REVIEW: Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

In Deep End by Ali Hazelwood, Scarlett Vandermeer is knee-deep in her junior year at Stanford when everything starts to take a turn. She’s struggling with one of her classes, she has no time to breathe with a tightly packed schedule, and her diving career might be on the fritz if she can’t get out of her head. But since her diving accident last year, Scarlett has struggled. With everything. So, when she’s formally introduced to her team captain Pen’s now ex-boyfriend, Lukas Blomqvist, and she realizes they have a lot more in common than being athletes, she becomes intrigued. And worried that if they are a good match in their proclivities, she might just become more attached to Lukas than she should.

“Maybe Pen was right,” I muse.
“And we’re made for each other?”
I nod. It’s a joke, but his eyes darken.
“Won’t know till we try,” he says quietly, low…

It turns out that Lukas has been aware of Scarlett for a while now. And while they lead hectic lives filled with classes, practice–Lukas is a world champion swimmer–and competitions, they find time to explore their common interests. But as they both realize there’s something a lot stronger between them than just the physical aspect, Scarlett and Lukas are being pulled in different directions. He’s an Olympic contender. She hopes to be. He’s a senior on his way to med school. She’s just hoping to pass her MCATs. Through it all, though, the bond keeps growing. And it won’t be long until Lukas and Scarlett will have to face down their feelings–and their friends with the truth.

“Good girl.”
I close my eyes. Dissolve into the gratification of knowing that I’ve done something right. The simple pleasure of pleasing someone.

An angsty college-age novel with a thread of sports romance and sizzling erotic love scenes, DEEP END brought the heat, laughs, and some Easter eggs from Ali Hazelwood’s other books.

“Sometimes I can’t breathe when you’re around.”

CW: View Spoiler »Emotional & verbal abuse and gaslighting (historical), power exchange kink « Hide Spoiler

I will be honest: I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began reading Ali Hazelwood’s latest romance, DEEP END. Is it a full-on sports romance? Is it closer to a rom-com? Will it still have a STEM heroine? Will there be cameos from her other novels? And will it be spicy? The answer, thankfully, to *all* of those questions is Yes. And the way Hazelwood blended those elements together felt pretty seamless. Now, it might not be for everyone. Especially if you’re not a fan of dominance and submission (power exchange) bedroom scenes. But to me at least, that part of Scarlett and Lukas’s relationship didn’t overpower their genuine connection or the love that grew between them.

There was a bit of an angsty love triangle aspect that I admittedly wasn’t sold on–and that came back to bite Lukas and Scarlett toward the end of the book. But leading up to it all, the dynamics between them were really interesting. I don’t want to give spoilers. I can say they had reasons why they sought out the type of intimate relationship they did. And what was even better was seeing it portrayed in a real way where neither Scarlett nor Lukas had really been able to explore that side of themselves fully before. So, the awkwardness, the stumbles, the elation, and the bond they created, it was all intense but oh-so very much…them.

QOTD: Did you play any sports in high school or college?

Book Info:

Publication: Published: February 4th, 2025 | by Berkley |

A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.

Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships—at least, that’s what she tells herself.

Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy, Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks records: complete focus, with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes.

So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water…