Book Description 

Dylan Gallagher’s hot neighbor loathed him from the second he moved in, and causing a flood, falling through the floor, and landing directly onto that same neighbor’s bed probably means that’s unlikely to change. The poorly timed “It’s Raining Men” joke didn’t help.

Meanwhile, ER nurse Derek Chang’s life is a literal when-rains-it-pours nightmare. A man he hates dropped into his life along with an astronomically expensive problem originating from Derek’s own apartment’s plumbing. Also, the local HOA tyrant has been sniffing around trying to fine him for his extended, illicit banned breed dog-sitting.

Since Dylan also wants to keep the catastrophe quiet, he offers to fix the damage himself. Dylan’s sure he’s not Derek’s type, so he focuses all his ADHD hyper fixation energy on getting the repair job done as quickly as possible—avoiding doing anything stupid like acting on his very inconvenient crush. Meanwhile Derek tries to ignore that the tattooed nerd sleeping on the couch is surprisingly witty, smart, and kind, despite the long-term grudge Derek’s been holding against him. But will squeezing all their emotional baggage plus a dog into a tiny one-bedroom apartment be a major disaster…or just prove they’re made for each other?

Fall for Him combines banter, hijinks, and heart in a story of finding out what it means to fix things after your life crumbles.

My Review 

I enjoyed reading Burke’s first book Fly With Me, so I was excited about the opportunity to read this book. There’s a tangential connection to FWM because Derek, one of the protagonists of this book is best friends with Olive, one of the protagonists of FWM. Despite this connection, readers do not have to start at the beginning of the series and can skip ahead to this book without losing any mandatory backstory or context. 

This is a fun enemies to lovers book that begins with Dylan falling through the ceiling and landing in Derek’s bed. Literally. This is not the meet-cute one might think because this is the real world and holes in the ceiling are an expensive disaster. But Dylan promises to fix the problem before the HOA finds out, and Derek doesn’t have any other options than trusting the process. 

There is also an element of opposites attract at work here: Derek is neat and organized and Dylan is a bit disheveled and gives the impression of being aimless, but Derek quickly learns that Dylan is a very intelligent computer programmer, so there’s something to be said about judging people based on first impressions. 

My favorite part of the book is when Derek accompanies Dylan to a Gallagher family barbecue and expresses his disgust at the way the other Gallaghers treat Dylan. This big moment helps Dylan realize that he’s not a hopeless disaster.  

I would recommend Fall for Him, but I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Fly With Me. This is still a solid 3 out of 5 and I enjoyed my reading experience and I am looking forward to reading more from Burke in the future.  

I received a digital ARC of this book from St. Martin’s/NetGalley.