Audio Book Review: Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

Genre: Romance

Pub. Date: February 4, 2025

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Source: Personal Copy

Other Books By Author: Loathe to Love You,

The Love Hypothesis, Love on the Brain, 

Bride, and Love, Theoretically

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

 

 

Goodreads says, "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..."

 

 

Scarlett Vandemeer is a junior at Stanford and is on the highly competitive dive team. Last year, she injured herself at a competition and while she has recovered physically, she can't get past some of the mental blocks that stem from her scary injury. Meanwhile, her best friend, Pen, has broken up with the super popular, Lukas, an Olympic swimmer and fellow student at Stanford. They have been together for years, but Pen admits (drunkenly) to Scarlett that they are sexually incompatible as he likes BDSM. Scarlett admits that's her thing, so Pen has the brilliant idea that Scarlett and Lukas should hang out as they seem sexually compatible. Lukas has had his eye on Scarlett and as they spend more time together, they realize that they have a lot in common- more than just their sexual preferences. Scarlett is also a pre-med major, ambitious, but also dealing with some trauma in various aspects of her life. She finds so much in common with Lukas though; could they be more than just a hookup? Ali Hazelwood's Deep End is a satisfying audiobook that her legions of fans will love.

Ali Hazelwood + sports romance? Yes, please. While I prefer her STEM romances, Deep End was a lot of fun. I liked how she developed Scarlett as a student-athlete and went behind the scenes regarding what it takes to be a highly competitive collegiate athlete. I also appreciate how Scarlett had a mental block that she had to overcome as this happens a lot in sports, but I haven't really seen many romance authors touch on it. Scarlett's romance with Lukas was well done and while there were some majorly steamy parts to the novel, it wasn't out of Hazelwood's normal realm, so most definitely her fans will be pleased.

I could have done without the focus on BDSM as it was giving some major 50 Shades vibes, not to mention that it made me uncomfortable as Scarlett has childhood trauma stemming from her abusive relationship with her father. So, her sexual preferences sort of echoed that and it was kind of cringe as she likes to be submissive. While there is nothing wrong with that, I felt like maybe it might be in poor taste due to her unresolved trauma; however, she is unboxing all of that in therapy. I also could have done without the Pen storyline in that I don't think it's ever ok to date your best friend's longtime ex not to mention the character of Pen was really grating.

Other than that, I think it was an enjoyable audiobook done very well by narrators Therese Plummer and Ben Holtzmuller. I hope Hazelwood writes another sports romance, as I think he did a phenomenal job portraying swimming and diving at an elite level in Deep End. I look forward to her future romances. Have you read Deep End? Are you a fan of Ali Hazelwood? Let me know in the comments below.