Charlie dream to be abords the SeaStar scientific research vessel is finally coming true. The only problem, she will have to work closely with her academic rival, Mateo. They must not only work together but live in close quarters when their room only has one bed. For years she has followed a set of guidelines to keep her walls up and her heart safe but Mateo is slowly breaking through those walls with each lingering glance and secret revealed.

I really enjoyed this book. Matteo is a character who knows how to yearn and I enjoyed seeing Charlie begin to let her walls down around him. I enjoyed the character growth we get to see in Charlie. I also thought the setting of being on a ship worked really well because it allowed them to grow without a lot of background noise. I also really enjoyed the found family element with the other characters on the research team.

Rating -4.5/5
✨EARC REVIEW ✨

I have no words—literally! I’m over the moon that I got to read this book. It made me sob at midnight, then grin ear-to-ear like a giddy schoolgirl (I just hope my mom doesn’t think I’ve lost it, laughing and smiling at my Kindle). The banter between the main characters flowed effortlessly—hands down the smoothest I’ve ever read. The chemistry? Absolutely off the charts!

Charlie and Mateo’s dynamic was unlike anything I’ve experienced in a book before—unique, unhinged, raw, funny, and utterly beautiful. The way Mateo admires, understands, and truly sees Charlie is pure magic. He was head over heels before he even realised it, but never once denied it—always expressing it through thoughtful actions and gestures. The little things he did—the way he cared for her, made her smile, and even got adorably jealous (and yes, looked ridiculously hot while doing so 😌) and always carried her favourite chocolate with him (I am utterly whipped for this man -> they say "to a woman's heart is through chocolates"). And you know what is so cool about him the most? He listens to audiobooks that his abuela tells. (you've got to find out his opinion on the books 😏)

And then there’s Charlie Bowen—what a woman! I adore women in STEM, and she’s the perfect example: smart, funny, and effortlessly intelligent. She does this effortlessly and she doesn't realise it . Anyone who meets her would instantly fall for her charm. She’s the coolest, and I’d fight for a spot as her best friend. If I ever met her, I’d give her the biggest hug. She has a beautiful soul inside and out—and I’d gladly go to war with anyone who ever makes her cry.

And my, my! A huge thank-you to the advisors who sent these two on a three-week research trip at sea. You, my friends, are “the strategists” 😂. I have no words for your matchmaking skills—just one question: why don’t we have advisors like them?

This book also shines in its portrayal of mental health and chronic illness. It’s a powerful reminder never to hand over your power to people who don’t truly know you or understand what you’ve been through. I love how Mateo made Charlie feel seen and understood. Together, they fit perfectly—like two pieces of a puzzle.

This was my first book by Nicole, and I can confidently say I’ll be reading everything she writes from now on. It has everything I want in a STEM romance: sizzling chemistry, sharp banter, genuine communication, deep understanding, comfortable intimacy, fascinating marine biology details, side characters who’ll make you laugh out loud, and of course, the spice 😏 (how could I forget?).

So please—mark your calendars for September 19th and grab this book when it comes out! I mean, HELLO??? Academic rivals-to-lovers. That’s already more than enough reason to pick it up.

Thank you, Netgalley , Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op and Nicole for the E- arc 🫶.

🔬 Rivals to lovers
🧬 STEM
🔬 Forced proximity
🧬Black cat & golden retriever
🔬Dual pov
🧬🌶️🌶️

I can truly say that I loved absolutely every single second of this book! I was hooked from start to finish. If you love Ali Hazelwood, you will LOVE the story of Mateo & Charlie. Mateo was so down bad for her from the jump & showed her in every single way just how much. The forced proximity & only one bed at SEA???? Unreal. The side characters were absolutely incredible & I need books for all of them yesterday. I am begging everyone to read this beautiful book!!!!

Huge thanks to Victory Editing, NetGalley, and Nicole Cubba for this ARC 🫶🏼

3.5 ⭐️

Deep in Love is a fun, quick STEM romance with major Ali Hazelwood vibes...nerdy banter, slow-burn yearning, and a marine biology setting that feels raw and authentic thanks to the author’s own background in the field. You can tell this story came straight from her heart, and it makes the book all the more charming.

Charlie and Mateo’s romance has been years in the making, and watching it finally unfold...complete with delicious rivals-to-lovers tension and sharp, playful back-and-forth—was so satisfying. These two are fiercely supportive of each other when it counts, and their dynamic had me rooting for them the whole way. (Also… Charlie and Mateo’s tape from their trip? If you know, you know. 🥹)

Mateo himself? S-tier book boyfriend material. Mexican-American, slight accent, occasionally whispers in Spanish, and fully obsessed with Charlie even when she’s busy pretending to hate him. He’s the perfect brand of MMC who quietly simmers until the pining turns into full-blown devotion, and boy, does he yearn.

The first half of the book had me hooked with its tension, backstory, and boat-bound forced proximity. I adored the science talk (despite knowing nothing about marine biology myself) and the way it wove into the romance without feeling heavy-handed. That said, I did find myself wanting a bigger plot twist or turning point to shake things up, and the pacing around the 60% mark started to drag for me. Some of the emotional beats felt repetitive toward the end, which dulled the impact a little.

Still, it’s a sweet debut that delivers plenty of banter, STEM charm, and swoony moments at sea. If you’re an Ali Hazelwood girlie or love a good rivals-to-lovers on a boat, you’ll want to pick this up.

Thank you Nicole Cubba, Victory Editing, and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I was super excited to receive an ARC of this book; the blurb was enticing, but I ended up DNF at 71%.

Both characters were very immature; I aged down the characters to match their behavior, because no mid-to-late twenties to early thirties-year-old would be acting like this. I had pushed through until about 71% when I cringed so hard. The MMC told the FMC that he knew she was ovulating and how he figured out her cycle. Before that, I would have rated the book higher, because I think the writing style is not my cup of tea, and I tend to lean more towards older main characters, so this book fell flat. I could push through immature characters, but I can't look over the ovulation conversation.

I will be posting a review on Goodreads after the publishing date.

This was billed as the next Ali Hazelwood STEM romance and I wasn't convinced. The first few chapters I was definitely invested - I enjoyed the mystery behind her scars and why exactly she hated the MMC, but as I got further in those questions were never really answered and just sort of brushed aside. Neither main character seemed to have much personality aside from their thoughts about the other, and the science/academia aspect was minimal at best. The characters acted more like young teenagers than grad students and it all just felt a bit cringey.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Deep in love is a STEM romance novel with a rivals to lovers plot, I loved it. The banter, the yearning, the men written by women😍

I had an issue with the pacing of this book but this is the first book I’ve read by this author so I may need to get used to her style. I also would have preferred a turning point in the plot but that’s just a personal preference. I would read more of her books in the future however. If you’re an Ali Hazelwood girlie, you’ll love this book.

📚DEEP IN LOVE by Nicole Cubba
💘 Thank you Netgalley and Victoria Editing for this ARC

This definitely had Ali Hazelwood vibes which I loved. There’s just so much fun in romance about nerds (I mean this lovingly) who just gush about science. As someone who is not in science, I love reading about it!!

When I tell you Matteo is YEARNING, boy is truly GONE. He is my favorite type of MMC to read when he’s so obsessed with her and she hates him and he just lets her be mean to him. Oh add in he’s mexican-american, has a slight accent, speaks to you in spanish… thank you for Mateo. He is easily S-tier level of book boyfriend and the best part of this book for me.

I think the yearning and desperation you feel in the first half of the story really hooked me, I was so into it. The banter was fun, the plot was interesting, the backstory was set up super well. And don’t get me wrong, I still really enjoyed this debut and I’ll be looking forward to this author’s next release. But around the 60% mark of the book, I felt the writing and pacing falls apart for me a little. I was finding myself ready for the story to wrap up at that point, and that’s quite a feat because this is a relatively quick read. I found the writing was a bit more ~cringe and it started to lose me.

Other than that, I really enjoyed this and loved spending 3 weeks on this boat falling in love with these two!!

And does it sound like we’ll get an Oliver & Amy story?? 👀

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5

Tropes:
🧬 STEM romance
🧬 Academic rivals to lovers
🧬 One bed
🧬 Forced proximity

Mateo is Charlie’s sworn enemy and academic rival and when their advisors send them on a research trip together in the middle of the ocean, feelings start to change.

I loved Charlie and Mateo so much.
The nicknames? 10/10 no notes.

Charlie has strict rules for relationships and Mateo had her throwing them out the window with every passing week with his unshakable charm. I think what I liked the most about them was that this was a true rivals to lovers and although there were misunderstandings they felt very genuine and their relationship just kept progressing ( no third act breakup which was amaze).

There is a vulnerability with each character that is explored through them communicating and discussing how to overcome them.

Mateo was down bad for Charlie from their first meeting and my god did he long for her to see him the way he saw her. I also loved the small things that made the characters so lovable, like Mateo being in a book/audiobook club with his abuela and Charlie having the need to overpack underwear for the trip because what if?

This book felt like a love letter to science as well as a classic love story. I really enjoyed the science being included as much and as deep as it was, it became one of my favourite parts of how it contributed to the character progression and to Charlie and Mateos relationship.

I really couldn’t fault this book at all, I rarely find a 5 star romance read but Deep in Love really just ticked every box for me. I really hope we get Amy and Oliver’s story next (I am begging).

Reading Deep In Love on the tails of another STEM romance really made me rethink my choice to go to Bible college. Science is so fun and interesting to me, and Deep In Love proves, as other STEM-based romance novels do, that women have a place in the world just as much as men. Add in an rivals-to-lovers plot? I'm sold.

I'm giving three stars because I, myself, had a little issue with the pacing, but this is also my first book by Nicole Cubba and may just need to adapt to her style. I do hope to read more of her stories in the future!

If you're an Ali Hazelwood girly, def get yourself a copy as asap as possible (when it's published)!

Actually 3.75⭐️

As a URI grad I was pleasantly surprised to find the main characters in this book attended my alma mater, but I was a little annoyed by the fact it felt like the author hadn’t really spent time on the campus, at least not within the last 10 years.

Overall I enjoyed this and probably would recommend it to others.

I’ve been refreshing my emails for like a week waiting to be approved for this arc, this is how HYPED I was. Add to it that I got it the same week the CONICET expedition was going on, following livestreams as irl marine biologists explored the deep sea next to the Argentinian coast, yeah the timing was f-cking perfect 👌🏻

Charlie and Mateo are both PhD students. She is a die-hard Charles Darwin fan, and she hates Mateo. He, on the other hand, has been obsessed with her for over two years. When a lifetime opportunity to explore the deep sea presents itself, they have no choice but to spend three weeks sharing time, space, and one single bed.

The story did not disappoint, it was more than I was expecting and I loved following Charlie’s journey learning to love – others, but mostly herself. Mateo is the MMC dreams are made of, kind, gentle, and the right amount of obsessed.

It was fun, it was hot, it was emotional. The balance and the pace were perfect, not to mention the love for science and marine biology oozing from every page.

If you enjoy Ali Hazelwood’s books, you’re gonna love Deep in Love.

👀 𝙳𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝙿𝙾𝚅
🔥 𝚂𝚕𝚘𝚠(𝚒𝚜𝚑) 𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚗
🔗 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚡𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚢
🐈‍⬛ 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚌𝚊𝚝 𝚡 𝚐𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛
❤️‍🩹 𝙷𝚞𝚛𝚝 / 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝
🔬 𝚆𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙼
🪴 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚍𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚢

🗓️ Publish date: Sept 16, 2025

Thank you Nicole Cubba, Victory Editing, and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an arc of this book.
I really liked this STEM romance. I thought the romance was really well done. Both Charlie and Mateo are at first too scared to admit their feelings for each other. I liked how Charlie is a very complex character, and how she evolved throughout the story. There’s was a lot of yearning. There’s also the one bed trope which is always delectable. It gets spicy towards the end. Definitely recommend!

♡ Thank you NetGalley for the ARC ♡

♡ Review posted to Goodreads, Fable & Storygraph. Instagram to follow in the coming week ♡

If you're a fan of Ali Hazelwood, this is going to be the absolute perfect read for you! A pining man and a woman in STEM... say less!!!!

I thought this was such a sweet read from beginning to end. The way that these two were introduced as rivals but it quickly became clear that the line between love and hate was very, very thin and they were a solitary, longing glance away from toeing over that line... yeah, I ate it up.

Mateo is such a man down bad. He knows every single thing there is to know about Charlie; her coffee order, her love of chocolate (especially while studying), her scientific bucket list, and the list could go on and on forever. He is a self-proclaimed expert on all things Charlie and I loved to see her slowly start to see him and care for him in the same ways.

And as she slowly starts to realize his feelings and the way she might feel about him, she's scared to death but knows deep down that he's who she wants so she makes it her mission to learn everything about him while finally letting him see every part of herself she's ever shied away from showing him.

Add in the side characters who I absolutely adored and this book was everything I could've asked for.

Now my only question... will Amy be getting her HEA with the British duke because I need their story desperately!!!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC

This was such a heartwarming love story.

Two scientists, who have been academic rivals, are joining the crew of the SeaStar Resrac vessels as scientific advisors.

Charlie Bowen has always dreamed of going on the SeaStar but her dreams come crashing down when Mateo Alvarez are forced to share a tiny room on board for three weeks.

Mateo has been obsessed with Charlie for the past two years, could being forced together on a boat at sea for three weeks finally give him a chance to show Charlie his true feelings.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, there were so many layers with Charlie's accident and her anxiety, but Mateo was so kind and patient. They really focused on building a solid foundation for their relationship.

Mateo chapters were always so funny and heartfelt. I love when the FMC is oblvious to the MMC affections.

My only critique is that these characters did not feel like they were 26 - almost felt like they were young college students.

Two rivals stranded on a boat with only one bed for three weeks — what could possibly go wrong? Oh right, he’s been madly in love with her for the last two years.

This book had me kicking my feet, googling deep-sea creatures, and wondering: What would Charles Darwin do?

Charlie, our main character, is a PhD student still adjusting to life after a major accident and multiple surgeries. For the past two years, she’s been working opposite her self-appointed rival, Mateo.

Mateo brings all the golden retriever energy. After a rough first impression, he’s spent the last two years working alongside Charlie, flirting endlessly with the girl who barely notices him. He’s in a two-person book club with his abuela, and Charlie really thinks he’s the villain? Come on, girl — WAKE UP!!

This gave me serious Ali Hazelwood vibes and was such a fun, addictive read. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in just 48 hours.

Tropes:
• Rivals to lovers
• Forced proximity
• He falls first — and HARD

A cute quick read.

This book had a good premise and l liked how the author could write this book from her heart since she herself is a marine biologist. It made the book feel so raw and authentic.

I liked how the main characters Charlie and Mateo's romance had built up. Their romance was definitely a long time coming (built up through some great banter) and it was so nice to see them together.
Another part that really stood out to me was how supportive they were of each other in times of need. Gosh, what I would do to see Charlie and Mateo’s tape from their trip.(iykyk)🥹

I only wish storyline had some sort of turning point, but as this is a romance novel I can understand why it doesn't have one. It just felt like something was missing plot wise for me. Also It did feel a bit repetitive at the end unfortunately. For example when Charlie would talk about her feelings for Mateo the sentences sounded quite alike.

I still would recommend this book, especially if you like STEM romances or Ali Hazelwood's books.

My review (see below) is live on Goodreads, and will be added to Amazon upon publication.


Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of Deep in Love! Two PhD scientists falling in love on a boat? Sign me up! I loved the science references in here, the swoony declarations of love, and no third act break up.

Mateo is the definition of a man obsessed and I loved that we got to see this in his pov chapters.

The only thing that brought me out of the story - and this is such a tiny nitpicky thing, is Charlie being obsessed with crystals. Seems a little “woo” for a logical scientist like her but maybe I’m projecting my own interests for that one.

Overall I really liked the story and will definitely be seeking out more from this author in the future.

I am OBSESSED with this book! A STEM romance with only one bed, forced proximity, "it's always been you", pining, yearning, spice, and the most lovable characters ever?? LET'S GO!!

Perfect for fans of Ali Hazelwood, these marine biologists are out at sea and finally talking together after Mateo has pined after Charlie for years. Like my man is down BAD. I adored Mateo from his adorable book club with his abuela to his doting on Charlie and we get some sleep apnea rep from him as well as he has a CPAP he uses at night. The nicknames and little gestures for Charlie? *Swoon!* I also absolutely loved Charlie. From her insecurities with her scars and arthritis after her accident to how independent and stubborn she was and how she grew into herself and found her confidence, I just know we'd be besties. I adored them as well as all of the side characters and how everyone was rooting for Charlie and Mateo. Y'all genuinely don't understand just how obsessed with these characters and this book I am.

This was my first book by Nicole Cubba and I was blown away! I'll definitely be checking out her backlist and look forward to her next project. There's little I love more than a STEM romance written by a scientist that has disability/chronic illness rep and characters you can't help but adore. This was everything I could have wanted and more. You already know that I have a physical copy on preorder!

the flirting was so obnoxiously overt. I understand the author intended this as flirty banter, but it was subpar at best and cringey at worst. I simply could not amp myself up to read 300 more pages of it.

To me, it's literally no fun to know from the very beginning that the male love interest has been so down bad obsessed for years. if we get his POV, I want the signs to be show not tell. I want there to be yearning and more subtle signs of appreciation, reverence, and adoration - not to get to his direct POV where all he does is gush about how much he is obsessed with her. personal preference.