Just a weekend but so much more

First Strike - Pamela Clare

Opening Line:Javier Corbray walked into the ICON Bar in the Radisson Blu Hotel, his gaze travelling over the dim interior taking it all in at once -the upscale décor, the busy wait staff, the near-to-capacity crowd of expats enjoying Happy Hour. It wasn’t his scene.”

 

I’m so glad I read this sexy little prequel before starting Striking Distance. A big thank you to Pamela Clare for not just leaving this extended prologue on the editing room floor but sharing 60 fantastic pages with us readers instead.

As an erotic novella First Strike stands perfectly fine on its own; you get to know the couple, it’s sexy as hell and you get a virtual vacation for a weekend in Dubai. But where it really makes a difference is once you get into the meat of their story in Striking Distance (which takes place 3 years later.) By starting here you’re left with a deeper understanding of the characters and who they were. Yeah some “stuff” goes down in the interim that changes everything, so be prepared for the cliff-hanger ending here.

First Strike spans a weekend, just 3 days between two passionate and confident equals who know what they want and go for it. Navy Seal Javier Corbay is between assignments and spending a couple days downtime in Dubai City when he meets broadcast journalist Laura Nilsson in a hotel bar. She’s confident, sexually assertive and just what he needs. Adding to the excitement of their agreed upon no-strings encounter is the fact that they can’t touch each other in public and of course it can’t be known that Javier’s visiting her hotel room every night as this would be breaking the law. I loved this forbidden love aspect as it added an edge of suspense and naughtiness to their affair.

As I said Javi and his “Baghdad Babe” know what they want and they don’t mess about. Personally I would have liked a bit of foreplay before they just started banging each other up against the hotel room wall, but they’re so into each other it’s a wonder they made it indoors let alone into the bedroom, so yeah I get it. Plus as an erotic quickie this is along the lines of what I was expecting.

In saying that though they do still manage to get in a little sightseeing (I loved the exotic location) and enough dialogue so that this ended up feeling more like a super sexy back story than real erotica. I’ll admit though there were still a couple of moments when I was like yeah, yeah get on with it because they were at it again:)

Between all the humping you really do get to know these individuals though and by the end (just like the characters) you’re left wanting more. Lots more. I liked how the intensity of their weekend fling caught them both off guard. *Sigh* the postcard.

Pamela Clare is just the best, she has managed to make this short lived relationship feel like much more than what it is in the mere 60 pages provided. Don’t skip this. Cheers.