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PMC Hospital Romance #1
Fated Love
What do you do when your carefully planned life takes a wrong turn into hell? When Quinn Maguire, a dashing young trauma surgeon, unaccountably accepts a position as an ER physician, her new boss, Honor Blake, suspects that Quinn is hiding a dark secret. While the two declare an uneasy truce in an effort to work together, both struggle with mutual, and unexpected, attraction. Honor, however, has more than one reason to resist her growing feelings for the attractive newcomer―not the least of which is that her heart belongs to the woman whose wedding ring she wears. Amidst the chaos and drama of a busy emergency room, Quinn and Honor must contend not only with the fragile nature of life, but also with the mysteries of the heart and the irresistible forces of fate.
309 pages, Paperback
First published May 17, 2004
110 people are currently reading
2511 people want to read
About the author
Radclyffe
143 books1,673 followersRadclyffe 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 216 reviews
December 29, 2021
Published in 2004, this is my favourite novel by Radclyffe. A slow-burn medical romance with endearing characters, off the charts chemistry and a couple of twists and turns.
When Quinn Maguire, a trauma surgeon with impeccable credentials, accepts a position as an ER physician, her new boss, Honor Blake, suspects that Quinn is hiding a secret. But as Quinn proves herself more than useful in the ER department and Honor starts to bring her walls down, both women struggle with an unexpected mutual attraction. But an unpredicted turn of events will try their budding relationship and make them face the fragile nature of life.
A prime example of medical romance, ‘Fated love‘ is a beautiful story of endurance in coping with bereavement and illness. The mains chemistry is absolutely off the charts and despite the curveballs that life throws them, they completely belong to each other. This book has all that medical romances should have, ER fast-paced scenes, great dialogues, family life, and superb romance. I have to admit that this novel isn’t perfectly written, there is some head-hopping and some dialogues are a bit melodramatic, but the story is so powerful and compelling that I’m more than happy to ignore those details.
I’ve read it a few times and this is my second time listening to the audiobook impeccably narrated by Abby Craden. As usual, Ms. Craden does an amazing job with great voices for all characters regardless of gender and age. This book goes through a very wide range of feelings and emotional situations, both positive and negative, and Ms. Craden narrates them with authenticity and competence.
The only audiobook issue for me is that sometimes it’s hard to distinguish if the characters are thinking or talking aloud, but that’s not the narrator’s fault, it’s the fact that Radclyffe mixes thoughts with dialogues frequently, which is easy to pick when reading but hard when listening. Despite this, the powerful nature of the story and the narration makes it a must-read/listen for fans of lesbian medical romances. 5* stars.
Duration: 9 hrs and 46 mins
See all my reviews at www.lezreviewbooks.com
When Quinn Maguire, a trauma surgeon with impeccable credentials, accepts a position as an ER physician, her new boss, Honor Blake, suspects that Quinn is hiding a secret. But as Quinn proves herself more than useful in the ER department and Honor starts to bring her walls down, both women struggle with an unexpected mutual attraction. But an unpredicted turn of events will try their budding relationship and make them face the fragile nature of life.
A prime example of medical romance, ‘Fated love‘ is a beautiful story of endurance in coping with bereavement and illness. The mains chemistry is absolutely off the charts and despite the curveballs that life throws them, they completely belong to each other. This book has all that medical romances should have, ER fast-paced scenes, great dialogues, family life, and superb romance. I have to admit that this novel isn’t perfectly written, there is some head-hopping and some dialogues are a bit melodramatic, but the story is so powerful and compelling that I’m more than happy to ignore those details.
I’ve read it a few times and this is my second time listening to the audiobook impeccably narrated by Abby Craden. As usual, Ms. Craden does an amazing job with great voices for all characters regardless of gender and age. This book goes through a very wide range of feelings and emotional situations, both positive and negative, and Ms. Craden narrates them with authenticity and competence.
The only audiobook issue for me is that sometimes it’s hard to distinguish if the characters are thinking or talking aloud, but that’s not the narrator’s fault, it’s the fact that Radclyffe mixes thoughts with dialogues frequently, which is easy to pick when reading but hard when listening. Despite this, the powerful nature of the story and the narration makes it a must-read/listen for fans of lesbian medical romances. 5* stars.
Duration: 9 hrs and 46 mins
See all my reviews at www.lezreviewbooks.com
September 30, 2018
After reading the latest Radclyffe (Passionate Feelings), I thought it might be nice to get back to the first one she wrote 14 years ago and read how Quinn Maguire and Honor Blake found each other in Fated Love (A PMC Hospital Romance #1).
It reminded me again that I need to read this author in very small quantities. I’m not saying this to be unkind because Radclyffe is a seasoned writer, a bestseller in her genre (medical romance) and has a loyal following. When I pick one of her books to read, I pick them mainly for the medical setting because her romances are not really my cup of tea. I find them often overly sentimental (bordering on twee) and her characters are mainly the same two types (the noble tall-dark-and-handsome butch with a soft center and the tough femme who’s in charge).
I like my romantic leads to be a bit more messy and unpredictable. I have never caught a Radclyffe character masturbating for instance, use a strap-on or have some very dirty sex talk. I think hers is more the idealistic, high romance.
Nevertheless, this was a decent but middle-of-the-road plot. An insta-attraction situation but still a slow burn as Honor comes to terms with giving her heart again after losing her wife six years prior. She has a young daughter to take into consideration. And Quinn has some demons of her own to battle. There was more focus on the romance than the medical this time.
f/f – explicit but in a clean (more poetic) way
Themes: can you give your heart twice, unstable arrhythmia, family, soccer, hurt-comfort, now I'm done for awhile.
3.4 stars
It reminded me again that I need to read this author in very small quantities. I’m not saying this to be unkind because Radclyffe is a seasoned writer, a bestseller in her genre (medical romance) and has a loyal following. When I pick one of her books to read, I pick them mainly for the medical setting because her romances are not really my cup of tea. I find them often overly sentimental (bordering on twee) and her characters are mainly the same two types (the noble tall-dark-and-handsome butch with a soft center and the tough femme who’s in charge).
I like my romantic leads to be a bit more messy and unpredictable. I have never caught a Radclyffe character masturbating for instance, use a strap-on or have some very dirty sex talk. I think hers is more the idealistic, high romance.
Nevertheless, this was a decent but middle-of-the-road plot. An insta-attraction situation but still a slow burn as Honor comes to terms with giving her heart again after losing her wife six years prior. She has a young daughter to take into consideration. And Quinn has some demons of her own to battle. There was more focus on the romance than the medical this time.
f/f – explicit but in a clean (more poetic) way
Themes: can you give your heart twice, unstable arrhythmia, family, soccer, hurt-comfort, now I'm done for awhile.
3.4 stars
November 8, 2021
Hospital romance.
I read Fated Love a long time ago, loved it but gave up on the PMC Hospital Romance series because the subsequent books weren't as good, in my opinion. I'm revisiting this series because my taste of books have somewhat changed along the way so I wanted to give it another try.
My second read of this book felt like a first read. I could only recall bits and pieces of the storyline but I do remember really liking it. And I still do. The medical part of the book has the right balance. It isn't too detailed or difficult to understand, so that's nicely done. Radclyffe also created beautiful characters who are smart, nice and sexy. In short, both Honor and Quinn are lovable people. And they find each other attractive, although Honor finds it hard to move into a new relationship after losing a partner. Quinn makes it easy though because she's great with Honor, great with Honor's daughter, Arly and just great as a person in general... except there's that little secret that she's hiding.
This story is right up my alley because of the boss/subordinate trope. Honor is the ER chief and Quinn's boss, so that's a real bonus for me. Plus the chemistry is outstanding, the sex is good, and the side characters are so supportive that it's heartwarming.
My second read was just as great an experience as my first.
I read Fated Love a long time ago, loved it but gave up on the PMC Hospital Romance series because the subsequent books weren't as good, in my opinion. I'm revisiting this series because my taste of books have somewhat changed along the way so I wanted to give it another try.
My second read of this book felt like a first read. I could only recall bits and pieces of the storyline but I do remember really liking it. And I still do. The medical part of the book has the right balance. It isn't too detailed or difficult to understand, so that's nicely done. Radclyffe also created beautiful characters who are smart, nice and sexy. In short, both Honor and Quinn are lovable people. And they find each other attractive, although Honor finds it hard to move into a new relationship after losing a partner. Quinn makes it easy though because she's great with Honor, great with Honor's daughter, Arly and just great as a person in general... except there's that little secret that she's hiding.
This story is right up my alley because of the boss/subordinate trope. Honor is the ER chief and Quinn's boss, so that's a real bonus for me. Plus the chemistry is outstanding, the sex is good, and the side characters are so supportive that it's heartwarming.
My second read was just as great an experience as my first.
March 24, 2019
Fated Love came out in 2004 and everything I read pointed to this book being the landmark start to everything Radclyffe’s known for. For Fallback Friday, I wanted to read this book first. It seemed important.
New E.D. Attending mysteriously gets hired without the okay of the Chief of Emergency Room Medicine at a hospital in Philadelphia. There’s hostility, then friendship, then more between Dr Honor Blake and Dr Quinn Maguire.
There’s some good moments, especially when the interactions included Honor’s daughter. Absolutely nothing wrong with the book but there’s also not much conflict so I just felt like I was drifting along to the end. I’m certain the storyline was fresh in 2004, but by now it’s been replicated with varying success by so many other authors that I wonder if this affected my reading of Fated Love. I’m still very glad I read this book. There’s romance, steam, and a bit of angst.
As far as feeling dated, my big qualm was at the beginning. I almost fell out in the opening scene because allowing a stranger in street clothes to walk into the ED and cut into and start working on a patient, are you kidding me?!? I know the author’s a surgeon but that part almost made me stop reading and pick another book.
New E.D. Attending mysteriously gets hired without the okay of the Chief of Emergency Room Medicine at a hospital in Philadelphia. There’s hostility, then friendship, then more between Dr Honor Blake and Dr Quinn Maguire.
There’s some good moments, especially when the interactions included Honor’s daughter. Absolutely nothing wrong with the book but there’s also not much conflict so I just felt like I was drifting along to the end. I’m certain the storyline was fresh in 2004, but by now it’s been replicated with varying success by so many other authors that I wonder if this affected my reading of Fated Love. I’m still very glad I read this book. There’s romance, steam, and a bit of angst.
As far as feeling dated, my big qualm was at the beginning. I almost fell out in the opening scene because allowing a stranger in street clothes to walk into the ED and cut into and start working on a patient, are you kidding me?!? I know the author’s a surgeon but that part almost made me stop reading and pick another book.
March 8, 2018
Having read many of Radclyffe books, this, without doubt, is one of my favorites. Btw, loved the medical jargon...not too technical at all as some have suggested- adds believability to the story. Beautifully written, compelling characters and reminded me that all is not lost even when we're shooting ourselves in the foot . Okay, so here's my problem. Radclyffe has a huge list of publications, and typically when I read a book that I REALLY like, it makes me want to read the author's next in the series. I think NIGHT CALL was next and I was sadly disappointed. To me, it was a demarkation point when Rad started writing from her head and not from her heart and soul. Just my 2 cents. This was great, and if you haven't read Radclyffe at her best, this is not to be missed. xo
May 30, 2018
My favourite book by Radclyffe. Great romance with endearing characters. 5+ stars
This book is in my list of recommended books of the month:
https://lezreviewbooks.wordpress.com/...
This book is in my list of recommended books of the month:
https://lezreviewbooks.wordpress.com/...
December 31, 2019
SA-WOOOON! I just started listening to audiobooks this year (yes - I know, I know) and have been going through them like mad since discovering the error of my ways. So now not only am I listening to new releases, but going back a ways to older favorite books on audio. Such was the case here with Radclyffe's Fated Love, narrated by the delicious-voiced Abby Craden. I loved this book in the early 2000s and ate it up here again. We are so fortunate to have Abby narrate a good number of lesfic audiobooks. I'm getting to the point where I think I may have developed an addiction to her tones. Like - I want her voice to have my children. :-D Okay - not REALLY... but, well....really. lol In this book, ER Chief Dr. Honor Blake is still devastated after losing the love of her life in a freak accident when she was only in her 20s. Years later, she never even considered moving on and still wears her wedding ring. Then she meets Quinn Maguire, the gorgeous new trauma surgeon she got strapped with (and isn't too happy about it either.) Dr. Maguire is not only an extremely talented physician, she is also helpful, kind and loving and falls for Honor in a big way. Honor is terrified to feel again and tries to resist, but can't seem to keep her feelings for Quinn at bay. Abby does vulnerable like no one else and she also excels at love scenes. Good lord - I could listen to the woman all day long. This was a great listen - a wonderfully romantic story and perfect narration for it. Loved it and will listen again.
July 30, 2022
One of my favorites books of all time. Simply perfection in all aspects: wonderful MCs and second characters, amazing slow burn romance and a setting in the medical world. What‘s not to love? Highly recommend and 5 ⭐️ aren‘t enough.
October 6, 2018
3.5 Stars.
Radclyffe has a way of writing love stories that draws you in and doesn’t let you go. While this story wasn’t my favorite out of what I’ve read (listened) to of hers so far, I quite like how she weaves her medical background into her work and how believable it is.
I liked both Honor and Quinn, and fell in love with Honor’s daughter and MIL along the way. Definitely fluffy with a side of angst, but a good read.
Radclyffe has a way of writing love stories that draws you in and doesn’t let you go. While this story wasn’t my favorite out of what I’ve read (listened) to of hers so far, I quite like how she weaves her medical background into her work and how believable it is.
I liked both Honor and Quinn, and fell in love with Honor’s daughter and MIL along the way. Definitely fluffy with a side of angst, but a good read.
June 28, 2022
This is supposed to be the first in a series, but there are traces of a previous book that I tracked back to Passion's Bright Fury. Saxon Sinclair, from that story, plays a big role in Quinn's backstory and mental landscape. And she shows up later on and we can see traces of that romance closer up. It wasn't bad not having read that one first, but you might want to for yourself.
This is nearly twenty years old so I expected to see evidence of that. And I did, but not in the way I expected. Remember when PDAs were a thing? And flip phones and people not always having their cell on them and renting videos? Yeah, all of that. What it doesn't have is the preoccupation with being out and prejudice at every corner that I expect from lesfic of that era. So there's no angst in this story about two women being together and it felt perfectly natural that Honor would rely heavily on her ex-mother-in-law to help raise her young daughter Arly.
Indeed, Phyllis was a lovely supporting character, in every sense of that term. Her obvious and expressed love of Honor made a huge difference in Honor's emotional landscape, and one that imprinted strongly on the story. I loved how she actively helped Honor over hurdles in finding a new love. It was clear that she loved Honor for herself and not for the daughter who had died.
And I liked, too, Radclyffe's handling of the workplace aspects of their romance. It wasn't really an issue because they took steps to make sure it wasn't an issue by having Honor make the tough calls and each treated the other with professional care when in professional contexts.
The only real drawback to the story is Honor's rather unrelenting negative motivation* in her grief of losing her wife five or six years previous. I'm not saying the grief is unreasonable or unrealistic. It was just a big amount of the story's conflict that slowed the plot down and is overcome by the character deciding she had overcome it. Offsetting that somewhat is Quinn's handling of this aspect of Honor's character. She was unfailingly patient and I loved that she was able to be honest about what she needed and expected. It was a good example of setting parameters and sticking to them, even though she had developed feelings for Honor.
So I'm going to go with five stars and only a little of that is allowance for its age. I liked their relationship. I liked the surrounding characters and their interactions. And I really liked how they worked together in the end when I expected a dark moment that never came.
A note about Steamy: There were five or six explicit sex scenes putting this in the upper range of my steam tolerance. I frankly ignored them, mostly, because they weren't really relevant. I mean the characters' emotional intimacy was far more important so the physical intimacy was (barely/only) keeping up.
* Negative Motivations: I kind of hate that the term "negative motivation" isn't widespread, yet. Since it isn't, I'm going to save off this little jag to append to my reviews that feature the term. Jennifer Crusie blogged about it a bit back (or, if that link doesn't work, here's a cache of the original) and it changed how I understand story. The problem with the term is that if you've never heard it before, you'd assume it meant motivations that are harmful or immoral. Not so. What it refers to is motivations not to do something. The thing is that many of us are motivated to not do things for a lot of different, perfectly valid and reasonable, reasons. The problem is that in a story motivations to not do things are a huge drag on the plot—particularly considering the fact that most negative motivations are overcome by the character simply deciding they don't care any more (or, rather, that they do care and are now motivated to do the thing). So not only do you have a counter to action but you also have a situation where to overcome it, all a character has to do is change their mind. Which means eventually, the reader is rooting for the character to get over him/herself already and do the thing we want them to do. Conflict drives story. Conflict between a reader and a main character drives readers away from story.
This is nearly twenty years old so I expected to see evidence of that. And I did, but not in the way I expected. Remember when PDAs were a thing? And flip phones and people not always having their cell on them and renting videos? Yeah, all of that. What it doesn't have is the preoccupation with being out and prejudice at every corner that I expect from lesfic of that era. So there's no angst in this story about two women being together and it felt perfectly natural that Honor would rely heavily on her ex-mother-in-law to help raise her young daughter Arly.
Indeed, Phyllis was a lovely supporting character, in every sense of that term. Her obvious and expressed love of Honor made a huge difference in Honor's emotional landscape, and one that imprinted strongly on the story. I loved how she actively helped Honor over hurdles in finding a new love. It was clear that she loved Honor for herself and not for the daughter who had died.
And I liked, too, Radclyffe's handling of the workplace aspects of their romance. It wasn't really an issue because they took steps to make sure it wasn't an issue by having Honor make the tough calls and each treated the other with professional care when in professional contexts.
The only real drawback to the story is Honor's rather unrelenting negative motivation* in her grief of losing her wife five or six years previous. I'm not saying the grief is unreasonable or unrealistic. It was just a big amount of the story's conflict that slowed the plot down and is overcome by the character deciding she had overcome it. Offsetting that somewhat is Quinn's handling of this aspect of Honor's character. She was unfailingly patient and I loved that she was able to be honest about what she needed and expected. It was a good example of setting parameters and sticking to them, even though she had developed feelings for Honor.
So I'm going to go with five stars and only a little of that is allowance for its age. I liked their relationship. I liked the surrounding characters and their interactions. And I really liked how they worked together in the end when I expected a dark moment that never came.
A note about Steamy: There were five or six explicit sex scenes putting this in the upper range of my steam tolerance. I frankly ignored them, mostly, because they weren't really relevant. I mean the characters' emotional intimacy was far more important so the physical intimacy was (barely/only) keeping up.
* Negative Motivations: I kind of hate that the term "negative motivation" isn't widespread, yet. Since it isn't, I'm going to save off this little jag to append to my reviews that feature the term. Jennifer Crusie blogged about it a bit back (or, if that link doesn't work, here's a cache of the original) and it changed how I understand story. The problem with the term is that if you've never heard it before, you'd assume it meant motivations that are harmful or immoral. Not so. What it refers to is motivations not to do something. The thing is that many of us are motivated to not do things for a lot of different, perfectly valid and reasonable, reasons. The problem is that in a story motivations to not do things are a huge drag on the plot—particularly considering the fact that most negative motivations are overcome by the character simply deciding they don't care any more (or, rather, that they do care and are now motivated to do the thing). So not only do you have a counter to action but you also have a situation where to overcome it, all a character has to do is change their mind. Which means eventually, the reader is rooting for the character to get over him/herself already and do the thing we want them to do. Conflict drives story. Conflict between a reader and a main character drives readers away from story.
March 7, 2018
Rather good. The first few chapters I was slightly put off due to all the medical jargon, but once the story line developed, I started to enjoy it more.
September 10, 2018
I finished reading passionate rivals and realized I never read the other two books in the series 🤦♀️. I was really enjoying fated love and then it just ended . I mean I felt a little cheated not even an epilogue. Oh well 😔 . Either way it was an entertaining read
September 11, 2022
This was fine, good even, but from all the reviews I expected to be a bit more blown away than I was. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this! I just think maybe because it was written a decent amount of time ago (that makes me feel old, but 14 year old me would have been blown away by this, had I read it back then for sure) that it’s a little overhyped/ppl are extra fond of it because there wasn’t as much sapphic fiction out at the time? I mean, I’m sure there was, but again, I was 14 and absolutely had no idea about that then. This was very enjoyable on almost all fronts for me, but also felt pretty run of the mill and didn’t have anything extra special that I was maybe expecting just based on how many ppl love this. I really enjoyed Honor, Arlie, Phyllis, and Linda a lot. Quinn occasionally got on my nerves with how much she was like ‘Honor, pls get over your hang ups abt your dead wife and love me’. Like, I’m def being harsh there, she absolutely never quite said anything like that, and in most instances was really patient, but a couple of times closer to the end, she rubbed me sliiiiiftly the wrong way on that front. But that is me being pretty nit picky for sure.
I did find it a little hard to follow whos pov we were in occasionally, they switched almost between paragraphs sometimes, and I found myself rewinding or straining to hear who’s we were in, which wasn’t my fav, but I got a bit more used to it as the book went on.
All in all this was solid and entertaining, Abby Craden is as wonderful as always, and, I think? This is my first book by this author, I know she’s really prolific in the sapphic book scene, but I haven’t read much of hers yet.
I did find it a little hard to follow whos pov we were in occasionally, they switched almost between paragraphs sometimes, and I found myself rewinding or straining to hear who’s we were in, which wasn’t my fav, but I got a bit more used to it as the book went on.
All in all this was solid and entertaining, Abby Craden is as wonderful as always, and, I think? This is my first book by this author, I know she’s really prolific in the sapphic book scene, but I haven’t read much of hers yet.
March 15, 2019
This was an interesting story, and I do so like when Radclyffe writes about medicine. Being in the field myself, I enjoy the accurate portrayal of her characters in those roles. Quinn was the quintessential butch, that was too tough to deal with what was happening to her, especially when it involved her own health. The thing is, I got the impression that Honor wasn't exactly femme and seemed more butch to me as well. I like this combination, and it is probably one of the reasons that I enjoy Radclyffe's writing so much. She excels at writing the strong, domineering female, rarely delving into anything but. That's okay. This was a definite 5 star for me.
June 4, 2021
I read the PMC series again in anticipation of reading the newest in this series Unrivaled. I loved Fated Love the first book as much as the other times I’ve read it. It is still one of my favourites by Radclyffe. Very romantic and very nice characters that you feel connected to. I love that Honor and Quinn and their family make appearances in the other books and that I can follow their lives a little bit.
March 18, 2019
4.5 ⭐️
A really sweet romance - liked it!
A really sweet romance - liked it!
October 11, 2024
Just sheer class. Love it when re-reading.
September 12, 2019
This was my first excursion into the land of Radclyffe and I'm happy to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I decided to listen to the audiobook read by Abby Craden while I was working and the 10 hour work day flew by! Since I started reading lesfics I've heard again and again that Radclyffe is in many ways the Queen of f/f fiction and she didn't disappoint with this one!
Fated Love follows Dr. Honor Blake and Dr. Quinn Maguire as they meet and since we know the genre eventually fall madly in love. It deals with a loss of a lover and eventually allowing one self to love again through Honor Blake who years prior lost her partner in a tragic accident and now finds herself in an odd situation with a new stunning hire Dr. Maguire, who herself has had to abandon her dream of being a surgeon after the discovery of medical condition and now finds herself working in emergency medicine and not only that but her boss is a babe.
I'm always kinda worried when there is a kid around but in this case I felt it was more than just an accessory and improved the story by raising the stakes for the main characters.
I loved both MC's, they were both likable, charming and smart... there are no personality changes in the last quarter of the book. I'm always grateful when an author is consistent with their characters throughout their book and doesn't rely on butchering their personalities just to create that last hurdle until the two characters can be together.
The love scene also are quite steamy, didn't expect that in this kind of novel but I'm a "the steamier the better" kinda gal so no complaints from me.
All and all, wonderful book and I can't wait to go through her library over the next few years.
4.25/5.00
Fated Love follows Dr. Honor Blake and Dr. Quinn Maguire as they meet and since we know the genre eventually fall madly in love. It deals with a loss of a lover and eventually allowing one self to love again through Honor Blake who years prior lost her partner in a tragic accident and now finds herself in an odd situation with a new stunning hire Dr. Maguire, who herself has had to abandon her dream of being a surgeon after the discovery of medical condition and now finds herself working in emergency medicine and not only that but her boss is a babe.
I'm always kinda worried when there is a kid around but in this case I felt it was more than just an accessory and improved the story by raising the stakes for the main characters.
I loved both MC's, they were both likable, charming and smart... there are no personality changes in the last quarter of the book. I'm always grateful when an author is consistent with their characters throughout their book and doesn't rely on butchering their personalities just to create that last hurdle until the two characters can be together.
The love scene also are quite steamy, didn't expect that in this kind of novel but I'm a "the steamier the better" kinda gal so no complaints from me.
All and all, wonderful book and I can't wait to go through her library over the next few years.
4.25/5.00
December 14, 2021
I love Honor, Quinn, Arly, and Phyllis! Fated love holds a special place in my heart and I’ve read it several times. I highly recommend it. It’s a story of loss and second chances. It shows that love can find you when you least expect it. I can’t get enough of the friends and family that have supported Honor through the terrible loss she’s had to deal with the last six years. Honor’s best friend Linda and her spouse Robin are darling. I can’t get enough of the love and friendship between them all. Quinn has also had amazing support from Jude and Sax (both of who I absolutely love from Passion’s Bright Fury). Go read and fall in love.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2024
I was very skeptical coming into this novel. Radclyffe is 0 for 2 with me coming into this book and I didn't have a lot of faith in this. But I'd also never read a medical-focused Radclyffe book since she had an entire career as doctor (I want to say cardiologist?), so I wanted to give one of her medical romances a shot before I wrote her books off forever. And Radclyffe is a giant in the genre. Certainly there must be at least one book deserving of her reputation?
Fated Love has been on my to-read list forever—so much so that my library culled their one copy in the years I'd avoided the novel, so I had to buy it just to read it.
No one is more surprised than I am that I liked this novel as much as I did. In the two other Radclyffe novels I read previously, the romance left a lot to be desired, i.e. the novels weren't very romantic. Too much exposition, too much sex, too little yearning/pining/feeling. But Fated Love definitely delivered romance. But I'm not a huge fan of instant attraction-to-love stories—I prefer a little more intrigue, a little more work for the protagonists, but this had more drama than I was expecting. And interesting drama.
I appreciate that the characters (including side characters) weren't all femme, so that's win for Radclyffe. But two things really bothered me with this book:
1. There's too much insight into these characters' thoughts. These are written in italics that reveal explicitly what a character is thinking. This is a sign of bad writing. This tells me the author either doesn't know how to accomplish this through actions and dialogue AND/OR the author doesn't trust their reader to pick up those clues and really wants to bang the point home. Neither of these options bode well for the author. A character's thoughts are important. And I don't even mind when they're a little obvious in selective circumstances. But it’s overkill in Fated Love and really brings down the writing.
2. Quinn Maguire, Honor Blake, Murphy Arlyn "Arly" Blake, Saxon Sinclair, Jude Castle. These are the names of characters in Fated Love, including the two MCs. I know I've made fun of the androgynous/gender neutral names in sapphic romance before, but I have secondhand embarrassment for Radclyffe here. Aspiring writers, don't do this. Give your characters real names. Or if you want to use a unique name, please only do it with one character. This is a trend that needs to go away. And I peeked at the names in the rest of the series and it's all the same-just a bunch of protagonists with trying-too-hard names. It makes me cringe, honestly.
3.5 stars but rounding down for the two reasons above.
Fated Love has been on my to-read list forever—so much so that my library culled their one copy in the years I'd avoided the novel, so I had to buy it just to read it.
No one is more surprised than I am that I liked this novel as much as I did. In the two other Radclyffe novels I read previously, the romance left a lot to be desired, i.e. the novels weren't very romantic. Too much exposition, too much sex, too little yearning/pining/feeling. But Fated Love definitely delivered romance. But I'm not a huge fan of instant attraction-to-love stories—I prefer a little more intrigue, a little more work for the protagonists, but this had more drama than I was expecting. And interesting drama.
I appreciate that the characters (including side characters) weren't all femme, so that's win for Radclyffe. But two things really bothered me with this book:
1. There's too much insight into these characters' thoughts. These are written in italics that reveal explicitly what a character is thinking. This is a sign of bad writing. This tells me the author either doesn't know how to accomplish this through actions and dialogue AND/OR the author doesn't trust their reader to pick up those clues and really wants to bang the point home. Neither of these options bode well for the author. A character's thoughts are important. And I don't even mind when they're a little obvious in selective circumstances. But it’s overkill in Fated Love and really brings down the writing.
2. Quinn Maguire, Honor Blake, Murphy Arlyn "Arly" Blake, Saxon Sinclair, Jude Castle. These are the names of characters in Fated Love, including the two MCs. I know I've made fun of the androgynous/gender neutral names in sapphic romance before, but I have secondhand embarrassment for Radclyffe here. Aspiring writers, don't do this. Give your characters real names. Or if you want to use a unique name, please only do it with one character. This is a trend that needs to go away. And I peeked at the names in the rest of the series and it's all the same-just a bunch of protagonists with trying-too-hard names. It makes me cringe, honestly.
3.5 stars but rounding down for the two reasons above.
October 11, 2018
4 Stars. I enjoyed this book a lot. This book was about Honor Blake, the ER chief and Quinn Maguire, a new ER resident from Manhattan. Honor, a woman who had lost her wife in a tragic accident, instantly feels a connection to Quinn. Quinn and Honor skirt around their obvious feelings for one another as they work together in the hospital. As the reason for Quinn's transfer is found out, Honor feels closer to Quinn and starts to accept her feelings.
This book is very good if you enjoy a lot of tension. Both Honor and Quinn's feelings are felt throughout the book, they both grow and change as the book progresses. It is a good story that has a great character development, as Honor is changing as she meets someone new. This book has a nice slow pace that makes sense for the plot. I would recommend it.
This book is very good if you enjoy a lot of tension. Both Honor and Quinn's feelings are felt throughout the book, they both grow and change as the book progresses. It is a good story that has a great character development, as Honor is changing as she meets someone new. This book has a nice slow pace that makes sense for the plot. I would recommend it.
November 20, 2011
One of my favorite Radclyffe books. I love how you can see the relationship building between the two main character's, the tension between the two, and come on... who doesn't love some good ol' fashion steamy scenes!
July 20, 2025
Fated Love by Radclyffe
🩵 Medical Sapphic Romance
🩵 Workplace Romance
🩵 Slow Burn
🩵 Trauma Healing
Craving a slow-burn medical romance? This book delivers. It follows Honor the no-nonsense chief of emergency services and Quinn, the mysterious new ER doc who ditched surgery for… reasons 👀. The tension was Immediate and felt from chapter 1. The angst was the perfect amount and the spice was pretty damn hot 🥵
Bonus points for the side characters. Linda, Robin, and Arly made the story even more entertaining. Linda being shamelessly thirsty over Quinn had me cracking up and her friendship with Honor was top-tier.
Normally, heavy medical stuff makes me wanna skim, but this was pure page-turning drama. A friend recommended this to me, and I’m so glad they did—this was an easy 5-star read for me.
🩵 Medical Sapphic Romance
🩵 Workplace Romance
🩵 Slow Burn
🩵 Trauma Healing
Craving a slow-burn medical romance? This book delivers. It follows Honor the no-nonsense chief of emergency services and Quinn, the mysterious new ER doc who ditched surgery for… reasons 👀. The tension was Immediate and felt from chapter 1. The angst was the perfect amount and the spice was pretty damn hot 🥵
Bonus points for the side characters. Linda, Robin, and Arly made the story even more entertaining. Linda being shamelessly thirsty over Quinn had me cracking up and her friendship with Honor was top-tier.
Normally, heavy medical stuff makes me wanna skim, but this was pure page-turning drama. A friend recommended this to me, and I’m so glad they did—this was an easy 5-star read for me.
April 8, 2019
New Comment (see below)
The two main characters: Quinn Maguire and Honor Blake. There are abundant descriptions of Quinn: "... jet black hair, sapphire blue eyes, slightly above average height, lean and tight and boldly handsome. Cocky, too"... yada, yada, yada. Very few descriptions of anyone but "handsome" Quinn.
I wanted to read this because it had a high rating. Not sure why the rating was high. This seems more like a story of a character that the writer wants to be.
This book should NOT be on the Listopia: Best Femme/Femme Couples list. I wasted money on someone's lie and lezfic is NOT cheap!
Rant over. :)
Anyone want this book...email me with your email addy and I will send it to you. It is in mobi format. Or, I will trade it for femme/femme
The two main characters: Quinn Maguire and Honor Blake. There are abundant descriptions of Quinn: "... jet black hair, sapphire blue eyes, slightly above average height, lean and tight and boldly handsome. Cocky, too"... yada, yada, yada. Very few descriptions of anyone but "handsome" Quinn.
I wanted to read this because it had a high rating. Not sure why the rating was high. This seems more like a story of a character that the writer wants to be.
This book should NOT be on the Listopia: Best Femme/Femme Couples list. I wasted money on someone's lie and lezfic is NOT cheap!
Rant over. :)
Anyone want this book...email me with your email addy and I will send it to you. It is in mobi format. Or, I will trade it for femme/femme
August 21, 2013
I read this book as it was listed as a favorite of many Lesfic readers(Thank you VLR for your followers many informed suggestions) What a great novel. Radclyffe at her best.
The old adage of write what you know shines through in this medical world romance. While it's obvious the author knows her trauma surgery and medical terminology she doesn't swamp the reader with her knowledge. Instead, she uses a threatening medical condition as a plot device to add to the struggle Honor faces when dealing with her new feelings for Quinn.
Add an adorable kid, an understanding mother in law and some incredibly hot sex scenes and you have a real winner. Awesome read.
The old adage of write what you know shines through in this medical world romance. While it's obvious the author knows her trauma surgery and medical terminology she doesn't swamp the reader with her knowledge. Instead, she uses a threatening medical condition as a plot device to add to the struggle Honor faces when dealing with her new feelings for Quinn.
Add an adorable kid, an understanding mother in law and some incredibly hot sex scenes and you have a real winner. Awesome read.
February 5, 2018
I don't know what to feel about this book. I mean it wasn't a bad read or anything but it somehow feels incomplete. It might just be the nitpicky person in me but I was expecting more for some reason. i liked this book but I don't knwo what it is that makes me feel a wee bit wierd. But let this not deter you. It's a great book with a sweet story. Most of the stuff makes sense and you are somehow lost in the book. I somehow felt parts of the story were incomplete but anyhow it was a sexy story. Don't let my nonsense stop you from reading this book. It's a nice romance story with reasonable amount of angst. basically it's very neat :)
September 28, 2024
4 stars. I read book six in this series first and loved Quinn and Honor in that one so I knew that I needed to go to the beginning of their love story with this book and it was definitely worth it. Both characters are just so lovely. They’re dealing with a lot though. Quinn is a single mother and she’s still grieving her partner’s death and Honor has her own secrets and issues going on. They are both guarded so it does take them a while to get together which I loved. I thought they had wonderful chemistry and I really like them as a couple. This was a great balance of angst and light and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can’t wait to continue on with the rest of the series.
November 12, 2015
Classic Rad. Nice diverting read filled with all the medical jargon you would expect and the sureness of touch that all her books have.
May 31, 2015
This book will always be a bit special for me. It was my first introduction to the magic of Radclyffe and my first book in English. I only read a few years, and the genre lesbian books is not really expanded in The Netherlands. So I was soon looking for other books. When I discovered that there was a very large market in English books, a new world opened up for me. Fated to Love was the first book that I was reading, and yes, I was immediately hooked. Since then I read only English books and I am a big fan of Radclyffe, Gerri Hill, Gun Brooke and other writers published in English. Fated to Love has everything that makes a book great for me. A good story, in-depth characters, chemistry, a slow built romance, and it's hot! Oh my god, Radclyffe writes good sex scenes. There is always a good balance between emotional and very sexy . I enjoyed every page. Fated to Love will always be the book for me where it all began. My love of books and my endless quest for more rare gems such as this book.
May 24, 2022
7/10
this is the second time i read this one
and both times i loved the first half of the book while the second half was just a bit underwhelming
as i said the beginning was really amazing but later everything exceptionally sped up and it was too unconvincing
it wasnt paced good in the second half of the story at all which made made me very sad because the first half was *chef kiss*
it had moments where i was suddenly hit with the fact that this book was written two decades ago - like mentioning the fax machine which was fun
i also loved all the characters and thought everyone was very interesting and nice
will be reading the second book in the series now because i really want to see them in other stories as well
this is the second time i read this one
and both times i loved the first half of the book while the second half was just a bit underwhelming
as i said the beginning was really amazing but later everything exceptionally sped up and it was too unconvincing
it wasnt paced good in the second half of the story at all which made made me very sad because the first half was *chef kiss*
it had moments where i was suddenly hit with the fact that this book was written two decades ago - like mentioning the fax machine which was fun
i also loved all the characters and thought everyone was very interesting and nice
will be reading the second book in the series now because i really want to see them in other stories as well
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