Risk the Fall by Riley Hart: My Review
Risk the Fall is latest stand alone from Riley Hart.
It’s an ex-best friend’s brother romance with a decent amount of violence and it features an ex-con. So, of course, I was incredibly excited to check it out.
Keep reading to see what I thought of this gritty take on the best friend’s brother trope.
Disclaimer – This blog contains affiliate links from Amazon Associates. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. These commissions help support the maintenance of this blog and allow me to continue bringing you content. I only recommend products and books that I personally believe in and have enjoyed. Your support through these links is greatly appreciated.
Risk the Fall – Summary
Riven
I’ve never been great at letting people in. Life is easier if I bury my feelings. People tend to let you down, which is only proven when my best friend, Rex, accidentally kills a man and lets me take the fall.
When I get out of prison, the last thing I want is to go back to Clayton, Oregon, but it’s where my grandma lives, the only person who’s always had my back. My plan is to stay out of trouble, steer clear of my old crew, save up, and the second we can, leave town for good.
Parrish
I want nothing to do with my family and their illegal activities. With Riven back, I worry things will get worse. He and Rex have always brought out the worst in each other, but then I discover Riven went to prison for something my brother did, and my family isn’t happy to have him home.
Riven wants nothing to do with me, and I don’t blame him. But like a moth to the flame, I’m drawn to him. It starts out as mutual lust, Riven sating the pleasure he craves, while I get to fulfill my first-crush fantasies. But with every moment, I see there’s more to Riv than anyone knows.
Not everyone would see him as a good man, but to me, he’s the boy who used to try to keep my family’s lifestyle from becoming mine.
And now he’s the man who risked his heart to fall in love with me…and the one who’d risk more to protect me.
Risk the Fall – My Review
Risk the Fall delivered exactly what Riley Hart promised. There was action, violence, and really hot ex-best friend’s little brother romance. However, the book was missing something to make it read as genuine.
One of my biggest issues with the authenticity of the book starts with the two main characters.
We have Riven and Parrish. These two are from the same shitty, small town where alcohol and drugs are the only real pastime.
Parrish is the little brother of Rex. Rex is Riven’s ex-best friend.
I cannot overstate how much the names of the main characters threw me.
You’re trying to tell me the same small-town idiots that run drugs and named their first-born Rex suddenly wised up and picked Parrish as the name of their second kid? Something smells fishy (read inauthentic).
Then we have Riven. It’s like the author wanted to use the name River and was like no, that’s not edgy or cool enough for my convict, so she switched to Riven.
Once I was able to get past their names, I did come to appreciate these two as individuals.
Parrish especially was a really likable guy. He resisted the pull from his family to be a horrible person. He never wanted to run drugs or treat people like trash. He makes sure that his nieces are fed, safe, and happy. Which is much more than his brother, their father, does. He also checks in on Riven’s grandmother while he is in prison.
Riven was harder to warm up to. I’m not entirely convinced that he is the great guy Parrish thinks he is. For every story about Riven making sure that Parrish didn’t end up a druggie, there was another story of Riven doing meth and stealing things. Now, I prefer my characters to be morally grey, so this isn’t an issue for me. But I wanted Riven to own his past behavior and not try to make excuses for it.
Also, I didn’t love how he ended up in prison. It really felt like he was there for no reason, and I was left frustrated.
One thing that saved this book is how much I love the best friend’s brother trope.
Parrish and Riven getting together was sweet. I enjoyed hearing from Parrish about his childhood crush on Riven.
"Riven was back. Rex's right-hand man and my sexual awakening."
I did feel like these two got together rather quickly for the circumstances. Riven should be wanting to stay a million miles from the entire Hunt family, but he falls into bed with Parrish almost right away.
And, once they were in bed, I wan’t in love with the writing. In my mind, these backwoods rough and tough men just wouldn’t talk the way that Riley Hart has them talk during sex. The amount of times the phrase ‘my hole’ was used literally had me cringing and skimming. Yikes.
There were things that I enjoyed about this story! Parrish was a big one.
He seemed to be the only person in town with common sense. He always saw the good in people and he was incredibly sweet. He is exactly what Riven needs.
"I can't sleep without you [Riven]." "You've been sleeping without me just fine." I [Parrish] was jittery, my pulse still erratic. "That was before you called me baby. C'mere Riv." "I'm dirty." "I like you that way."
Parrish definitely had the best lines and kind of saves this book.
Overall, I think this is a solid three-star read. Some people will enjoy Risk the Fall a lot more than me, but I think this could be a big miss for others.
Try it out for yourself and let me know what you thought of it in the comments below!
Hey, I’m Heather!
I read M/M romance books exclusively, and I help other readers find their next great M/M romance read.
