Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Deep End

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

202 reviews

nnewland7's review against another edition

3.75

funny hopeful 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

Content Warnings

baileyisbooked's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Ali does it again! Loved the swim/dive backdrop, the (generally) good communication between our main pairing, the positive portrayal of therapy, and of course, the chemistry between S and L.

Content Warnings

mikaylaa_'s review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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: Yes

Content Warnings

beckyremillard's review against another edition

4.75

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

Content Warnings

rchulin1's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny relaxing fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I absolutely adored this book so much I love how with every one of Ali Hazelwood books it’s easy for the reader to relate even though she Ali introduced said reader to a whole new occupation or study. I’ll be honest when it comes to sports I never had too much of an interest but when reading this book I was constantly looking up videos of divers and wow it’s so beautiful.

Content Warnings

velmad's review against another edition

3.75

This was a good book.

What I didn't like:

Penn was too prevalent in this story, especially considering she didn't make a move for the MMC. She knew she was done with him she was panicking and acted like an arse.

For the two main characters to be elite athletes, they were very emotionally immature which usually isn't the case with highly driven athletes and pre-med students. Their emotional immaturity made them good for each other, though

I wanted their lists done together to discuss.

The weird addition of threesomes and bisexuality in the plot near the end. Why?

Troll? That is never a cute nickname nor a term of endearment in any language.

The long times in between communicating. It isn't the way that people communicate nowadays. These relationships would have been dead in the water in real life.

Side story of Penn's old rivals. The story wasn't about Penn. We never got clarification if Penn was a bad person or if she was in the wrong place and cried about abuse and wore the consequences.

What I did like:
The level of spice for a new BDSM couple. I imagine that their experiences would grow with experience.

I liked the chemistry between the two and when they were just a couple, I found them endearing, though they didn't know they were a couple yet.,

.

Content Warnings

sebradley29's review against another edition

4.5

Content Warnings

coastal_moonlit_garden's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

Oh my god this book was so good! Ali Hazelwood always does her research and her reads always feel scholarly without being snooty (and they’re always fun 😉) the sprayed edges really made me feel like I was in the pool with the main characters! This book touches on so many great topics: mental health, STEM careers, swimming and diving (I had to google a bit) found family, healthy interpersonal relationships both physically and emotionally. It’s all there. I took my time with this one because it really is Ali’s best work to date (and I loved Bride and her other books). Definitely will be rereading this one.

Content Warnings

andreaonbooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny 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

love them so much

Content Warnings

tayreads10's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

Scarlett and Pen. Pen and Lukas. Lukas and Scarlett. Extra drama as they're college aged and their time is torn between competitions for swimming and diving as well as college courses. Yes, super angsty. Yes, frustrating at times. Overall it kept me reading and I enjoyed the story. I was worried since I'm not in competitive swimming or diving there would be a lot of frustrating technical terms, but that wasn't the case at all. Good, very spicy book!

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