Note: I'm aware that this is a extreme late review and Heels Over Head has since been pulled from this publisher and self-published. However, I'm trying to go through and clean up my NetGalley feedback so here I am anyway.


Heels Over Head was not a good book. I'm sorry to say that, but it's true. This book was the longest, most painful thing I've forced myself to finish in a long time. I should have just DNFed and moved on but I wanted to try giving it a fair and complete shot. I kinda regret that, as I dragged myself through this for more than 2 weeks of suuuuuper slow reading to finally (skim-read) to the end.


There were so many issues with the pacing. This is supposed to cover about 2 years and yet it both felt like 4 weeks and a decade. Time was meaningless. Scenes would open and close and I'd have no idea how long had passed since the last scene -- was it a few hours? Was it a full month? WHO KNOWS. And despite the chapter headings always saying "X months until Olympics" that didn't help the flow or continuity issues with the passage of time AT ALL.

Besides that, the two MCs didn't have a distinct enough voice or character for me to distinguish between them -- both in a scene and in regards to whose 1st POV I was in. I would literally keep flipping back and forth and trying to remember who was who. They might as well have been the same basic blob on the page.

Connected to that problem: I never knew what Brandon's motivation was. For diving. For going to college. For agree to the scholarship. NONE OF IT. He was just . . . being pointed in a direction in life and just shrugged and went along with it. There was no depth, no character building, nada.

Also: LOL at these two doing college between all this dive practice and everything. I swear to god, the college stuff was like an afterthought that was sometimes brought in as a little pathetic garnish on the plate, serving no purpose, adding to nothing, and having absolutely zero depth. For two guys who were working hard for these full ride scholarships their college classes and studying were pretty much MIA or treated like a 30 minute a day thing they managed to cross off the list before moving on to the rest of their life. Not entirely sure what they were planning on graduating with anyway, or their plans after school -- or, in Jeremy's case, after his Olympic dreams -- and frankly I didn't care.

I could also get into how Jeremy had to be so closeted and have such shitty, homophobic family and how that didn't need to be in here so strongly in order to make this story or character, but frankly I'm just tired.

There really wasn't anything good about this book and I'm just glad to finally be done with it and moving on to something much better now.

Heels Over Head is one of my absolute all time favourite books. I loved Jeremy and Brandon and could easily relate to them.

I'm struggling with the first person perspective more than I thought I would, but I still think it's a lovely book so far. I couldn't finish, but I'll come back to it sometimes and try again.

No rating.

DNF. DNF.
This one was so hard to get into. Sadly I know other people loved it I just did not.

I believe that my reading preferences and this author just do not entangle very well.

Thanks Riptide

Jeremy is one of the best divers and is headed to the Olympics in two years, Brandon enjoys diving but has no desire to compete. While the attraction between these two boys is slow to build, once it burns, it burns hot, but Jeremy isn't going to let anything come in his way of his dreams even a relationship.

This was a great book, I enjoyed seeing the dynamic between Jeremy and Brandon and how each of them treated diving. While one was very competitive and the other doing it for fun and to help pay for college, they both enjoyed the sport. It was also a nice look into an athlete might prepare for the Olympics.

I'm throwing in the towel. :( I just couldn't get into it. I'm not a fan of first person present tense. Others loved, so please give it a try.

No rating.

I can't say how much I loved this book. The two main characters are so well done. The varying points of view in chapters is so great to get insight into both Jeremy and Brandon. The boys are so protective of their hearts and the opposite POV helps readers so much. I loved the little touches about the characters that makes them so much more realistic. The sport of diving is something I've grown to love with the Olympics so this was right up my alley. The romance between Jeremy and Brandon was so right. They stumble and fall, but make up and it is so great. Their passion and romance is palpable and I love it. I just want more about these men and what happens next. Love and would highly recommend this book.

Heels Over Head is a stand alone M/M sports book by Elyse Springer that I really enjoyed.

This is a book where the two characters are completely unique and each have their own lives. Jeremy was a little hard to warm up go, however he eventually won me over. Brandon, he was very easy to love and easy to connect to. Brandon is probably the reason I kept going in the book, when Jeremy was driving me nuts. Both of the characters eventually claimed my heart and kept me rooting for them until the end.

I really learned a lot in this book, and sometimes that is something people think doesn't happen with romance books. Well, I can tell you the author did a great job researching diving and how these athletes live, train, and compete. I felt like at times I was watching them dive in real life, rather than read about if. Now when I watch the Olympics I will have some idea what they are talking about when they are scoring the divers.

Elyse Springer is a pretty "new to me" author however, each book I have read by her has been a solid romance, with great characters, and smooth storytelling. I will continue to read her work as she creates if and would recommend her stories to anyone who is a sucker for a heart warming romance.

This was a great "reluctant to love" love story. I enjoyed the drivenness of the characters to not only reach their professional but personal goals.

this was a nice easy read book but i felt it was light on the romance and more concentrated on the swimming /diving aspect of the plot.

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!

This is my first time reading Elyse Springer and it certainly won't be my last. I loved that we got a great inside look at a sport you don't see too often in romance. It was refreshing.

Both of the MC's had relatable qualities and the story flowed nicely (even if I did think it was a little too long and could have been trimmed down some).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book (even if we don't find out Jeremy's Olympic fate).

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
I really loved the complex characters and the diving in this book. I found the details of Jeremy’s Olympic training regime fascinating and I loved the relationships between the three divers.

Jeremy is a very difficult character to like. His discipline and drive make him a world class athlete, but he comes across as cold and robotic for much of the story. In contrast, Brandon’s friendly and playful personality masks difficult secrets.

The relationship between Jeremy and Brandon builds painfully slowly. It takes Brandon an achingly long time to even build a friendship with Jeremy. This is a low heat romance that focuses more on Brandon, Jeremy, and Valerie’s personal and Olympic journeys than on the relationship that develops between Brandon and Jeremy.

Valerie, the third character in this story, is also wonderful. She has a twisted, complicated relationship with her parents and the sport they want her to excel at. I really enjoyed her journey in this story and I loved the positive portrayal of her as an Ace character.

With so much careful character development in this book, I hated the way Jeremy’s family is reduced to easy stereotypes. I also struggled with the pacing of this book. It covers a very long period of time in the lead up to the Olympics and there a few times that the story really dragged. I wanted more focus on competitions and more romance. The events near the end of the book as the Olympics drew near were exciting, but more of the book was spent detailing increasingly monotonous daily training sessions at the start.

These characters are brilliant and I loved the way the author immersed me in the world of competitive diving. I can’t imagine how much research was done for this story, but I really appreciated the details.

Heels Over Head is a stand alone M/M sports book by Elyse Springer that I really enjoyed. This is a book where the two characters are completely distinctive. Although it takes quite awhile to warm up to Jeremy you can't help but feel for the guy and his intense desire to get his family to care about him and respect him and his sport. Brandon is easy to love and is a wonderful character that you definitely had me rooting for him.

Jeremy is a diver who is training for the Olympics. He's been training for 15 years and it's the most important thing in his life. This is not something he hides and he's very up front that diving is the only thing in his life that he cares about until he meets Brandon and even then diving is still the most important thing for almost all of the book. Jeremy has convinced himself that if he can just win an Olympic medal his family will respect/care about him and so he lives for this. Brandon has a ton of raw talent but he's never really seriously trained and winning doesn't mean much to him. He's proud of who he is and lives an easy going life style. His family disowned him when he came out at the age of 18 and so he is very independent.

This book takes place over 24 months. The first few months it's hard to like Jeremy but stick with it and it will be worth it. Brandon does the heavy lifting in this relationship as he slowly breaks through the shame that Jeremy has placed on himself and teaches him that he can take diving seriously and still have a little fun. Brandon's easy going, fun and compassionate personality is opposite of Jeremy's very structured, rigid and sometimes selfish personality. Although we start to see Jeremy soften throughout the book.

Normally I roll my eyes at a character that has never really even kissed anyone else but with Jeremy's all consuming drive and his deep shame for being attracted to men it was very easy to believe. The sex scenes between the two were sweet and yet very hot - I really loved them.

The secondary characters added a lot to the book. I liked the fact that the coach was really a father-like figure although none of the athletes realize how much. Val's side story with her struggle to deal with her Olympic parent's expectations added a lot and I loved her - she was a really good friend to both men. Even Brandon's best friend Aaron added to the book. Then of course there was Jeremy's family who I absolutely hated and they were so dismissive of Jeremy's status as an amazing athlete that it was almost OTT. I wanted so much for Jeremy to stop caring whether he had the approval of his family but I also understand just how much a child will do to get the love/acceptance of a parent.

I was completely invested in the story between Brandon and Jeremy and although I think Brandon forgave Jeremy a little easily I can also understand why he did. Jeremy was so emotionally/socially stunted that the overtures from him were a much bigger deal then they would be from someone who wasn't. Surprisingly enough I even enjoyed learning about all the diving and it was obvious that the research was done on the sport. There was just the right amount of technical information without becoming overwhelming or boring.

I really wish this book had an epilogue.

This book is so cute. Also, a little bit angsty when I really wasn't expecting it. And I'm so excited that this is a book about Olympic diving! I mean, I like sports books and all, but really, the few times I get way more into sports than I normally do is during the Olympics. It's actually unreal how many hours of the Olympics I watch when they roll around, and that's not including during the regular seasons when I just watch their other championships for fun (somehow, I've winded up watching swimming, snowboarding, curling, and figure skating during the non-Olympic years, so a book about diving is still totally my jam). Diving is intense. I usually like watching it on delay, because it scares me to watch divers jump off 10m platforms (or even the 3m springboard). Basically, diving takes more courage than what I can muster up, so I loved reading this book and getting a chance to see characters going about their daily lives training for competitions.

This book is about two precious cinnamon rolls - Jeremy Reeve and Brandon Evans. I think this book certainly feels very realistic, even if I don't know all the details about competitive diving. Jeremy has been training since he was a young kid to be the best - a gold medalist at the Olympics. Diving is a sport his family has never approved of, but it's definitely what he excels at. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to be the best. He has routine regimes that he follows, whether it's his schedule or what he eats everyday. His determination brought his current coach, Andrey, out of retirement to train him, but pretty soon Jeremy realizes he's not the only student who will be training with Andrey.

Much to Jeremy's disdain, an unknown is introduced to his coach (the world of competitive diving is a small world, after all) and they are soon training together. Brandon was discovered diving in Texas. He has fantastic gymnast skills, but sucks at landing in the water like a diver should. Brandon shows great potential, but unfortunately, he lacks the drive to be the kind of brilliant diver Andrey and Jeremy thinks he could be.

This book is told in first-person dual POVs, and I enjoyed reading from Jeremy and Brandon's perspectives. For the most part, this is a light-hearted novel into competitive diving, but their backstories are heartbreaking. Their families are awful, but the family they find in each other is what really matters in the end. Brandon has parents who kicked him out of the house when he announced he was gay, but despite his difficulties since then, he always managed to have a smile on his face and takes whatever the world throws at him and pushes through like nothing's wrong. Jeremy, on the other hand, I wasn't at all expecting to read about his family and how devastating it was to read his chapters. His family is completely disapproving of his "gay" sport, as they call it in the "nicest" way possible. And this is what Jeremy's been listening to his entire life. When we first see him, he's so far into the closet, Brandon likened Jeremy to being in Narnia. Jeremy only ever wants to prove to his dad that he isn't "weak" and that he can be great. And getting the Olympic Gold is his way of proving that.

The secondary characters, though few, are really lovely. Val is a fellow diver who Jeremy has known for yet on the competition circuit and soon joins Jeremy and Brandon as a third diver training under Andry. She's dived for years, but we can slowly see how that's not all she wants to do in life. I loved Val's friendship and her conviction to stand for what she believes in. Aaron, Brandon's ex-boyfriend from Texas, is awesome. They realized they were better off as friends, but never lost communication with each other and I love that Aaron sticks up for Brandon and looks out for him when Brandon feels he has no one else to turn to.

The look into competitive diving is intense. I'm pretty sure the only reason it took me twice as long to read this book is because I kept looking up YouTube videos of all the types of dives that were mentioned in this book. It's absolutely fascinating to have a look into the hours of grueling practice and competition schedules these athletes have to go through just for the once-every-four-year shot at getting the Olympic Gold.

Jeremy and Brandon are adorable. This is definitely a hate-to-love relationship, and maybe more on Jeremy's side than Brandon's, but it's cute to read. The relationship is a slow burn and the two characters just melt my heart. I enjoyed the ending, but I think I would have liked an epilogue as well? Don't get me wrong, this book does end in a HEA, but there is one thing that's kind of left open-ended for reader speculation. I didn't mind it so much, but some readers might?

Overall, the book is lovely and full of heart and I can't wait to read what books Elyse Springer releases next!

***Thanks to Riptide Publishing for providing me an ARC through NetGalley***

Now this was an excellent story. I was not sure what to really expect after having not connected with a previous book by this author, but with this book, I was sucked in to both the story and the character's. I literally could not put this one down.

Jeremy is a professional diver. His dream is to be in the Olympics. He has a singular focus and he has zero time for distractions. That is, until sexy, unassuming, unskilled diving prodigy Brandon walks into his life. You see, Jeremy is so far in the closet I am not sure he will ever find his way out, having been raised in a very homophobic family, he simply will not allow himself to have the feelings he so desperately wants.

Brandon, well...Brandon wants Jeremy. He has no idea how good he is as a diver, and he does not care as much as Jeremy, except about Jeremy. That's his singular focus. Their relationship is hard at times, but in the end, they realize their true desires, dreams and goals.

This was such a sweet, and heart breaking story. I absolutely loved everything about this one.

This story covers two years in the lives of Olympic-bound divers, their friends, and their coach. One of the things that was most interesting to me was the way time was marked, looking forward to the Olympics by one diver and looking backward to the day he met the man of his dreams by the other diver.
Jeremy has trained his whole life to be the best diver he can be, often in spite of his homophobic family. His father has done his best to tear Jeremy down, although Jeremy has done his best to live up to his father’s standards. It was an impossible goal and it hurt so much to see Jeremy damaged by his own family. When Jeremy meets Brandon Jeremy is afraid of his own shadow, all because of his father’s influence. At the age of seven, Jeremy set himself up with a coach to train for the Olympics because he had no support at home.
Brandon is a fun-loving guy, who takes little seriously. He began diving by jumping off cliffs, because it would be “fun”. When his talent was spotted he had to begin taking himself seriously. But, was it too little, too late?
Another important character is Val, a female diver who is Jeremy’s best friend and who becomes Brandon’s friend as well.
This is a wonderful story of what it takes to become the top athlete in a sport and the sacrifices that must be made by the athletes. There was plenty of angst leading up to the finale. I enjoyed reading it very much and recommend it to lovers of romance and athletics.

Words, words! I need new ones to describe how much I loved this book.

Jeremy and Brandon are two young men finishing their final years in college. Jeremy has been training as a diver since he was a little boy. He is serious about the sport and focused on getting to the Olympics. Brandon dives off cliffs for fun until he was recruited by a college scout. When the two meet, sparks fly.

No, no, not those kind of sparks. The two clash in every which way. One is quiet and regimented. The other is gregarious and outgoing. Eventually though, "those" sparks also fly.


✔️It's a sports romance.

✔️It's an enemies to lovers story.

✔️It's a slow-burn romance.

✔️It's an 'out-for-you' story.

✔️It's a hurt-comfort tale.

It's all about friends and family and finding yourself.

"...we'll dive together, and see where life takes us."

A gorgeous story!!!

I've read (and loved!) one other of Elyse Springer's books. If she writes all her stories this well, I'll be a fan for life.

I've loved to swim as long as I can remember, but for years had a really bad diving phobia. I wanted to be on the swim team, so I had to take remedial diving lessons. And I conquered the fear, but I'm still a bad diver and eventually had to quit swim team over it. So being a competitive diver is something that's fascinating to me - loved reading about it as I can barely watch it on TV (also kind of afraid of heights lol.)

I requested this because I thought it was YA. It's actually NA, with college-aged characters. Once I adjusted my expectations, I found this a sweet story about two male divers, one who's aiming for the Olympics, the other who was recently discovered. One of them, Brandon, is out, and the other, Jeremy, comes from a homophobic and verbally abusive family, so is afraid to admit even to himself that he's gay. His family thinks diving is effeminate (??) and are pretty crappy to him about that and in general. After Brandon is discovered by Jeremy's coach, the two compete separately and -- after much resistance from Jeremy -- as a team in synchronized diving.

I loved all the descriptions of the training and the diving competitions. There's a wonderful, inspiring friendship between Jeremy and Val, a female diver. I was rooting for all of them to find happiness despite the fact that Jeremy has a long way to come in his willingness to let himself find love..