Book Title: Deep In Love
Author: Nicole Cubba
Publication Date: September 2025
Book Blurb
Three weeks at sea. Two researchers. One chance to evolve.
“What would Charles Darwin do?”
In Charlie Bowen’s twenty-six years of life, the motto has never failed her. Until now. She’s confident the naturalist wouldn’t know what to do if he were stuck at sea with Mateo Alvarez. Throw him overboard, most likely.
Participating as a scientific advisor on the SeaStar research vessel is Charlie’s dream come true. However, her fantasies never included a documentary film or cohabitation in tiny quarters with her sworn enemy. Despite her exhilaration to uncover what lurks in the ocean’s depths, she’s wholly unprepared to discover something far more revolutionary at the surface—with Mateo, it’s hard to hide the scars of her past. Worse, she may not want to.
For years, she’s abided by a strict set of guidelines to keep her heart safe. Her life begins and ends with her best friend and PhD work. Yet with every lingering glance, broken rule, and stolen kiss, Charlie begins to rediscover parts of herself she once considered lost.
But life at sea is not the real world—a reality that continues to haunt her, even miles offshore—and as the two move into unknown territory with each other, there’s one question that matters most: Can their relationship evolve into something spectacular, or are they doomed for extinction?
“If you want to be seen, Mateo, then you need to stand in the spotlight, even if the light may burn your eyes.”
Review:
There’s something very tasteful about bringing a romance plot to a STEM setting. Authors bring in the best of both worlds: their nerdy side feeds into the factual details of the setting, while their grasp of the romantic journey of their protagonists is just as scientific. The best STEM romances are a homage to the stability of science and the strength of love.
Deep In Love delivered on all the best promises of this sub-genre and elevated the usual tropes beyond just literary devices through delightfully veritable representations of chronic pain, trauma, and sleep disorders. The characters and contexts are so multi-dimensional and rich that you forget you’re reading a trope at all, and that, to me, is the best litmus test of a well-written romance. Did it make you forget about the tropes it is playing out?
The book opens up to a delightful setting for the reader. Hilarious, even. Not so much for our protagonist Charlie Bowen, who’s running low on caffeine and breaking a sweat as she fields juvenile questions about evolution from students right before breaking for summer recess at the University of Rhodes.
“A cold sweat breaks out across my brow as I stare at a sea of apathetic faces, each student counting down the minutes until the break between summer courses begins. A solitary hand rises, and my mouth turns chalky.”
Cubba has created some excellent characters. They have their unique quirks, longings, repressed emotions, outward brilliance, anxieties, and motivations. And we are introduced to all these facets gradually, in a motion of peeling layers, like tackling a corn on the cob. The process isn’t tidy; it’s a little messy, sometimes uneven, with those clingy silks that just won’t let go. But as each layer comes off, what’s revealed is a sharper, more vivid sense of who the character really is.
And the reward is delightful because what you get is not just a rich, juicy read, but characters you can’t help falling in love with. And it’s not just the leads, even the secondary characters are given this kind of textured, tender attention. It’s why I walked away from the last page in love with not just Mateo and Charlie, but equally caring about Amy, Oliver, Jet, Sophie, and others.
“Some aspects of the accident’s aftermath have been easier to accept than others. I can handle aching joints before a treacherous rain and the uncomfortable pat down from TSA after I set off the metal detector. I’ve learned to manage my arthritis and banished my fear of driving, but I haven’t overcome the hurdle of my image. The scars are a soft spot-an insecurity so raw, even a look or comment causes an ache in my chest.”
Charlie’s interior life and, by extension, her internal monologue, are very serious, tense environments: she has insecurities from the aftermath of her accident in a way that I understand (I have scars from surgeries I had in my early 20s, which bothered me a lot, and my inner monologue mirrored Charlie’s, so one might say I felt very seen in her character), the physical scars have percolated into her social and emotional fabric in that she avoids being “perceived” and seen in public. She has an acute awareness of how people react to her when they first lay their eyes on her.
And yet, very realistically, this hasn’t impacted her sense of humour at all. She’s so funny without even trying that its easy to see why Mateo fell for her so easily. Case in point, this is her inner monologue when she sits across from him:
“He’s been gifted every trait required to survive and thrive in our world. His scientific work is inspired — even if it gives me an ulcer to admit it to myself — and he skates through life with a level of confidence I could never achieve. Charles Darwin would take one look at Mateo and scribble down ‘marvelous specimen of a man’ in his notebook.
Pisses me off.
On the flip side, I defy his idea of evolution. I was not adapted to survive, and yet, here I am, alive and kicking.
Not by choice.
I can’t be an evolutionary biologist and disregard the idea of natural selection. That would be parallel to an assassin saying they don’t believe in murder. The juxtaposition is otherworldly.”
She’s so oblivious to Mateo’s several gestures of affection and attention, but it doesn’t feel like a cliche at all, and that’s credit to Cubba’s mastery of her craft. She eases us into every scene and plot turn; everything feels organic. And of course, the romance genre loves a down-bad male lead.
“I’ve harbored the delusion that one day, Charlie will see me as more than her competitor or the guy who annoys her. Half the reason I still live in my world of ignorant bliss is I’ve never seen her with someone else. Never heard her speak of a boyfriend or date. No photos on her desk. No one dropping by, except for Amy.”
None of this took away from the rich tapestry of these well-rounded characters.
Cubba wasn’t afraid to strip her characters down to their most vulnerable selves. Mateo, with his sleep apnea and C-PAP machine, could easily have been written as unglamorous or even played for laughs. Charlie, with her chronic pain and the scars from her accident, could have been reduced to a tragic backstory. In the hands of another author, these details might have turned gimmicky. But Cubba humanised them. She leaned into their vulnerabilities without pitying them, and gave them a dynamic that pushed back against the often ableist norms of romance. That’s what made the story so believable. So when the slow burn finally tipped over into something steamy, it all felt earned, because it was built on a foundation of honesty.
Cubba’s writing is deeply affirming, and that’s what makes this book such a joyful reading experience. Everything, from the academic setting to the context of their careers and ambitions, is tastefully set up, without ever feeling heavy-handed. It reminded me a lot of ‘Love on the Brain’ by Ali Hazelwood: the friendly banter, the ‘what would Darwin do’ moments, and, most importantly, the genuine equality between the leads.
What stood out was how neither character slipped into that tired saviour complex that often sneaks into romance. Instead, their dynamic felt balanced and respectful, with their ambitions, goals, and even work styles shown as something pure rather than competitive or dismissive.
The secondary characters aren’t just there to prop up the main couple; they feel alive, with their own arcs and aspirations, even as they weave into the central story. The empathy Cubba extends to every character is striking and maybe even leaves the door open for future stories in this universe.
And that’s the real triumph of this book: a STEM-romance done with such taste, thoughtfulness, and reward that it feels like one of the superior examples of the genre.
Book Title: Deep In Love
Author: Nicole Cubba
Publication Date: September 2025
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