I really liked the whole whitewater rafting accident story. It made everything very interesting right from the start.

The backgrounds of the two heroes were presented very well, which added to the story.

I was expecting more scenes dealing with the outdoor adventure company, and I felt like that aspect of the story wasn't really fleshed out,
except to introduce the characters. Grady's bosses, Rig and Ash, both came across as compassionate and strong men, dominant in their ways, but definitely nothing like Grady's previous employers.

Overall, it was a really enjoyable read, with some super sexy scenes, interesting characters, and a unique plot.


A copy of this story was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley for review.

Whitewater rafting guide Grady Kelley is filled with guilt for his role in an accident that killed one man and put Grady’s cousin, Finn, in a coma. Grady loves outdoor adventure, but he blames himself for the accident that occurred during rafting trip he was leading.

One day while visiting Finn in the hospital, Grady meets Micah Swaine, a volunteer who reads to coma patients. When Grady learns Micah was in a coma himself years ago, he agrees to meet Micah to talk to him more, in hopes of learning what he might expect for Finn and his recovery. Grady isn’t thrilled that Micah works at a BDSM club as bartender, as it is a place where many of the guys from Finn’s adventure company hang out. They are all Doms and Grady fears that if they see him with Micah, they will assume Grady is a sub, something that has him panicked after a bad experience years ago. But he finds himself drawn to Micah and wants to learn more from him.

Tension between the men turns into a night of sex, but both men are surprised to find that they want more. Each of these guys has demons haunting him. In Grady’s case, it is both the guilt about the accident, as well as his own fears of being seen as weak or submissive. For Micah’s part, his coma left lasting effects on his brain, and he has some permanent issues as a result that affect many aspects of his life. Most guys don’t have the patience to deal with him, and he has been pretty much resigned to casual encounters before Grady.

Even though both of these men are hurting, they also manage to be there for one another and provide comfort and support that they both need. They open up to one another, and things begin to get more serious between them. But Grady’s demons are proving hard to battle, and his instinct is to run away rather than open up. Both of these men need to learn to trust one another, and if they do, they may be able to have a future together neither one expected.

The Harder He Falls is the first book in the new Kick series from Lynda Aicher, which looks to focus on the outdoor adventure company Finn owns. I really liked the set up here and thought it was interesting how we meet Grady after the accident that left one man dead and his cousin in the hospital. It not only makes the conflict sharp, but it puts the focus on Grady and the aftermath, rather than Finn and the accident itself. We can see how much Grady loves his cousin and how devastated he is for his role in it. Being a river guide is so much a part of him, and Aicher does a great job really developing Grady’s character and letting us feel how this incident is just tearing him up.

Really this is a character-driven book, and the highlight for me is how well drawn these guys are. Both are hurting, both have complicated pasts, and these things have shaped the men they are now, and the character development really highlights this. For me, Micah was an easier guy to like. He has his struggles, but he is so caring and kind and so patient with Grady. His brain injury has left him with a debilitating, but also fascinating, condition, and I enjoyed reading about how he handles these challenges and how Grady’s support makes such a big difference. Both these guys have to learn to trust the other, but we see the Micah’s growth come more easily and really feel what a difference Grady makes for him.

I found Grady a more challenging character, to be honest. He is in a much darker place through most of the story, as his wounds regarding the accident are still fresh. He is full of so much guilt and so much pain that he is having trouble moving forward, especially as Finn remains in a coma. I could totally get that, and Grady’s behavior made sense to me in this regard. But I did find some of his issues regarding the club and BDSM to be a little confusing for me. This isn’t a BDSM story and Micah is very clear that he doesn’t identify as a Dom, though he likes to be in charge during sex. And Grady definitely enjoys submission during sex, but he definitely doesn’t want to be seen as a submissive. And I totally get that given his past. But his behavior felt very irrational to me a lot of the time. For example, Grady is afraid to be seen with Micah because he is sure that since Micah works at the club, if anyone sees them together they will automatically assume Grady is his sub. But Micah is clear he is not a Dom, so I am not sure why that would be the assumption. And if Grady is that scared, why does he keep meeting Micah at the club? Even more strange to me is the issue with the fellow adventure guides, who are all former military and Doms themselves. Grady is terrified that they will see him and think he is a sub and therefore weak. Again, I don’t follow the leap why they would think him a submissive, but even so, any decent Dom knows that a submissive isn’t weak. We have no reason to think these guys are jerks who don’t understand BDSM culture. But Grady is so terrified that at one point he thinks he shouldn’t not submit during sex because it will prove to these guys he is a submissive and therefore they won’t respect him (how they will have any idea what goes on his bedroom is beyond me).

I think in the end things come together well, and we get more of a sense why Grady has all these fears, even if they aren’t all rational (at least to me). So things do pull together well at the end, but it made me struggle with Grady and his character somewhat throughout the story as he keeps running and getting freaked out.

Regardless of these issues, I enjoyed this one and my interest is definitely very peaked for the rest of the series. Former military, outdoor adventure Doms! I am not sure what else is planned, but you had me pretty much at that alone. And I think Aicher’s character development is really excellent, and so I am definitely looking forward to reading more from her. So this is a nice start to what looks to be an engaging series, and I am definitely anxious for more.

I would give this two-point-five stars. I'm rounding up more for its potential than for its execution, unfortunately.

I loved this series. This author was totally new to me when I read these books. I fell in love with the characters and never wanted their stories to end. The chemistry was very well played out.

I’m gonna just dive right in to this thing, and give you guys a one-word reason to read this book.

MICAH.

I loved Micah. He was awesome from the fabulous scene where we meet him—Scene: hunky bartender from the local leather bar reading BDSM erotica to a coma patient. Amazing, right?!? Ha!—right on through to the epilogue. He’s strong, kind, patient, and sexy as hell. And, his story is fascinating. There were a couple of times where he allowed Grady to treat him like shit unfairly, and I wished he would have let him have it, but mostly he was pretty perfect.

Grady, on the other hand, had to grow on me. There were several things about him I sincerely liked, his loyalty to his cousin, for one—his concern for Finn definitely ran way deeper than guilt. I also loved how passionate he was about his job. And, I loved how vulnerable he sometimes let himself be when he was with Micah. Unfortunately, Grady didn’t always make a great impression. He could come off as extremely whiney. And, even though he had a rough backstory—the damage done to him by his father and then his former Dom, James, coupled with his guilt over the accident, I’m sure felt insurmountable to him—I have to admit that some of his self-flagellation and doubt got a little repetitive and long-winded at times.

So, yeah, Grady on his own was a tougher sell. But Grady and Micah together? The two of them together are reason number two to read this book. These guys were on FIRE. They were seriously intense together. And not just physically—though they were definitely extremely compatible in that regard—but emotionally as well. I loved how Grady just accepted Micah, even given his “disability.” In fact, they were both so kind and loving with each other, truly from the beginning. I adored those things about their pairing, but it also made it even more frustrating, given Grady’s easy acceptance of Micah, and the fact that he would have never regarded him as weak, that he couldn’t accept himself in the same way.

I found it hard to relate to the amount of shame and self-doubt Grady carried around with regard to his past, and his insistence that he was NOT a sub since my previous experience with BDSM relationships in books was that it was always made clear that the sub really has all the power. However, taking into context his previous abusive relationship and then bullying by his former co-workers, I guess it makes sense that those lines would have been blurred. Grady had a major complex regarding his needs, and though both Grady and Micah swore up and down that they “weren’t into BDSM,” both of their desires definitely suggested otherwise. I understand them not necessarily wanting the labels of Dom and sub, but their needs seemed to run a little deeper than just kink; especially the type of grounding that Grady craved so badly.

As far as the rest of the storyline, and all of the things going on in Grady’s and Micah’s worlds, I had some mixed feelings, though again, they were mostly positive. I mentioned admiring Grady’s devotion to Finn, whose coma and current status were a large part of the story; as a reader I became invested in his prognosis. Unfortunately, in the end, his storyline got rushed and his situation was reduced to a few sentences in the epilogue. Then there were the sex scenes, which, as I said, for the most part were so hot, but then maybe there could have been fewer of them. See? Mixed feelings. There were some things I really, really liked—and then a couple of things that didn’t work quite as well.

Minor complaints aside, the story kept me engaged the entire time, and I was completely invested in these guys and their journey. Overall, The Harder He Falls was good erotica and a solid read. And, I’m absolutely looking forward to the future books in this series! It looks like there are three books planned so far… Can’t wait to see what all of these Doms running Kick are gonna get up to!

I have been looking forward to this book, especially because of the unique business in the extreme sport industry. Rafting sounded like a really interesting setting but unfortunately there was hardly anything about rafting and also the business was only on the fringes. I really think there was really potential into it but it wasn't maxed out.

At the beginning I was really confused by the perspectives as it was really difficult to distinguish the voices of Grady and Micah. The perspectives were changing really fast within the text which sometimes made it difficult to who was who. Generally Grady and Micah were interesting characters, Micah a little bit more than Grady.

The story was kind of dragging throughout the book and I was a bit annoyed by the struggles of Grady. All sub/dom talk wasn't really my cup of tea either.

Great MM with a touch of kink. Both characters are damaged from their pasts and that adds to the complexity of the story.

Arc received from NetGalley for honest review----- First i'm sorry it took so long to read this story. I know many may not like this genre but it is a very nice romance and the sex scenes are done very nicely. Grady and Micah are both dealing with emotional issues that hamper their interactions with others. I really enjoyed the flow of the story and the glimpses of the other characters. I look forward to reading more from this series.

The Harder He Falls is the first in a new series from Lynda Aicher, and if you follow me you know that she is one of my favorite authors out there. Her books are always so compelling and emotional, and this one was no exception. We have two main characters that both have plenty of baggage they are dealing with, but they also have an intense amount of sexual chemistry you can feel coming off of the pages too. Those two elements combined make this story an interesting read.

Micah and Grady's attraction to one another is instant and ferocious. But despite the fact that they engage in a heavy amount of sex early on in their budding relationship, as time passes the connection between them develops into something neither of them thought possible for their futures. Grady because he's closed himself off from the possibility to trust, and Micah because he feels his disability prevents him from it.

Now I'm betting you're wondering why 3 stars, Tabatha? As much as I love Lynda's emotional approach to the relationships between her characters, it was actually the added BDSM elements into the story that didn't do much for me. It just seemed like Grady did a total 180 where that was concerned, and although it's explained it still just didn't seem to work . Now that paired with the fact that I really didn't like Grady didn't help. Grady was a downright asshole a lot of the time, and his constant running away from his problems got really old. It just frustrated the crap out of me that he acted like a teenager, and I felt that Micah deserved better than that when all he was trying to do was help. Now Grady did have some sweet moments in there where he was almost likeable, but by the time they came it almost seemed too little too late.

Overall would I recommend this one? Absolutely! It's still an interesting story angle with Micah's disability, and when Grady isn't being a douche bag I enjoyed the interactions between him and Micah. I'm definitely going to continue on with the rest of the series. I'm eager to see what happens with Finn and the rest of the Kick crew.