Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Hardest Fall

really cute friends to lovers story. I guessed zoe's secret pretty early on but it was still interesting to see how the author let more and more hints come through. her chattering was a bit annoying sometimes though.

i hated the miscommunication. another one of those overused tropes in romance books. I get that miscommunication happens a lot irl too but not in these kind of scenarios.

also, some themes (like the situation with kayla) could've been discussed so much more thoroughly. I'm sad it got overshadowed by the miscommunication.

the epilogue was cute but why do all sport romances that ive read end up with marriage and children??? I'd love one where they get married and don't have children

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alicejosiepulp's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

SLAY

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akbelcher's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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saraohneh's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

i didnt like the lies and miscommunication but the rest was great.

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gouldstonejc's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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angamsbary's review against another edition

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4.25

this book follows Zoe and Dylan who met two years prior when Zoe first started college and was dared to kiss a random guy but ends up walking in on Dylan and when she does ask about the case he says he has a girlfriend. He has spent the next two years, not necessarily searching for her, but more looking and trying to find her (saying this because he wasn’t actively going around and asking his friends about her or asking for her phone number, but he said that anywhere he would go. He just kind of kept his eyes open and was hoping that he would run into her again). Well all two years later feet intervenes in the end up as accidental roommates since Dylan walked in on his teammates, and his girlfriend sleeping together, and no longer had a place to live and Dylan’s coach. Mark wasn’t under the impression that Zoe was there at the apartment full-time and was under the impression that she was moving in with her friend Kayla but that did not end up happening. There’s definitely some attraction there, but Zoe was in a difficult place since she was hiding a secret from from Dylan about Mark. Jill and asked her if she was seeing somebody and she said that she was dating somebody but it was complicated and Dylan ended up taking that as the assumption after some interactions that she was sleeping with a coach and he ended up getting upset about it throughout the time. For example, when Zoe ended up flying with the football team and was the photographer and Mark ended up getting very upset and pissed and ended up showing up at so he’s room but the way that Dylan saw it was that Mark went in and he just made some assumptions from there. The reality was Mark was Zoe’s biological dad that he was not aware of since he tried to have Zoe‘s mom get an abortion since he was cheating on his current wife with her and over all her main reason for going to the college. Was she also found out that she had a brother since her mother was dying of breast, cancer and told her all of this right before dying I think as a last dying well to hopefully get Mark to come and be with her since she ultimately wanted him but in this entire aspect, so we ended up learning out that she had a brother Chris who is Dylan’s best friend and was in the very rough place of Mark threatening her and saying that she was not allowed to tell him since he was afraid that it would break up his family since Chris was adopted by his mother, since his dad was having an affair, and his mother could not have kids and overall, Mark did not want it to be an issue with his wife and son, and ultimately told Zoe that he wanted to get to know her more before introducing them, but ended up being over three years and he was about to graduate and he still had no idea about her. Would you like to a lot of issues since she was very curious, but Dylan obviously was jumping two different conclusions not really understanding the connection that Zoe had to these people. The final straw that happened between Dylan and Zoe was when Zoe’s biological dad showed up and Dylan walked into the apartment and saw that Mark was very close to her since market just previously hit her and was crowding in her space and he walked in thinking that he walked in on the two of them together, and ended up storming out not really realizing that she was in a position of he just hit her and was threatening her, and he walked in on it and Mark was trying to save face, so Dylan was not really aware of what was happening since Mark was also under the impression, and made it very clear that he would prefer Dylan to have the assumption that he was sleeping with her versus knowing the actual truth that Chris is her biological brother. Zoe did end up stepping back from Dillon at that point since Mark threatened her and said that he would do anything that he possibly could to make sure that Dylan did not get drafted, and was not seen by scouts, and pull him from the team which word intern ruin everything that he spent the last four years working for and so Zoe stepped back and ended up telling her brother, but did not say anything to Dylan since he ended up blocking her under the assumption that she was sleeping with his coach. Zoe did try to reach out after the last game where Mark would no longer be in the position of potentially ruining his career but overall it didn’t work out since he did block her, and had tried to distance and cut any tire that he had in connection with her since he did not really want to hear her story, but she did end up showing up at the bar one night with the help of Chris her brother to find the timing of when it worked and she refused to leave until he spoke to her, and they did end up, working it out where she joined him during the timeframe for him getting scouted and Dylan did get scouted to the New York Giants and her brother. Chris also got professionally scouted Chris in the relationship with his dad was severely limited after due to the duration of lies, and the extent of him still not wanting to tell his mother about it. The book did end with them being married six years later, and having a baby.

Also, there should be some trigger for domestic violence and rape since in the book, there was a scene where they were in the library and her best friends boyfriend, the friend that she was going to be moving in with, ended up, showing up and was on drugs, and the past friend was trying to get away from him, and he ended up getting very physically violent, and at that point Zoe end up finding out that Kayla was raped, and in front of all of his friends, were he had everybody watch, and he kept going under the assumption that because they were dating nothing was wrong and that overall it was her fault and that she can’t believe that this is what he’s making her do since he physically attacked Zoe by holding her up by her throat against the wall.

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