Updated November 2, 2026 · reading data through September 2026
Deep End
by Ali Hazelwood
Stanford student-athletes Scarlett, a platform diver recovering from injury, and Lukas, a champion swimmer, begin a fling after a secret comes out. With the Olympics looming, their arrangement grows harder to keep casual.
Best for: Readers who enjoy steamy college romances with athletes and a fling that deepens
Deep End is #25 on BookWard's Rising chart for November 2026: the hottest new books published in the past two years.
What Deep End is about
Scarlett Vandermeer is a junior at Stanford and a platform diver, determined to get into med school while recovering from an injury that nearly ended her career. Lukas Blomqvist is the swim captain and a world champion, a disciplined athlete whose focus has brought him gold medals and records. When a closely guarded secret slips out, the two begin an arrangement meant to be a temporary fling that suits them both. Scarlett has told herself she has no time for relationships, and the pressure of the approaching Olympics only adds to the heat.
Ali Hazelwood, author of The Love Hypothesis, writes a steamy college romance set in the intense, driven world of elite sport. It will appeal to readers who enjoy a charged, forbidden-feeling pairing and characters who are good at everything except admitting what they want.
Why Deep End is on the Rising chart
215 readers have shelved it on Open Library since 2025. The Rising score blends six public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 against the other new books and weighted as shown.
| Signal | This book | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reader pace | 73 | 28% |
| Buzz | 27 | 24% |
| Growth | 20 | 18% |
| Being read right now | 75 | 12% |
| Reader love | 14 | 10% |
| Newness | 50 | 8% |
New and popular Ranked on reader activity only; no Wikipedia page to measure.
The numbers behind it
- Wikipedia: no article yet, so this book is ranked on reader activity alone and we make no claim about its direction.
- Open Library readers: 200 want to read, 8 reading now, 7 have read it.
- Ratings: 3.33 out of 5 from 3 Open Library ratings.
Deep End on the Rising chart: history
First on the chart this month. The history grows with every monthly update.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | #25 | 45 |
Questions about Deep End
Is Deep End a new book?
Yes. Deep End by Ali Hazelwood was first published in 2025, and BookWard's Rising chart only includes books published in the past two years.
Why is Deep End on the Rising chart?
215 readers have shelved it on Open Library since 2025.
More new books readers are finding
- Can We Be Strangers Again? Shrijeet Shandilya
- King of Sloth Ana Huang
- King of Envy Ana Huang
Prefer proven favorites? See the Top 100, or all Rising books.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views. The description is paraphrased from real source text (Open Library or Wikipedia). A book is on the Rising chart only if it was published in 2025 or 2026 and its readers are active and its interest is not falling. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales. Read the full methodology.
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