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. 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.

Andie Burke writes such lovely books full of queer joy and slice-of-life humor and heart. I especially love Gus the illicit dog.

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.

4.5 stars rounded up

Dylan Gallagher floor collapsed landing him in Derek Changs apartment beneath. Dylan and Derek’s relation was not on the best terms. I had a hard time keeping track of who’s POV was telling the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fall for him starts with a fun and dramatic start! It was fun being able to get inside both of our main character's heads as they dealt with the issues in their life. They had such a rocky start, and misunderstandings would easily lead them to argue or snap at each other. However, I enjoy that rockiness over an insta-love story any day, we see them take accountability for their actions and question why they would react the way they did to things. Their relationship is so sweet and you root for them throughout the book!

One note is that I wish the author didn't make the two lead's names so similar, it felt like Dylan and Derek would constantly just get switched within my head as their names were continually right next to each other.

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.

When a book literally starts with someone crashing through a ceiling into another person's bed, you know it's going to be a ride. While I enjoyed the book, the pacing was a little all over the place. There were a couple times where I couldn't figure out how there was so much book left when I felt like I had been reading for a while.
A few tropes that are in this book include Only one bed (literally), miscommunication/misunderstanding, enemies(lite)-to-lovers, and chosen family (while also still having real family as well).
If you're looking for a light-hearted MM, HEA read this is a good choice.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. 3.75 stars and 2 chili peppers for spice. This was such a cute rom-com! I love the characters and their enemies to lovers relationship. I read this as a standalone and did not read the companion book Fly with Me. My reason for not giving it 4 full stars is because I honestly think there could have been a tiny bit more spice with how quickly they went from crushing on each other to being in love. The time frame might have been spread out over a couple months but the way it was written made it feel pretty insta love without much physical touch. The ending also felt a tiny bit short, in that everything wrapped up in a nice tiny bow super quickly. But I still loved the book and would totally recommend it to friends to read.

I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review.

This one begins with classic Romance tropes of enemies to lovers and forced proximity. Dylan falls through this floor onto Derek's bed in the apartment below, and their lives become complicated and intertwined. Dylan offers to do the repairs on the damage, but that means he and Derek share quarters while they are being completed. The two are attracted to each other from the very beginning, but Derek has had the wrong impression of Dylan all along, and is still reeling from the sudden loss of one of his closest friends, and someone he thought he was in love with. Dylan also has his own struggles with low self-esteem after his recent ADHD diagnosis. The two learn to become friends, and definitely have lots of banter and chemistry. Although the book was heavy in parts, I enjoyed it for the moments of levity, and I was rooting for the two of them to find a way to make it work. I recommend this sweet Romcom.

Thank you NetGalley for the free digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

ANDIE. BURKE. THE WRITER THAT YOU ARE!!!
after reading fly with me, i couldn’t help but love derek and wishing we saw more of him. which is EXACTLY what this book was.
i loved every second of this book. i loved that a main focus of it was setting boundaries and learning from them.
there was funny moments, swoon worthy moments, angry and sad moments, and happy ones too. andie really set the bar high with her first two releases, so i can’t wait to see what comes next.

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.

thank you netgalley for the e-arc. i loved andie's first book and couldn't wait to get this one. i think her writing and storytelling got even better since the last book. i really appreciate andie integrating mental health and other common struggles into her writing without making it a trope. she makes her characters real people.

This was a fun queer rom com with forced proximity! I was immediately intrigued by the plot. Enemies to lovers, temporary roommates. But I liked that there are also some serious topics (including grief) covered and mental health rep. I enjoyed the writing and the banter. Found myself laughing out loud here and there.

✨ 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

A MM Romance with the most delicious meet-cute I will forever remember whenever I hear the song 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘦𝘯.

I fell into this book and didn’t want it to end. If you are looking for a spicy story that has a fast paced plot with all the feels and great character arcs with lots of surprises you might enjoy this book.

An unexpected home renovation, a VERY nosy neighbor, a loveable goofy Great Dane named Gus, secrets, assumptions, and family expectations.

Derek and Dylan must work together to avoid their VERY nosy neighbor from discovering what happened so they hatch a plan. It’s a race against the clock as they find a solution and work together while overcoming their biggest obstacle, how they 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 feel.

This book also has plenty of spicy moments, lots of banter, and other loveable characters that maybe we will meet in a future book.

𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦: I've posted on my Instagram page for those who do not wish to read spoilers.

This was the first book by Andie Burke I’ve read...and it won’t be the last.

All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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.

This book really did the whole enemies to lovers trope really well. The chemistry between Derek and Dylan was incredible due to the fine descriptions of the men. Derek seemed like an Asian Meathead god, while Dylan was this beautiful Clark Kent type. I can definitely get behind these two getting behind each other! On a more serious note, the treatment of Dylan's ADHD and Derek's caretaker-ness really drove a lot of empathy for the characters and I really related to them. The humour was also quite evident in the cheesy banter between the two, and the sassy BFFs. They were a delight! Anyway, I think she crammed a lot of stuff into the book, just like that monstrosity of a dog but I loved it! Too many D's for the win! Kay.

Steam: 🔥🔥
Heart Flutters: ❤️❤️

This was cute! I enjoyed it more than Fly with Me, but it was fun to see the characters pop in from the first book. I did feel like if I hadn’t read the first one and known about Jake from Olive’s perspective that I wouldn’t have appreciated Derek’s relationship with him as much. I thought grief was portrayed well in this book, as well as the neurodivergent rep. Dylan and Derek really balanced each other out and that was nice to see. I also enjoyed the wide array of family dynamics in this book. Overall would recommend! Bonus points for the Jonathan Groff mention.

Overall rating: 5/5 stars

You have to love the trope of forced proximity and enemies to lovers. This is a golden star moment when you take, literal, forced proximity (falling threw a ceiling) and enemies to lovers (over a long time crush mishap) and shove it into a book that deals with mental health, overcoming grief and accepting change. Andie Burke did all this in Fall for Him. Derek and Dylan felt like real life people dealing with their own muddy pasts. I especially liked that they were not perfect in how they dealt with them either it was messy, raw and completely human. Their love for one another is one I will soon not forget. How they get to their perfect rom com ending with worth a read. This one is gonna be loved so fiercely.