylan broke his deceased ex's heart. Dylan doesn't know why Derek hates him so much. Then Dylan falls through his kitchen floor and lands on Derek's bed.

I had a lot of fun reading this. Both Derek and Dylan were sweet, wholesome characters, and I found myself rooting for them in their battle against HOA Karen. The exploration of repressed grief and the stigmatization of mental illness were also very important. The wide array of friends and family these characters had cultivated lent such warmth and vibrance to the story.

Honestly, I think the extended Irish family was my favorite part of the story. The three dumb Gallagher brothers, Felicity, the tiny uncle plumber. They just felt so chaotic and beautifully relatable. There's a kind of chaotic, stressful joy associated with big families, and Burke expressed it perfectly in this novel.

Ultimately, there are two reasons this book didn't quite hit a four-star rating from me. First, I genuinely hate third act breakups and the resulting grand gesture or dramatic speech. If the characters had experienced their blow-up and chosen to work through it immediately instead of breaking up for two weeks, I think the story would have ended more strongly. And, secondly, because I saw the cause of the breakup coming from the very beginning, I was interested in the story, but not invested.

Overall, this was a really fun read about really sweet characters, written by an author who actually knows things about the medical field she's choosing to write about. Thank goodness for that.

Woof I’m so sad - this was a case of Too Many Tropes and Not Enough Edits 😭😭😭 there was so much happening at all times and tbh I’m upset because this could have been really good. There were so many of my reader pet peeves (not treating the MCs as intelligent human beings, cringe dialogue, poorly executed reveals) and I simply couldn't do it.

rep: Gay asian man, gay white man

Thank you #netgalley and St. martin's Press for the advanced audio copy.

Awoken by his upstairs neighbor, Dylan Gallagher, who literally falls through the ceiling onto his bed, Derek Chang can’t handle another stressor, adding to his strained relationship with the HOA. However, it soon becomes apparent that these two must share one apartment while the repairs occur! Hello, forced proximity. Do your thing!

This book had a lot of good moments. I found the writing amusing yet warm towards the more complicated topics.
Dylan was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, and his messiness, hyper fixations, and often the brunt of family jokes felt all too familiar (it’s okay, Mom, I don’t mind, honestly). I loved the way the ADHD contributed to some social anxiety, very relatable.
Derek, a stereotypical oldest child, felt he needed to care for his family, specifically his youngest sister. I enjoyed him grappling with why he felt he had to do this and who he would be if he did not care about responsibility. Plus, he is a dog lover!

Burke’s writing flowed effortlessly from intimate moments to family drama, and despite not having read the companion novel, I felt I had a good understanding of each character. The dialogue was well-developed, and the intimate moments were descriptive and deftly delivered (like Dylan, I also love alliteration).

The narrators handled both the jokes and the more serious topics with ease. I listened to this one around 1.75x, and it never sounded too fast.

My biggest problem with this book is that I found it confusing as an audiobook with two male characters with similar names and voices. I generally prefer dual point-of-view chapters to be labeled with the individual perspective, which I think would’ve assisted here. Once I could distinguish the excellent narrators' voices, my experience improved significantly. However, the extra layer of thinking took away from my ability to absorb the story.

This book has a few triggers, so please check them if appropriate

I am a HUGE fan of Andie Burke's Fly With Me from last year, but I am putting Fall For Him aside for the moment, and it hurts every part of my heart. (I hesitate to call this a DNF, as I may pick it up again at a later time.)

I was very confused as to which of the two main character's perspectives I was reading! Dylan and Derek both have similar names, starting with "D," and I hope Burke chose these names for more than the sake of a joke! Somewhere into chapter four, I started the book all over again, only to make it to 55% and once again find myself beyond confused. I want to have a solid understanding of the characters and know exactly what's happening, so I contemplated starting the book all over again for the third time... but I really can't bring myself to do that at this time.

The further into the book, the more confused I became; I thought I had missed something when the characters went from being enemies to one suddenly calling the other "babe." Additionally, that blowjob scene seemed to come out of nowhere. I kept having to remind myself exactly who Olive and Jake were (I read Fly With Me a year ago); the flashbacks only adding to my confusion. (I really hesitate to consider Burke's two romances standalones, as I really think reading Fly With Me first gives necessary background knowledge.)

Audiobook notes: the voices of Kyle Omori and Liam DiCosimo did nothing to help aid my character confusion; if their voices sounded distinct, maybe I wouldn't have struggled so badly!?

What I did enjoy:
Male male romance - check!
Enemies to lovers - check!
Use of the word "stuff" - check!
Use of the word "woof" x3 - check!
Feeling seen by "You morning people are like magical, mysterious unicorns." - check!
Use of the word "doggo" - check!
Construction dust debauchery - check!

My review will reflect my feelings towards Fall For Him as necessary.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary copies to read and review.

Having someone literally fall into your bed would make anyone a tad bit, well…maybe furious. This is the case for our mean and grumpy neighbor Derek when Dylan falls into his apartment due to a leaky pipe. However, Derek and Dylan turn bitter lemons into a sweet romantic lemonade in this enemies to lovers romance.

I found this one to be an interesting romance with great plot points within. As for the romance, the funny banter between the two and spicy scenes were good as Derek and Dylan are forced together where their attraction grows from what was a past miscommunication. They slowly warm to one another and begin to be protective of each other from other side characters that have issues with them because of them and their relationship queer amongst other things. I did like how the author talked about having ADHD, panic attacks, and dealing with grief within the story. I do feel as though it was well developed in the story.

I enjoyed listening to this one on audiobook and think listening aided to the funny banter within the story. I will say that for most of the audiobook I did get confused with the names Dylan and Derek. I had to stop several times to remember who was who with their names being so similar. There was also some slower parts in the story which sometimes made my mind wander while listening. But… when you have characters like the nosey neighbor Carol, and the quick witted conversations of our male MMCs I was brought back to the story!

What a terrific premise for a romance story! Man falls through his flood damaged floor, straight into his downstairs neighbour’s bed. The grumpy, very good looking neighbour who has disliked him since he first moved into the building. Now they are stuck living together until the renovations can be completed. Can 750 sqft, one bedroom, a large dog and “it’s raining men” jokes handle all the home renovation tension & building sexual attraction between these two?

Fall For Him was a super fun and very sweet forced proximity love story!! I really enjoyed Dylan and Derek’s characters and their arcs throughout the book. I couldn’t believe how much humour was crammed into under 400 pages, but I chuckled or out right laughed through the whole thing! The cast of quirky side characters really enhanced the comedy in this book. Their big, outlandish and sometimes overbearing personalities really reminded me of the crazy side cast from “Only Murders In the Building” and really boosted the funny factor for me.

Despite being full of witty moments, the plot also touched on some heavier topics like living with neurodivergence and the deaths of a parent and a friend. Andie did a beautiful job of showcasing the vulnerabilities of her characters, while showing some real growth & development for them both. Although the spice in the book wasn’t in the forefront, it really felt like just the right amount for this kind of story and didn’t disappoint when the steam cranked up a notch between the two! I’ll say that this book also had one of the BEST declarations of love I’d ever read in a romance!! I loved it so much and Dylan & Derek were such a perfect match for each other.

The performances by Kyle Omori and Liam DiCosimo were enjoyable and they brought a lot of the sarcastic humour to life! Because the book is written in 3rd person POV and Dylan/Derek both start with the letter D, I will admit to finding it difficult at times to follow which POV I was in. This would likely not be as much of a problem when physically reading, but was confusing at times while listening.

All in all, a brilliantly funny, whimsical, light-hearted romance with a fantastic cast of characters that are so easy to fall in love with and shouldn’t be missed!

I listened to this on audio and really enjoyed the story. The ADHD and grief rep were done well. The forced proximity, opposites attract was all done well also.

I love the narrators, but I had a hard time keeping track of which character's POV I was in. The characters have D names: Derek and Dylan which already caused a bit of confusion, but it's also written in third person. Thankfully I'm very familiar with Liam DiCosimo's narration, so I could pick up on his character.

absolutely devoured this audio. The narrators did an incredible job bringing these characters to life and I was so sad when it was over because i wouldve listened for hours if I could. Loved it!

This book threw me for a loop a little bit. I felt like I was having a hard time following along with Derek and Dylan's journey together. Bits got confusing on who was saying what so I'd have to backtrack to figure it out.

However the opening and them meeting was such a fun meet cute. Messy. But cute hahaha. You get to go on an emotional ride with them as well. Topics such as parental and friends deaths. Then ADHD and anxiety. All of which was addressed very well and I think will be relatable to so many people.

Their relationship though went from 0 to 100 in a blink of an eye. I wish we had a little bit more of a build up there but also I could see how trauma and tension could play into the quick moves at the same time.

The audio was very well done by the narrators. I think this one again will be relatable to a lot of people I just didn't resonate with it as much as I would have liked too.

Thank you NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Macmillan audio for the ARC & ALC.

This was cute.

Dylan and Derek have gotten off on the wrong foot and have quite literally fallen into each others lives when Dylan falls through Derek’s ceiling and needs to add that to the repairs he is doing on the building.

I love some adhd rep and some sexual tension. My main issue was definitely a weird pero sal thing but I had the hardest time keeping Dylan and Derek straight. I kept getting the names confused and then felt confused for a bit until I remembered who was who and where we were… I really loved that the characters from Byrnes first book were in this. I a huge Olive fan.

Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan for an alc

Macmillan Audio
I loved Fly with Me last year, so I was excited for this one. I ended up having mixed feelings about this book. I loved the ADHD representations with Dylan. It felt honest and vulnerable. I also really liked his sister. She added some much needed humor to the book. It was great to see Stella and Olive again, too. I found Derek hard to like for the first half. I also wasn't sold on this romance because it moved at weird pacing. I wanted more communication before the hooking up started because they had such a big miscommunication between them. However, I really like this author and will continue to read her in the future.

This was a really fun, dual POV, forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine M/M roommate romance with a fantastic meet-disaster that has geeky Dylan falling though the ceiling and landing on ER nurse Derek. The two are forced to room together while Dylan works to repair the damage and things get heated. I loved the mental health rep in this book (ADHD and anxiety and grief over a dead parent) and really enjoyed the cameos from the women of Fly with me. While I didn't love this book quite as much as Fly with me it was still an enjoyable read that was good on audio. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

I am very conflicteddd because on the one hand, this was a cute and quirky MM romance. Really enjoyed how it started out, but I felt like so many things were thrown at our main characters that we so underdeveloped and needed to be flushed out more (of removed entirely). Also, listening to the audio book, I kept mixing up the guys because both of their first names began with D and I couldn't keep it straight 😅

Overall, I liked this but didn't love it.

Cute and thoughtful !! I loved the banter between the two leads and how naturally their relationship developed (well, after the initial introduction that is). The thoughtfulness the author put in representing mental health was appreciated. Plus all the 90s references had me cracking up !! Narration was good but without a really defined difference between the two leads’ voices, very similar names, and a 3rd person perspective, there was sometimes confusion over whose POV I was in. Only note! Recommend? K.

Fall for Him by Andie Burke
Release Date: 9/3/24
Format: audio/ebook hybrid
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ever start a book and go oh no…this is the second in a series, isn’t it? That definitely happened with this book for me but in a good way! I am really excited to go back and read the first after finishing Fall for Him because this book was precious!

This is an enemies to lovers MM romcom with lots of great ADHD and grief representation. I truly loved both of our main characters and their dynamic felt so genuine (even if their meet cute was a bit over the top)! The conflict even felt very believable to me and wasn’t too frustrating despite there being a little miscommunication moment!

The only downside to this book is there are a LOT of side characters and it got a little confusing at points. Because of this, I would likely recommend reading a physical or digital copy of this book instead of taking the audio route. I also felt that the two male narrators were a little difficult to distinguish from one another which made that format confusing as well.

I do think this book has SO much heart though and I will absolutely be checking out more by Andie Burke. If you’re looking for a book with a good balance of spice, feels, and warm fuzzies…this book is for you! Thank you to @netgalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

I very much enjoyed this enemies to lovers, close proximity romp. Starts strong lags in some places but overall great read!
Dylan and Derrick find each other sharing an apartment- forced to get over their preconceived notions of each other.
Rich with realism - family issues, body image, self confidence, life balance.
Loved the audio!

Fall for Him was a good romance. I liked the setup of the story, a meet-disaster vs a meet cute is always entertaining. Derek and Dylan were both great characters, both as individuals and together as a couple. The storyline was decent and held my attention as well. Overall a solid read and I would recommend to romance fans!

The audiobook was great. Appreciate that this is a dual POV book and that there were two narrators.

4.25 stars

Overall I enjoyed the story despite how ridiculous the situation was. The enemies to lovers aspect did stem from a miscommunication of sorts but it was fairly understandable from Derek's end. My main issue was how many D names there were and it ultimately had me confusing the 2 leads often. Plus sometimes Derek would call the other MC Dylan and other times Gallagher, even in the same sentence. It was hard to follow at times for that reason. I did like them both realizing they had unresolved trauma and accepting they need to do something about those to be better for the other.

Regarding the audiobook specifically, both narrators were great. However, their voices were fairly similar which between that and the D names, I was almost constantly confused on who was who.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

4 stars!

I thoroughly enjoyed "Fall for Him" by Andie Burke, an authentic MM enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity romance that is more than meets the eye. I was a little skeptical about Dylan and Derek in the beginning, but the story gets increasingly more interesting and compelling as it goes along. This love story is full of tension, spice, and trauma. It's all about processing, accepting, and changing your mind. Some of it is a little wacky, but I didn't mind at all because I loved the characters so much. Dylan and Derek both feel wholly realistic, fully realized people. I loved the attention to detail and care that went into crafting both of these characters. Their story starts with a bang, literally, and ends with a bang in another way. I loved watching them start as enemies and become lovers as their walls came down and they got to know each other better. Sure, there is quite a bit of miscommunication between them, but I think it's handled well here (and I am the miscommunication trope's #1 hater). There is a lot of honest talk about ADHD, healing from loss, familial bullying, and incorrect assumptions. There is also some terrific, hilarious banter here. All in all, I really enjoyed reading about Dylan and Derek! My one complaint is that the pacing feels quite off. It's really slow at several points, but seems to end much too quickly come the book's end. Still, Liam DiCosimo and Kyle Omori provide a fantastic dual narration for this story. They do sound very, very similar to one another, so it might get a little confusing (especially since both of their character names begin with the letter D), so keep that in mind if you choose to listen via audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley, Andie Burke, and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary ALC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

When life gives lemons (or rotten floor boards) you might just fall into the life you've been dreaming of. Fall for him takes you on a MM romance with each main character finding their own in the world and falling into each other. The audiobook is well narrated with voices that hook you from start to finish.