Radclyffe

this is a short collection of maybe 30 vignettes - less than vignettes, actually, which i guess is what ends up being my issue with them.

i've been interested in knowing if radclyffe is any good or worth reading. these snippets didn't really answer that question - on the "pro" side she was a better writer than i expected, but the "stories" were all written with the same voice and really none of them had any character development - or plot development - at all. we saw just the sex scenes, show more virtually none of the background, we had none of the investment in the characters, no idea who any of them were. which, for me, makes the whole thing unsatisfying.

i take from this that she might be a decent writer, and maybe in a novel i'd appreciate this more, but in this collection what i found myself saying mostly was - oh, this voice again, and - this same thing again. i think you're not supposed to read something like this and critique it like you would anything else, but instead you're supposed to say - there were vignettes that were sexy in this collection, so it was a success. that's not my barometer of success, but she did do that. better than i probably expected her to, but not with any character or plot development that i wanted her to.

also, i found it incredibly off-putting that most of her stories had one of the characters talking about "owning" or "possessing" her lover. over and over again she made it clear that the reader was supposed to be aroused by one woman having control over when her lover "was allowed" to orgasm. one woman is often begging for permission. many of the scenes didn't feel at all egalitarian; one of the women often was lacking agency. (not consent, agency.) and in one scene she seems to misunderstand the term transgender, or at least she makes it somehow a sexual orientation, which, of course, it isn't. these things - mostly the issue of power and control in many of these relationships - bothered me reading this. it might have helped to have some background and character information from these women, but because that wasn't her intent, for me this really affected my reading of these vignettes. show less

Reading this book was sorta like coming into a soap opera years and years into its run. It took a while to get into the swing of the dynamics between the characters, but once I got to know them, they were so well done and at times their stories surprised me even.

Lots of stories going on in Provincetown in this novel. The big one is that of Mica and Flynn. Flynn is a Priest, and the EMT who respons to an accident when Mica gets clipped by a truck while on her bicycle. Mica is quite an unknown show more at the beginning of the novel, but one thing is pretty obvious, she's scared of something and it's something big.

There's also a few secondary stories. There's the love story of Allie and Ash, which was interesting. And a slightly bigger story of Tory and Reese. Tory is a doctor at the clinic that treats (or tries to) Mica. And Reese is the acting Sheriff. They're a couple with a kid, Reggie, and their story was cute and a nice complement to the main story.

Then there was the very end of Chapter 22. I've never read something like that, and it was super intense and very cool. show less

I was familiar with Radclyffe by name, but had never read any of her work before now. I was under the impression that she wrote historical fiction, but “Trauma Alert” is without doubt a contemporary romantic drama. And it is very well done - I can see why Radclyffe is so popular and prolific. The author quickly built a realistic setting; she obviously did her research and I felt like I was observing real medical professionals. The main characters are believable, and fully developed. I show more felt real suspense when they were involved in emergency rescues, or surgeries, and kept me turning the virtual pages to see what would happen next.

I also appreciated that the characters didn’t immediately fall into lust-filled gazes, and heightened sexual urges the moment their eyes met. The two women assessed each other, and continued with their professional responsibility like real people do. Not every romance has to start with earth shattering sexual attraction. The two women are polar opposites with their own baggage, and masks protecting who they really are inside. That is not to say that the story has no steam – this is a healthy book, not a novella parading as a novel, so readers have time to see a relationship build.

One of the best things about the writing is the way characters are matter-of-fact about their sexuality. A gay couple is treated as almost ordinary in the story, which is a refreshing break from the angst gay romances usually have. I am not sure if this is typical of F/F, or this author in particular but it was nice. Recommended. show less

I'm not the biggest fan of short story collections, but overall this book was pretty darn good.

It seemed like there were more stories in this book than in the few other short story collections that I've read. But, I'm not complaining. I had read some of the novels containing some of the characters in the stories, but, quite a few I hadn't read as well. A lot of the stories were also a nice intro to some new characters. Which also means I have a few more books to add to my TBR list.

There was show more only one story that I really didn't like in the collection, that was "The Dilemma" by Martha Miller. The tone of the story just hit me wrong. Most of the other stories were okay, well plotted and interesting. Like "Dawn Knew" by Lee Lynch, "Wolf Night" by Sheri Lewis Wohl, "The Light in Her Eyes" by Barbara Ann Wright, or Radclyffe's "Bad Girls and Sweet Kisses".

Then there were the surprising stories. I liked "The Pond" by D. Jackson Leigh a lot, the twist was what surprised me and I liked that I was surprised. "The Fantasy Exchange" by Meghan O'Brien was also a very different story than I usually read. But, even though it's not usually my cup of tea, I liked it a lot. Then there was "The Game Changer" by Lesley Davis. That was nerdy cool, and really, there aren't enough nerdy cool stories in this world.

Finally there was "The Royal Engagement" by Nell Stark. I'm not exactly sure why, probably a combination of the writing and the plot, but, I loved, loved, loved this story. It just hit a chord in me that made me smile through almost the entire thing.

Overall, it was a fun read, lots of fun stories. I got to get reacquainted with some of the characters, learn about new ones, and most importantly read some very good stories by great authors. A solid four star short story collection.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. show less