"Hello, everyone, it’s me. The Everygirl’s resident Ali Hazelwood superfan. After speed-running my way through every single thing she’s ever written last year, I’ve become somewhat obsessed with Hazelwood’s books. They’re addictive, well-rounded, and fun. Every one of her books has been a ten-out-of-ten reader experience for me, and her latest is no different. Deep End was released on February 4, 2025, and fully broke me out of my post-Onyx Storm reading slump. I devoured it in just a few days and can confidently say it’s one of my favorite Ali Hazelwood books to date—and her spiciest. Curious if Deep End should be on your TBR? Here’s my full, completely biased, review.
A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.
What Deep End is about
In Deep End, we meet Scarlett Vandermeer, affectionately known as “Vandy” by Stanford’s tight-knight swimming and diving crew. A junior on the diving team, Vandy is making her return to competition following a debilitating shoulder injury that derailed her college career, and her Olympic prospects. Struggling with a mental block that keeps her from competing to her full potential, Vandy finds solace in Lukas, the World Champion and Olympic gold medal swimmer who just so happens to be her best friend’s ex-boyfriend.
Between navigating her no-strings-attached relationship with Lukas, her friendship with his ex (and the captain of her team), and trying to compete at her highest level again, Vandy’s junior year is anything but smooth sailing. On top of everything else, Vandy’s arrangement with Lukas becomes further complicated by the real feelings she’s developing. There’s no way she can get everything she wants—a relationship with Lukas, an intact friendship, and a winning season—is there?
My review of Deep End
One of the things I love most about Ali Hazelwood’s books is their consistency. There really are no surprises. You know you’re going to get a strong, intelligent female main character and a love interest who makes your heart swoon. There will be some bumps along the way, but you know everything is going to work out OK in the end. What makes her books fun to read is the journey; the banter, the chemistry, the personal and relationship conflicts—it all adds up to create a page-turner you can’t put down.
Deep End is Ali Hazelwood at her best—and I’ve felt this with every one of her books since she published Love, Theoretically in 2023. Despite being a little formulaic, I find that more so than any other author, I can’t stop reading once I pick up one of her books.
In Deep End, Ali Hazelwood explores a new kind of dynamic. Vandy and Lukas are both into BDSM and engage in a purely sexual relationship based on their shared kinks. The result is quite possibly the spiciest book in her catalog so far. Sex scenes do not make me squirm; I can read them straight-faced in public without so much as a twitch. But in Deep End, I found myself blushing in the privacy of my own home and had to put down the book several times to cool off for a minute. Yes, Deep End really is that hot—but crucially, it’s also an incredibly respectful exploration of this type of sex life. From the very beginning, Scarlett and Lukas’s relationship is built on trust and consent, which makes everything hotter.
What’s even better, the character development, relationship growth, and poignant moments in Deep End hit just as hard as all of the sex. That’s why I love Ali Hazelwood’s books so much. They’re great romances, yes, but they’re also incredibly moving explorations of character. Vandy comes from an unconventional family, raised by her stepmother after they escaped her abusive father, is struggling with a near career-ending injury, and is grappling with the idea that she might not be as perfectly in control of her life as she thought. Throughout Deep End, we watch Vandy face all of these trials the same way a real person would. Her journey is messy, full of both progress and regression, but ultimately comes full circle. Like most of Ali Hazelwood’s work, Deep End is, in the end, hopeful, romantic, comforting—and yes, sexy as hell.
Should you read Deep End?
I told you from the very beginning that this was going to be a completely biased review. When I stan an author, I stan hard. Ali Hazelwood has never let me down, and after reading Deep End, I’m convinced she never could. So, yes, you should read Deep End. It’s sexy, fun, and a stellar example of just how messy, yet perfect, real life can be.
Garri Chaverst, Senior Managing Editor
As Senior Managing Editor of The Everygirl, Garri oversees the pitching, planning, and creation of all content. You might also find her name pop up as a contributor throughout the site, though she mostly works behind the scenes, leading the team in their creative efforts and ensuring they have everything they need to create top-quality content for our audience.