Deep Desire by Z.A. Maxfield

Narrated by Caleb Dickinson

Vintage review – audiobook released in 2015, review from 2019

Romances featuring vampires aren’t ones I gravitate towards, but the audio of the Deep series was recommended to me by a friend on Goodreads, and as I’ve enjoyed books by Z.A. Maxfield in the past, (and I’d seen the series crop up in the Audible Romance Package), I picked it up. On the whole, that was a good decision, and I was engaged and entertained throughout all three books in spite of some inconsistencies in the plots and issues with the narration in book two in particular.

Deep Desire opens as Dr. Adin Tredeger, an authority on antique erotica, is flying home to San Francisco following the purchase of a very rare manuscript on behalf of his university. Notturno, a five-hundred-year-old journal that details the forbidden love affair between an Italian nobleman and his male lover, is the find of Adin’s career, and he is determined to keep it safe, some instinct telling him to pack it in his luggage rather than in his carry-on for the journey home.

It’s just as well, because during the flight, Adin is seduced by a darkly handsome, utterly compelling stranger and his bag is stolen. While Adin certainly isn’t opposed to one-time hook-ups, joining the mile-high club was never something he was particularly interested in, so he can’t understand why he’d have done it on this occasion… until his mysterious lover reappears and demands the return of the manuscript.

In the sixteenth century, Donte Fedeltà – who was, in life, Count Niccolo Sciarello di Petro – both wrote and illustrated Notturno, the story of his tragic and intense affair with Auselmo, the love of his life. Some of the highlights of Deep Desire are Niccolo/Donte’s journal entries; full of desire, longing and heartbreak, they’re beautiful, poignant and deeply affecting, and they help the listener to glimpse Donte as the caring, passionate man he once was – and still could be, in spite of his own belief that his humanity died with his long-dead lover. And once we’ve heard those excerpts, it’s easy to understand why Donte is so desperate to regain possession of Notturno.

“Do you really understand what it means? The book you bought with money, transported in plastic, looked at under a microscope, and joked about with your friends is all that is left of my soul.”

When he approaches Adin again to ask him to return the book, Adin is – unsurprisingly – sceptical. This charismatic, gorgeous but manipulative man is a five-hundred-year-old vampire? Yeah, right.

However, Adin is quickly brought to realise that there really is another world beyond the one he knows when he discovers that the book has been stolen – and not by Donte. Someone is out to settle an ancient score and doesn’t care what they have to do or who they have to hurt to do it, and as Adin comes to accept the existence of the supernatural and of other-worldly beings, he starts to discover truths about himself and about the enigmatic man he is falling in love with.

Deep Desire is an enjoyable story in spite of its flaws. The protagonists are engaging and well-realised, and there’s a strongly drawn secondary cast – including Adin’s friends Edward and Tuan (neither of whom turns out to be quite what they seem), Donte’s factotum Boaz, and his arch-enemy, Santos, who is a lot more than just a cardboard cut-out villain. The writing is sharp and often very funny, especially in those moments when Adin makes fun of Donte’s sometimes overly serious manner –

“Does this kind of thing work for you?”

“What kind of thing?” Donte stiffened.

“This whole I am Donte thing.” Adin affected the accent, giving it a bit more Bela Lugosi than was strictly necessary. “Come to me caro and your blood will sing in the moonlight.”

“Now. I know I have never said that.”

Or –

 “It’s a terrible waste of time, but I must come to you through ordinary time and space. I drive a car.”

“What, like the Batmobile?”

“Like a rented Volvo.”

“A Volvo?” Adin’s head tipped back as he laughed. “Oh my G—”

“Enough.” Donte’s teeth captured the skin of Adin’s throat.

“I am Donte, the apex of the food chain in your world, allow me to lure you into my very safe Swedish automobile with its side curtain airbags. Don’t forget to fasten your—”

– and allows Donte, rather endearingly, to prove himself not quite the soulless monster he initially insists Adin should see him as. That said though, Adin’s inability – or refusal – to see that Donte really IS a predator who could kill him at the drop of a hat is perhaps rather naïve, and his protestations against what he sees as Donte’s overprotectiveness sometimes make him sound a bit like a stroppy teenager. But it’s clear that Donte is as fascinated by Adin as Adin is by him, no matter how hard he fights against it and tries to insist that his humanity and ability to love died centuries ago.

I enjoyed the story, which is funny, sexy and suspenseful, but because Donte’s feelings for Auselmo are communicated so powerfully in the pages of Notturno, I found it difficult to completely buy into the romance between Donte and Adin. There’s no question they’re intensely attracted to each other physically and they have great chemistry, but the development of their relationship takes a bit of a back seat, and it’s not until the last few chapters that Donte finally allows himself to take the leap and admit he’s fallen for Adin. Deep Desire ends with a firm HFN that makes it clear that there is a way to go yet before the pair can achieve their HEA… if, indeed, one of those is possible between an immortal and a human.

Caleb Dickinson is a new-to-me narrator (although his voice was familiar, so perhaps I’ve listened to him under a different name), and his deep, smooth-toned voice is easy on the ear. He differentiates very effectively between all the characters and hits all the right emotional notes, doing an especially good job with Donte’s Italian accent, which he maintains consistently and never pushes over the line into caricature. His characterisation of both protagonists is excellent and skilfully captures the various facets of each; Adin’s confidence, scepticism and humour, Donte’s aura of world-weariness and affectionate exasperation as well as his darker, more menacing side. There are only a couple of female characters in the story and they have fairly minor roles, but Mr. Dickinson voices them appropriately and without resorting to falsetto; and I also liked the way he voiced Santos using a posh almost-English accent, which really suited his frequently sardonic pronouncements.

I enjoyed Deep Desire and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys paranormal romances; or even if you don’t but have the Romance Package and are looking to try something a bit different. On to book two, Deep Deception.

Caz