Fall for Him by Andie Burke
Narrators: Kyle Omori; Liam DiCosimo
Rating: 3.5 stars
Steam: 2 chilis
Pub date: 9/3

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Griffin for my advanced copy and to Macmillan Audio for my complimentary audiobook.

Dylan Gallagher is a software engineer with a knack for causing trouble, and Derek Chang is an exhausted ER nurse. Their relationship starts with a bang—literally—when Dylan crashes through Derek’s ceiling and lands on his bed. From there, it’s a wild ride of banter, mishaps, and growing chemistry.

This is a slightly chaotic rom-com that’s full of humor and heart. Burke does a great job with the witty back-and-forth between Dylan and Derek, making their awkward but sweet interactions fun to read. The story moves quickly, and you’ll find yourself laughing out loud at some of the absurd situations they get into. The representation of ADHD and mental health issues make the characters feel real and relatable.

That said, the book has its hiccups. The plot can feel jumpy at times, and there are moments where you might wonder how you got from point A to point B. Some of the side characters can be a bit much, but overall, they add to the chaotic charm of the story. Also, the MC’s names are Derek and Dylan, which is very confusing at first. Their voices are also very similar, making it difficult to distinguish who is talking. I thought listening to the audio would help, but even with the amazing narrators, trying to figure out which POV we were in was still confusing.

Overall, this is worth a read if you like M/M, forced proximity, and enemies-to-lovers romance.

Fall for Him is cute and charming enemies to lovers story about two neighbors. Dylan and Derek do not get along. Dylan does not make a good impression when he accidentally floods Derek's apartment. Dylan begs Derek to let him fix it for him but that doesn't go well because the two couldn't be more different. There's lots of cute moments and witty banter in this story.

Okay this book was adorable. There were a few parts in the beginning where the pacing was confusing and things got a bit jumbled, but the book really hit its stride at the halfway point and Derek and Dylan grew into such wonderful characters. Their chemistry was great from the beginning— from annoyances to lovers. The side characters all held their own and were well developed. This might just be my brain but having the two main characters with names that were so similar in length and start with the same latter, Dylan and Derek, made it hard to follow who’s perspective I was reading at times. But overall, Fall for Him was adorable and I loved it.

Thank you NetGalley and Andie Burke for the opportunity to receive an eArc in exchange for an honest review!

If you’ve ever owned a home, condo, or an apartment you know that maintenance and unexpected adventure is literally behind every unpoked wall and behind every flake of paint- it’s not “oh that was nothing” it is always “what next?” and so we begin Fall For Him where Dylan literally falls through the ceiling of his neighbor Derek- falling in love, falling into fate!


Getting to know Dylan and Derek and their storied past and their invisible string- they were bound to be together but it doesn’t come without complexities and nuances.

Dylan is staying at his Uncle's condo, trying to help him get ready to sell it, knowing there’s deferred maintenance and Dylan is the only one in his family with the time to be able to make the changes that need to be done.

Derek bought his condo from his sister when she was in a rocky financial situation and Derek thought buying it from her would at least temporarily help her get back on her feet-he could handle whatever problems came with the apartment.

For both Dyland and Derek though their good intentions give them each a significant project resulting in a near full demo and rebuild in a part of each of their apartments.

Through this demo and rebuild Derek and Dylan uncover the soiled background of their condos, and also the murky overlaps of their romantic past.

In addition to navigating their demolition, personal romance, and families, Dylan is also navigating his ADHD diagnosis and I absolutely appreciated the ADHD representation and exploration of medication.

This is a fun read and I enjoyed it!

4 gooses
3 honkin’ peppers

I absolutely loved Fall for Him! Once I started, I could not put this book down. It’s funny, charming, and deeply relatable. The opening scene is one of the most creative meet-cutes that I’ve read; I love how Dylan fell quite literally. After an apartment flood accidentally caused by Dylan, he seems unlikely to get along with the neighbor below him. Derek is an ER nurse who is trying to hide his friend’s dog at his apartment. Dylan and Derek come to a reluctant truce. Derek will move into Dylan’s apartment while Dylan fixes the damage and keeps quiet about the dog. Comedic shenanigans and sweet romance ensue!

Andie Burke writes characters with such excellent motivations, depths, and fears. Her characters feel like people that you’d like to be friends with. I appreciate how Burke uses her background as a nurse to educate about the abuse and injustices that nurses deal with. Dylan’s experience with ADHD seemed very genuine and authentic. The sense of humor in this book is very much my type, it almost feels like Gilmore Girls humor. The scene where Dylan’s sister Felicity unexpectedly comes to the house and has the cops called on her by an overzealous neighbor is comedic genius. I hope we get Felicity’s love story! Plus, Gus the dog is adorable.

Readers who enjoy hilarious dialogue, queer love stories, forced proximity, and lovable characters should check out Fall for Him. I can’t wait for more stories from Andie Burke!

Thank you to Andie Burke, St. Martin’s Griffin, and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

This is a MM rom-com about Dylan and Derek. Dylan falls through the ceiling of Derek’s apartment, while he is renovating upstairs. Of course, his downstairs neighbour had to be the ultra-hot, unapproachable Derek. When they find out the problem stems from his apartment, and it will be expensive to fix, he doesn’t know what to do. Dylan wants to keep the problem quiet from his family, he offers to fix the damage himself. Add in some ADHD hyperfixation, a whole lot of family drama, and plenty of misunderstanding and these two can’t possibly fall for each other, can they?

This book delves into many things including grief and loss, anxiety and ADHD. There are tough topics and they can be painful. I did find Dylan’s ADHD difficult to read, as I felt like I was on a chaotic journey of neurodivergence. It, however, allowed me to see ADHD through the perspective of an adult and one of the ways it works in their life. I thought it was good to see mental health represented in not trying to fix it, but learning to live life with ADHD. Derek has his struggles dealing with family dynamics and knowing how to care for his family, while also letting them make mistakes. His desire to protect his family is beautiful, but I did understand his siblings’ feelings too.

The banter between Dylan and Derek is great and they seemed to work together with similar senses of humour. They were the perfect opposites, and I loved that Derek didn’t try to change some of Dylan’s ADHD tendencies, but rather worked with it.

The book is dual POV and written in third person. I did find myself struggling at times with whose perspective I was reading. I also felt that though this isn’t dubbed as a sequel if I had not read Burke’s first book, I may have been lost on some of the things that had happened in the past, especially Derek.

Though this story is written as a love story, and it is that, it is also so much more. It is about figuring out who you are, caring for yourself and learning to cope with grief, loss and mental illness. I loved the story and the messages in it. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

Read if you like: hate to love, forced proximity, neighbours, mental health rep

This was entertaining. The author wove in characters from her previous novel, which I always appreciate! Dylan and Derek get stuck together due to some needed renovations in their apartments, and it continues to get chaotic and less chaotic as the story progresses. I appreciate that stories are shifting towards healthy dialogue between the characters versus perpetuating less-than-ideal communication patterns in relationships. While I think I liked Olive and Stella *just* a bit better, Dylan and Derek are a really solid second place!

I ended up loving Fall for Him by Andie Burke. Despite their issues, Dylan and Derek were such sweethearts. The dual POV writing with Derek and Dylan could be a bit confusing, but I didn’t feel it was enough to detract from the story. I thought the depiction of grief and mental health were handled with care. I expect there is a bit more backstory if you read Fly with Me first, but it doesn’t seem necessary to enjoy this one.

I wish I liked Fall For Him more than I did, but I had a few issues that knocked my rating down to 3-stars...
1..The two MMC's were named Dylan and Derek. I wish authors would not have the main characters names start with the same letter or have the same ending (Helena, Sabrina, for example).
2. I got a little bit of whiplash with the romance aspect. They went from hating each other to being together so quickly with little buildup.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Fall For Him publishes on September 3, 2024.

The beginning of this book, into the middle, was stellar. I liked the concept of the book a lot and the 'meet-cute' was definitely unique. I think having the underlying "we both might have dated the same person' might have been a little weird, especially since Derek had not worked through a lot of his feelings. I think I wanted more of them working through some of their pasts. I did like that the journey went along with the repairs on the apartment. There were some chapters I couldn't tell which character we were focused on, but that may just have been the ARC. Overall, it was cute.

DNF Details

How far did I get? I don't know, I got confused and frustrated pretty quickly, so I ended up switching from the audiobook to the ebook, hoping that would help. It did not. So then I did some skimming.

Why did I stop? The writing style! Not only is it told in third person POV with very little indication when the perspective was changing, but it's also a M/M romance where the characters have very similar names. Dylan this, Derek that... I was legitimately confused whose perspective I was reading a lot of the time, and that made me incredibly frustrated. No matter how adorable the meet cute or how sweet the romance, I couldn't enjoy any of it because I was spending too much time trying to understand the writing. Derek also hates Dylan for a reason the reader isn't aware of, so it was just too much confusion for me.

Was I enjoying it initially? Writing-wise, no. Plot-wise, yeah. I'd heard some mixed things about this going in, but I love that gorgeous cover and the sound of the blurb, so I had high hopes. I love a neighbors to lovers kind of situation, the renovation aspect sounded fun, and I never mind some enemies to lovers tension. Technically speaking, this does have all of that, so I have to imagine that I would've enjoyed this a lot more without the confusion of POVs. Entirely possible that readers who are more comfortable with third person POV will have an easier time with it, but 90% of the romance I read is first person, so it was too much in combination with the similar names and unexplained hostility.

Would I finish this? I don't think so. I was lucky enough to have both the audiobook and the ebook in front of me, and I still couldn't get into it, so that's all I need to know.

Who would I recommend this to? Anyone who reads a lot of third person POV and likes a tender, somewhat emotional romance. Skimming ahead, I could see that this handles some difficult topics, and I liked the level of emotion.

2.5 stars rounded up

I wanted to love this book so much. SO much. But it just wasn't for me. I considered DNFing this book so many times. Somehow it was both like insta-lust/love AND too slow? I'm not sure how that was possible. But as someone who is not a fan of the miscommunication trope this book reminded me why i'm not a fan. Not only could neither of these men communicate like adults, they also hindered the other's ability to communicate as an adult as well. Overall, just was not an enjoyable experience for me.

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!