Rating: 4
Steam: 3
PoV: dual, 1st person
Genre: contemporary romance, MM
Tropes / tags: co-workers, ex-best friend’s brother, small town
He rolled his eyes, and not for the first time, I found him cute. Riven McKenna wasn’t supposed to be cute, and in a lot of ways he wasn’t—he was an asshole, and he was closed off. He was scarred, but damned if he didn’t have those moments where the only word I could use to describe him was cute.
Risk the Fall was the kind of story that made my heart ache – I always feel so much for characters that are trapped in situations they have little control over…
Riven was definitely that kind of character, desperately wanting a better life, but being trapped by his own past and circumstances he had very little control over. I loved him and Parrish together, they were both touch-starved and so sweet with each other. I liked their shared history and the initial push and pull between them.
These two really had a lot of things standing between them and their HEA – family drama, secrets from the past and threats… The tension and angst kept building, and at times it was difficult to see how it could ever end well for them. It was easy to be intrigued by their story and the characters, and I had a hard time putting the book down.
Risk the Fall was a bit more gritty and heavier than what Riley Hart usually writes, and she did a fantastic job at portraying the small town hopelessness and the characters’ circumstances. A great read, full of feelings and tension!
“I don’t want to fix anything, but I do want to be here for you, to be a soft place for you to fall. Let me try to give you that.”
Book links:
Amazon | Goodreads | BookBub | StoryGraph
The Secret Librarian 