Book Review: Deep End
It has been a while since I dived into the works by Ali Hazelwood. I think the plotlines in her books got a little too repetitive for me in the end, and I needed a break. Now, while I do love feminism and Hazelwood writes STEMinist books, the science got a little too much for me; I was way out of my depth. But her books are fun and, above all… super spicy! Which, let’s be honest, is kind of what we’re here for.
Deep End looks at sports this time, rather than solely focusing on science, which is cool. Don’t get me wrong, reader. The science is still there. Our heroine Scarlett Vandermeer (Vandy, to her team and friends) is on the Stanford diving team and studying to become a doctor - if only she can pass German! Our hero of the story, Lukas, is also looking to become a doctor, and while he enjoys swimming, it’s not what he wants to do for the rest of his life, despite breaking countless records and winning a few Olympic medals along the way.
Their romance is unconventional, to say the least, but I like that. It’s all about fetish and BDSM, so yeah, the book has some seriously spicy scenes in it. Dear reader, if that is what you are after, then this is the book for you. So yes, unconventional to say the least. It’s not often that your deep, dark fetishes get aired out in the open by one of your teammates to their ex-boyfriend and says that Scarlett should totally hook up with said ex-boyfriend (Lukas). But hey, sure beats falling into the arms of a handsome stranger in a coffee shop.
One of the biggest things for me in these types of books isn’t so much the plot or the spice but character development and depth. I like romance novels where the characters are more 3D than 2D. And I have come across plenty of BookTok-esque romance novels where the plot is fun, but there is no depth to the main characters. What you see is what you get. I like that Hazelwood layered Scarlett; she has a whole background, a mapped-out future, and has hobbies, thoughts, ideas, views. Basically, a whole personality. Thank god. Now, Lukas, I’m not sure we did enough character development here. Yes, the man is sincere, and yes, we learn a little bit about him. But I don’t really see much in the way of growth as we have with other characters Hazelwood has developed before. I’m looking at you, Adam Carlson. I do realise that we have to rely on Scarlett for much of what we see and learn about Lukas, but a dual POV would’ve been cool. We get something at the end of the book when we see their future as a couple, but really not much else, which I think is a real shame.
Here’s the thing: this is my fun read, the book I read when I need to switch off and not use too many brain cells. A book that is just good fun. And it was; it honestly was. It was also a nice change of pace for Hazelwood’s work, and it was nice to see a cameo from Adam and Olive, our favourite OG couple. And yes, I did watch The Love Hypothesis on Amazon Prime. It was cute.