One summer. One lake. One kiss that satisfies how it all started. Varsity Heat Crew is a bingeable MM college sports romance series following one couple across multiple books—high-stakes rivalry, slow-burn obsession, explosive chemistry, and emotional payoffs that keep readers turning pages. Before they were rivals, they were strangers on opposite sides of a dock.| Liam Moore spends his summers hauling fuel lines and scrubbing boats at Brackett Lake Marina—working for the kind of people who treat his town like a vacation and him like the help. Four more weeks and he's gone. Full ride to Riverside State. Rowing scholarship. A real shot at something. Alex Harrington spends his summers suffocating. The house on Peninsula Point. Dinner at seven sharp. A father who measures love in trophies and obedience. When a docking stunt goes wrong, his punishment is the best thing that's ever happened to him: a summer working at the marina alongside a boy who doesn't care about the Harrington name. Late nights on the dock. Early mornings on the water. Two rowers who move together like they were built for it. And one kiss that changes everything—then ends before either of them is brave enough to hold onto it. Before the Rivalry is the short prequel to the Varsity Heat Crew series. It's the summer Alex and Liam don't talk about. The one that explains everything that comes after. This prequel is FREE when you join the Varsity Heat Crew reader list.