REVIEW: 'All Wheel Drive' by Z.A. Maxfield
Title: All Wheel Drive
Series: Bluewater Bay
Author: Z.A. Maxfield
Published: July 10, 2017
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist: L.C. Chase/Deviant Art
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Erotic Romance
Length: 326 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Disability: Spinal Cord Injury; Comfort/Hurt; Family Drama; HEA; Standalone
About All Wheel Drive
Healey Holly is battered, depressed, and looking to go to ground in his childhood home. He wants to rent the garage apartment, but it’s Diego Luz’s place now, and the last thing Diego wants is to share it.
Diego is recovering too—from the accident that put him in a wheelchair and the death of his mother shortly after. The garage apartment is where he’s keeping his mother’s things, and as long as they’re up those stairs and he’s down on the ground, there’s no way he can deal with his loss. And that’s just how he likes it.
Healey believes in science. Diego believes in luck. It will take a blend of both, and some prayer thrown in besides, for these two to learn that it’s the journey and the destination that matters.
5 HEART READ
REVIEW:
If ZA Maxfield has three gears, good, better, best, All Wheel Drive inches towards her best. And, as testament, I found myself quoting her gifted words, rather than writing a review.
Plot: Just as Healey obtained his PhD in Physics, his bipolar ex-boyfriend almost killed him in a road rage accident. Confused, he leaves the hospital AMA, thinking only to rent a room in his childhood home and lick his wounds. “He had the added bonus of incontrovertible proof that each second truly could be his last. Which wasn’t a problem, until he started to think about it. Until he started to dwell on it. Until he was aware of his mortality at the cellular level and it started closing in on him.”
Diego’s accident left him wheelchair-bound, unable to feel below his waist, forsaking his career as a photojournalist in favor of editing footage from Bluewater Bay’s vampire TV show. He has avoided intimacy because, “Being that emotionally interested without the corresponding physical sensations sucked. It frayed his nerves. It filled him with inexplicable rage.”
And now his family is pressuring him to create a documentary on his mother’s life as a renowned artist. “Each piece, each memory glittered sharp as a shard of glass under his skin. He unearthed them painfully. Quietly….” “Petulance, your name is Diego.”
For Diego, “Like an accountant, he’d drawn a great big double line beneath the date of his accident on his mental calendar, balanced the debits and credits, and paid his debts. Now there was nothing before. No pages, no notes, nothing worth looking back at. Nothing worth thinking about.”
Learning Healey’s whereabouts, his dad and twin, who readers met in Hell on Wheels (though All Wheel Drive reads as a standalone) arrive, circling while he recharges. “He could simply-finally-rest, because his family had his back.” Diego resents the twins’ comradery. “And he didn’t know why. But if he did know, it might be because he was lonely now that his mother was gone.”
Both men, defiantly avoid their memories. They circle each other cautiously, like drivers in a romantic NASCAR meet.
“Why is it I always feel like I’m playing checkers and you’re playing chess?” Healey asks. When Diego responds “I have to protect…” Healey interrupts. “Your skin, I know. And your heart. And your dignity…your autonomy. Your independence… your self-concept…”
Like with his twin, Healey challenges Diego non-stop, often with brainy facts. Diego counters with sarcastic humor. “It works best if you hold the end and wiggle the tip sharply from side to side,” Healey offers at breakfast. “We still talking about sex?” Diego asks. “The ketchup, Jesus,” Healey answers.
Throughout All Wheel Drive, readers are treated to Maxfield’s signature homespun observations.
“There’s a problem when the distraction becomes as important as the mission.”
“When you love someone, you’ll do anything for them, even if it isn’t in your best interest…or theirs.”
“Funny thing. You can look into the distance, but not the future.”
“(Love isn’t) a resource issue like land or food. The more I give away, the more I’ll have to give.”
Maxfield simply revs my motor. Healey and Diego are etched to psychological perfection.
Their tango of approach and avoidance have more passes and collisions than most races. And I would read her books for her gentle wisdoms and relationship advice alone. Maxfield explores the trust issues within and between the men brilliantly.
If you love witty verbal volley, well drawn personalities whose clashes prod growth, laugh aloud moments, tender, gritty intimacy, and want to learn a thing or two about love, this is a must-buy.
All Wheel Drive earns 4.5 hearts, but I’ll gladly round them up to 5 for Maxfield's audaciously sexy details, showcasing how an alpha with a spinal cord injury can rock and roll.
A copy of All Wheel Drive was provided to Kimmers' Erotic Book Banter, by Riptide Publishing, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
Meet the Author
Z. A. Maxfield started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back. Pathologically disorganized and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. If anyone asks her how a wife and mother of four manages to find time for a writing career, she’ll answer, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you give up housework."
Her published books include Crossing Borders, Epic Award finalist St. Nacho’s, Drawn Together, ePistols at Dawn, Notturno, Stirring Up Trouble, and Vigil. Facebook; Goodreads; Twitter; Tumblr; Amazon
For more from Z.A. be sure and visit her website.
