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A review by marydish
Deep End by Ali Hazelwood
funny
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Honestly, this one was kind of disappointing for me. I’ll start off with the positives and say that I’ll always appreciate Ali Hazelwood’s humor, and witty writing. The dialogue between characters and love interests always reminds me of scenes out of Gilmore Girls, and there are always so many laugh out loud moments scattered throughout.
(This next part includes spoilers)
What fell flat for me was the romance and the plot of the book. For a book that advertises and starts off with talk of kinks, there really isn’t much involved. I do understand the importance of Scarlett giving up control through her sexual endeavors, based on her history and past, but I don’t know that this did anything to serve her relationship and development with Lukas. Well, I appreciated Lukas’s emotional maturity throughout the book, because it really was refreshing to see him never get upset with Scarlett, their relationship just felt very stiff and unromantic, similar to the physical moments between them. And then the love story as a whole kind of just got bogged down by having the sports and STEAM aspects. I feel like the book was just trying to include a lot of things at once, and I think it would have worked better if maybe the story was a little longer or Lukas felt less robotic as a character. Idk I wish I loved this one more but it just didn’t do it for me!
(This next part includes spoilers)
What fell flat for me was the romance and the plot of the book. For a book that advertises and starts off with talk of kinks, there really isn’t much involved. I do understand the importance of Scarlett giving up control through her sexual endeavors, based on her history and past, but I don’t know that this did anything to serve her relationship and development with Lukas. Well, I appreciated Lukas’s emotional maturity throughout the book, because it really was refreshing to see him never get upset with Scarlett, their relationship just felt very stiff and unromantic, similar to the physical moments between them. And then the love story as a whole kind of just got bogged down by having the sports and STEAM aspects. I feel like the book was just trying to include a lot of things at once, and I think it would have worked better if maybe the story was a little longer or Lukas felt less robotic as a character. Idk I wish I loved this one more but it just didn’t do it for me!