Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

Disclaimer: this review may contain spoilers.

graphic by Paola Vanessa

A few weeks ago Threads was alight with bookish people—writers and readers alike—sharing their personal experiences with one very specific thing: the indomitable force that is Ali Hazelwood. Juggernaut romance writer, racoon mom, STEMinist, and all around girls-girl, Ali Hazelwood isn’t just one of the most successful authors of this golden Renaissance of Romance: she is the gold standard for what people are looking for when they want a well-rounded, personable, supportive, non-problematic author.

What triggered this onslaught of rare positivity on a social media platform? A Leak of Hazelwood’s upcoming release. Problematic Summer Romance, as it is apparently titled, will be Hazelwood’s first (mainstreem, traditionally published) time exploring the semi-taboo topic age-gap.

Add that on to an Italian summer vacation, just-a-fling, and best-friend’s brother, and this thing is gearing up to be a finger-licking good romance from an author who just gets better (and hornier) with every book.

The most unserious author

I love her

As of March 25, 2025, the goodreads page for PSR has been updated to include new cover art— red comic sans reminding us that it is not yet published.

How could you hate this woman?

I say semi-taboo because age-gap is not something that’s new within the romance-sphere. From reverse-harems, to college professor/student, to billionaire/workplace romance, to any sort of fantasy centered around a hundred-year old mythical creature falling in love with a teenager—***age has been a number, a plot device, a trope, a twist.

***(Note: This review was written the week of March 11, prior to the Tori Woods scandal. In light of that, before we go on, I feel it’s important to stress that age gap romance—whether depicted in a Dark Romance or otherwise—does not and will never include pedophilia or any insinuations towards the sexual abuse of a minor. All age gap Romances center around 2 consenting adults.)

Below resumes the review as it was written on March 11, 2025.

So why is it that when readers find out that in Hazelwood’s next book, where the main characters are 23 and 38, respectively—all hell seems to break loose? It seems that whenever Hazelwood decides to do something new, someone has a problem with it, as if they want every book she writes to be an Adam Driver-variant/ Reylo fic in a science lab. (Don’t get me wrong, no one eats up an Adam Driver/ Reylo fic variant like I do. Monsoon Rising was literally my top read of 2024).

This isn’t where the big drama began, though. It was actually the release of Deep End (formally, Whet) where the discussions and online think-pieces began.

Some argued that the book had been falsely advertised as a cartoony college romance between a swimmer and diver, and was actually much more graphic and smutty than people had anticipated. Others argued that the book was not even as kinky as they’d thought it would be.

In reality there was no false advertising. From it’s previous title—a play on being literally wet, and not just because they’re water athletes—to every marketing piece, to the Author’s Note and TW page both online and at the beginning of the book (ARCS were distributed back in November 2024) it was clear that if you did your due diligence and (god forbid) actually read the summary material regarding Deep End by Ali Hazelwood, you’d realize that it is a college romance between two Olympic athletes exploring the world of kink and BDSM. Is it Fifty Shades? No. There is a contract, but there is no toxic darkness. And maybe it’s because the protagonists are in their early twenties and have very little experience in sex, let alone kinky sex.

No, it is not cookie cutter romance. But Hazelwood has never been that. And no, it is not straight up erotica. but Hazelwood has never been that, either, no matter how close she toed that line with last year’s release Not In Love.

What Deep End is—besides Ali Hazelwood’s best romance to date—is the notion of “being loved is being seen”. It is a beautiful story of two young people that are exploring their identities through the minefield that is college, med school apps, and D1 sports. Scarlett and Lukas are not the halves to a whole. More that they are two wholes with perfect ridges and spaces to click together. They are complementary, but not-co dependent.

The romance is not :“magic sex heals everything”.

The romance is: “you are safe with me, you are valued and cherished, you are seen.”

This is explored not just through the sex scenes between Scarlett and Lukas, but through their quiet moments, too. Things like working together in their science lab (with a wonderful cameo from Love Hypothesis’s Olive and Adam!); learning about Lukas’s culture and traditions; helping Scarlett with her mental block; maneuvering Lukas’s separation between swimming and himself—all with the added context of two people who have been interested in this “taboo” subject and for the first time have found someone who is more than ready and willing to explore it with them without judgement.

graphic by Paola Vanessa

Hazelwood takes the concept of BDSM and kink and presents it to an audience that may be in the same boat as Scarlett: curious, longing for it, not knowing how to approach it or where to start. She puts this book in their hand and says, “this is normal, this is not bad, this is not un-feminist. But this is something that requires trust, that requires communication, negotiation, consent.” For the first time in my life, I was reading and encountering rough sex in a way that was not degrading. The definition of the female gaze: where you can like to be dominated because you choose to relinquish your control in a safe setting with a partner you love and trust.

Deep End is ultimately about having safe, good sex.

All while balancing the pressures of college sports and very real, complicated, borderline toxic female friendships. Penelope is one of the most infuriating characters to read because she is real. We have all had her as a friend in college, especially those that can identify closely with Scarlett. But she is more than the selfish best friend who needs a reality check. She is also the voice of all these people complaining about how “kinky” Deep End is. All the backhanded comments and microagressions come out of Pen’s mouth, and do the opposite of what she intends. She is not malicious, per se, just too self-centered to realize what’s going on around her. Which is almost more frustrating.

But, instead of just leaving it like that, or antagonizing her and wrapping up Scarlett’s story with a burnt bridge and Penelope on the other side—Hazelwood has conversations. Where Penelope apologizes, acknowledges her wrongdoings. Where Lukas doesn’t just let Penelope figure it out, but lays it out for her. no one is perfect, and no situation in which you find yourself falling in love with your best friend’s ex is perfect. But these characters are real, and at least half emotionally intelligent, because they talk it out, work it out, and even if you stay hating Penelope you can admit that she’s at least starting to grow.

I have been a fan of Ali Hazelwood since I first picked up The Love Hypothesis. She is an author that just gets better and better. And Deep End just proves it. She is doing something different than the rest, and it’s bringing forward these topics and tropes that mainstream romance readers aren’t really used to (i.e. Knotting in Bride; kink in Deep End; age gaps in Problematic Summer Romance). And that is what makes her the best.

When someone wants to ask is romance feminist? Ali Hazelwood is the answer that it is.

Because it is not that we don’t want to jump into the deep end and be loved and cared for. It’s that we want to do it on our terms. We want to trust that we have control over our own bodies to do the dive we want to do.

And when the time comes where we want to let go of it a bit, we can trust that our partners will know and respect us enough to know exactly how to take us apart—and how to put us back together again.

Looking for a bookclub?

Steamy Lit Romance Bookclub is discussing Deep End this week! Virtually on 3/26 and in-store on 3/30. If you’re local to Tampa or South Florida, swing by to hear me rant about the genius of Deep End in person. If you’re not, than log on to talk about it over video call! Learn more and check out the other bookclubs I host!