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emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse
challenging
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse
Minor: Death of parent
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Toxic friendship
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is probably my least favorite book that Ali Hazelwood has written. The story felt disjointed and I felt pretty disconnected to the characters. I did enjoy that they brought in Olive's character back in with mentions of Adam's character from the first book (The Love Hypothesis) and to see where her character progressed into the Hazelwood-verse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship
Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Death of parent
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is one of my favorite romance books I have read! I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the characters and following their journeys as they traversed the avenues of friendship, romance, high level sports, and mental health. I simply cannot get over Scarlet and Lukas’ relationship, Hazelwood created such a beautiful depiction of trust, honesty, communication, and respect; something truly necessary within the genre of romance. I was impressed with my first Ali Hazelwood book, her work exceed my expectation and the hype around her name. While I am sad to have reached the conclusion of Scarlet and Lukas’ story, I look forward to rereading Deep End as well as exploring the author’s other works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to read this book because I enjoy Ali Hazelwood’s books, and this one has been raved about on the book community. I didn’t mind it, but the third act conflict and Penelope ruined this book.
This book has two points of view. The first is Scarlett Vandermeer and she is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in performance 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. The second point of view is Lukas Blomqvist, and he is the swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy and he thrives on discipline. It's how he wins gold medals and break 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 pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water.
As always with Ali Hazelwood, I love her style of writing, and I love how she depicts characters and how they talk about different things such as Scarlett’s therapy sessions with the twisties and helping her gain her confidence back with the help of Lukas. I love the character development Scarlett went on and how she went from being unsure of herself and everyone she doesn’t know, and she was literally swimming, working, going to class and then going home to becoming this social bitterly and being brave enough to stand up for herself and the people she loves. Lukas took a little while for me to like, he was just giving me weird vibes not because of his need for control he just didn’t really open up as much as I thought he would and the second he wanted more from Scarlett, he should have told her because the whole time Scarlett was debating between the fact that he was still involved with Penelope and that he was only wanting her for sex and not really knowing that he wanted to be with her as a public relationship. However, did love that he was so blunt when it came to Scarlett, he called her out of the bullshit and knew when she was running. I love the little cameos from Adam and Olive, I nearly threw my book across the room when I saw them and how Adam was trying to refer to Olive as Doctor but was struggling. I love the aspect of exploring the BDSM between Lukas and Scarlett. I love that they both trusted each other and got what they wanted out of each other.
I absolutely hate Penelope; she just ruined the book. Even though she was the one who suggested Lukas and Scarlett get together because they are into the same kinky stuff which started the whole relationship like great. But besides that, she wasn’t needed. She wasn’t a good friend to either of them and the third act conflict was entirely Penelope fault and broke the trust between Lukas and Scarlett. I ended up losing interest towards the middle of the book, it was a bit slow, and it was getting repetitive - sex, swimming, Scarlett overthinking, Lukas sorting her out, sex etc. But I would have rather have that instead of the conflict that Penelope bought. I would have liked to see more of the Olympics, after all the build-up to the qualifiers, we only found out how they did in the epilogue, and it was literally some inner dialogue. I would have loved for the epilogue to have been the Olympics.
Overall, it was a good book, and I enjoyed it more than Not in Love and I am excited for Ali Hazelwood’s upcoming releases.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship
Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Death of parent
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Hands down my favourite Ali Hazelwood book to date!
With an addictive, character driven narrative and a DEEP focus on trust, overcoming fears, trauma and healing— I loved every second!
The emotional growth and journey our endearing MC, Scarlett, takes and the slow but swoonworthy relationship that grows between her and Lukas (who is far more caring and cinnamon roll-y than he first appears) was amazing. And the chemistry was absolutely scorching!
As was the level of trust, support and love that we see grow between them. Not to mention the pressures of their physically taxing disciplines (Scarlett’s a diver and Lukas an Olympic medal winning swimmer), the conflicting feelings Scarlett has about their arrangement, her best friend (who happens to be Lukas’ ex) and her growing feelings for Lukas.
I was seriously addicted and soo emotionally invested, I literally couldn’t put this down!
Oh, and before I forget, we’re also blessed with a cameo from my former fave Ali Hazelwood couple (Scarlett and Lukas have now stolen first place) I won’t spoil who they are, but if you’ve read Hazelwood’s previous STEM romances you’ll certainly recognise them!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship
Minor: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Death of parent
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was my first Ali Hazelwood book, and it wasn’t my last! Like in many of her novels: 1) the FMC struggled with communicating her feelings and needs in the relationship, and 2) MMC swoops in, dix her down, and influences her to change.
There’s OD inner monologue from FMC, meaning the story is very character driven. I wouldn’t say that it is plot driven, but Hazelwood does use the events calendar by default to move the story along—term exams, swim meets, parties, etc. The sport is a large point of contention in the story.
Hazelwood does a wonderful job of developing the characters and building tension and anticipation, as per usual.
The spice was good and well written. Satisfying. Pleasurable. But for what is supposed to be her kinkiest work yet, it could’ve been kinkier. However, the spice was still enjoyable, and we got a good amount of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Bullying, Medical trauma
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Abandonment
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Domestic abuse