Ella Maise

The Hardest Fall

Wenn man normalerweise das erste Mal jemanden trifft, schaut man ihm in die Augen. Und nicht in Regionen deutlich weiter südlich. Vielleicht schafft man es auch ein bis zwei zusammenhängende Sätze auszusprechen. Normalerweise. Aber nicht ich. Als ich Dylan Reed das erste Mal getroffen habe, habe ich mich hemmungslos blamiert. Als ich ihn das zweite Mal getroffen habe leider auch. Schlimmer konnte es nicht werden. Dachte ich. Denn auf einmal ist der Wide Receiver mit einer guten Aussicht auf die NFL mein neuer Mitbewohner und auf dem besten Weg mein bester Freund zu werden. Er sagt, er mag meine Eigenarten, meine Vorliebe für Pizza und Filmabende. Wir sind Freunde und ich kann ihm nicht mal sagen, dass mein Herz jedes mal zu einem Sprint ansetzt, wenn ich ihn sehe. Mein Name ist Zoe und ich bin auf dem besten Weg mich zu verlieben. Wir uns ineinander zu verlieben. Viel zu schnell und viel zu heftig.

Sophia

“I’ll catch you when you land, Flash. Just don’t take too much time, because I’m already there, impatiently waiting for you.”

Lol I just realized they didn't even say I love you yet but guess they don't need to

“I can’t have you sleeping somewhere else, Flash. I can’t go another day without waking up to you wrapped around me. We’ll find a small apartment and move in together. I know I only have a few months until the draft, and after that—”

Not even trying to contain my smile, I might have shouted my response a bit louder than I was aiming for. “Yes. Yes. Yes!” With the way I was acting, you’d have thought he’d asked me to marry him.

His thumb moved over my lip, but he didn’t look away from my eyes. “Keep me, Flash. I’m a good catch.”

I grinned, my heart skipping all over the place. “You know what? I think I will.”

His smile got bigger , and I felt out of my mind with happiness.

In the end, I’d gotten her, in every sense of the word —only I had no idea none of it would matter the next day, not after the way she broke my heart.

“Now, I could never mistake you for someone else. Your shy little smile, your big happy smile, the shape of your eyes… you’re all I think about, Zoe. When I wake up, I can’t wait to work out because I know you’ll be up only minutes after me. I’ll hear your footsteps, you’ll come into the kitchen still half asleep and so beautiful, and then you’ll innocently perv on me while acting like you’re having breakfast.”

“Leave him,” I continued. “I’m right here and I want you, so damn much. I’m not sure how much more I can take . Every time I see you with a guy… I just want to rip his head off for touching you, for looking at you, for being close to you when I can’t. The guy from the Tucson game? I’ve never played that aggressively before. All I wanted to do was take him down. You’re driving me crazy, and I’ve never been so jealous of anyone in my life.” I paused. “I need you to let him go, Zoe. Whatever it is that’s going on between you two, I don’t want to know. Just… I need you to choose me now. I’m the one that’s supposed to be with you, not anyone else.”

The first time you meet someone, you make eye contact. You smile, say hello. Should be simple, if you're anyone but me. The first time I met Dylan Reed, I found myself making eye contact with a different part of his body. You see, I'm very good at being shy, not to mention extremely well-versed in rambling nonsense and, unfortunately, rather highly skilled at making a fool of myself in front of a guy I'm attracted to. At the time, I knew nothing about him and thought none of what I said would matter since I'd never speak to him again. Turns out, I was very wrong. He was the star wide receiver of the football team, one of the few players expected to make it into the NFL, and I ended up seeing him all over campus. I might have also propositioned him, run away from him, attacked him with a cooking utensil...and...uh, maybe I shouldn't tell you all of it. It's pretty normal stuff, things you'd expect...from me. Eventually, the time came when I couldn't hide anymore-not that he'd have let me even if I tried. Before now, he never knew I was secretly watching him. Now that we see each other every day, he knows when I have a hard time looking away. It doesn't help that I'm not the most subtle person in the world either. He smiles at me and tells me he finds me fascinating because of my quirks. I can't even tell him that I think my heart beats differently whenever he's around. He thinks we're going to be best friends. I think I have a big thing for him, and the more I get to know him, the more I don't care that I'm not allowed to be his friend, let alone fall for him. The thing is, that's exactly what I'm doing-what we're doing, I think. Falling. Hard.

prawnie

i’m a sucker for any books made by Ella and this one is no different!

lexie

i don’t have clue why i didn’t like this book

I think the author waited a bit too long to reveal she wasn't having an affair because I was so close to dnf it and only didn't because I looked it up to make sure she wasn't one of those.

Fuck Mark by the way. And you know what, fuck her mom, too. She and her dad deserved better.

They waited shockingly long to say they love each other. He asked her to move in together and by the time I finally realized they didn't say it yet. Then there was a time jump and I just assumed they told each other but then they actually said it for the first time and my jaw dropped haha I just assumed they were the kind of couple who didn't need to say it outload but that they actually waited so long💀 they were practically married before they admitted their feelings lmao

The epilogue was sweet like I expected but the dialogue cracked me up haha it was so obvious they talked that way to give us the information we want💀

I think the author waited a bit too long to reveal she wasn't having an affair because I was so close to dnf it and only didn't because I looked it up to make sure she wasn't one of those.

Fuck Mark by the way. And you know what, fuck her mom, too. She and her dad deserved better.

They waited shockingly long to say they love each other. He asked her to move in together and by the time I finally realized they didn't say it yet. Then there was a time jump and I just assumed they told each other but then they actually said it for the first time and my jaw dropped haha I just assumed they were the kind of couple who didn't need to say it outload but that they actually waited so long💀 they were practically married before they admitted their feelings lmao

The epilogue was sweet like I expected but the dialogue cracked me up haha it was so obvious they talked that way to give us the information we want💀

julie reads

My heartttt!! This was such a good book- so sweet and I love everything about it. I absolutely adored Dylan Reed- he was such a gentleman and very respectful towards Zoe! And Mark- well that interesting and I loved it !! I did not expect him to be who I thought he was.

RacquelElizabeth

Jasmine

3.75 Stars

This was a book that got better for me as it went on but I also liked the idea of them having these three awkward run-ins before we got into their story. I liked Dylan's character and I usually love dual povs but I could have happily stayed just with his. Zoe for some reason would get under my skin and irritate me at various points throughout the entire book. This was a great friend/ roommates to lovers they really complemented each other. I enjoyed watching their relationship progress it felt natural and I wasn't expecting it to be a slow burn when I picked it up, but you won't hear me complaining. Have to say I think I'm a fan of Ella Maise's writing especially how well she build-ups her relationships and those surprising emotional gut punches. I'm 2/2 now and I definitely won't hesitate to check out more.

Davina 

Kathleen Tom

** spoiler alert **
           ELLA MAISE! 💜 

You’re amazing you know that! Arghh I just love everything you write. 

I just love Sport Romance nowadays. All this athletes and muscles is driving me crazy & horny! I need more storyline like this. At the beginning of the story is a bit confusing and very twisted but the more I read the more you will understand it better. 

And Zoe Is freaking adorable and cute! All the rambling is driving me insane. I just love her character. It’s not everyday you read this type of Heroin. 

Dylan Reed 🤤🤤 

Will you marry me? Better yet, let’s get married now.

Zarah Hussain

Fátima

4.5 le quité medio punto por una tontería la verdad. No puedo creer que me haya gustado tanto.

Inês Filipa

(More like 4,5 stars) 
Although the beginning was a bit slow, dylan and zoe’s friendship was heartwarming ever since that beginning. Besides, the way they fell for each other and their little routines and “quirks” just made everything better. 
Overall, i adored this and ella maise is making her way into becoming one of my favourite authors

macy

More 

4,5⭐* Zoe y Dylan son tan tiernos dios los amo🤧

Noelia Abreu

For the most part I liked it and I thought the main characters were really cute, but towards the end Dylan turned into an asshole, his behaviour and his possesiveness was not okay. Honestly, I'm over the whole "neanderthal" bullshit and this didn't make any sense to me considering how Dylan was in the rest of the book.

arwa 

tbh i read this because i loved all of ella maise’s other books, so i had really high hopes for this one! unfortunately, it wasn’t my favourite but i still enjoyed reading it.

I hated how Zoe’s previous relationship was portrayed, it made me a little uncomfortable how we were strung along with that piece of information. I love dylan so much though, he was such a good character!! The final game made me cry so much, that was my favourite scene ah

i loved the way we really see them as friends first before becoming a romantic interest for each other, but at the same time, to me, it felt like everything was oddly paced and felt a bit rushed

Sophie 

I loved every single minute of this! The plot twist too damn my jaw hit the floor! Tears streaming down my face I’m so happy I love Zoe and Dylan so much omg!!! Just everything that Ella Maise writes is going to be amazing and I’m reading everything she has written before I die I swear to god! So good one of my fave books ever!!

“We chose each other, and we’d keep choosing each other long after we took our last breaths on this earth.”

fallinallinlines

I can‘t even tell you HOW MUCH I loved this book. Everything from the first page to the last was perfect! Zoe was my spirit animal, I love her soso dearly, her happy, cute and weird personality, her humor, her quirks. She and Dylan made this book so special, they made the story so good and enjoyable and funny and arghhh I wanna read it all over again!! I loved them, I really, really loved this book. Huge highlight in 2021❤️

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads.


Despite never having read an Ella Maise book before, I'd had my eye on The Hardest Fall since it started popping up on social media. I love me some football books, so I was immediately drawn to the cover. But once I read the blurb, I realized I absolutely had to read it. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes. Early reviews talked about the slow burn in this one and I love a well-done slow burn. I put this on my priority TBR and snagged it from Kindle Unlimited as soon as it was available. Surprisingly enough I didn't binge it all in a couple sittings, but spread it out some because I was enjoying the writing so much I wanted to make it last as long as possible. 

The Hardest Fall was a great character-driven book. I absolutely adored Zoe and Dylan. Zoe was a great heroine. I mean, she was a lot to take in the beginning, but as someone who has her fair share of awkward social interactions, I found her kind of endearing. And the more I learned about her, the more I liked her. She'd dealt with a lot in the past and, honestly, was still dealing with some serious crap, but she did it with a smile on her face. I love a strong heroine. And Dylan? Hello, swoony goodness. Who doesn't love a non-manwhore, down to earth and sweet athlete hero? He was damn near perfect. Plus, he was such a great match for Zoe. I loved reading as these two characters became friends and then more and I relished in the delicious slow burn that came with it. 

I don't want to say anything that'll spoil the other main storyline in the book — the one with Zoe and the football coach — but I'm the first to admit I was a little nervous about what was happening there. I'm SO GLAD it didn't turn out to be what I feared it might be. I also felt like that storyline, while it did upset me a few times because of how strongly I felt about Zoe, was done really well. It all added to Zoe's personal growth and I can't be all that upset about that. 

This was an absolutely delightful book. I'm so glad it fell on my radar. I'm looking forward to reading Ella's backlist in the near future, too. 

FAVORITE QUOTES

When life throws you a wide receiver out of nowhere, what are you supposed to do with him? Try your best not to look at him for too long, maybe? That'd be a good rule of thumb, I thought. 

"This is the strangest thing, but I think you're going to be my best friend, Zoe Clarke."

"My heart beats differently for you. It feels different somehow. I know this probably doesn't make sense, but... it beats louder, wilder when I see you."

It's hard to explain what draws you to a person, what it is about them that makes them so special that you give them your heart. I believe it's all about who you are together, how you are together.

Joana Rodrigues

Ella Maise sure knows how to write slowburn

Coralie | she/her

4,5/5
Trigger warnings: divorce ; abusive parent (psychologically) ; violent parent ; cancer (mentioned) ; rape (mentioned) ; scene of violence (strangulation)

This one almost hit perfect score!
Zoe immediately conquered me. She is hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing out loud with all her babbling. No wonder why Dylan fell in love with her. She is the weirdest and the cutest at the same time. And well, Dylan's not so bad himself. He easily made himself a place in my top 10 book boyfriends. He is a good man, and Ella if you are reading this, just know that you killed me with this epilogue! Absolutely freaking perfect!

The Hardest Fall is the perfect romance if you are looking for a nice simple read that will make you laugh out loud and fall hard for the characters, just like they fall for each other. A beautiful friends-to-lovers romance, with a roommates trope.

The Hardest Fall

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