Deep End by Ali Hazelwood is a standalone college sports romance with spice. It features a college diver during her junior year at Stanford as she navigates school, diving, and a budding romance with a college swimmer. Ali’s working title for this book was Whet, so spice is clearly a central theme in this one. 

Honestly, at this point Ali Hazelwood could write a phone book and I’d read it. As she claims that each of her latest books are becoming more and more unpublishable, I am loving them all. Her typical formula is still here with a smart, science-y petite woman and a very scowly and very large male love interest. This one feels much different than her original few books though. The writing feels chaotic, almost like you’re listening in on someone’s jumbled mind. So it took me a bit to find the rhythm of the writing, but I really enjoyed it once I did. 

I love how painfully introverted Scarlett is, as I can totally relate. I really enjoyed watching her journey through this book while grappling with, well, everything in her life. From school struggles to diving struggles to a confusing romance. Normally I feel too old to read college romances but I didn’t feel like that at all with this one. And I absolutely loved Lukas’s character. He was the perfect male main character and I was definitely channeling my inner-IKEA to try to read his words in a Swedish accent in my mind. 

Overall, I loved this one but this definitely may not be for everyone. If you’re not a fan of spice, then you may not enjoy it.