Heels Over Head by Elyse Springer
Review by Lauren
Source: copy from Netgalley; all opinions are my own
Official Summary: Jeremy Reeve is one of the best divers in the world, and he’s worked hard to get where he is. He intends to keep pushing himself with one very clear goal in mind: winning gold at the summer Olympics in two years. That medal might be the only way to earn his father’s respect as an athlete.
Brandon Evans is everything Jeremy isn’t: carefree, outgoing, and openly gay. With his bright-blue eyes and dramatic tattoos, he’s a temptation that Jeremy refuses to acknowledge. But Jeremy can’t ignore how talented Brandon is—or that Brandon has no interest in using his diving skills to compete.
They’re opposites who are forced to work together as teammates, but Jeremy’s fear of his own sexuality and Brandon’s disinterest in anything “not fun” may end their partnership before it begins. Until a single moment changes everything, and they help each other discover that “team” can also mean family and love.
Review: I will admit that some people who read this might get really annoyed and frustrated with Jeremy. However, I think his attitude about certain things is reasonable. He doesn't have a great family life - his dad and brothers always make fun of his diving. He's a great diver though, and he's desperate to finally get that Olympic gold medal in hopes of making his family proud. Everything seems to be going smoothly, until his coach takes on a new diver named Brandon. Brandon's good, but he's not as disciplined. He's only been diving for two years.
Jeremy is prickly in the beginning but he soon accepts Brandon as a friend, and more. While Jeremy is definitely gay, he's terrified of people knowing. This makes Brandon have to hide their relationship, which he doesn't like, but he does it to stay with Jeremy. Obviously there is drama and issues surrounding this situation, as well as Jeremy's often single-minded focus on diving. This leads to hurt feelings between all involved. I don't want to say much because it would spoil the book, but I found the diving aspect of the story was really fascinating and I liked Brandon and Jeremy together when things were working well. I did feel bad for both of them, oftentimes more for Brandon who is trying so hard to be what Jeremy wants, but I understood the issues that Jeremy was facing and I was rooting for him to address those.
This is a relatively long read, but it went by pretty quick!
5 comments:
Brandon and Jeremy sound like wonderfully complicated characters -- Jeremy, especially. He seems to be surrounded by expectations and they are suffocating him from the sounds of it.
Sometimes it is frustrating to read about characters like that when you know that you yourself wouldn't be that stubborn. But I like it when you know it can be realistic for someone to be that stubborn too, which is what your review makes it sound like. Great review!
I've seen this book floating around quite a bit and was wondering what it was about! Now that I know it's about diving, the cover and title make so much more sense now, haha.
I love the sound of the diving aspect of this book. When characters have something that they're really passionate about I feel like it really adds depth to them and makes them feel more real.
I am not a HUGE fan of relationships where one person is out and the other isn't because I never feel like it's handled really well >.< Hopefully Brandon wasn't too pushy with Jeremy in that regard.
I'm glad you liked this one, Lauren! And lovely review <3
I honestly haven't read something like this before but you had me intrigued. I'll definitely checking this one out.
It's great when you're enjoying a book so much you don't notice its length.
Sounds great!
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