DNF at 40%.

This story started really well. I loved the Raining Men concept in the first chapter, and a smile immediately danced on my face. The ADHD rep was so well done, and I was so happy to see a hyperfocus rep. The cover is beautiful, and Gus is adorable.

BUT …

The writing completely lost me. Most of the time, I didn’t know whose POV I was reading (it’s third person), and the names Dylan, Derek, Dylan, Derek, Dylan, Derek danced before my eyes. Secondary characters were introduced without an introduction. Hudson? Should I know Hudson? Oh, he has scrubs on. Oh, he hooked up with Derek. Oh, that means I’m reading Derek’s POV. I still don’t understand who Hudson is.

I’m sorry, but I need structure in a book, and the writing didn’t give me any. So, I DNF’d. Please check out other reviews if you want to read this one.

This one was meh. The main characters were okay but there were so many side stories and things going on with side characters that it got convoluted. It was an easy read, but I don’t think I’d recommend it.

So much potential. I enjoyed the MC’S and the opening is great. However, this book introduced a bit and instead of getting the reaction and moving in, it kept coming back.
I will definitely read another book by this author but this one, just didn’t work.

Thank you for the opportunity to read the e-arc for Fall For Him. Unfortunately I will not be posting reviews or posts about this book because of St.Martin refusing to respond to the boycott regarding the posts made by a SMP employee that were Islamophobic. I'll post about it as soon as SMP stops pretending it never happened and hoping it just goes away.

This book was so good I had to put it down to make sure I got anything else the author had written (and there was a sapphic one waiting for me-on it now) Had me fighting back tears half the time with how accurate ADHD was portrayed, the emotions that both Derek and Dylan were experiencing jumped of the page, though I would have killed for them to not have the same initial bc I'll be honest that blurred them together enough that I found myself consistently going back to try and keep track of who it was I was following until halfway through the book, and even then it wasn't that it never happened, just happened less because the characters were so incredibly flushed out as people that I knew them enough to know who was who, but getting there was rough for a minute. This also tackles grief so incredibly well, how it can dominate life so completely you don't even notice. And the romance was so fucking good it's not even funny. The enemies to lovers, forced proximity secret dog harboring felt so natural even as quickly as it happened, and once they had gotten together, it didn't feel like the book was just going on for the sake of continuing,but testing them as a team. The plots around them were so well built that the will they won't they shifting unquestionably into they will until the third act breakup had very little impact on the enjoyability of them. To put it simply, this book filled me with Stupid, Lovesick, Radiant Joy.

Thank you Netgalley for an advance copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

I will admit, I knew the characters had similar names, and I thought I could get past it. I thought it would not bother me! But both characters felt so similar, that even 50% through this book I could not tell you which character was which. If I did not think about it too much I could get into the story more, but then I would try to connect facts with characters and just get....lost.

This story started out so strong too! Falling through the literal ceiling onto a hot guy is the ultimate meet-cute....and there was so much potential for great storytelling after that opening sequence.

But..... I did struggle to get invested in the story, and found myself bored multiple times throughout. I wanted them to have a cute romance I could gush over, but it felt like the chemistry was lacking in some parts and just not there in others. They went from a full fight to a blow job to "babe" nicknames within a course of one chapter, with no real confrontation of the real issue behind the fight until later in the story. It just felt a bit disjointed, which took me out of the story.

I did enjoy reading about how the author tackled topics like grief and ADHD, and even being a gay man in this day and age. I appreciated these little details about the main characters - it made them feel messy, and a little bit more realistic. Burke really goes in depth with these too, they are not just thrown in and then forgotten about, and while I missed some of the chemistry, I enjoyed the complexity of the characters.

This was my first novel from this author, and from other reviews it sounds like I would have understood more if I read Burke's previous novel. This one just was not for me, but that is okay! I have seen others really enjoy this book, and I am sure it will resonate out there with at least one person. For me, I struggled to get into the story and invested in the characters, and found the pacing disjointed at times. The book does have a cute cover and sounded like an even cuter story, but it ended up not being for me.
Content warnings: loss of a loved one, grief, alcoholism, homophobia, medical content

A very strong read with some really great character work. The themes and romance were strong. Overall I really enjoyed this and will check other books out by this author in the future.

Before I begin, I would like to thank Andie Burke for allowing me to read a NetGalley ARC of her upcoming book, Fall for Him, which will be available on September 3rd, 2024.

Dylan Gallagher doesn’t know why his handsome neighbor has hated him since Dylan moved in, but he is sure that causing a flood and falling through the floor into said neighbor’s bed won’t do him any favors. On the other hand, ER nurse Derek Chang not only hates Dylan, but now he has to deal with expensive plumbing repairs that came with Derek’s apartment from the beginning. Not to mention the HOA dictator of the apartment complex is trying to punish him for watching a dog that is not on the list of approved dog breeds for a very long time. Dylan offers to do the repairs himself and tries his best to ignore any feelings he gets to avoid making the situation worse. Derek is trying to ignore the fact that maybe Dylan isn’t as awful as he originally thought from things he gathered in the past. Can they care for a dog and complete renovations without wanting to kill each other? Better yet, what if the thing they are looking forward to ending is the start of a new beginning?

I absolutely loved this book. You have Dylan, a kind and talented young man that has practice in construction. You have Derek, a grumpy ER nurse that is protective of his friends and wary of committing to a romantic relationship. Gus was adorable. Loved Felicity, Olive and Joni were delightful. I loved the ADHD representation, found family, and the chaos that took place in this love story. Did Derek and Dylan make mistakes? Absolutely, but so does everyone. I thought their banter was fantastic, and their insecurities and reactions to those insecurities were relatable. Overall, if you like wonderful banter, found family, complex characters, chaos, cute dogs, neurodivergent representation, LGBTQ+ representation, romance, and lots of spice, then I would highly recommend this book. Here’s the link for more information: Fall for Him: A Novel - Kindle edition by Burke, Andie. Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

This has everything I could ever want. But I just can’t bring myself to read/rate a book by this publisher in good faith. And downloading it was a happy accident bc I didn’t realize who the publisher was.

Thank you NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this upcoming title.

Honestly, this book was cute and sweet. The premise and the meet-cute is quite interesting for sure. There's great ADHD and grief representation. And I loved both Dylan's and Derek's characters a lot. I loved how they hated each other in the beginning but reluctantly grew to be closer. I loved how they eventually opened up to each other. I loved the representation of nursing. And it's super cool that the author's a nurse as well. Finally, I loved how both characters have complex backstories that touch on important issues such as relationship trauma and family issues. ALSO, if you're a fan of "Fly With Me," Olive makes quite a few appearances and Stella is mentioned.

📣 a yum, fast-moving contemporary that delivers lots of feelings

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

📖 what’s a book you’re hoping to finish by July 1? I’m hoping to make it through another ARC. I accidentally made my neighbor go back up a bit again 🤣.

Fall for Him by Andie Burke delivered a delicious & much-appreciated palate cleanser for me after the last few longer books I’ve been reading. Warm, sometimes funny/sad/inspirational/& relatable, sexy…this book feels like it has it all, & it read so quickly for me.

The book opens with Dylan falling through the ceiling of his belowstairs housemate, Derek. Derek has apparently hated Dylan since the beginning of time, something Dylan is confused by. Forced to live together during renovation, the two develop an appreciation for the other despite their occasional misunderstandings, questions, etc.

This book got to my heart & I was cheering at some moments, like when Derek defends Dylan with his family (! Love that moment!). The last lines are so cute & perfectly wrap up this winning story about two lonely people appreciating each other for what & who they are & making a home together.

Maybe check out content warnings before you start bc this book does cover a lot of tough topics, but it’s still an uplifting book that I enjoyed so much.

4.5 ⭐️. Out 09/03.

CWs: ADHD rep; intrusive thoughts; anxiety; panic attack; grief.

[ID: Jess holds the ebook in front of pink & orange hydrangeas & French doors.]

This book’s premise immediately delivers on itself. You know from the getgo that this is a romance of forced proximity and hijinks, and if there’s one thing I love, it’s a hijinks. Arguably, this book is better than Fly With Me, because it has slightly better pacing and shows the improvements of going from a debut to a sophomore novel. It’s fun and engaging, with a swoon worthy romance and a lot of heart. I’ll be excited to see what Andie Burke does next. I also really like Andie Burke’s author’s notes. They make me feel like I’ve been given a literary hug.

Fall For Him starts with a bang (well, more like a fall), leaving you swooning for the whole rest of the book. A fun romance to pick up if you're in the mood for a light, hopeful read.

This is the perfect read for fall. Although it’s not always an easy read. I like the way it tackles grief, especially as someone who has also recently lost a close friend. It’s delightful and funny.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Let me start by saying the premise of this book really hooked me! I was intrigued from the start and enjoyed the two main characters a lot. However this book fell a bit flat for me for a lot of reasons. Fair warning, this is not a positive review, continue at your own risk.

To start, the main characters names are Derek and Dylan and I had the hardest time remembering who was who. Maybe it’s a me issue but having the two main characters names be so close was kind of irritating and distracting when I had to constantly remind myself which was which.

This is unfortunately the first time I’ve really noticed when there is a writing issue in a book. And I’m not saying sentence structure is bad, although it was at parts. No the issue in this book is the author does a poor job of explaining little details so you end up lost. Like they would be on the couch with no mention of how they got home. Or the descriptions of where hands were or bodies just made no sense. I understand this might feel nit-picky but it was soo distracting when it felt like whole sentences or scene setup was completely missing. I found myself going back to read previous sentences to see if I missed something just to find, no it wasn’t there at all. And this happened constantly where they were just suddenly in a completely different place or conversation.

I do understand that this is an eARC and it’s supposed to be rough and in final edits it could be fixed but there is so much fundamentally wrong with the structure, I don’t think it could completely be erased. This is definitely the roughest arc I’ve seen, it felt like a first draft with zero edits. Which was extremely distracting at times when attempting to figure out where the thought was going. However this book doesn’t come out until September so it’s possible I’m being a bit too harsh on this I will admit.

I also felt like this book got worse as it went on? I was super interested for the first hundred pages even over looking some very key issues but it started to drop for me when the characters lost some integrity. The lack of ability to have a conversation that mattered was annoying. They would talk around stuff and then only let each other get one line out before they moved on. I was dying for a longer, meaningful conversation that wasn’t them just yelling at each other for past trauma. These characters never figured out how to communicate with one another and just left me feeling frustrated.

Every character also decides to be a complete jerk to each other? I spent the first half really disliking Derek because he would make all these assumptions about Dylan and then Dylan started doing it too. Which goes into communication issues but it was again distracting from the plot.

This ending was also so unsatisfying. The author doesn’t explain how the characters grew while they were apart or made up with their siblings at all. They are just suddenly getting married? Like what did that do for the conclusion of the story other than show they stay together?

I struggled with what to rate this book because I did like parts of it but when writing this review I realized how hard a time I had getting through it. The bones of this are good but the writing, poor character development, unnecessary asshole-ness and just general lack of scene work makes this very difficult to push through.

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Andie is a phenomenal writer, and anyone looking for a good queer romance will enjoy this book and her previous one. I can’t wait to see what else she does in her career!

Ok, first off I hated that the two main characters were named Dylan and Derek. Why do they have to have names starting with the same letter? Anyway, on to the good stuff.....this book was adorably cute and I loved their jokes and banter. The initial meet cute was OTT and I loved it and thought it was a great setup to how the book would play out. This book will take you on a bit of a roller coaster of emotions, but in the best way possible. It is also a bit of a slow burn so don't think you are going to be getting any smutty scenes too early on. I like that the pace wasn't super quick and it let the emotion and tension build up. Carol was horribly annoying and just the type of neighbor everyone hates!

If you are looking for a fun, emotion filled, angsty romance, look no further.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An enemies-to-lovers turned home renovation calamity wrapped in mutual healing, all while fighting toxic masculinity! I fell hard for Andie Burke’s writing in Fly with Me, and I had so much fun diving into Derek and Dylan’s love story soon after. I finished it in a day, whoops!! We got to meet Derek as Olive’s best friend in the Fly with Me, witnessing his broken heart after the death his childhood best friend turned unrequited lover. Both Derek and Dylan feel like hope is lost in the long term love realm, until they are forced to learn about each other and work together to repair both of their apartments. Both characters carried layered complexity and the way their scars were revealed was genuine to the story. The humor from the side characters was pitch perfect - although I crave reading about Felicity and Olive’s meeting! As in Fly with Me, Burke’s craft of the sexy scenes was surprising, hot, and loving. I thoroughly enjoyed this! Add it to your fall TBR for sure!

I absolutely loved this enemies-to-lovers rom-com that actually delivers on the comedy and made me laugh out loud multiple times. This book starts off with Dylan literally falling through the ceiling into the bed of his downstairs neighbor Dylan. Sort of a meet-cute meets disaster. Romance novel circumstances ultimately force them to cohabitate as they try to hide apartment repairs and a dog from their nosy neighbor. What on earth could end up happening?

4.5 rounded up. It turns out I really enjoy a romance with grief elements. This novel made me laugh, cringe (cop scene as mentioned by others), and cry. The two characters felt real and had legitimate dimensions.

All of the emotions! I loved the story and being able to laugh, cry and feel the emotions the characters went through. Great story!