Code Call

by Radclyffe

When ER doctor Burke Elliott was a medical student, she fell in love with the wrong woman. Six years later, she returns as an attending to work with ER chief Dr. Lena Silvano, the woman who rejected her. Burke's goals are simple—to prove she is no longer the student Lena once knew and to prevent Lena from knowing the feelings she had for her have never died.

When Burke returns, no longer a resident but a colleague, the attraction Lena once tried to bury reignites, but so does the weight of the secret she has carried since Burke was her student.

When the past refuses to stay buried despite the years and the silence that distanced them, they must decide whether love can survive the truth or if it will cost them the second chance they never stopped wanting.

Genres: Lesbian, LGBT

307 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 14, 2026

About the author

Radclyffe has written over forty-five romance and romantic intrigue novels, dozens of short stories, and, writing as L.L. Raand, has authored a paranormal romance series, The Midnight Hunters. She has also edited Best Lesbian Romance 2009 through 2015 as well as multiple other anthologies. She is an eight-time Lambda Literary Award finalist in romance, mystery, and erotica—winning in both romance and erotica. A member of the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame, she is also an RWA Prism, Lories, Beanpot, Aspen Gold, and Laurel Wreath winner in multiple mainstream romance categories. In 2014, she received the Dr. James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist award from the Lambda Literary Foundation. In 2004, she founded Bold Strokes Books, an independent LGBTQ publishing company, and in 2013, she founded the Flax Mill Creek Writers Retreat offering writing workshops to authors in all stages of their careers.

She states, “I began reading lesbian fiction at the age of twelve when I found a copy of Ann Bannon’s Beebo Brinker. That book and others like it convinced me that I was not alone, that there were other women who felt like I did. Our literature provides support and validation and very often, a lifeline, for members of our community throughout the world. I am proud and honored to be able to publish the many fine authors at Bold Strokes Books and to contribute in some small way to the words that celebrate the LGBTQ experience.”

Radclyffe lives with her partner, Lee, in New York state.

Reviews

[Sam’s Sapphic Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ Rounded Up

A classic second-chance romance with a little bit of action to keep your attention. Radclyffe has always been good at not going overboard with repetitive scenes, something I appreciate.

What once was a student and teacher (a respective 25 and 41) are now equals, both attendings thrown back together into the ER. Both having to come to terms with their own truths.

As I continued to read the book, I felt like I was lacking information. Both Burke and Lena clearly had feelings for one another in the present, 6 years later, but I wish we had gotten more flashbacks to when Burke was just a student. I think if we would’ve gotten more of those scenes everything would have flowed together more.

I felt myself really wanting to know everything that happened those 6 years ago that led them to where they’re at now, especially their feelings for one another. They were just… there with no real details behind it.

I found myself enjoying Burke and Lena’s relationship (even though I had to ignore the age gap as I am not the biggest fan of them) but the age difference didn’t feel obvious and I LOVE when authors do that.

Thank you Netgalley and Bold Strokes for the ARC!

[Rosi · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I expected when I chose it, this book definitely lived up to my expectations. It follows a typical formula, but it doesn't matter because the author delivers what works, no question about it.

Following the trend of hospital romances, this story is about the relationship between an ER supervisor and an attending physician who used to be a resident under her supervision. So, there is a past that didn't end well, but now both main characters face it and resolve it maturely, without losing sight of their professional duties, as it should be.

Even though it seems like past misunderstandings will ruin any chance they might have, that's not how it goes.

An entertaining and highly recommended read.


Bold Strokes Books was kind enough to send me a copy via Netgalley for an honest review

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Code Call is an age-gap, second-chance medical romance that blends emotional tension with the fast-paced world of the emergency department. Dr. Burke Elliot has just started as a new ER attending, where she finds herself working under Dr. Lena Silvano, the ER chief. However, this isn’t their first meeting. Six years earlier, when Burke was still a medical student, the two shared an undeniable connection but could not pursue this connection as there was a stark imbalance in their position. Now that those circumstances have changed, is there potential to have something between them? Or could what happened in the past ruin their chance for a future together?

What really made this story work for me was the chemistry between Burke and Lena. The longing and unresolved feelings between them are palpable from the very beginning, and the author does an excellent job building the emotional tension without rushing the romance. I found myself rooting for both characters, as they navigated not only their attraction but also the realities of working together in such a high-pressure environment.

As a medical romance, the emergency department setting adds plenty of energy to the story. The stream of dramatic cases keeps the pace moving, and while some of the medical scenarios are certainly more exciting than everyday reality, they suit the fictional world well. I also really enjoyed the supporting cast, who brought warmth and humour to the story—Sweeney and Hana. Overall, Code Call is a satisfying romance with compelling leads, plenty of yearning, and an entertaining medical backdrop.

I received this ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[BookishKB]

🩺❤️ Code Call ❤️🩺

📖 Bookish Thoughts

My full review will be shared closer to the publication date.

🌈 What to Expect
• Sapphic Romance
• Workplace Romance
• Doctors
• Forbidden Love
• Slow Burn
• Medical Setting
• Second Chance Romance
_ _ _ _

📅 Pub Date: July 14, 2026
Thank you to Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

[Demetri Papadimitropoulos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love, Actually, but Make It a Trauma Alert
Radclyffe’s “Code Call” gives its doctors every skill except the ability to say what everyone in the ER can already see.
By Demetris Papadimitropoulos | July 14th, 2026

Doctors make high-risk romantic heroes, not because they lack feeling, but because they have been trained to treat panic as a solvable problem. Radclyffe’s “Code Call” knows the danger of falling for someone who can turn fear into protocol. Its lovers can intubate, clamp, scan, triage, teach, and command a room with enough force to make even a surgeon briefly reconsider her tone. What they cannot do, at least not without several units of emotional blood loss, is say who hurt whom, who chose for whom, and whether protection still counts as love when it arrives disguised as control.

Everything begins, fittingly, with a wound under pressure. Burke Elliott, returning to Hudson Valley Trauma Center as a new ER attending, witnesses a motorcycle crash on her way to her first shift. She drops to the pavement, presses down on a catastrophic femoral bleed, rides in with the EMTs, and enters the hospital not asking for recognition but already forcing it. Waiting inside is Dr. Lena Silvano, the ER chief who rejected Burke six years earlier, when Burke was still a medical student. The reunion arrives on a gurney. No sentimental pause, no careful reintroduction, just blood, sirens, orders, and the woman who once broke Burke’s heart forced to see that Burke has become exactly the physician Lena once hoped she might be.

Much of the first voltage comes from that reversal. Burke has not returned to plead, explain, or reopen the past for old drama. She comes back credentialed, proud, wounded, and still vulnerable to Lena’s gaze in ways she would prefer to secure behind a locked medication cart. Lena has arranged her life around command: watch the board, read the room, assign the resident, anticipate the error. Burke’s return threatens her not because desire has expired, but because it has not. It is still there, inconveniently alive, like a patient refusing the discharge plan.

Ethically, the old rejection carries more weight than a romance misunderstanding in scrubs. Lena did not simply refuse Burke’s feelings. She influenced the residency ranking that sent Burke elsewhere. Placing another candidate above her, Lena told herself, was administrative mercy: distance as safety, exile as care. Burke was young, grieving her father, and caught in a student/attending hierarchy. Lena’s fear of misusing power was not invented. Radclyffe’s sharper move is to let that fear become an act of power anyway. Lena decided what Burke could survive, then, with the polished conscience of the self-sacrificing, called the decision protection.

That secret ranking decision gives “Code Call” more bite than a romance about desire with a long chart history would have. Want is not the suspense. Burke and Lena still want each other, with the persistence of a monitor that refuses to flatten at a narratively convenient moment. The harder question is whether love can recover after one person has turned care into command. Lena can be partly right about the danger and still wrong about the remedy. Caution may be defensible. Secrecy, dressed up in surgical gloves, is still secrecy.

Radclyffe’s best pages make the ER more than backdrop with a crash cart. The hospital gives the book its motion: call, response, assessment, delegation, touch. Burke and Lena do not first rediscover each other through speeches but through labor. One calls for a scan; the other anticipates the instrument. One supervises a resident; the other registers the teaching. One steadies the room while the other acts. Their old teacher-student relation is rewritten through procedure. Hands matter here. Hands guide, assess, press, hold, stitch, steady, reach, and retreat. The romance begins in the body, but not only in the expected way. It begins in trained bodies doing exact work under bad light.

In the trauma bay, the prose tightens into clipped procedural speed. Alerts sound, vitals drop, Sweeney is already three steps ahead, blood is hung, airways are secured, surgeons are summoned, and residents are corrected before confidence turns into harm. Radclyffe sounds surest when the room is loud, the pressure drops, and no one has time to admire the sentence. Whether the crisis demands a chest tube, an ECMO call, or mass-casualty triage, suspense lies less in mystification than in judgment. A life is saved because someone notices the right thing quickly enough, and someone else knows when to stop talking.

Past the trauma bay, the prose becomes more exposed. Desire moves through scent, pulse, breath, rain, heat, and the charged geography of nearly touching. Lena’s bergamot and amber, Burke’s cedar and damp weather, the repeated awareness of shoulders brushing and hands almost meeting – the bodily shorthand is clear and often effective. It is also not inclined to understate a pulse. Radclyffe’s sentences frequently diagnose feeling aloud. Readers who like emotional directness will feel well tended; readers who prefer implication may occasionally wish someone would lower the fluorescent lights.

A familiar route carries “Code Call,” but Radclyffe keeps its rooms occupied: return, forced proximity, renewed professional admiration, intimacy, confession, rupture, catastrophe, recovery, after-shift coda. It is not formally adventurous, but it is purposeful. Sarah Mitchell, injured and insisting she “fell,” forces Burke and Lena to debate rescue and readiness. Arthur Meyers, hiding the truth of his heart attack from his wife, turns secrecy into marital tenderness with a bruise under it. Tara Calloway’s harrowing case – brain death, pregnancy, organ donation, a husband asked to consent to the unbearable – brings the question of care and choice to its cruelest bedside.

Perhaps Tara’s case is the most persuasive because it makes Burke do something Lena once failed to do: tell the truth without taking over the decision. Burke’s care for David Calloway is compassionate, but not soft in any lazy sense. She does not save him from truth. She stays beside him while truth does its damage. That is the distinction Lena failed to make with Burke six years earlier. To accompany is not to decide for. To protect is not to confiscate choice. “Code Call” keeps returning to that line, sometimes delicately, sometimes with the bedside lamp angled rather squarely at the lesson.

At times, the mirrors are too neat. The design is orderly; it also occasionally feels as if the ER board has started assigning moral lessons by room number. Sarah tests intervention. Arthur tests secrecy. Tara tests grief and hope. The late train derailment tests nearly everything at once. Trains have trembled through the book from early on, especially near Hana Tanaka’s loft, so the catastrophe is not unseeded. Still, when the tracks finally erupt into mass-casualty crisis just after Burke and Lena’s rupture, the plot pulls the emergency brake with both hands. Radclyffe stages the chaos well; the timing is the part that looks too neatly scrubbed.

Despite that neatness, Radclyffe plays fair with the genre pleasures. This is polished genre work, not a bid to mistake splinters for architecture. The old flame returns; the cool chief comes undone; the injured doctor is fussed over by the woman who has spent years refusing to fuss; the friend sees too much; the nurse sees everything; the almost-confession is paged away by overhead alert. The pleasures are familiar, but the book does not press them too hard. The real charge lies not only in wanting someone, but in being accurately seen by her.

It helps that Lena is never reduced to a villain waiting for acquittal. She is more interesting as a woman whose virtues have hardened into risk. She is disciplined, responsible, experienced, and genuinely alert to rank and consequence. She was right to understand that a relationship with Burke, then her student and freshly bereaved, would have been dangerous. The trouble is that she did not stop at refusing the romance. She managed Burke’s future from behind the curtain. Her sin is not desire, and not even caution. It is unilateral mercy. Few things are more flattering to the self than believing one has injured someone for her own good.

Maybe that is why Burke’s return has force. She comes back as evidence against Lena’s private mythology. Lena told herself that distance made Burke safer, freer, better able to become herself. Burke did become herself, but not because Lena had the right to reroute her from the program she wanted. She arrives with the authority Lena once feared she would compromise, and the book’s most satisfying reversal is watching Lena learn to see that authority without immediately trying to manage it. Burke wants Lena’s body, of course – romance is not a board-certification exam, thank heaven – but she also wants recognition. She wants to be seen as the physician she became, not as the student preserved in guilt.

If Burke’s return supplies the proof, Lena’s confession supplies the burn. The rain-soaked disclosure in the car works because it is not simply an admission of feeling. Lena tells Burke that she wanted her, then tells her that wanting was part of the reason she interfered. Burke’s devastation is therefore layered: romantic rejection, professional humiliation, grief, and the terrible revision of her own history. She had believed she was not chosen. Now she learns she was chosen against. The difference is small only to someone who has never been managed by another person’s conscience.

The secondary cast keeps the hospital from collapsing into a two-person fever dream. Sweeney is the ER’s dry-eyed conscience, the sort of nurse who could probably triage a meteor strike if administration would stop sending memos about efficiency. Hana, Burke’s old friend and temporary host, brings warmth, teasing, and necessary skepticism. She is useful because she refuses to let Burke enjoy injury as moral superiority. Lena hurt her, yes. Lena also stood inside a power imbalance Burke can now understand more honestly from the other side. That pressure prevents the book from becoming a simple trial with one defendant and one wronged party.

Rank, not romance, gives the book its cleanest contact with the world beyond the ER doors. “Code Call” does not need to become a treatise on hospitals, training pipelines, emergency departments, or workplace relationships to feel contemporary. Institutions are full of people making irreversible choices under the name of care. Supervisors decide, teachers decide, doctors decide, lovers decide, and sometimes the person being protected is the last to be consulted. The warning is not that care lies, but that care becomes dangerous when it stops asking permission.

One place the book may divide readers is that Radclyffe raises this problem more sharply than she finally resolves it. Lena’s interference in Burke’s residency trajectory is serious. It involves desire, training, evaluation, hierarchy, and career consequence. Burke’s anger matters because the harm is not only romantic. But the institutional edge of that harm gets a shorter stay in observation than the personal one. That choice suits the romance Radclyffe is writing, but it leaves a faint sting under the bandage. The relationship is treated thoroughly; the system is mostly discharged.

Placed beside Lola Keeley’s “Major Surgery” or Emily Smith’s “A Cure for Love,” “Code Call” lands in recognizable sapphic medical-romance territory but carries one unusually sharp ethical burr. Its originality lies not in the route, but in the seriousness of the old decision at its center. It knows where the reader expects to arrive; it makes the scar tissue along the way worth noticing.

Occasionally, the prose over-explains that scar tissue. Burke stiffens, Lena restrains herself, attraction rises, someone retreats. Heat, pulse, scent, breath, and rain do a great deal of overtime. In a stricter novel, some of those signals would be retired with full benefits by the midpoint. Yet the excess is also part of the book’s emotional hospitality. Radclyffe writes for readers who want feeling named, not merely inferred; readers who want the kiss, the apology, the bedside watch, the hand finally taken. The book has no interest in pretending it is cooler than its own pulse.

Ultimately, “Code Call” is less about rekindled love than revised jurisdiction. What belongs to Lena? Her fear, her desire, her apology. What belongs to Burke? Her career, her grief, her anger, her right to choose. What belongs to them, if they are brave enough, is the decision to continue. The final repair works because Burke does not simply forgive and fold herself back into longing. She names the pattern: Lena does not get to decide alone. Burke, too, admits that she once left Lena holding all the risk. Their future begins not in perfect absolution, but in shared governance.

Late in the book, nine months after the rupture and the train crash, the ER is still the ER. July 1 still waits with its annual supply of new residents, fresh mistakes, and preventable panic. Sweeney still seems capable of running the entire institution with a tablet, a coffee, and a look that could sterilize equipment. But Burke and Lena now leave together. The gesture is small: an arm taken in a hallway, dinner before the chaos returns. That is why it works. The old wound was secrecy in the name of care; the final gesture is care made visible.

On balance, “Code Call” earns 77/100, or 3/5 Goodreads-compatible whole stars: emotionally satisfying, medically fluent, and sharper than its familiar second-chance frame first suggests, but too quick with the final stitch on an ethically serious wound. The personal harm is felt. The institutional harm remains, if not untreated, then under-observed.

Still, Radclyffe’s accomplishment is real. The book understands that in a hospital, love cannot be all softness. It has to move through fatigue, rank, fluorescent light, interrupted meals, gallows wit, and the awful fact that someone else is always bleeding. “Code Call” is at its best when romance looks like work done well: the right pressure applied, the right person trusted, the right silence finally broken. Its last image is not escape from emergency, but a pause before the next alarm – two women stepping out of the ER together, carrying the knowledge that the call will come again, and that this time neither of them has to answer it alone.

[Aleana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burke was a medical student and Dr. Lena was teacher it’s was clear both of them felt something towards each other but Lena shut it’s down by having Burke do her residency program in another state. Years later Burke returns and is thrown back into Lena orbit when they both have to work together. While they navigate this the feeling they had is still present and strong now question is will finally be able to be together . I like how the story was feel of longing yearning that it made the romance much sweeter and when they finally get together it was warranted and the reason why it’s couldn’t happen while they student and teacher. I enjoy the supporting characters Sweeny, Hana and Gretzky and if this is just stand alone book that’s find but if isn’t I wouldn’t mind seeing supporting characters having their own love story. You can never go wrong with this author medical romances but I do wish she write more mystery thrillers with a romance. I love the Justice series reread this series multiple times.


I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

[Leonie · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 Stars)

This is a story which will you keep hooked from the very start till its end!
But before I elaborate on this point, let me come back to the start for a second. Lena and Burke, our main characters, have history...6 years ago when Burke was still a medical student under Lena’s supervison, feelings developed between the two without anything really happening between them and the two going their seperate ways. Now, 6 years later, they unexpectedly meet again...
The storyline really hooked me right from the start, I think someone might’ve pointed it out too, how exhilarating it was to watch Burke trying to hide her feelings and attraction for Lena while Lena appeared to be this rather icy person hiding behind thousands of walls. And watching these walls slowly but surely crumble really keeps one hooked till the very end. I adored the angst, the uncertainty, the longing and even the back and forth of all of these soo much!! It really fit so well to the storyline and characters. And also the general setting as well as the medical knowledge used was done so well. I also really liked the way Lena met Burke again and how unexpected it all felt, plus how one could literally feel that all of these memories and feelings from six years ago came rushing in (though it might be good to say that nothing truly happened between the two of them back then even though both felt things). Even a couple days after finishing this, I’m still thinking about a couple of scenes which only underlines how this story hooked me (hehe).
Besides that, I also wanna address Radclyffe‘s writing was amazing in this book. I especially loved the way the characters were written with so much depth and emotion. Though, I did feel some things thta happened were rather confusing (which might also be a good thing for others).
Overall, I can only say that I can totally recomment this. Especially, if you enjoy angst and also liked medical settings in books!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books, Inc. for providing me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest and voluntarily given review!

[Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Radclyffe writes a hospital based romance like few others.

The richness of the descriptions of the inner workings of the ER, how codes are handled, and the medical procedures taking place make the setting realistic. And, she delves into the toll of this work on people, their mental and emotional health, and the impact of this work on finding and sustaining a healthy relationship.

Burke had felt shut out, not only did Lena, her supervisor and mentor, shut her down when she wanted to kiss her, she also didn't get a residency position. It's now 6 years later and Burke has returned as an attending and Lena is the ER chief. Turns out feelings aren't easy to shut off, even this many years later.

Lena made a decision to try to protect both their careers when she sent Burke away, and now that she is back, she can't help but be proud of the doctor she has become, but even more so the person she is.

Lena and Burke work together while attempting to deny their feelings for one another. If you keep pushing those pesky feelings down they'll stay buried. Or maybe not. Working in close proximity, saving peoples lives while losing others, brings all those feelings up again. It's just a question now whether they can trust each other enough to be open and vulnerable.

With Lena and Burke's history there is so much to delve into and Radclyffe goes deep in exploring how the past has impacted their potential future.

There are crises, tragedies, and more than anything love. Love of their work, love for their patients, and love for one another. Some of which are easier to talk about than others.

I absolutely loved the charge nurse, Sweeney, who knows everything and sees everything. Would love to see her get her own story in the future.

Thank you to Bold Strokes Books for an advanced digital copy via NetGalley to be able to read and review.

[Brigitte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book from Radclyffe that I read and I really wonder why I didn’t stumble upon her books before! Because it is right up my alley. A good written sapphic romance with lots of spicy scenes and two smart ladies!
Radclyffe is a surgeon herself I read and that seeps through this book. Code Call starts with Burke Elliott, 31 coming back to the hospital she was working in as a resident 6 years ago, now stepping up the ladder as an attendant in the E.R. Lena Silvano, 47, a seasoned chief of the E.R. learns about a new attendant that is paired with her and she knew nothing about. It turns out Lena and Burke know each other. They felt the pull then and Lena shut Burke down and sent her off to a different residency program in another state! Talking about the fear of taking things a step further.
But the pull between the two never died it turns out. And now they work very closely, literally, side by side in a busy E.R. Radclyffe’s medical knowledge shows here. It’s good that I am a superfan of Grey’s Anatomy because otherwise I would get a bit lost in all the medical terms. It is also why I really liked this book. The E.R. setting is cool, and the cases that come by are relevant.
Although the romance is a very slow-burn, so much yearning.. but when it finally comes, the spicy scenes are burning hot.
I would have like to know a little bit more about Lena’s background relationshipwise. We learn about Burke, but what about Lena? Was she always alone? Did she have casual hook-ups? She seems like the type for that. Just an easy fix to de-stress a bit.
I will definitely read more from Radclyffe if I want a quick read with spicy scenes!

Thanks to #NetGalleyUK for the #ARC. #CodeCall

[Tempe Luvs Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an action-packed age gap, workplace medical romance. There was never a dull moment with a lot of drama, angst, longing, eye contact, subtle touches and the mystery of what happened in the past between the new ER attending physician, Dr. Burke Elliott and Dr. Lena Silvano, the ER Chief of Hudson Valley Trauma Center, who was once her teacher.

There was a great group of side characters who acted as sounding boards to our mains. There were several, but most importantly were Hana Tanaka, a former classmate and current roommate of Burke’s, and Susan Sweeney, the charge nurse and Lena’s confidant.

One factor that aided in creating a hospital atmosphere was the personal accounts of some individual cases. There was Arthur Myers, the elderly man who had a heart attack and his early- dementia wife, Rose, who wouldn’t leave his side. Sarah was a victim of domestic abuse who continued to return to her abusive boyfriend, and there was a late night accident when they were trying to save the fetus of the mother who died in an accident. The interactions of our characters with the families was a valuable to the story.

The main focus of the book was about whatever had happened in the past between Burke and Lena, but that almost wore me down as I felt that the drama and angst of the situation was too repetitive, seeming to be hashed and re-hashed…..But then again, the angst and drama, and how long it took for it to be settled by our mains and to come into the open only made the passion more intense and worth the wait. And, yes, it was beautiful!

My thanks to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the ARC.

[Nia · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can feel the longing and desire spanning those six years in the lines of the story—six years of uncertainty, doubt, and unfulfilled love.
Back then, Burke—a medical student under the supervision of ER Chief Dr. Lena Silvano—fell for Lena in a life-altering way, only to be rejected for the sake of propriety.
Nothing ever truly happened between them; they never really talked and eventually went their separate ways, even though there was so much left to say—and so much they both felt.
Six years later, Burke returns to the Hudson as a doctor, and all those dormant feelings come rushing back with full force. For Lena, it becomes a battle to maintain the self-restraint and control she prizes above all else in her life;
she knows full well that Burke is her greatest weakness.
Now that Burke is a colleague rather than a resident, there is no longer any reason not to give in to that longing for the person who means so much to her—except, perhaps, for the truth about the past.
About what really happened six years ago.
The medical aspect of the story is, as always, compelling and beautifully written.
There are truly few medical romances I enjoy as much as Radclyffe’s books.
She weaves the web connecting the hospital setting with personal tension so skillfully—and ever more tightly—that you remain completely hooked.
The chemistry between Burke and Lena is instant, regardless of how much time has passed, and they are so hot and wonderful together.
Thanks so much for the ARC to Bold Stroke Books and Netgalley. I enjoyed it immensely!

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️
When it comes to medical novels, Radclyffe really shines. Her ER scenes are super authentic; you can almost hear the frantic beeping of monitors and feel the pulse-pounding tension in the air. She nails the chaos and urgency that everyone, from the doctors and nurses to the frightened patients and their worried loved ones, goes through. You get a vivid sense of the despair and hope all tangled together.

The romance was well written, too. You can tell there’s a history they can’t just brush aside, no matter how hard they try. But I would have liked to learn a little more about what happened six years ago. You can feel that there’s still a connection there, and those reawakened feelings are now surging to the surface once again. The tension is built up well, and I liked that the love story wasn’t rushed.

I liked both characters, Burke and Lena. As different as they are in some ways, they complement each other well in others. They balance each other out nicely, and both have a strong desire to help others. It was good that the age difference was addressed, and also that it didn’t become the main focus. I liked their times together, at work and in private, their banter and their conversations.

All in all, Radclyffe’s blend of gritty medical drama and heartfelt romance is, once more, well done. The story moves with that natural ebb and flow of high-stakes emergencies mixed with tender moments.

Thanks to Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley for receiving an ARC for an honest review.

[Sue Plant · Rating 5 out of 5]

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this awesome book in the series

radclyffe certainly knows how to write a good hospital drama and with two very strong characters this one grips you right from the beginning

burke is back.... back where she started but now shes qualified... this is where she should have been but she wasnt their choice and she had to go elsewhere but things happen and now she is about to start her job where she always wanted to be...working with people she wanted to all those years ago

lena wasnt expecting to see burke again and seeing burke in action when she came in with the crash victim in charge rattled her but not enough to put her off her game.... she was in charge after all but finding out that they would be working together wasnt what she envisioned when she had burke sent away....

omg this storyline hooks you right from the beginning seeing how burke struggles with her attraction to lena and lena hiding behind her walls... watching as those same walls crumble bit by bit until only the truth stands between them.... man this storyline hooks you in and keeps you guessing till the very end.... loved it and couldnt put this one down...i lost sleep over this book.. thank god i am on annual leave so i can catch up on sleep

cant wait for the next book from this author...because you know its always going to be good

[Rach · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well wrote super detailed medical drama filled story set between a go getting hero resident ER doctor who 6 years later returns to the hospital she trained at and wanted to stay where she is reunited with the the head of ER a stoic ice queen.

It does start off quite slow setting the background and the possible onward journey of them admitting is the time right now and can we choose each other, plus revealing some secrets on the way. All of the medical information does make you feel right in the drama but some of this does feel like a lot but I do appreciate the apparent authority on the medical subjects.

There is drama, high steaks, dealing with most likely every day medical occurrences but the heart is Burke and Lana will the slow burn tension ever ignite further from lingering looks and a possessiveness to support / protect each other.

Once I got into the story I thought it was brilliant like a season of Grays played out but with more lesbians! Feel there will probably be a follow up book for other characters but given the extensive list of novels from the author I would happily read more! Great read, thank you to NetGalley and Bold Stoke Books LTD.

[Henriette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Character-driven medical lesbian romance
radclyffe is for me the undisputed grand master of character driven romance - if you want to top that it‘s by adding medical. So with Code Call I was in radclyffe-medical-romance-heaven.
I especially relished the vivid ER setting - the cases, the tension, the life-or-death decisions - radclyffe‘s writing was technicolor in the best possible way. It shows that she was a surgeon herself.
The romance pivots around the one defining moment Burke Elliot and Dr. Lena Silvano had when Burke was still a medical student and Lena her teacher. A vulnerable moment which set off a chain reaction both still have not fathomed after six years when by fate Burke Elliot is again assigned to Lena‘s ER, now as a colleague and attending. Burke with her big heart, Lena who has learned to not focus on emotions how will their past ever bring them together? I loved how radclyffe develops the romance and has us believe that love between Burke and Lena is possible. Sigh - what a great romance!

I received an ARC. The review is left voluntarily.

[En · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a heartwarming second chance romance. I enjoyed how high-stakes emergencies were used as parallels to the issues that Lena and Burke had to work through. The interlacing of their past from both POVs was well-paced, giving us a glance to the main characters’ personalities. Though it was a heartbreaking journey, it felt believable and necessary. I found myself wondering if professionals today are facing the same struggles.

Code Call was rather fast-paced. I wished we had more insights into Burke’s journey in the 6 years before returning to the Hudson, and despite Lena’s internal struggle, her transformation from distant ex-mentor to jealous colleague felt abrupt imo.

How Hana and Sweeney learnt of Lena’s past decision was pretty vague too. It felt too far-fetched for them to be able to piece certain details together, or maybe it's just cluelessness on my part. 🤷‍♀️

Overall, Code Call was an enjoyable second-chance journey between two smart women who know what they want but needed a little more time to get it.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had heard a lot about Radclyffe from social media accounts praising the writing and the storylines, so when I saw this romance on NetGalley, I just had to request it.

This is an angsty medical second-chance romance. It is filled with medical terminology, so it might be a bit difficult to keep up if you are not familiar with the field, but that takes nothing away from the romance itself.
The main characters have a very complicated past, and I liked how the author (and the MCs) handled their previous power imbalance. And how they picked up their connection, when they finally realized they could stop pretending there was nothing between them. it takes a while, but they do end up becoming mature adults that communicate.

From what I can tell, it is a standalone book, but if there are ever any future stories set in this ER, I would love to read them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always into a book or show with hot doctors so of course I went into this one very eager. The medical stuff described sounds very accurate for me a layman and that is good enough for me that hates when even I can tell that all so wrong even though I have no clue how things are done in a hospital. The tension between Lena and Burke was just great from the very beginning.

I cannot quite understand how Lena could resist Burke 6 years prior with that sexy, chemistry and decide to send her away to not break any rules. It is rare with someone as honourable as that and It was very different from what is normally described in a book. When Burke comes back as an attending the game is on again and the slow burn between those two on top of all the interesting medical cases is a delight to read.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Radclyffe has written another doctor-centered romance. The storyline will sound familiar to some readers, but Radclyffe has done a fine job of keeping the story moving with twists and turns to make it interesting.

If you like your romances full of angst, this is the book for you. If you dislike an angsty romance, this isn’t the book for you.. While the writing is good, the characters lack depth and remain amorphous throughout the book. It is also full of medical details as both doctors work in the ER, and, if that is your cup of tea, you’ll love this book.

If you’re a fan of Radclyffe, you will undoubtedly love this outing. However, if you’re new to Radclyffe, you might want to start with one of earlier books set in a hospital.

My thanks to Bold Strokes Books for an eARC.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ I enjoyed this medical romance, it's always one of my favorite troupes. Radclyffe does it best with her extensive medical knowledge and experience.
Burke was my favorite character, she had integrity and intelligence. Lena was ok, I didn't like how she hid her emotions and didn't give Burke a choice back in their earlier relationship. My favorite scene was on the baseball field and how Burke responded to Lena getting hurt. I know it's corny, but I like when one of the MCs is in danger and the other MC rescues her.

I hope this becomes a series with nurse, Sweeny or with Hana and Gretzky. All there were great side characters and ready for their own romance stories.

Thanks to BSB and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

[Andrea (looseleftlesbian) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I liked this. Radclyffe has a way of creating complex and in depth MCs with insane chemistry. This was definitely the case in Code Call. The chemistry between Burke and Lena is off the charts. We don’t even need to know what happened six years ago to see the sexual frustration that flows between them, along with unresolved feelings.

I feel like the book just ended. There was an epilogue and even though we got nine months into the future, we don’t learn a whole lot and it again, just kind of ends. Yes the problem was solved but it felt like they made up and then BAM! book just ended. I give this 3.5 stars, it just didn’t feel wrapped up.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s always exciting to see a new medical romance from Radclyffe, and Code Call fits right in with what I would expect from this author. Code Call is an age-gap, second chance romance following two doctors who formerly had a teacher-mentor relationship and are now, years later, on a more equal playing field. There were fewer flashbacks than I would expect in a second chance romance of this nature, but I enjoyed being able to live in the present with these characters and not being constantly thrown between past and present and living with the murky, unresolved and still totally felt feelings from both Burke and Lena. I also enjoyed Hana and the other side characters who supported them and would love to spend more time in this universe.

I received an ARC of this novel via NetGalley.

[Viveka · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book by Radclyffe, and it definitely won't be my last.

Lena made a decision in the name of love that changed not only the trajectory of her own life, but also the life of the woman she loved.

Six years later, Burke is back, and the feelings between them are still there, stronger than ever. Now they have to decide whether they can move beyond the past and finally give themselves a chance at the future they've always wanted.

This was a heartfelt second-chance romance with plenty of emotion, longing, and chemistry. I couldn't help but root for them to find their way back to each other.

I'm ready for more Hospital romances at the Hudson.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Red Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another engaging medical romance from Radclyffe.
Along side medical emergencies and trauma we have a slow burn, age gap, second chance romance with lots of deep emotions, secrets and great supporting characters.
I don’t know how Radclyffe manages to do it but she somehow manages to break something different and unique to her each and every one of her medical romances despite having written so many of them.
Thanks to Bold Strokes and NetGalley for the ARC. This is review is a true reflection of my opinion

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not my first of the med series and I love them all. This one was no exception.
The history between main characters and path to their happiness was easy to discover. Yet how they got there took a little detour here and there.
I loved the story line and the show of emotions or trying to hide them.
I couldn't read this one in one day and believe me I wanted to.
Even after finishing I'm still thinking of this book.
How both Burke and Lena finally agreed that what's ahead of them is worth fighting for.
I would say I'm always looking for more. One more chapter or 2.
Wonderful read.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good one by Radclyffe which you can usually can count on when it comes to medical romances.

Only grip I have is the changing of POVS in the middle of a scene, but otherwise, a nice romance.

This one is between Burke and Lana, an ER supervisor and an attending who used to be under the other's tutelage. Their previous time didn't end well, They work through it and make it work which was great. This one wasn't the best, but not the worst.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Penfold · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story of second chances, set in a hospital.

The story was well written and had a Greys Anatomy feel to it, especially with the bar called O’Malley’s.

I did find it a little hard going with so much technical medical jargon, which unfortunately for me, put me off this book more than I would have liked. If you are okay with medical jargon, and would like a sapphic Grey’s Anatomy, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the chance to read this story.

[M D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for this ARC! Code call is a second chance medical romance that blends the crazy pace of the ER and romance in one. Burke and Lena have a lot of chemistry that I truly loved reading about. Also this book makes you feel like you are working in the ER with the descriptions and information about the patients they were seeing. Overall, I truly enjoyed this book!

[Brenda Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can never go wrong reading a book by Radclyffe. Years after transferring hospitals to finish her studies she returns as an attendant. What might have been them and hurt feelings makes it hard for them to work together now. This book is a typical love story, but Radclyffe’s spend makes it worth the read.

Goodreads

[Chyrl Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story.

From someone who has read everything you've written, I'm sad that there were editing errors in this book. BSB's are notoriously known to be error free; not so much anymore. I mean, if one of Radclyffe's books have errors then what's the hope for other authors. Loved the story and a start for the On Call series.