The Hardest Fall by Ella Maise

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.

ellie's $0.02:

This is a delicious, delicious, delicious sexy funny college romance.

The end.

Kidding.

I have so much to say but don't know how say it.  I'm at a loss on how to review this one.

Sometimes books are about the plot.  The setting.  The vibe.  The ambiance.  The characters.  The twist.  The angst. Or in some of your cases, the covers.  But there is always one something that strikes me personally as the strongest point of a book.

For me?  This book was ALL about the characters.   I'm not sure I've ever been so fully invested in characters until Dylan and Zoe.  Their quirks, their chemistry, their humor, their dynamics, their dialogue, the overall general perfectness of their personalities - everything about them was everything to me.  And these two MADE THE BOOK.  Which means Ella Maise wrote the perfect book.

While some may classify this as a slow simmer... I classify it is a slow simmer to eventual scorching romance. I loved the pacing. I loved the build-up of these two, knowing they ended up together and I was getting the story of HOW.  Think of "How I Met Your Mother."  It's gonna happen, this is gonna happen, they are totally going to do "it" and fall in love.  We get the story of how... And Maise sure as hell told me how.

The humor is sprinkled perfectly throughout the entire book (well, let's say starting at page one, we immediately discuss Dylan's cock... perfection), with dialogue, situations, and their characters' general existence.

This hit me in all the right spots in all the right ways.  I feel like my G-spot was found, tickled to perfection, and I need to stop and go have a cigarette now.  Everything about this book was just... better than good.  It was fucking awesome.  These characters really are the best and favorite characters I've read in a long time.  They ARE the epitome of #couplegoals (man, that line in this review is going to look so stupid in a few years when hashtags are out). #favoritebook #favoriteauthor #love #mustread

I am glowing, gloating (I don't know about what, that I got to read it early?), bloating (because I eat like shit), raving, loving, and recommending this SOLID 5-STAR read.  

You, Ella, you have earned a spot in my ALWAYS READ AND PICK UP EVERY BOOK YOU EVER WRITE pile.