Love ZA Maxfield, in particular her cowboy series, but could not for the life of me get into this book at all. DNF. The rating isn't reflective of the book - but of that I DNF.

3.5 Stars

The cover drew me in. It’s gorgeous and the blurb sounded amazing too, but this book just didn’t quite work for me. Diego was not a likable character and although I’m sorry he is paralyzed, for me that doesn’t give you the right to be a complete asshat, and that’s exactly what he was. He seemed to hate Healey on sight and he just rubbed me the wrong way.

While I liked Healey better than I did Diego, I thought he was still too broken after the break up and all the drama between him and his ex, Ford, to be ready to move on and be with Diego.

The storyline and the character’s backstories were interesting and intriguing, but I was missing the chemistry and connection between the characters. The story is well-written and I’m sure others will enjoy it, but it just wasn’t for me.

*copy provided by author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
The angst! Diego and Healey have way too much baggage. and at times it was almost painful to watch them tiptoe around each other. Healey is a scientist recently injured in an accident. Diego has learned to live with the injuries that put him in a wheelchair but he is grieving his mother and terrified of relationships.

It took me a while to even like either of these surly men. We learn about their pasts slowly and we see some pretty arsy behaviour before we know enough to have empathy for either of them. But they grew on me. Diego’s vulnerabilities around sex and his disability are heartbreaking. But so are the memories of the mother he’s lost. And it was impossible not to love Healey once I knew more about his accident and the toxic relationship that preceded it. But while I loved these two by the end, it took me some time to really engage with Diego and Healey.

While the chemistry between Diego and Healey is hot, Diego’s disability makes the actual sex quite complicated. And while the sex scenes are sometimes uncomfortably realistic, they are also surprisingly sexy. Because of the trust involved, the sex between these two builds a really beautiful intimacy between these two.

Unlike most of the Bluewater Bay books, this one doesn’t completely stand alone and readers will probably need to read Healey’s twin brother Nash’s book Hell on Wheels before they will fully understand this one. Here, Healey’s past is drip fed to readers out of sequence in a way that could potentially be confusing.


Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
My first impressions of Diego and Healey were not great. Diego seemed like a bit of an a-hole with a chip on his shoulder and Healey seemed really stubborn and pretty clueless for a guy that is supposed to be super smart.

For a while I was wondering how these two were going to end up together because: 1. the first few interactions they had were cringe worthy, and 2. they both had heaps of baggage. But during one of their conversations Diego points out that they are complete opposites, and from that point on things started to improve for the characters and I really started to get into the story.

If, like me, you like lots of conversation in your books, you'll like All Wheel Drive. Diego and Healey talk a lot – even during sex. And not really sexy talk either. With Diego’s spinal cord injury, sexy times require a bit of adjusting and considering, but the sexy times are still sexy.

I would have liked to have delved more deeply into Healey's relationship with Ford. Certain things are hinted at and I was hoping to have more detail. Early in, that was what I was expecting. I was waiting for a big scene or reveal to make me cry, but it never panned out that way.

When this story wound up, I felt that it could have kept going. This is couple I'd be happy to see more of in the future to see where their life leads. So my verdict is 3.5 stars. I rarely give a half star rating but in this case, I'm making an exception. I really enjoyed All Wheel Drive. It is worth reading.

Reviews shared on Amazon, Goodreads, B & N and V's Reads: https://vsreads.com/2017/09/07/starting-over-with-all-wheel-drive-a-review/

Healey Holly is a man adrift. His long-time, bipolar, boyfriend, Ford, just spun off the rails of sanity and nearly took them both to a very young grave. They’d been growing apart, and were on a last goodbye weekend when things went really, really, bad. Busted up and needing some connection to his roots, Healey limps into Bluewater Bay and offers a load of cash to the disabled man, Diego Luz who’s recently purchased Healey’s family home, so that he can crash in the apartment above the garage. It’s a dump, filled with storage boxes of Diego’s late-mother’s art and Diego doesn’t want to have anyone up there, but he recognizes the desperation rolling off Healey and reluctantly agrees.

Diego is wallowing, and has been for some time. He’d suffered an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down a few years back, and he’s bitter over the way his life has changed. Once a sought-after photojournalist and bed partner, Diego is a virtual recluse, now, doing some low level editing work for the Wolf’s Landing TV show that is filmed in Bluewater Bay. His step-father has been after him for a year to make the documentary about his late mother’s art, and her influence on Chicana politics, but Diego can’t find the will to even look at her work. He’s so despondent, and he’s not sure what to make of the interested stares he witnesses from Healey.

So, this book is long on healing. Physical, emotional, sexual. Healey is a brilliant man, and doesn’t trust his instincts since life with Ford went so awry. How could he be so complacent, and was he responsible for Ford going manic? Diego’s much more pragmatic, but still vulnerable. He wants a stable partner, but doesn’t think anyone would want him for anything but a fetish, if that. As he and Healey begin to confide in one another, they see each other in a different light, one where Healey can forgive himself and Diego can endure the pain of his mother’s loss. There are some sexy moments, but they aren’t porn-worthy. Unless some of it’s a bloopers reel. And that’s okay, because all of this felt really genuine. Life is freaking messy, and Diego is quick to judge himself for making messes, while Healey basks in the strength and resilience Diego casually demonstrates. I liked how they saw the good in one another, and brought that to the surface.

When each man needs to hunt down his demons–Healey needs to speak with Ford face-to-face to resolve the legal issues that have developed from their accident, and Diego has to visit his stepfather and the extended family–they are a solid support for each other. A bulwark against the potentially crushing emotional toll these experiences are sure to bring. They work as partners, for many reasons, but not least of which is sheer stubbornness, and the ability to see past the present limitations and into future possibilities.

I enjoyed this book, I enjoyed the characters, but damn it, they never did what I wanted them to do! That's probably a good thing, as my actions would just lead to a bunch of angst and theyd probably never hook up, but still. That aside, I had fun with this on and would recommend it.

All Wheel Drive by Z A Maxfield is a romance novel about beginnings and endings. The book takes place in the world of Bluewater Bay, a small logging town on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. All Wheel Drive is the eighteenth novel in the series. Some of the characters who occupy the stage will be familiar to readers who know the series penned by several popular LGBTQ romance writers. Nash Holly and his partner, Spencer Kepler-Constantine, the main characters in Hell on Wheels appear at strategic points in the novel. Lovers Ginsberg Sloan and Derrick Richards, the primary characters from The Burnt Toast B&B also briefly enter the stage.

Healy Holly and Diego Luz, the main characters in All Wheel Drive are both dealing with traumatic life events when they find themselves together. Just after a pain-filled break up with his boyfriend, Ford, Heally discovers Diego. Meanwhile, Diego opens the door to Heally just as he is starting to work on a documentary and archive of his renowned Mother's life and art.

All Wheel Drive pulls you into a complex romance between two traumatized young men working hard to find a new life. Artistic Diego is hiding; living in Bluewater Bay apart from his family in a house where he can't reach his mother's stored work. Brilliant Healy, on the other hand, runs away from the hospital to a home his family no longer owns. It's almost painful watching these two fight towards a new normalcy. Healy struggles to find a life without Ford, his old boyfriend, while Diego works to cope with using a wheelchair and losing his mother, the central focus of his life.

Maxfield has a strong voice and a notable talent in evoking emotional responses to her characters. While reading All Wheel Drive is sometimes difficult. For example, why is Healy bound by a Gag Order from lawyers who are not representing him in the aftermath of his accident with Ford? Or, why is Diego the one responsible for developing a documentary of his mother's life?

Healy is definitely smart enough to know that he needs his own attorney to face the consequences of the horrendous last night of his chaotic life with Ford. Diego, who declares that "half my body divorced me", still can't accept that someone has a sexual attraction to him that doesn’t involve his wheelchair.

Diego and Healy are definitely worth the effort of getting to know them. The only fault I have with All Wheel Drive is the end coming too soon. The main characters are just beginning to develop a relationship with each other when the door closes on their romance. How do they deal with each other during their planned road trip? How does the court case with Ford play out? Several questions are left unresolved and for that reason, All Wheel Drive gets 3.5 stars.

Diego Luz had a plan of his own before an accident caused a spinal injury that cost him the use of his legs. Losing his vibrant, wild, beautiful mother shortly afterward was too much for him to take. Relocating to Bluewater Bay was the perfect way for him to start over—and hide from his mother’s legacy. At least, until a haggard, broken survivor shows up on his doorstep looking for some shelter of his own.

Born a genius who always knew the direction his life would likely take, Healey Holly wasn’t prepared for the day that script would be utterly destroyed. Now, hurt and lost, he’s struggling to get back to a place where things make sense, even though his “home” belongs to someone else. But, some families are just as good without a permanent zip code, and even a heart that’s been shattered can love again.

As should be expected from this series by now, All Wheel Drive left me with a lot to think about. Having first been introduced to Healey in Hell on Wheels, I couldn’t help but be extremely curious about Nash Holly’s intriguing twin brother. Officially meeting Healey as he is in the beginning of this story was a shock, and I felt off balance (in a good way) for the duration. There was nothing easy about Healey’s experience, but I think the story wouldn’t have meant as much any other way.

Diego Luz is just as complex, if not more so, but in vastly different ways. Between his heritage and upbringing, his pride and independence, and the obligations he struggles with, he’s a complicated character, and I liked him a great deal for it. He’s unapologetically cynical for much of the story, making his grudging willingness to open his heart and life to another even more remarkable.

As has been the case with many of the Bluewater Bay stories, All Wheel Drive tackles some exceptionally difficult topics that most series wouldn’t attempt. As a paraplegic, Diego’s sexuality could have been approached in ways that might have been more “delicate,” but wouldn’t have made nearly the impact as it did here. Healey is absolutely the perfect match for Diego in that respect, but the candid nature of the discussions and mechanics involved felt both necessary and right.

Despite the importance of the message of this story, All Wheel Drive still manages plenty of romance, too. From blushes and uncertain smiles to undeniable warmth and laughter, there’s enough here to make the hope that burns brighter as the narrative progresses seem almost real. There was genuine sweetness sprinkled amid the fear and uncertainty, and the combination made this one of my favorites in the series yet.

The Bluewater Bay series has consistently endeavored to include as many different kinds of relationships as possible, and All Wheel Drive is no exception. Diego and Healey are prickly, wonderful characters, and they each got under my skin in very dissimilar ways. A great deal of care seems to have been taken to respect every facet presented, which is something else that could have easily been overlooked, but wasn’t. The return of some of the other characters I’d fallen in love with just made it even better. Even though All Wheel Drive could be read as a standalone, I highly recommend the series be read in its entirety, Hell on Wheels, most especially.

If you’re not a fan of angst revolving around totally broken characters, All Wheel Drive is going to be a hard book for you to get through. That’s not a warning to not read this one, it’s just an observation and since both Diego and Healy are both so heart brokenly… well, broken, I thought it was worth mentioning.

It’s also worth mentioning that even though my heart broke for both Healey and Diego, I found myself sympathizing more with Healey. There were a couple of reasons for this I think. First, readers who have followed the Bluewater Bay series have already met Healey. His twin brother, Nash was featured with Spencer in the 3rd book in the series, Hell on Wheels. Second, for lack of a better way to put it, Diego wasn’t really very nice to Healy. At times he was downright mean. It’s a good thing that Z.A. Maxfield gave readers his POV, otherwise it would have been really hard to find him worth of Healy. It’s also a good thing that Healy could see beyond the shields that Diego had so carefully put up – just another reason to fall in love with him more.

So, Diego grew on my despite his growly personality… because of Healy. That doesn’t mean that Diego didn’t help Healy see things from a different perspective too, because he did. He gave him a unique view of the world around him, his circumstances and even his family. Especially his sister, who was also wheelchair bound. Diego’s willingness to find a way to help Healy come to terms with the events that landed him back in Bluewater and maybe even a way to get beyond and out from underneath it didn’t hurt either.

There was a lot more to love about All Wheel Drive. The supporting characters, which included a lot of family, were front and center. I had already fallen in love with Healy’s family, but I really liked Diego’s too. His relationship with them showed a softer side that I really liked.

The only complaint that I have with All Wheel Drive is that it ended with everything not quite wrapped up. Diego was well on his way to completing his project, but not quite and Healy’s fate was still a little shaky. Other than that, this was a great addition to the Bluewater Bay series and it’s probably no surprise that I’m anxiously waiting for what comes next. 😉

‘All Wheel Drive’ is by no means a typical romance story, it was complicated and as I said at the beginning it was often ‘convoluted’, but for me it was also the epitome of second chance stories and finding love when and where you least expect it. There was definitely some sexy times between these two, that on more than one occasion turned out to be funny and messy and so very fragile as both men tried to guard their heart and still be what the other man needed. Just like real life ‘All Wheel Drive’ was complicated, messy, frustrating, funny, awkward, sexy, full of love and kindness and in the end worth the effort.

~2.5 Stars~

I’m going to come right out of the gate and say that All Wheel Drive was more miss than hit for me. Which, being a fan of so much of this author’s other work, made it all the more disappointing. My expectations were skewed higher going in—even more so, in all probability, since I liked Hell on Wheels so much and was looking forward to Healey Holly’s story. As Nash Holly’s twin, we met Healey—along with their dad, Ace, and their little sister, Shelby—in Hell on Wheels, and knew him as the genius Stanford student for whom Nash had sacrificed so much in order that Healey could reach his fullest potential. We also met Healey’s boyfriend, Ford, in Nash’s book. This book might be best described as the apocalypse and fallout of their relationship.

When All Wheel Drive begins, the Holly family are scattered to the four corners of the earth, and Healey has come home to Bluewater Bay to nurse his battered body, troubled mind and shattered heart. Where do you go when you need a safe place to land? Healey goes home. The only problem is that his childhood home doesn’t belong to the Holly family anymore. It belongs to Diego Luz, a guy we’re told works postproduction on Wolf’s Landing, the hit TV show that’s filmed there. Diego isn’t at all happy to see Healey’s bruised face and broken arm on his doorstep, but all Healey wants is to rent Nash’s old room above the garage, offering to throw an exorbitant amount of cash into the deal for the trouble, which Diego isn’t at all down with; he’s also insulted by the offer. He does give Healey one night on the floor of the apartment, though, and then makes him move on.

All Wheel Drive is set up as a sort of one-sided enemy-to-lovers story, with a hurt/comfort chaser. I tend to love both of these tropes when done well. Unfortunately, I can’t say it succeeds here; at least, it didn’t for me. When Healey is introduced, he’s in such dire straits that I wanted to put him in bubble wrap and set him on a shelf until he was well enough physically to deal with what he was struggling with emotionally—the aftermath of Ford’s complete psychological meltdown, which led to a road rage incident during which Healey was injured and, now, is possibly in need of an attorney. Healey suffered the consequences of his own denial and poor choices, and of loving a guy who needed more than just love to help him cope (I did like the message that love can make even the smartest people do stupid things). Healey was so pitiful when he showed up at Diego’s house, which was a jarring contrast to the stranger who answered the door. With absolutely no setup to prepare readers for Diego’s unprompted disdain (or, what felt a lot like it), it was as if I’d been dropped into the middle of a relationship that’d ended badly—there was zero context for Diego’s pissiness towards a guy who looked like the walking dead. I don’t know if I wasn’t supposed to like Diego right then, but he didn’t make a great first impression, and it took a long time before I was able to feel even tepid towards him. Points awarded to Healey for tripping my savior complex trigger, though.

Diego is paralyzed from the waist down after suffering a spinal cord injury. He’s still adjusting to all the ways he’s had to adapt since his accident, coping with the loss of his mom (more on her in a minute), and, in so, so many ways, is mourning the loss of the life he led before his accident. Kudos to Maxfield for the care she took in detailing some of Diego’s day-to-day challenges, and for the research she did to show readers how he could still have sex despite his paralysis. The hand he’s been dealt is, without a doubt, enough to make anyone angry, bitter and standoffish, and I developed a great amount of respect for his strength as the story continued. This made Healey Diego’s perfect romantic foil, in many ways, because of Healey’s scientific pragmatism as well as his own experience with a little sister who’d suffered from her own spinal injury.

The problem, however—the one issue I had difficulty overcoming, in the end—is that Diego came off as a one-note character to me for most of the book. Wolf’s Landing is on hiatus when All Wheel Drive begins, so it stands to reason we wouldn’t get to see him on the job, but I needed to see him interacting earlier in the story with a wider range of people, in a way that showed more layers to his personality and who he was as an everyday guy—that he was more than the ire he consistently directed at Healey. The side-effect of his monotone characterization is that I didn’t buy into Healey’s attraction to Diego, not beyond the fact that Diego is hot and ‘swole’, and that sex was the end goal. I get that people don’t have to be best friends before they have sex, or even like each other, for that matter, but I just didn’t get why Healey was so persistent. It was like watching a kicked puppy coming back, again and again, hoping for a tiny crumb of kindness. These guys had sex, there was more anger and some misunderstandings, all because there was no foundation for them to talk about the heavy stuff. They were too broken individually to “fix” each other with something as simple as sexual chemistry, and I just wasn’t sold on their relationship. In fact, some of the things that happened later in the book likely could’ve happened a bit earlier and addressed some of my issues—before they became issues—without it ruining the overall story. But, I can’t prove that.

Also weighing heavily against a believable beginning to any sort of relationship between Healey and Diego is the unresolved issues between Healey and Ford—which is what left Healey a physical and emotional and psychological wreck. Let’s talk about unfinished business and simplistic resolutions… For as damaged as Healey was by the events that happened between him and Ford, the end of that crisis was too abrupt and over simplified, and the narrative skimmed over too much of the emotional detritus to get to the HEA with Diego. This was a BIG deal in the story, it completely informed who Healey was for almost the entirety of the book, so a few pages of conversation with Ford to get him past that felt disingenuous and too tidy to me.

Getting back to Diego’s mom, I loved the little glimpses we got of her and her backstory, and I liked that she was the catalyst that brought Diego and Healey together, even if in only a peripheral and figurative way. There were some interesting tidbits parsed out that made her an intriguing and provocative addition to Diego’s narrative, and I loved the portrayal of her as such a free and rebellious spirit. Sadly, however, her story wasn’t wrapped up. I’d have loved to know more about the outcome of the research into her stealth artwork.

While I ended up liking Healey and Diego together well enough by the end, All Wheel Drive started slow and didn’t pick up quickly enough to hook me. I have an intense passion for characters who aren’t afraid to have those tough conversations that give a story substance and realism—something that I felt was important especially because these guys were both so broken, but it relies too much on sex as a foundation for a relationship that brings an excess of emotional baggage to it, some of which needed unloaded first for me to buy into it.

But, as always, your mileage with All Wheel Drive may vary.

Nash Holly’s genius twin brother, Healey, is finally finished with his doctorate in physics, but instead of taking a position in industry or academia, he’s come home to heal—physically, spiritually, and emotionally. He was a passenger in a high-speed collision with his long-term college boyfriend, Ford, and the mystery surrounding the crash comes home with him. Ford’s wealthy family has managed to secure a gag order on all concerned with the accident, which according to news reports involved road rage. Ford suffers from Bipolar Disorder and only Healey knows just how bad he’s been lately in complying with his meds.

Healey comes back to the place he always called home—his brother’s and dad’s garage and apartment (Hell on Wheels), but it’s now owned by a new guy—a paraplegic with an attitude. When Healey tries to buy his way into renting the upstairs apartment with a ridiculously large lump sum of cash, the guy can’t resist. But the apartment his twin brother always called home is filled with boxes from the landlord’s recently deceased mother, and in Healey’s exhausted and injured condition he’s happy to collapse among them, using his backpack as a pillow. Needless to say, this doesn’t last long and Healey ends up at the Burnt Toast B&B (Bluewater Bay #5) where Nash eventually finds him.

What he can’t get past, besides the injury and emotional loss of Ford, is his crazy attraction for Diego, the guy who now owns the garage, so he goes back again and again, making attempts to befriend the sexy guy, and when that doesn’t work, his attempts turn to pleas for being friends with benefits. Yes, Diego can have sex, but it involves prep and can’t be spur of the moment as many relationships are, so he had despaired of ever having anything long term. But he’s willing to try with Healey, and the two have an amazing night together, though Diego doesn’t allow Healey to spend the full night in his bed. Over time, though, the two begin to know each other as no one else can, and without even realizing it’s happening, they both begin to heal from their past emotional damage.

I liked the premise of this story, but it was difficult to warm to either character until the second half. Healey was sweet but at times he didn’t seem real. When I read Hell on Wheels, Nash’s story, I identified much faster with Nash, and though Healey was mentioned, he didn’t really appear in that one, so this book is the first time we get to really meet him. He was a bit too flaky and couldn’t seem to make up his mind if he wanted a relationship with Diego or if it was too soon after Ford. Then he spent time spinning about how he might still feel about Ford. Add to that the fact that Diego wasn’t sure he wanted, or could even have, a relationship with Healey, and his gruffness and bad attitude made it difficult for readers to get close to him. As I said, it wasn’t until the latter part of the book that readers could establish that yes indeed they were together and they were now apparently willing to commit to being together for more than a casual fling.

I did, however, appreciate the research that went into the medical issues surrounding Diego’s SCI and the psych issues related to Healey’s ex-boyfriend, Ford. Neither issue was glossed over and both issues were treated respectfully.

Another character I really liked more in this story than in the first was Healey’s dad. He was much more endearing and was very supportive of Healey, whereas my impression of him from the first book was that he was somewhat of a scatterbrain and absent-minded professor. Diego’s habit of comparing both Healey and his dad to American Staffordshire Terriers was an excellent descriptor and really helped me picture the characters more clearly.

And last, but not least, I loved their well-earned and well-deserved HEA when it finally came, though the scenes with Ford were spooky and felt unfinished. Maybe he’ll show up in a future story? I honestly hope so.

I love this series, and even though the authors change with each book, there’s still an underlying common theme and some might sweet MM romance. I highly recommend this one. It’s definitely got some very interesting MCs and very nice-to-see-again secondary characters as well.

I didn't read the first book, Hell on Wheels, yet, although after reading the story of Diego and Healey,  I am most curious about Healey's twin brother, Nash and Spencer's story. Nash was a big part of Healey's book, and getting to know him was fun.

There must have been an incredible amount of research that went into this by the author. This was not a story where Diego "miraculously" got feeling back in his lower body. This included the challenges that someone with a spinal cord injury faces day to day life. They can have a sex life, just not the way someone who doesn't have a SCI does. Yet, Healey, having a sister with her own SCI didn't care about any of that. He wanted to find out what Diego wanted, what felt good to Diego, and the author did not mince words on what it would take for someone with Diego's injuries to face all those challenges. It was good to have a realistic outlook on someone who lives every day with an injury like that.

Healey, meanwhile, was a mess of his own, and I honestly didn't know what to think when I "met" him. He really was someone who wanted to care for those he loved, even to his own detriment. He respected Diego, and his independence, but always wanted to care for those around him in whatever way was necessary, as we learn later when the full import of his "accident" comes to light.

I didn't always know where this story was going. It seemed to hit on areas I wasn't expecting or didn't find to be necessary to the story. However, I did find that although these two had a lot in common, their differences complimented each other as well.

I did enjoy meeting both their families, as they were all characters in their own way, bringing an additional dimension to the story, and creating more depth into Healey and Diego's lives.

4 pieces of eye candy

I really enjoyed this! I loved the characters in this story and how they start and engage in a loving relationship. The fears, the hesitation, the mistrust, but also the tenderness and sexiness are so well done. Intimacy and closeness really gain a new meaning through Z. A. Maxfield writing, when kissing, cuddling and making out become an end in itself. The first sex scene was surprising and awesome.
Diego is a delicious grumpy hero. His nerves and anxiety, his vulnerability and fears feel so realistic in a character who says “half my body divorced me”. And emotional and uninhibited Healey is the opposite (“Healey doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, but his funny bone seemed to be tuned to the key of awkward” - loc. 4369).
I also loved how the author portrayed Diego’s disability and the writing style. The prose is beautiful, for example, when depicting Healey’s attraction to Diego’s “lovely, masculine feet”, and the eroticism of those “big, velvety, silent paws” (loc. 2847).
The conflict, the setting and the secondary characters are well done too, as well as the realistic depiction of Diego’s previous job as a photojournalist, all of these making an engaging read until the end.

All Wheel Drive, Z.A. Maxfield

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: LGBTQIA, Romance

I love the Bluewater sereis, and devoured ZA Mazfield's Cowboy sereis so I was sure I'd love this. But somehow for me it just doesn't work. 

Healey doesn't seem to know what he wants, given what he's been through that's understandable, but I wasn't convinced he'd be ready to jump into something with Diego so soon after the ultra traumatic breakup with Ford, someone he'd been with for (I think) two years, maybe more. 
Diego is ultra prickly, being in a wheelchair myself I know how easy it is for people to be offensive even when they don't mean it, but he seems to take offence at the slightest hint, maybe there's another narrative.

I didn't feel anything between him and Ford, no chemistry, no attraction or even just plain old lust, but to be fair I only got to 50% before giving up and just skimming to end to see what actually happened between Healey and Ford, and what the accident was. 
I found all the things we couldn't know so frustrating, Healey and Ford and The accident, the Gag order - wouldn't his family insist he gets his own solicitors? He's supposed to be ultra brilliant, wouldn't he have seen the need for independent representation. even Ford tells him he needs it!
Diego, his past, his mum, whether she was famous, and why, and who wanted this exhibit, and why was he in a wheelchair, its kind of central to know what his history is to know why he's so prickly. Is it from an accident, an illness, from birth? all those things affect differently how people cope with life on wheels. 

Just too many unanswered questions, combined with lack of chemistry and me feeling I just didn't Know the characters, didn't feel they were real. 

Stars: two, still love Bluewater and Z A Maxfield's stories but this one just didn't work for me. 

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

I haven't read the earlier books in this series and although I liked some things I was also a bit confused at points in this book about exactly what was happening. Both Diego and Healey are complicated, angsty characters that I just didn't feel were fully developed. They seemed to dislike each other and then they were wildly attracted to each other. Diego was easily offended and extremely prickly and Healey came across as a guy who really just wanted to take care of someone whether that was his ex-boyfriend Ford or Diego. I found the sex scenes a bit awkward but then I think that was intentional given Diego's disability. I'm not sure I believed the emotional attachment since Healey was still hung-up on Ford and the final scene between Ford and Healey was just weird. What I did love were the scenes between Healey and Nash and I loved Nash's character so much I will definitely go back and read his book. Although these two characters didn't really work for me I did enjoy this enough that I will read another book in this series.

WOW!

I have been a fan of ZAM for years, but this one I was rather disappointed in. I couldn't connect with the characters. At times I was a little confused as to what was happening, Healey and Diego never had that uncontrollable chemistry that ignited my kindle, maybe this was just me. I didn't feel an emotional connection between them, I think fans of ZAM will enjoy this.

What's that line about the two porcupines? How do two porcupines make love? Very .... carefully. Well, think of Healey and Diego, the two MCs in All Wheel Drive, as those porcupines. Issues? Yeah, they've got a few.... hundred.

Afer a horrendous car accident caused by his ex Ford, busted-up Healey returns to Bluewater Bay, and in sort of a daze, is drawn to his childhood home, which is now owned by Diego. Diego is in a wheelchair due to .... an accident which is never really explained. Healey's accident at first can't be explained (some sort of gag order from Ford's family) and later even when it's explained .... umm, it's still pretty incomprehensible.

Healey has checked himself out of the hospital against medical advice and gives Diego $3,000 to rent the garage apartment, and then passes out in the apartment which has nothing in it but old boxes. If this sounds weird - I read the darn book and I still can't quite figure out what was going on at this point. Later, Healey and his twin brother Nash (his story is in Hell on Wheels) clean out the boxes in this apartment for Diego. The boxes contain .... umm a bunch of stuff from Diego's mother, who may (or may not) be a famous photographer.... or something. Again, we're not really sure. Diego's mother is dead because .... well again, we don't know ... and Diego is pulling together a book or a documentary or who knows, maybe a PowerPoint ..... again not clear at this point ... about her work and her life.

Diego and Healey seem to be wildly attracted to one another ....or maybe not. Healey has loads of guilt, Diego takes offense at just about everything, and they alternately spar, sorta dislike each other, spar, like each other, become boyfriends (or not) in a rapid succession of scenes. By the time I got to the scene where Healey was comparing his ex Ford to frosting - I think he wanted him to be purple? whereas Diego is yellow-frosting man? - I thought I was totally losing it.

Those that read this book and loved it, gawd bless 'em. While I generally adore Z.A. Maxfield, this book was crazy-making for me. 2 stars.

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 stars, but I’ll gladly round them up to 5 for her audaciously sexy details, showcasing how an alpha with a spinal cord injury can rock and roll.

At the beginning of the story, is confusing for me to understand what the hell is going on. A lot of circumstances revolving around Healey and Diego's background is not explained clearly. It seems like the author is holding back and trying to divulge it in doses. But it just make me feeling puzzled all over.

Healey and Diego never really show the sparks to me. Even their initially meeting feels pretty lukewarm and I'm not even sure they are both the romantic interest if not for the blurb of the story. One moment they hardly know each other, and then the next they are all over each other. There isn't sufficient build up of sexual tension. Considering that Diego is paralyze waist down, writing the sex is going to be challenge and interesting. There seems to be a lot of maneuvering going on to make things work, but some of it is hard for me to visualize in my head. Healey and Diego both getting off can be counted as success, but I don't feel much emotional connection between them.