Deep End is Hazelwood’s swimmer/diver romance! The leads are elite college athletes and when they find out a secret about each other they decide to become teammates with benefits. While this isn’t my favorite trope, the story has tons of banter and humor that I love.

Scarlett is a platform diver and a junior at Stanford and she is recovering from a difficult injury she got in a big competition a year ago. (She’s had three surgeries!) She is a brilliant student, getting ready to take the MCATs in preparation for med school. She was raised by her stepmom, a doctor she admires, after they left Scarlett’s abusive father.

Lukas is from Sweden and is in his senior year at Stanford applying to med schools while preparing for big swim competitions including the Olympics. He has been dating Scarlett’s friend and fellow diver, Penn, for many years but Penn tells Scarlett she wants to date other guys and suggests Scarlett and Lukas see each other secretly. It’s weird how they get together and I didn’t really buy it but I liked them once they were in a relationship.

There’s a lot of emotional depth as Scarlett is struggling with a case of the twisties on her inward dive, which is the dive she was doing when she had the accident a year ago. She has started seeing a therapist to help her while she prepares for big diving tournaments coming up in the spring.

Scarlett and Lukas don’t get to see each other a lot with their intense practice schedules, classes, applying to med school and competitions but they make the best of it when they do and it gets pretty spicy – I would describe it as BDSM light. It’s really special when they both qualify for the World Championships in Amsterdam and get to go there together. They open up to each other about their past traumas, (Scarlett about her father’s abuse and Lukas about his mother’s death) and realize how important they’ve become to each other.

The secret dating plot wasn’t my favorite and there’s some third act drama but there’s a grand gesture that is sweet and rewarding. Scarlett and Lukas are loveable characters and I found myself rooting for them in both their competitions and their romance. Also, Scarlett’s conversations with her roommate, Maryam, are really snarky and kept me laughing.

Hazelwood can be counted on to write sexy, compelling romances and she’s done it again in Deep End. While it didn’t quite reach DIK status, if you’re ready for a dive into a spicy romance with swimmers and divers and lots of snark, this will leave you smiling.