Deep End - bookrastinating.com

Hardcover, 446 pages

Published 2025 by Berkley.

ISBN:: 978-0-593-64105-7

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 …

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...

4 editions

joël reviewed Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

I liked this, kinda?

3 stars

Content warning sexuality, minor spoilers for "Deep End"

Again, another entry in my list of books I read to talk about them in our sex-ed podcast. I actually enjoyed this one, even if it has a lot of annoying stuff (mainly recurring jokes about Sweden, they aren't that good to begin with an get tiresome when repeated the n-th time, also the very tame BDSM after they talked big talk about their lists, repeating patterns of non-communication). It has: An interesting story about sports and sport-related problems, supporting characters that have something like a personality and even some kind of character development.

The sex scenes were okay, I'm still waiting to find the smut book where a cis male "love" interest doesn't have the biggest and people don't orgasm after just a few seconds. Also, where was the hot shower sex? How do you write a smutty book about swimming/diving Olympians and they never have shower sex?

There was a very random mention of Luxembourg, which is always fun.

nasamuffin, book enjoyer reviewed Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

It's a different book this time!!

4 stars

I'm so proud of Ali Hazelwood for writing something with a different plot, even if it does have the same two characters (basically). And this one had a way better villain than usual!

Cattiness aside, I liked this book quite a bit. I appreciated the exploration of the protag's mental states - she felt like a whole, complicated person, even if I couldn't relate to a lot of what she was going through. The ML was a bit flatter, but it's a romance novel, so if the men are anything other than supporting and loving and endowed we're not really doing it right.

Overall, glad I read it, and happy to have it on the shelf.

I'm so proud of Ali Hazelwood for writing something with a different plot, even if it does have the same two characters (basically). And this one had a way better villain than usual!

Cattiness aside, I liked this book quite a bit. I appreciated the exploration of the protag's mental states - she felt like a whole, complicated person, even if I couldn't relate to a lot of what she was going through. The ML was a bit flatter, but it's a romance novel, so if the men are anything other than supporting and loving and endowed we're not really doing it right.

Overall, glad I read it, and happy to have it on the shelf.