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Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

124 reviews

emotional slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad 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

Minus one star for Penelope Ross specifically. I hate that bitch the way Kendrick hates Drake.

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This might be my favorite book of the year so far. It's definitely added to my favorite books ever. 

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-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

If there’s anything Ali Hazelwood knows how to do is write a PINING man. 

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funny inspiring lighthearted medium-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

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emotional funny 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 really enjoyed this book. Ali's characters are always so damn loveable. I feel like her writing style has matured a lot with Not in Love and Deep End. This is one of my favorite novels by her, though TLH will always hold a special place in my heart. 

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medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

so, so good but also like… why wasn’t it kinkier??? where are the lists????? 

overstimulation/repetitive orgasms and throwing a good girl in sometimes doesn’t automatically mean bdsm 🥲

🩱single, first person POV (FMC)
🩱college/university athletics
🩱accurate premed representation
🩱power exchange/mild BDSM
🩱FWB/secret-ish relationship

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny reflective 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-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: Complicated

Hazelwood did it again! She completely stole my attention from every single thing except for her novel, once again. I devoured this in two days. I could barely get anything done from the time I started till the time I was finished.

Truthfully, I did not have super high expectations (a crime, because I’ve very rarely been less than blown away by Ali Hazelwood)—her last novel, Not in Love, had me feeling like her novels tended to follow a formula, her heroines and MMCs often having similar paths. However, I clearly did not consider how much fun Hazelwood’s take on a college romance—a sports AND college romance—would be. While her previous novels (other than Check & Mate, I would argue, because it’s technically YA fiction), have been leaning toward darker, more moody atmospheres as of late, Deep End allows for Hazelwood’s comedy to shine. The novel is not without hard topics, of course—Scarlett’s family history, her struggles with anxiety, the exploration of sexual empowerment, and Lukas’ own past struggles are very real and written with sincerity and brevity. That being said, the college setting and the younger characters lended itself to a more playful and slightly more lighthearted telling. 

One of my favorite things about Hazelwood’s work is that I always come away having learned something new (in addition to having my breath stolen away by romantic tension and MMCs that are chronically, debilitatingly down bad). I can tell her research is thorough and extensive—be it the different approaches to opening moves in chess or which part of the brain retain Britney Spears lyrics. Her writing feels confident on the chosen subject, making me feel like I’m being delightfully tricked into learning about something that was previously boring to me by a super cool professor. She achieves this again with the sport of diving (a very separate sport from just swimming, I now know). The physics, structure, and brutal dedication that the sport demands is beautifully romanticized through Hazelwood’s eyes. The unforgiving surface of water from a fall of ten meters in the air, as well as the rigors of plowing a human body through its density during a freestyle race, is a reflection of a student athlete’s life. As a NARP myself, I gained a better understanding of the perils of college sports, but could also easily empathize with the general feelings that the college years bring upon young adults: the busy schedules, the nerves associated with meeting new people, the constant worry in the back of your head that you’re failing at something but maybe don’t even know it yet. 

These common struggles, along with the fact that Scarlett is still mentally recovering from an injury that completely derailed her diving career and has left her on uneven ground in the world that used to be second nature to her, burden her with anxiety that she longs to escape, if only for a moment. Lukas, the ex-boyfriend of her team captain, also Swedish swimming legend and indomitable figure of few words and hard facts, is able to facilitate that escape once they learn that they share a common interest in kink. They find solace in each other as they explore this interest together, the trust that Lukas easily earns from Scarlett helping her learn to trust herself once again. 

I really appreciated Hazelwood’s take on BDSM, not getting quite as adventurous as I thought she might (ie, no flogging, ball gags, or even any other instruments that I braced myself for). Instead, Hazelwood focuses on the psychological aspects of kink, of the freedom that the experience provides for its practitioners. “For once, I just want to be in my body, and not in my head.” By letting Lukas take control, Scarlett is finally able to free herself of her own expectations and the stress that she’s always beholden to.

This novel was delicious and tender and even hilarious at times. I’d like more Hazelwood college/sports romances immediately, please. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark funny hopeful fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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