🎧 Reviewed by LD | Rating: 4/5 | Steam: 🔥
⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read The Fall Risk yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.
The Opening
Seth goes to leave his apartment and the stairs are just gone. His new neighbor comes out with bear spray. An hour and a half of genuinely cute chaos and I was here for every second of it.
The Full Story — Spoilers Included
The Missing Stairs
Seth steps out of his apartment to find the staircase has been demolished. His new neighbor Charlotte appears in her doorway holding bear spray, because of course she does. John the maintenance man shows up and explains that his construction crew demolished the wrong stairs — he said building 60, not building 16. It is Friday and the construction crew cannot come back until Monday. They agree a ladder will work for emergencies and rig up a basket with rope for getting things up and down. They are stuck on the landing for the weekend.
Seth has a boot on his ankle from a bad sprain, which will become relevant later. Charlotte has bear spray and trust issues, which will also become relevant later.
Charlotte’s Situation
Charlotte moved in across the hall from Seth and she has a very good reason for the bear spray and the wariness. A man named George became fixated on her when she worked at a bank — he started coming in weekly, then daily, then multiple times a day, then came the threats. He has tried to break into her apartment twice. The last time they caught him he got a week in jail and probation. Now he is in the wind. Charlotte has moved five times in two years. She works from home to stay safe, but George just keeps finding her. She feels exhausted and isolated and completely alone.
Seth, for his part, is officially divorced today — his wife cheated on him for basically their entire marriage, with her cousin. Who she met on 23andMe. They were wearing matching family reunion shirts when Seth caught them together. And she left Seth for him. She is now marrying the cousin. I genuinely cannot.
The Weekend on the Landing
What follows is one of the most genuinely charming setups I have read in a while. Gabe, Seth’s friend, shows up. Then Izzy, Charlotte’s friend and a private investigator, shows up in a rush with a baseball bat because Charlotte had not been answering her phone and she was twenty minutes late to meet her. I love a great friend like that.
Seth and Charlotte end up spending pretty much the whole weekend together on the landing, which slowly starts to look like an actual living room. They order lunch in. Gabe and Izzy show up at the same time with food, which seems to start something between them. Seth teaches bonsai at a local retirement home — he was apparently warned by Gabe not to talk about trees because that is what he does when he is nervous, but Charlotte genuinely wants to hear about it. An old ladies’ bus pulls up out front. It’s the ladies from the bonsai class and they have zero filter — they knew about his divorce, thought he had ended things permanently because it was the day the divorce finalized, and showed up with cookies that said things I will not repeat here. Also a cookie with abs on it.
Seth convinces Charlotte to paint her apartment. She never paints or settles in because of her stalker and she never really feels at home. She doesn’t even bother to hang photos. So he tells her if she has to leave he will repaint it back to white himself so she does not lose her deposit. She agrees.
Izzy, meanwhile, is trying to figure out how to give Gabe the ick because she likes him and that is terrifying. Her plan is to ask him for money. He immediately opens Venmo. She completely loses it. Gabe is apparently unickable, in like a sweet golden retriever kind of way.
The Video
Charlotte gets a call from Izzy telling her to get inside immediately and bring Seth. Someone posted a video of the missing stairs situation online and it went viral. The address is visible in the video and so is Charlotte. They figure out it was the downstairs neighbor. Seth goes downstairs and asks her to take it down. She does. But they both know George might have already seen it.
Seth tells Charlotte she does not have to leave. She has people now. John the maintenance man, Seth right across the hall, cameras he is already arranging to have installed. She does not have to run. She has never had that before.
She decides she is done running. If George is coming, she will be there waiting.
Swim Shady
Swim Shady is a beta fish. Seth found him in a store looking rough and bought him and nursed him back to health. He is the real rockstar of this book and I will not hear otherwise.
Monday
The stairs come back Monday. Seth has overdone it on the ankle, especially after climbing the ladder without the boot to help Charlotte, and is back in both a boot and crutches. He has set up a video doorbell and bought Charlotte a baseball bat.
She stays outside for just a few moments to breathe and spots something moving at the edge of the lot. George. Looking wild. Coming toward her with a box cutter.
She decides she is not scared. She is furious. How dare he show up at her home to steal her peace. She runs down to him and tells him to stop, but he just keeps coming.
So she swings the bat. He tries to grab it and fails. She hits him multiple times. Then Seth is there. Izzy is screeching into the parking lot and Seth calls 911. The police come and finally, just finally, Charlotte is free.
Seth asks what she wants to do. Her suggestion? A date, in public — to do all the things she couldn’t do before. And then she kisses him.
Six Months Later
Gabe and Izzy are moving into Charlotte’s old apartment because Charlotte is moving in with Seth. Izzy is weirdly happy with Gabe. Charlotte is back to working in an office and she is happy to be out and seeing people every day. She also teaches self defense classes now.
The neighbor who posted the original viral video? Her doorbell camera caught the whole George situation. Charlotte did not ask her to take that one down. The comments were full of people with similar stories and there is something quietly powerful about that detail.
Best Part of This Book
Swim Shady. A beta fish Seth found looking rough in a store, bought, and nursed back to health. He did not need to do that. He just did it. And somehow that detail tells you everything you need to know about Seth before he says a single word to Charlotte.
The Steam Rating Breakdown
🔥 — No heat whatsoever. This is a short, sweet, genuinely warm story. The romance is there but completely clean. Content warnings for stalking, harassment, and one very satisfying bat scene.
The Ending — Satisfied or Disappointed?
Completely satisfied. Charlotte teaching self defense classes after everything she went through is the perfect full circle ending. And Gabe and Izzy ending up together is the cherry on top.
Would I Reread It?
Yes.
Who Is This For
Anyone who needs a short, warm, low stakes romance that still manages to pack a real emotional punch. Abby Jimenez fans who want something lighter than her longer books. And anyone who believes a beta fish named Swim Shady deserves more recognition in literary circles.
Where to Get
🎧 Audiobook
Audible
📱 Ebook
Amazon
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