Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Narrator: Therese Plummer, Ben Holtzmuller
Published by Penguin Audio on February 4, 2025
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Length: 12 hours, 30 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple





Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships—at least, that’s what she tells herself.
Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy, Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks records: complete focus, with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes.
So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water...
I really enjoy the STEM aspects of the romances by Ali Hazelwood.  Deep End has two other aspects. First, the main character Scarlet is a competitive athlete at the college and Olympic level, as is her love interest. Second, she and her partner are both fans of BDSM. I have read much more dark BDSM than we see here. The primary thing is Scarlet wanting to let go of control and let someone else decide. So there is very little B or SM, it’s more D.
Scarlet is dealing with wanting to be perfect as she comes back from an injury. She is a diver at 3m and 10m. She is struggling with some classes outside her major. Within her major, she is stellar. She ends up being asked to work on a project with a professor and Lukas is also on the project. Lukas is an Olympic level swimmer with several gold medals. He and Scarlet are both working to become a doctor.
Scarlet’s best friend and teammate, Pen (Penelope) has dated Lukas for about 5-6 years since she befriended him as a teen when his mom died. But now Pen dumps him and wants to date other people. But she doesn’t want to give up the status of being part of a power couple. She also sees Lukas as her best friend so whenever she has a problem she is texting or calling him. But she thinks Scarlet and Lukas should have sex since they like the same kind of things.
Scarlet has lots of work to do in her non major classes, her diving injury recovery and now the new project. She has a therapist because she can’t seem to do one of the dives, even though it’s an easy one, it’s the one she got injured doing. Pen has been supportive as she has recovered. Now Pen is sharing all her excitement about her new boyfriend. But their teammates, the diving and swimming teams, still think she is with Lukas. I was frustrated to see how patient he was with Pen considering she dumped him.
Scarlet and Lukas really connect and help each other. They have a LOT in common. It’s obvious they are falling for each other, but Scarlet isn’t ready to admit that. It was frustrating to me, and Lukas, to watch her pretend they weren’t dating. They both had heavy training and travel schedules so that made it easier for people not to know they were together.
When things go sideways, I feel badly for Scarlet and Lukas. But this is a romance and they will end up together. They really are well suited and it’s fun to see Scarlet get there and the patience and care Lukas has for her.
Narration:
I love Therese Plummer but I have mostly listened to her work with mystery and thriller type books. In fact, right before Deep End I listened to her narrate Cold as Hell by Kelley Armstrong. So it took a second to adjust to the new characters in my head. I thought she did a great job with the main character Scarlet and the inflection of anxiety she felt. Plummer narrates everything but the male voices with the point of view being Scarlet. It is a duet narration, not one where each narrator takes a chapter. We don’t get Lukas’ point of view, only his words and actions. Ben Holtzmuller was a new narrator to me. The male voices, especially Lukas were very deep. I have no idea if the Swedish accents were accurate.  I was very comfortable with the performance and voices for the characters.  I listened at my normal 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip:Â HERE
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 25-Audio
- 25-COYER
I still haven’t read an Ali Hazelwood book, and this sounds really good. Not sure about the BDSM, but I like the idea of competitive swimming.
The BDSM had me second guessing but it was fine, mild bits of it. But you’d probably like the more STEM based ones I’ve read more.
I’ve read a short story by this author, this one sounds good. I’m a fan of Terese Plummer narrating, she narrated all the Robyn Carr books I listened to on Audible.
I’m such a fan of Plummer but more from the mystery thriller books she has narrated.
Love Therese Plummer and I’ve listened to her narrate romances with the Virgin River series, but I think Scarlet would’ve tested my patience. I’m sure I’d have liked it overall, though. I just didn’t have a strong inclination to fit this one in. Glad you liked it, Anne!
Thanks. The competitive swimming was really interesting. I like the STEM aspects in her other books almost more than the romance.
I pre-ordered this one for some reason, so didn’t grab an e-galley. Who knows when I’ll get to it, but as I always enjoy Hazelwood’s books, I’m sure I will this one too. Glad you enjoyed it. Great review!
Thanks Lisa. I enjoyed this more than I expected. The competitive swimming aspect was very interesting. I like whatever STEM, technical sort of thing she has in her books.
Normally I love Ali H. but the blurb just didn’t call to me like her other books. I’m not sure why. Sounds pretty good. THanks!
Well I haven’t chosen all of her books either. She’s gotten quite prolific.
This one sounds good and I like the competitive athlete part especially. I have read of her books and while I like her characters the spice is sometimes a bit high for me – I’m more of a closed door fan. I’ll have to give this a try despite that. Great review!
I hope you enjoy it. I can take or leave the spice. I’m just not tolerant of porn without plot. To me, I’ve read some very spicy things and this is pretty tame.
I really need to read more Ali Hazelwood
I’d say she has something for everyone with a variety of related genres.
I’m excited to read this one. I’ve read a lot of reviews about the level of spiciness in this book compared to her others. I have always thought that her books were quite spicy, but I understand that the BDSM aspect is new and might catch readers unaware.