Review: The Harder He Falls by Lynda Aicher

10 June of 2016 by ButtonsMom2003

Reviewer's Rating: 5

5.0Overall score

Two wounded men = one emotional story.

The Harder He Falls By Lynda Aicher

Contemporary Romance / GLBTQ / MM

Released June 7, 2016

Loveswept

Series: Kick, Book 1

Synopsis

Expert whitewater-rafting guide Grady Kelley lives for that rush of adrenaline: at work, as the newest employee of a Portland-based outdoor-adventure sports company, and off the river, where liaisons with anonymous men keep him satisfied. Grady prefers no drama and no strings attached, but when tragedy strikes, fate leads him to Micah Swaine. He’s hot, masculine, distracting—and offers the kind of deeper connection Grady has sworn off, no matter how badly he craves it.

Working at a leather bar, Micah meets a lot of guys, but Grady’s different—and he seems to feel the same way. The trouble is, anything beyond casual sex is too risky for Micah. He’s got secrets he doesn’t know how to share, secrets that would make any relationship a battlefield. No man, even one as compassionate as Grady, would stick around for that kind of trouble. And yet, as physical desire melts the walls they’ve put up, Micah and Grady discover that trusting each other is the most exhilarating adventure of all.

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

Two wounded men = one emotional story.

This is the first book I’ve read by Lynda Aicher but it won’t be the last. The Harder He Falls contains some BDSM elements but that is not exactly the main focus of the story. While working as a whitewater-rafting guide, Grady Kelley was involved in a tragic accident which left his cousin in a coma. While Grady walked away unharmed he was not left undamaged – he is filled with guilt.Micah Swaine works as a bartender at a local leather bar. On the surface he appears to have it all together but all is not as it seems. Micah was in a coma five years ago and it left him with problems not readily visible to other people. He visits coma patients in the hospital and reads to them.

Grady meets Micah when he stops to visit his cousin and hears someone reading an erotic story. Grady’s taken aback by what he hears – it brings back memories he’d rather forget – and he’s pretty much a dick to Micah. Once Micah explains Grady backs down a bit and Micah tells him that he was once in a coma and agrees to answer question if Grady will come visit him where he works.

This was a very emotional read for me. I cried for both Grady and Micah; both of them have suffered so much and Grady has so much to figure out about himself. Ms. Aicher’s writing was very compelling; once I started reading The Harder He Falls I didn’t want to quit. Micah and Grady both have huge obstacles to overcome if they are to have any kind of relationship and she tells their story with compassion and a lot of heat. I can’t wait to find out who the next book will be about.