Jay "Flash" Reynolds has a brilliant future as a trauma surgeon until a truck on a rainy night changes her life. Assistant chief medical examiner Olivia Price is more at ease with the dead than the living—at least the dead never lie. All she needs to do is listen to their stories. What she doesn't need is a surly new resident who would rather be somewhere else.
Two women, one with a damaged body, the other a damaged spirit, challenge each other to dare to live again.
Between ruling the night shift in the ER at the Rivers and raising her teenage daughter, Blaise Richeilieu has all the drama she needs in her life. When a dashing young attending appears on the scene and relentlessly pursues her, Blaise has plenty of reasons to say no—or at least she tells herself she does, despite Grady’s nearly irresistible charm. Even if Blaise had the slightest desire to play Grady’s game, the past she’s kept hidden from everyone is a secret she intends to keep buried. What Blaise doesn’t know is the barriers she constructs make Grady even more determined to find a way through them.
The last time Brody Clark left the Rivers, she walked away from her life—her foolish dreams, her few friends, and the secrets she'd kept from everyone. For ten years she'd told herself there was nothing in her past she cared about—not the family who'd given her a home or the one girl she never stopped thinking about. But now she’s back as part of the new medevac flight crew, for at least as long as it takes to finally bury her ghosts.
Val Valentine, DVM, planned on a big city boutique vet practice with high profile clients, easy hours, and lucrative profits. All until the man who was more father to her than her own asks for her help, and she ends up back in the backwater where all she has are bad memories.
Brody figures cutting her ties to the past would be a hell of a lot easier if she could only avoid the woman she’s never been able to forget. Since Val never even knew she was alive back in high school, that shouldn’t be too hard now. When their lives collide, both women discover what might have been is closer than they think.
Emmett McCabe never expected to see Sydney Stevens—a woman with whom she'd shared a brief, incendiary connection before it all went up in flames—again. Luckily, ascending the cutthroat ladder of a high-pressure surgery residency to reach the top spot makes it easy to ignore what's missing in her life. Then Sydney reappears after nearly five years. Emmett is barely over her shock when she discovers Sydney is her new competition for the coveted chief's position everyone, including Emmett, expects will be hers.
Professional rivalry and long-simmering passions create a combustible combination when the two are forced to work together, especially when past attractions won't stay buried.
Army National Guard Colonel Sawyer Kincaid has served her time dueling with death in the deserts of Africa. Now that she’s home, the only sand she wants to see is on the beach in South Florida. Too bad Tropical Storm Leo, swiftly gaining strength out over the Atlantic, is about to draw her in to another life or death war, this time on home soil.
Dr. Dara Sims has too many critical patients in the intensive care units at Miami Memorial to consider evacuation, no matter how determined the battle-hardened colonel is to make her. As far as Dara is concerned, evacuate is just another word for abandon. When a state of emergency becomes a state of siege waged by Leo, all she can do is hope the rising waters relent before she loses everyone, herself included.
Critical praise for Dangerous Waters:
"Dangerous Waters is a bumpy ride through a devastating time with powerful events and resolute characters. Radclyffe gives us the strong, dedicated women we love to read in a story that keeps us turning pages until the end." —Lambda Literary Review
"Radclyffe's Dangerous Waters has the feel of a tense television drama, as the narrative interchanges between hurricane trackers and first responders. Sawyer and Dara butt heads in the beginning as each moves for some level of control during the storm's approach, and the interference of a lovely television reporter adds an engaging love triangle threat to the sexual tension brewing between them." —RT Book Reviews
Carrie Longmire loves life with a passion—whether it’s her job as a hospital CEO’s admin, star pitcher for the hospital’s softball team, or her latest romantic possibility, she gives 110 percent and won’t take less from anyone else. Maybe that’s why she’s still single. She’s never met anyone who could convince her they wanted anything more than a fling. Friendly was fun, but not where she wanted to hang her heart.
Gina Antonelli had big dreams once, of riding her athletic achievements all the way to West Point and being the first in a long family line of soldiers to serve as an officer. When that dream died along with the girl she’d planned to marry one day, she’d vowed to forget about happily ever afters. Love hadn’t gotten her anything but a broken heart and a ruined body.
When Gina agrees to renovate Carrie’s soon-to-be new house as a favor to her brother’s boss, she doesn’t welcome Carrie’s overtures at friendship or her own unexpected attraction.
A Rivers Community Romance
Praise from RT Book Reviews: "Love After Hours, the fourth in Radclyffe's Rivers Community series, evokes the sense of a continuing drama as Gina and Carrie's slow-burning romance intertwines with details of other Rivers residents. They become part of a greater picture where friends and family support each other in personal and recreational endeavors. Vivid settings and characters draw in the reader..."
Some people work to pay the bills or send the kids to school or afford playtime. Ex-Army medic physician-assistant Glenn Archer works, as much as she possibly can, to atone for all the lost lives on her conscience. No matter how many patients she helps save at the Rivers Community Hospital, it will never be enough, but it helps her look at herself in the mirror in the morning. Mariana Mateo needs to make a new life, one without the daily reminders of all she’s lost and far away from the suffocating sympathies of her well-meaning family, and moving to a place as different as possible from the bustling LA she grew up in seems like a good idea. A cousin she hasn’t seen in twenty years is the only person who knows her in the tiny upstate New York farming community, and that’s just the way she wants it. When working side by side with Glenn Archer in the ER makes Mari remember what desire feels like, Mari determines to ignore the feelings, which isn’t all that difficult since Glenn is as unapproachable as the beautiful but remote mountains.
The two strong lead characters bring depth to the story
By Netgalley.com on Feb 19, 2020 02:02
Well obviously it’s a Radclyffe novel so I knew from the beginning it would not disappoint. It’s number six in the First Responders series but as much as you could differently read it as a standalone I would advise reading all the others as well because they are fantastic.
The two strong lead characters bring depth to the story. Yes, it’s a romance but as I mentioned earlier it is set in a background of confronting issues. Jay’s initial “loss” of her identity as a surgeon and her ability to overcome injuries and move forward to something that is truly hers. Olivia could be classified as an Ice Queen, but her flame burns too close to the surface to completely qualify.
Radclyffe’s ability to describe the medical environment always leaves me in awe. Yes, sometimes it’s very detailed but you come away understanding it and at times learning from it, which for me is really cool.
This book does not disappoint on any level. Jay’s vulnerability, Olivia’s defences and the chaos and intrigue makes for an entertaining and fulfilling read. There is a danger simmering under the story and the crossover with the Justice Series characters take it to another level.
Reviewed by Rachael Forrester
Hot shot medical examiners
By Netgalley.com on Jul 28, 2019 11:07
Technically, this is part of the First Responder series which are usually stand-alones, but, in this one, a few old friends from the Justice series are part of the overall plot. Based on that - it's probably best if you've read the Justice series so you know who they are; although, there's probably enough background info that you can sort of figure stuff out but you may be wondering who these secondary characters are and why are they having hot sex in another couple's romance book.
...
Jay, a talented Trauma surgeon (dark and broody - just the way we like 'em), has recovered from a horrible accident which has resulted in her no longer being able to continue as a surgeon. Strings are pulled and she's been given a fellowship in the pathology department where she will train as a medical examiner under Dr Olivia Price. Olivia, the beautiful and aloof (ice queen ... ah, tropes how I love you) deputy medical examiner, reluctantly takes Jay into the training program and of course decides that she should work directly with Jay in order to evaluate her ability to transition from trauma to pathology. Immediately they are out to a crime scene, investigating and then back in the morgue for autopsies - all while fighting (not really all that hard) the burgeoning attraction between them. There's baggage and second guessing to deal with - and a little bit of a crime spree that makes sure that Jay and Olivia are working round the clock.
I think what I liked most about this one was the different angle - they are still doctors, but are medical examiners rather than hot shot surgeons. Let me restate .. they are hot shot medical examiners. I found this to be an interesting twist and the details surrounding this type of role were woven into the story line and kept my interest. Full disclosure - I loved early Patricia Cornwell and the BBC show Silent Witness, so I may have a morbid fascination with Medical Examiners (omigod .. I also watched Quincy re-runs when I was a kid)...
...I did enjoy this book and recommend it.
Reviewed by Megan Cooper
Radclyffe's got a definite way with words
By Netgalley.com on Feb 24, 2018 12:02
Radclyffe's got a definite way with words. She's excellent with character development and relationships. The two leads are interesting and their romance is one to root for. If you're a fan of her Justice Series you'll be pleasantly surprised to see some of those characters pop up here...
Reviewed by Samantha Luce
I loved Jay
By Netgalley.com on Jul 8, 2017 05:07
Radclyffe maintains the core strengths of her authorship here-enthralling women, strongly positioned in demanding careers, while seeking personal fulfillment. I loved Jay-the explication of the losses professionally and otherwise that she endured following her accident, her reabsorption into medicine (albeit in a new specialty) and her intransigent exchanges with Olivia. Their interactions possessed the balance of the technical and emotional that I have grown to appreciate from the First Responders series, I truly rooted as well as empathized with them. Slipping into this novel was not an act of reliable comfort, I was still captured and excited as a reader, despite dozens of completed volumes by this writer. When Radclyffe bears strongly on the things most familiar and obviously, dear to her, the results are always worth it.
Reviewed by Adrian Amador
A great romance with an interesting storyline, that kept me turning the pages
By Netgalley.com on Jul 8, 2017 05:07
I'm a huge fan of Radclyffe, and am always excited to get my hands on one of her books. I especially love some of her earlier series like her Justice series and Provincetown series. When I heard this book was going to be full of Justice series people, I could not wait to read this. I am so happy this book was everything I love about the First Responders and Justice series.
They way the First Responders series is written, each book is it's own story. You can read them in any order. Now this book is a little different, because it is basically Justice Series 6.5 if you count the prequel A Matter of Trust. Can you read this book without reading the Justice Series first? Absolutely. The only problem is you will be learning a lot of new characters, and you will not have the connection to them, like I did reading all the previous books. I did not think Radclyffe would write another Justice book. It really was such a treat to be able connect to these women again. My only small complaint, there was only a little of Sloane and no Michael. Michael and Sloane are one of my favorite lesfic couples, so it was disappointing. I do understand it though, they would not have fit into the story as well, I still wanted a Micheal cameo though.
Beyond the Justice Series folks, the main story focuses on Jay and Olivia. Jay, if my memory is correct, was a secondary character in Trauma Alert, First Responders book 1. There are also a few appearances from Ali and Beau. You would not have to read that book first, and to add, it was nice to see Ali again. Anyway, Olivia is a new character, as far as my memory remembers. She is the Assistant Chief Medical Examiner, and takes her job very seriously. When Jay, a former trauma surgeon, shows up in her office for a job, Olivia thinks she is unqualified. Pressure from the top lands Jay the job. Can Jay handle the job? And can they keep working together despite the fierce attraction?
One of the things I enjoy about Radclyffe's writing, is her characters. She is really good at crafting characters that you would either want to hang out with or date. What was great about Olivia and Jay, their chemistry was off the charts. I mean totally smoking hot the two of them. I have not read that much chemistry in a while. The sex scenes were pretty intense also.
Not only was the chemistry and romance good, the overall story was good. I was riveted with all the medical examiner scenes. I never thought I woulds say that, but it was so damn interesting. With shows like CSI, crime scene techs get all the glory. But medical examiners are just as important, and I was extremely interested in all their scenes. They were very well written.
Overall, this book checked all the boxes that I look for in a good read. A great romance with an interesting storyline, that kept me turning the pages. I wish there could somehow be a sequel with all these same characters. I want more of the medical examiners, and the Justice crew. This is an easy book for me to recommend.
