Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Deep End

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Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

422 reviews

jls6283's review against another edition

4.5

emotional 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

What I wanted: a fun 🌶️ romance

What I got: an existential crisis about my own perfectionism 😅

This is my favorite of Ali Hazelwood’s books ❤️ A quote I loved was

“Confidence is not about being able to do shit… Confidence is showing up and trying, and not giving up because deep in your heart you know who you are and what you’re capable of.”

Content Warnings

evalynnfarkashasanbasri's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny 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: Yes

This was my first time reading any Ali Hazelwood, and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I listened to the audiobook version, and I think the voice actors played a large role in me sticking to this book, despite not loving her writing style that much, either. I might not have continued so willingly if it wasn't for their work, but all that being said: I did not have to purchase this book. I was listening to it as an audiobook in an attempt to avoid buying it, and then ended up buying it new, sprayed edges and all. I still do not like this cover but I do think the sprayed edges, painted to look like a pool, are actually neat and match the story well. Therese Plummer (the voice of Scarlett Vandermeer) also sounded sort of like the voice for Nancy Drew in the computer games to me, for some reason??? She has never voiced anything Nancy Drew, I checked.

While a lot of people are correct in ascertaining that this romance was actually not that kinky, it was fun and explored desire and control in a way I could appreciate. I liked the way Hazelwood included themes of trust, consent, anxiety, childhood trauma, athleticism, ambition, relinquishing control, and the man-down-bad for genius cool woman. I am told there are other Hazelwood books I may enjoy, but I am not scrambling to read them just yet. I am satisfied to have liked one.

Content Warnings

camberlina's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

emviolet's review against another edition

3.25

funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this was a very fast read even though it’s over 400 pages. i liked the competitive athlete plotline, though i do think it requires some level of suspended disbelief that anyone could be both a competitive olympic level athlete and premed at stanford.

i feel that some pieces of what i haven’t enjoyed in other books by this author were resolved in this (not a copy paste of STEM woman meets STEM man, enemies, lovers, the end) but other parts were not (the smut still feels…cringey? cookie cutter? no woman is having 7 orgasms one after another and ESP not bc omg the dick was so big and amazing?). there are also these moments where random vocabulary gets tossed in that doesn’t feel true to the characters, and that’s a consistent problem as well. also, the whole “i was oblivious to this literal olympian who was in MANY of my classes and dating my teammate and constantly in the same pool as me” is wild.

and then we get to the BDSM elements. on one hand, i get that a lot of it needs to be made more approachable for the general readership. but that kind of sucks, because it does result in watering down that aspect. sure, we get a kink list, but no discussion of limits, no discussion of scenes ahead of time, really no development of the trust needed to dive into that dynamic. there are also several moments where it seems like the communication just freezes, and that’s a huge red flag in a d/s dynamic. we also don’t really see almost any kink exploration; it’s just a dom/sub dynamic with maybe a little orgasm delay and overstimulation. other kinks are mentioned but not actually explored. i just sort of feel like…BDSM was not as major a factor as it was made out to be. which is probably fine for the average reader, but just disappointing to me personally because i think there could have been more emotional depth to it. and also please stop calling them sexual deviants omg. that entire frame of thought went on far too long and kind of detracts from trying to show that kinky people aren’t damaged or fucked up.

there’s also the element of female friendship, particularly that between competitive athletes. i was pretty happy with how that element ended up; i always enjoy seeing women lift each other up when it’s expected they would tear each other down.

i think if someone was willing to give some more constructive feedback for the smut and actually allow more of a deep dive on these elements ali clearly wants to explore (omegaverse, BDSM), there would be a huge improvement in the quality of her stories. the ideas and the pace are there, but i really think her editors are failing her.

Content Warnings

mothwings's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Content Warnings

ncc1019's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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: Complicated

Content Warnings

jpmg's review against another edition

2.0

dark emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

casserole_cg's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

for a while i wondered if i was obsessed with hazelwood’s books bc everyone was talking about them and i got caught up in it. so i waited to read this and NOPE, she truly is just a phenomenal author.

this was done so well and some very heavy topics were handled beautifully. tbh scarlett and lukas might be my favorite couple ever written. (if you don’t like bdsm romance, this isn’t for you)

Content Warnings