Book Review: Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

Kiley Douckas
Apr 14
2 min read

If you haven’t heard about Deep End by Ali Hazelwood, let me tell you a little about it before I jump into the review. This book is a college romance that explores the life of Scarlett, a college platform-diver who is recovering from an almost career ending injury, and the steamy relationship she starts with the swim captain/ professional Swedish swimmer, Lukas. If you like sports romances with spice, this could be the book for you.

A copy of Deep End by Ali Hazelwood standing on a brown desk with plants in the background

The Good & the Bad

If I’m being honest, I do love a good sports romance. I usually like to read them to cleanse the palate after a high fantasy or thriller binge to lighten the mood, and this book did just that. I genuinely liked the characters and the portrayal that while yes, they are professional level athletes and very smart people, they also have very realistic life struggles for young adults. There is some early college years / high school style drama, so if that is not your cup of tea, do beware. I will admit that I think the entry into the plot of Scarlett and Lukas starting a friends with benefits type relationship was a bit clumsy. There was a lot of emphasis on how kinky they both were, but nothing really came from it during the steamy scenes. That’s not to say that the steamy scenes were boring, because they were not, but the kinkiness led more to good banter than to kinky scenes. The benefit to that is if you’re interested in this book but are a little hesitant about the type of spice you might get, I think you would still enjoy the read.

TDLR:

Overall I think that Deep End is a fun quick read, and as a (not professional) athlete myself, I found that exploring the mental block Scarlett has after coming back from an injury is a nice self reflective journey. So if you’re looking for something fun, cozy, and steamy, I recommend this book. Also, if you listen to the audio book (available here) the voice actors did a great job, and if you like accents, the male actor that plays Lukas has a lovely Swedish accent.