Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Discuss your overall impressions of Deep End. What were your favorite and least favorite aspects of the novel and why?

2. Compare your experience reading Deep End to your experience reading Hazelwood’s other romance novels. For example, what differences and similarities do you notice between Deep End and Hazelwood’s titles The Love Hypothesis, Not in Love, and/or Love on the Brain?

3. What other sports romance or college romance novels does Deep End remind you of? What narrative and thematic threads do you notice between Hazelwood’s novel and novels like Hannah Grace’s Daydream or Tessa Bailey’s Fangirl Down?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. How did you respond to the scene where Pen suggests that Scarlett and Lukas sleep together? Was Pen’s behavior in character? Did you expect Scarlett and Lukas to take her suggestion? Why or why not?

2. The novel explores the interconnection between physical and personal challenges via the world of competitive sports.