I’ve been trying to read the Sweet & Spicy book club selections prior to selecting them, but the first quarter of the year had too many commitments to keep the trend up. For better or worse, I chose books for April, May, and June that were highly anticipated or best sellers… and my latest read falls into this category.

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood is a contemporary, kind of spicy, romance that heats up the pool at Stanford. Scarlett is a diver, and she’s coming back from a major shoulder injury. Her teammate, Pen, thinks the best way for Scarlett to get out of her funk would be to explore her sexuality with Pen’s now-ex Lukas. Scarlett and Lukas end up connecting, but their relationship is deeper than just a physical bond. Meanwhile, Scarlett is struggling to return to her diving career. She’s months into therapy when she has a breakthrough…. with the help of Lukas. This was a not quite friends with benefits to lovers with a touch of BDSM, a lot of time in the pool, and a ton of personal growth.

I think my favorite part of this book is how relatable Scarlett is. Getting to see her open up in therapy was refreshing. Her therapy actually shows personal growth. Scarlett realizes she’s expecting perfection from herself. As someone who also tends to expect perfection from herself, I felt Scarlett’s self discovery was believable.

I also liked the way the author described Scarlett’s feelings on exploring her sexuality. She was a sub without the book feeling stereotypical or trite. At one point Scarlett describes the transfer of control and the ability to have a place where she’s not in charge of being perfect. This description felt real to me. The Dom/Sub relationship appeared to be based in trust and honesty, which is important and doesn’t always appear in books.

Where I found this book lacking was the pacing. The first half of the book felt slow, but not due to a lack of information. Instead, the depth of the backstory made the plot seem a little bogged down. The slow burn was extra slow, and there was a lot less spice than I expected. The content was good, but I could’ve done with a little less detail.

The other issue I had with the story was Pen. As a friend, Pen falls short. She reveals Scarlett’s sexual preferences to Lukas without her consent. Pen doesn’t want to be with Lukas, but at the same time she seems jealous when Scarlett gets to know him. Pen blows up when she realizes her friend is in more than a sexual relationship with her ex. They’re all young, but I felt Scarlett was a little quick to forgive.

Overall, I thought this was a deep plot romance with not as much spice as I had expected. I went into this book expecting a spicy BDSM sports romance. Instead, I feel like I got an in depth look at the struggles of a high level student athlete. The characters felt real, and their struggles felt realistic. This was definitely a worthwhile book club read.