A book review by Kelly Keene

This summer I learned something about myself. I really like reading and learning about the experience of elite athletes training for a singular goal. I’ve indulged in shows like America’s Sweethearts, The Last Dance and Cheer on Netflix. Each of these follows dancers, NBA all stars and cheerleaders as they give it their all to perform at a very high level. This is one of the main reasons I also found myself enjoying The Deep End by Ali Hazelwood.

I got a copy of this book at my bridal shower, and it came with a knowing wink and nod from an already married friend. Hazelwood has a reputation for writing steamy romances, and the cover art alone told me this would be a doozy. It did not disappoint.

Following a Stanford Diver who is returning to the platform after recovering from an injury the previous season, we get an insight into the collegiate swim and dive competition schedule and training regiment while also exploring some Dom/Sub kinky intimacy. She begins to explore her desires to be told what to do with the captain and olympic medalist of the Stanford Men’s swim team, who also happens to be the known boyfriend of her friend and fellow diver Pen (short for Penelope). Pen is beautiful, accomplished, and also a captain, so everyone, including our main protagonist, Scarlett, believes that she and Lukas Blomqvist are a perfect match. In the very first chapter however, we learn that they aren’t quite fulfilling each other’s needs in all aspects of the relationship.

Scarlett’s name might be a bit on the nose given all the emotional scars she carries with her. Our leading lady is overcoming her own fear of doing an inward dive after her injury, as well as the emotional baggage of an abusive father, and careless ex boyfriend. Josh, Jason, or whatever his name is (it doesn’t really matter because we don’t get to know him too well anyways) was her first real boyfriend, and the one who helped her explore her desires as she blossomed into a full-on confident sexual deviant. He broke up with her in a casual and hurtful way, but Scarlett, tough cookie that she is, didn’t fully process that this had hurt her until much later.

The Deep End was not my first sultry romance novel, but besides Fifty Shades, it was one of the first I’ve read that explored kink in a consensual, mature, and nuanced way. It chronicled how a “just for sex” relationship between two young adults, evolved into a therapeutic and healing way to grapple with past trauma, self-doubt, and ultimately the stress of high performance outside the bedroom.

Lukas, who wanted to push his own boundaries, pursues Scarlett on and off the pool deck, and ultimately finds more common ground with her besides just their compatibility on the Yes/No/Maybe list they each fill out before their first “encounter.” They both want to be doctors and get assigned to the same pre-med research group. I like the fact that our heroine is smart, ambitious, and successful beyond her abilities as an athlete. The book even comments on how collegiate and olympic athletes might not have a reputation for strong academic ambition, but this part of the storyline was a nice offering to counter that stereotypical narrative.

My least favorite part of the book was the conflict that implied that Pen and Lukas couldn’t publicly break up due to the pressure to maintain some sort of public-status-driven-appearance of a relationship. What Scarlett and Lukas did after Pen and Lukas’ secret breakup, was totally above board and approved by Pen herself. So, it didn’t make sense to me why Pen and Lukas couldn’t fess up to all the other side characters sooner that they were no longer a couple. Pen turned out to be the villain in the end when she expresses jealousy towards Scarlett for winning Lukas over and out scoring her in a dive competition too. Pen’s anger towards Scarlett came out of nowhere, especially since she had developed her own relationship with a grad student while Scarlett and Lukas began their own. Pen’s apology, and Scarlett’s forgiveness of her also felt rushed and a bit unrealistic.

In the beginning of the novel, we get short chapters that share conversations between Scarlett, and Sam, Scarlett’s therapist. I enjoyed these chapters for two reasons. 1) They weren’t centered on Scarlett’s kinky desires or sexual preferences. This normalized the kink in a way that kept it from being taboo or wrong. 2) We got to see Scarlett resist authority figures, and play with her own honesty in a cool and interesting way. College students are not always forthright with the adults in their life for many reasons. It was interesting to see her toe the line between what she would and wouldn’t discuss in these sessions, and it was fun, as a reader, to try to piece out when Scarlett was even dishonest with herself. I was disappointed when we missed out on more sessions with Dr. Sam later on, and the structure of these chapters taking a back seat to Blomqvist, implied that he was what she needed more than therapy. He is also the one that helps Scarlett sneak into the pool after hours, complete her first inward dive in over a year, and show her how to overcome her mental block. I wish that breakthrough had been more closely connected to her work with Dr. Sam.

Overall, I did enjoy Lukas Blomqvist’s character immensely. For a sultry romance book like this, he was everything he needed to be- mysterious at first, a bit older and wiser, but also vulnerable because he missed his mom. Who wouldn’t swoon at that, or get down on their knees and say, “yes please”? He was bilingual, tatted up, and fit to be the leading lusty lad. I also liked that he was simple enough to let the plot, and complexity with Scarlett’s character drive the story forward.

One character that I thought had more potential to shine was Scarlett’s moody wrestling roommate, Maryam. She had some moments chastising Scarlett about her terrible German language skills, but I wanted more moments with this character. I liked how she handled Lukas’s arrival at their apartment, but felt we could have had less moments with Scarlett talking to her dog on the phone, and more of Maryam being a funny sounding board.

While I enjoyed Scarlett’s development and success on her road to the Olympics, I definitely enjoyed her sexy scenes with Lukas the most. I have been known to skip over the hotter parts of books if the scene feels corny or unrealistic. I don’t particularly seek out romance books, because they can feel so made for TV, or cheesy, but this one was different and worth every page. I liked the lens it put on explorative sexual role-play. I liked that it was self aware enough to allude to the fact that sexual preferences have roots in our past experiences, or subconscious desires that respond to our behavior outside the bedroom. None of it was perverse, misogynistic, or uncomfortable. There were some parts I did not necessarily relate to though. Sarlett’s crying, for example, didn’t seem hot to me, but that might just be a step or two outside my comfort zone. I did appreciate the ending message, though. Despite turning over authority to Lukas, the real power was in Scarlett’s ability to say “no” or “stop” anytime. She had all the cards in this regard, and this is an aspect of Dom/sub dynamics worth stating. At a time when a woman’s voice, and right over what might happen to her body are questioned even by the US supreme court, it’s nice, in small ways, to see characters that have power over their own body and choices.