Review: Deeper Blue by AJ Llewellyn

I had very mixed feelings as I finished Deeper Blue. There was much to enjoy about it, as I shall explain soon, but there was one element – that of the character of one of the heroes, Benoit – which left me feeling annoyed and frustrated on behalf of the other hero, Tracy.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The book begins as Tracy is about to start a new job as tutor to the daughter of a famous musician, Benoit. The family lives on the Greek island of Lesvos, which also excites Tracy as he is of Greek descent and has a Grandfather living on a nearby island. When he gets to Lesvos he discovers that Benoit is rude, arrogant and insufferable, but also loves his daughter very much and is worried about her safety. Marjo was kidnapped by his insane druggie of an ex-wife and Benoit fears she may try again. The story then follows Tracy as he draws close to the family, especially Marjo and finds himself falling in love the the handsome, yet temperamental Benoit.

Let’s begin by saying what I loved about this story. It’s obvious that A.J. Llewellyn has a deep love of all things Greek, especially the food and the Greek way of life. I too love Greek food and my mouth watered over the sumptuous descriptions of the meals that Tracy and the family ate, all of which were lovingly portrayed in gorgeous detail. It made me quite hungry and planning a trip to my local Greek restaurant soon! The depictions of the relaxed Greek way of life, the music and the lifestyle also brought Greece to life as I was drawn into the daily lives of the characters and those who live in the nearby towns. Thrown in amongst this were little bits of history about Lesvos and the other islands that are visited, which all added to the general accurate feel of the setting. It was just so well done that I felt I was there with Tracy, living in the warmth of Greece.

The second part of the book which worked well was in the relationship between Tracy and Marjo. I was a little worried when I first started reading because, as a mother of four, I find reading books with spoiled bratty children in them really irritating and I start thinking how I would handle situation were it my child (failing that, I speculate on the need to bring in Supernanny!). However, I shouldn’t have worried, because although Marjo can be a difficult child at times, the way Tracy deals with her and helps her is done very well and in keeping with the way a child like that should be looked after. I also liked how Benoit obviously doted on Marjo and wanted the best for her. If anything Marjo seemed to bring out the best in Benoit too as his bad moods were often soothed by her presence. The other secondary characters, especially the young widow Toula and Tracy’s twin sister, Shayla, were also well drawn.

The part of the book which didn’t work for me was in the relationship between Tracy and Benoit. In some ways this book reminded me of 1970s and 80s Mills and Boon books, especially in the way that Benoit treats Tracy in such a high handed manner. Tracy falls quickly in love with Benoit and then slavishly follows his every whim and desire. In return Benoit treats Tracy very badly. One minute they are having tremendous sex and Benoit is claiming undying devotion, the next he ignores Tracy, refusing to speak or even look at him, taking his family out to dinner and deliberately leaving Tracy behind, laughing about it behind his back. Benoit also has a relationship with another man, Dimitri, and uses that to taunt Tracy. Actually it was this part that was the last straw for me. It happens late on in the book, just as I was beginning to think that Benoit was starting to behave like a reasonable adult, he treats Tracy cruelly, using emotional teasing and bullying against him for no reason. I also found the fact that Tracy and Benoit don’t use condoms at all quite worrying. All Benoit does is claim “I’m clean” and Tracy believes him, despite knowing that he may be seeing Dimitri as well. Tracy is a good, kind man who does his best to help everyone in the book – even when it’s not always what he wants to do – and Benoit takes advantage of that time and time again. After treating Tracy so badly, I was anticipating a big grovelling scene from Benoit at the end of the book, but, sadly, that never happens and Benoit even has the gall to suggest that Tracy needs to apologise to him. The whole relationship saddened me because relationships where one man bullies another man are not destined to last. I didn’t feel that by the end of the book Benoit had changed sufficiently to deserve Tracy and could only see a continuation of the emotional bullying that had dominated the majority of the book.

So whilst the character of Tracy was eminently sympathetic and the descriptions of Greece and Greek life and food, beautifully done, I finished this book unconvinced that the romance would work. I would still recommend this book simply because it is well written, with good pacing and a wonderful setting but be warned, you may find your blood pressure rising on Tracy’s behalf when you read about the way that Benoit treats him. In some ways my ire for Tracy is indication of the quality of the characterisation and for that reason as well as the other positive things already mentioned I will be reading other books by A.J. Llewellyn in the future. Grade: Very Good.

But this book HERE.