Brody Clark and Sydney Valentine (Val) return to the small town they’d grown up in after a decade. Brody has secrets in her past and she had run away from the powerful Rivers family without as much as a goodbye. Brody had nursed a secret crush on Val as a teenager and finds herself still drawn to Val. On the other hand, Val didn’t really register Brody in high school, but is now singularly fixated on her.


This book spends a lot (a lot) of time stretching out Brody’s running away making a mystery of the whole thing and dragging it way too long. The huge supporting cast of characters of the Rivers Community float in, out and around and are nice enough.


The whole attraction and admission of love between the two MCs is very, very fast but the chemistry is good enough. At best, this book is fine. The MCs are also fine. Though, everyone else in this book gets totally eclipsed by the flamboyant Flann. Now, Flann really grabs attention.


This is a fair bit of easy reading.

Sydney Valentine (Val) and Brody Clark both return to Rivers for different reasons. Both are close to the Rivers family. The brooding Brody Clark, has quite the backstory of a dysfunctional family situation and has worked hard to put behind her by running away. Val has an interesting backstory of being a selfish entitled not so nice person in her youth that has her doing the right thing by returning to Rivers. Although their getting to know each other was quick, I thought considering the need for caring they each had, I felt okay about it. The ending in my opinion was rushed and abrupt and did not set well. On the other hand, I can appreciate a story about finding self, family, friends, and love a joy.

Radclyffe’s 5th in the Rivers Community Romance Saga shows no particular surprises. Radclyffe keeps to her success formula of dark-haired broody, noble and somewhat shy butch meets femme who she feels is high above her status. In Love to the Rescue we meet a few of the well established Rivers clan who will interact with prodigal (almost steph) daughter Brody. Brody ran away 10 years prior to enlist in the Army and that has caused resentment with the family, especially with Flannery who does not deal well with Brody’s return.

The plot was paper thin with Brody’s failure to communicate stretched to the max to accommodate a flimsy storyline. The romance between her and Val was sweet with some hot lovin’ in the trailer park Radclyffe style. There was some focus on youngest Rivers daughter Margie and Blake’s transitioning progress and how he deals with the stirrings of first love.

The end came way too soon. Everything was wrapped up in a few pages and it underlined again how lightweight this edition felt to me and that’s a shame because I really like this universe. I checked if the story really was shorter than the others but it wasn’t so it’s just a feeling, nothing more. Radclyffe fans will no doubt love this book but I had hoped for a little bit more of everything.

f/f

Themes: returning home, new medivac flight crew, small rural community, the Rivers Clan, Honcho the ex-service dog, you’re out of my league, some lingering bad blood, family.

3.8 stars

* A free copy was provided by Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books Inc. for an honest review.

Radclyffe is one of the best writers. This book draws you into the small town like you are part of the story. The romance is sweet and the sex is hot. From start to finish just a great story. You won't be disappointed.

Bless Radclyffe for filling the world with fluffy, fun lesbian romance novels. They fill a void no one else can, and I hope they never stop.

I'll preface this by saying I am a big fan of Radclyffe and have read every one of the books around the Rivers family and the community. That said, I found her latest book and story line a great read. It is a bit lighter in the plot then some of the earlier books but I think she still brings out the MC story. If you our expecting more of the Rivers family itself, this book doesn't really do that, it does however bring Flann, Abby, Blake and Margie in a bit.

The main characters in this story line are Brody Clark (flight medic) and Val Valentine (Veterinarian-who was sort of mentioned in past series but no detail so this can be read as a stand-alone from the series). The only wee bit confusing part for me was why Val was the vets name but yet her real first name was Sydney and that wasn't mentioned but 2 times in the book and never really explained why she sent by Val Valentine-like I said wee bit confusing but not upsetting :-)

I liked how the author wrote early of the mystery of why Brody left town at such a young age, which setup for the tension between the Rivers family and Brody, and I liked how the author kept that mystery going for some time. I do agree with some of the other reviewers in that it seemed to wrap up pretty quickly and a bit short on the mystery solved, but I was OK with the ending and I felt complete when I finished the book (no lingering questions or disappointments).

The story line did go into more detail of Brody's upbringing than Val's but I believe that was done to show the connection between Brody and the Rivers family. I do agree with others it would have given Val a bit more depth of character if there was more detail of her childhood, but all in all it did not deter from the story and I still got a connection with both characters. I did notice some reviewers mentioned the 'abundance' of lesbians in one community, my feeling, the more the merrier! It is lesbian fiction after all :-)

I would say overall this is a very romantic story line with some, but not a lot of drama, and I was left with a feel-good attitude when I was done. Not sure how much more can come from this series, with the adult side, but I am sure there can be more with Blake and Margie, but I leave that for the younger reader. Again, great read, and as always, I look forward to more books from Radclyffe.

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, but would have written the same opinion if I had come across this author on my own.

To see my Amazon review, it is under CC-Enjoyable Read

After reading hundreds of lesbian books I am actually ashamed to say that I've never read a book by Radclyffe. I enjoyed her writing style in Love to the Rescue and I enjoyed the small town romance aspect of the book. I was immediately overwhelmed by all of the characters that were introduced near the beginning, but got invested early in Brody and Val's stories. The chemistry between these two characters was sizzling and Radclyffe writes varied and sexy love scenes. Other than the two main characters I was thrilled to learn about Honcho, her history in the service, and her transition to civilian life. I also wanted to learn more about Blake's transition as a young man. Overall, a very interesting story.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

This is the fifth novel in the Rivers Community Romance series and it’s a nice enough series but hasn’t grabbed me the way the Provincetown series did. In this instalment Brody Clark is given a new air medic posting but doesn’t find out until it’s too late that she’s returning to her home town. She left one night when she was 18 and hadn’t returned in 10 years. Sydney Valentine (Val) has also recently returned to the area when asked by her mentor to join him in his veterinary practice. When Val and Brody meet again there is definitely chemistry but Brody’s past has made her wary.

I liked the story but I felt that there were a number of avenues that were opened up but not really dealt with. Some were integral to Brody and who she is as a character so they seemed glossed over instead of becoming part of a powerful backstory. Brody has a strong connection to the Rivers family and yet the two older Rivers sisters are entirely absent from the story. The same with Val in terms of her family dynamic and I imagine some of it may be revisited in future additions to the series but I felt there wasn’t enough explored in this instalment to fully anchor the characters.

The one continuous aspect to this series that I am really invested in is Blake, his friends and his transition journey. I am starting to be a little irritated by the Rivers family in that they’re starting to sound and behave like the community medical mafia. ‘Love to the Rescue’ is still an enjoyable light read but not my favourite in the series so far.


Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

Reading a Rivers series book is like coming home. I feel as if I know all of these characters so well and I always enjoy being in their company. I will never tire of them. There are so many layers to the Rivers story and ‘Love To The Rescue’ adds another fascinating one.

Brody Clark moves back to town after a decade away. As the new helicopter medic at the hospital she comes face to face with people she would much rather avoid – and with some issues she has avoided. Val Valentine left town for the big city but finds herself back helping a friend who saw something in her and influenced her career. The two women were never really in each others’s spheres at high school but as adults they find an attraction that makes them rethink the future. I liked the connection between them. Sometimes we have to meet someone at the right time, for only then will we be truly ready for each other. Radclyffe pitches it just right with this story. I loved every word. She makes us believe in love and romance and,of course, the sex is so hot. She weaves various threads seamlessly and yet again left me wanting more of this series. Excellent!

I was given this ARC for review.

Love to the Rescue brings the reader back to the delightful world of the Rivers family and their little community. We have two main characters who are new to the series - but drum roll - not new to the community. Nothing complicated here, just a solid and enjoyable romance.
I get that there is a certain suspension of believe in a novel like this, and I know the audience probably likes the focus on the town's lesbian representation, but I'd enjoy reading more about a more honest, diverse but still accepting community where all the straight people are not so very minor characters.
Nevertheless, this is a very enjoyable read, and a worthy four stars. Next, it would be wonderful if Radclyffe pushes the boundaries a little and gives us a really queer romance between Margie and Blake. If it happens, I'll be at the front of the queue.

Going home wasn’t something Brody Clark though she’d ever do but here she was working as a flight medic for Air Star working out of Rivers Community Hospital. She lived with the Rivers family years ago and left at the age of 18. Never really had any contact other than a card over the holidays.
Leaving home wasn’t something she wanted but she felt she had no choice. It was the only way she could think of to protect her foster family. Since leaving she was in the armed forces where she got her training. But when her time was up she got a job working for Air Star. Now here she is back again but if she wants to stay she has to make amends to the Rivers family.
Val Valentine wanted to get out of town to but she came back when the man who practically raise her asked for her help working at the Animal Clinic. She didn’t envision working for as a country vet. She wanted to work in New York City. She too was friends with the River’s family but for some reason she never really got to know Brody. Now she realizes getting to know Brody sounds like a good idea.
This is Radcliffe's fifth book in her series ‘A Rivers Community Romance’ so not only does she introduce us to some new characters but she also gives us a chance to catch up with the Rivers family, especially Brody’s childhood friends Flann and Harper, both doctors now working at the local hospital.
This new ‘Rivers Community Romance’ is very much like the first four books, meaning it’s a really good story. I have a feeling Radclyffe will want us to visit again so we can keep up with all the Rivers family and their friends. Very nice read.
ARC via NetGalley

Love to the Rescue by Radclyffe is the first full length novel that I’ve read by this author, so I was really looking forward to this book. I’m happy to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the story.
This is the fifth book in the River Community Romances series. I was a bit concerned about starting a book this far into a series, but found that I had no problem reading this as a standalone novel. The author gave plenty of information about the back stories from the earlier books. Now that I’ve read this one, I definitely will be looking for the earlier books in this series, especially since I’m now familiar with the characters from those earlier books. Most of them play secondary roles in this one.
The two main characters in Love to the Rescue return to the Rivers Community after a decade. Both left for different but rather painful reasons. Brody and Val meet and become reacquainted with each other as they deal with their painful pasts. They also have to deal with the attraction they feel for each other.
This is a beautiful, sweet, and lovely romance. There is a little angst for the characters that runs through the story, but nothing that mars the romantic feel of the tale. The characters have a depth to them that makes them real to the reader, and the story is engaging and romantic.
If you love a good romance that makes you smile and gives you that happy feeling as you read, then this is a good story for you.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

Rainbow Reflections:
https://rainbowreflections.home.blog/

I have really lost interest in Radclyffe's books over the past few years and I wouldn't have even bothered reading the free copy I got of this book but for the fact that I really liked Harper & Presley from the first book in this series. Unfortunately while we get plenty of Flann, along with the two new love-birds in this instalment of the Rivers saga, there's minimal Harper and feck all Presley. Anyway, I can't really give out about that too much, the book is about Val and Brody after all! (Standard androgynous/male names, or surnames used as first names)

Both Val and Brody are almost good characters, it's there but all the strings just aren't pulled together in the end. In fact it all seems a bit rushed, for two people who are supposed to be not exactly thrilled to be back in town they become friends very quickly and fall into bed together even faster - they don't even have an industry standard dramatic breakup over a totally avoidable misunderstanding only to be brought back together by a tragic/dramatic event! (Never fear, they do both have tragic pasts and Brody has secrets, including a mysterious disappearance). So many boxes ticked. It also ends really abruptly, all the emotional and other drama just tied up (or clamped and sutured) in a neat bow. Bam, book over.

I frequently buy books after I get advance copies of them because I feel it's important to support authors who spend so much time and energy on books for us to enjoy. I will not be buying this.

This was the fifth book in the Rivers Community series, and like the others it was a great read. Love to the Rescue centered on two characters, Brody and Val, that had roots in this community before taking off for the Army and college, respectively. Their current jobs, a flight medic and veterinarian, brought them back to this community. However, not everyone welcomed their return and unresolved past issues resurfaced.

This was an enjoyable story. The medical aspect of it just added to my enjoyment. The characters, both main and secondary, were interesting and engaging. Brody and Val were very likable and their magnetism toward each other was very well written.

Some of the secondary characters were from previous books. (I recommend reading the previous books, but the author does explain their connection so the reader is not confused.) I liked the continuation of Blake’s story (a transsexual) and his progress thus far. The interactions between Blake and his friends were also very positive and encouraging, especially with how they dealt with bullies. I applaud the author for creating such a character that teenagers, who are facing a similar situation, can possibly relate to and know they are not alone.

Whenever I read a book by this author, all my other plans for the day go awry simply because Radclyffe engages her reader from the first to last page. Well written and highly recommended!

More at the Rivers Community Hosptial and surrounding area.

The novel is mostly about Brody and Val. Brody is the new flight medic with her friend/pilot Jane at Rivers. She grew up in the town and at the beginning of the book we know that she left quite abruptly hurting a lot of people in the process, but, we don't know the reason at first.

Val is a new veterinarian who has also come back to town after growing up and moving away. In her case to help out her father.

She and Blake were in the same class and both had connections to Flann, but, didn't hang out with each other much.

And so as they get closer they go back and forth between their shared past and pretending to start over.

Their story was one of the best parts of the novel, but the very end was not my favorite part. It just seemed way too cut and dry. There was a lot, a ton of ramping up of a subplot, and then at the end, it fizzled. I know that makes me sound horrible ("I want bad stuff to happen"), but, the end just felt totally and utterly flat to me.

Great novel. Bad ending.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Bold Strokes Books.

Small town lesbian romance

I’ve read and enjoyed a number of Radclyff’s books in the past but unfortunately I didn’t find this story and couple as compelling. I think part of the problem was the book took place over only a period of 10 years and I just didn’t feel the insta-love between Brody and Val. Too there were questions about Val’s family that were brought up but not answered which I found frustrating and the secret behind Brody’s past felt flat.
I received an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

The Rivers family has grown once again. I truly enjoyed this newest addition. There was the usual angst , drama, and passion one would expect from Roadclyffe. This book also had an addition that I loved, mystery. The story behind our main characters was a blast to uncover to the very end.

Are there ever do overs? Brody Clark never thought that she would be returning to her hometown, a small town she left years ago, unexpectedly, and never look back. She lived with the Rivers family And was very close to Flann Rivers when she left. The Rivers Family was left perplexed when Brody left and is now suspect when she returned.
When Brody left her hometown she joined the Army and was trained as a medic she flew three enlistments in Afghanistan on a rescue helicopter flown by her best friend Jane. It was the rescue medical helicopter that brought both Brody and Jane to work at the Rivers hospital. Brody knew that people in her hometown would be curious about her return and even more curious about why she left and that she would have to face these people if she continue to work at the rivers hospital, chief among the people who were angry with her return was Flann Rivers.
Brody along with her search and rescue dog Honcho do their best to keep a low profile but they keep running into a former classmate of Brody who happens to be a veterinarian name Valerie. Little by little these three form or unique friendship that has the potential to develop into something both women desperately want, but can they have it?
This book is very well written as you would expect from a book written by Radclyfee she writes beautiful characters who are complex and could be people all of us would be happy to have his friends. She can also write story that are involved with many twists and turns and this book holds true to her pattern. I highly recommend this book as it was a beautiful read and one you hope has a happy ending but there are so many obstacles in the way for that to happen, can they be overcome? And can you ever go home again?

As always Rad doesn’t disappoint. As it’s another book in The Rivers series, we meet two new characters and visit with old friends. I like the romance between Val and Brody. Their rapport was believable and naturally as with every Rad novel, I found myself rooting for the mains to do away with the angst and settle down already. This was a quick, light read. Highly recommend for a lovely spring evening read.

This is book five of the 'Rivers Community Romance' series which focuses on the small community of Rivers and its hospital. It is a standalone novel but I recommend to read it in order as there are a few parts of the plot based on stories told in previous books. In this novel, flight medic Brody Clark comes back to Rivers after leaving town without a word ten years ago, to work for the Rivers Hospital newly established medevac team. There she meets Val Valentine, an old love interest of Brody's, who is recently back from living in New York City. Both want to bury the bad memories that they have from their teenage years in that town but, as they get to know each other, they suddenly realise that they have more in common than they'd thought. Will they be able to face their fears and act on their mutual attraction?

'Love to the rescue' goes beyond the medical romance formula that Radclyffe masters so well and delves into matters of family, friendship and loyalty. Considering this is a medical romance, the highlight is more on the latter. I think it's a pity that there aren't many medical scenes as this author describes them very well, using her experience as a now retired surgeon. If anything, there are more descriptions of Val's veterinary work and a special focus on Honcho, a retired war dog owned by Brody.

The story catches up with some of the other couples established in the previous books but mainly on Blake, a trans teenager dealing with his sexuality and society's rejection. Blake is a secondary character who is growing literally and metaphorically with each installment of the series and I can't wait to see where Radclyffe takes him in the future. Both mains are multilayered, especially Brody in her dark and broody personality that the author excels at describing. There is a small mystery subplot about her past that had much more potential but unfortunately was resolved a bit abruptly. All in all, it's an entertaining book, possibly not Radclyffe's best but worth reading anyway.

Overall, a good medical romance with a mystery subplot and a promising trans character. 3.5 stars.

ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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