Review by readeratheart98 - Deep End

readeratheart98 's review for:

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

2.75

emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is my first Ali Hazelwood book and unfortunately I was severely disappointed. I'll make a quick list of pros and cons of the book before diving into my overall reason for why I came to that conclusion.

Pros:

Cute college-setting
Explores the world of swim & dive which I feel like is rare with sports romances
I like the idea of a little content warning at the start of the book. Since this is my first book by this author, I'm not sure if she does that with all of her books, but I like the idea and wish other authors did the same!

Cons:

WHERE'S THE ROMANCE!?
Bland characters
Random emotional outbursts by characters that don't align with their personalities
Mentions the main character going to therapy .. without actually committing to the therapeutic process *eye roll*
Why does she cry every time!?

Here's my overall review:

I was really excited to pick up this book because it sounded like a cute premise and I've heard so many great things about this author's works. I felt like the beginning of the book was a little off and I wasn't intrigued immediately. Also I wasn't the most excited when I found out it was a friend's ex trope. I hated how this is supposed to be a romance book, but there's not a single romantic thing that the characters do for each other besides meet the bare minimum requirements (i.e. support each other and give compliments). The way that people hype up Ali Hazelwood, I would've thought that this would've been one of the steamiest books I've ever read. But it's the exact opposite, and I would even say vanilla. I understand that this is supposed to be an "exploration of kink" but the characters didn't do enough exploring in my opinion. They did very basic sex acts just with the guy requesting it in a demanding tone. Perhaps I'm the problem and am just unfamiliar with the way that power play kinks are written in novels, but I wasn't satisfied by the sex scenes at all. Very few times did I giggle and kick my feet reading this. Of course, the first few sex scenes were intriguing because I wasn't sure how far the characters would go. But after I realized the pacing, it wasn't exciting anymore and it never escalated beyond how their first sex act together occurred.

I felt like the main characters were super awkward the whole time as well. I like to read aloud and I didn't feel any variation in Lukas' tone when he spoke. I also found it hard to attune to Scarlett, because it seemed like she was always speaking in a meek tone even when she was passionate about something. The chemistry between the characters was giving very much Edward + Bella from Twilight where their emotional range is very limited.

The ending of the book was also super confusing with Penelope acting bitchy in front of the team after Lukas' is found kissing Scarlett in the locker room. It seemed very out of character for Penelope given that she was in fact the one to encourage them to get together. It was also super weird that both her and Lukas were okay with keeping their break up a secret even when it wasn't convenient for them to do so anymore given that they were actively exploring other connections. To go along with this, I hated the epilogue. When I read Lukas' title as doctor, I was excited to get a glimpse of their lives together as a couple. Instead, it was just 5 sentences of them constantly not being in contact because they're working in the hospital. Yet again, a missed opportunity from the author to show the development of the chemistry and romance between the characters.

Overall, the book felt very bland after the first 200 pages and I wish we could've gotten to see more of the romantic gestures and chemistry between Scarlett and Lukas.

Content Warnings