"Unlawful Contact," Pamela Clare

Pros: Great characters; strong plot; sizzling sex; excellent chemistry
Cons: Nothing!
Rating: 5 out of 5

Review book courtesy of Penguin Group.
Visit Pamela Clare’s site.

Journalist Sophie Alton has been working on a series of articles about Megan Rawlings, a young woman who gave birth while in the care of the justice system. Megan finally has the chance to meet her baby daughter, but immediately goes on the run with her, leaving a bag of heroin behind in her room. The police are hunting for her, and Sophie can’t understand why she’d throw away her chance to have time with baby Emily legally.

Megan’s brother Marc, himself in jail for murder, offers Sophie an interview, saying he might have information on Megan’s disappearance. But Marc uses Sophie to help him escape, desperate to find his sister and her baby before the man who’s chasing them does. He hopes that Sophie’s memories of their night together twelve years ago, when they were both in high school, will help her to trust him—but she doesn’t recognize him at first.

Sophie tries to use her skills and contacts as a journalist to help find Megan, but soon finds herself hunted and in danger from the same people tracking the young mother. She’s forced to go on the run with Marc, and it doesn’t take long for their feelings to come rushing back…

I always prefer to put the premise of the books I review into my own words, but for once I feel like I’m not doing justice to the job. What makes Unlawful Contact so amazing isn’t the bones of the plot laid bare, but the skill of author Pamela Clare at drawing the reader in and making everything come alive. From the very opening in which sophomore Sophie ends up spending the night with senior Hunt—who has already enlisted in the Army and is due to leave the next day—I was hooked. Even though it was just one night, the characters were detailed so well that I found it easy to believe in their attraction to each other and its consequences.

While I enjoy books that are straight erotica/romance, I’ve always believed that it’s much easier to write a truly great book if there’s something more to it than just the interaction between the characters. Having another plot interwoven throughout provides a wonderful means to introduce tension, conflict, and strong emotions of all types. Author Pamela Clare takes full advantage of this.

Marc and Sophie are great characters. They both have their strengths and their weaknesses, and they have very good chemistry. Clare writes incredibly sizzling sex scenes and builds romances that can make a reader weak in the knees. She draws in both the journalistic investigations and the police investigations with a skilled hand, making the plot come alive and introducing plenty of tension. I found it impossible not to care about what happened to these characters, and yes, I really did cry at one point in this book (that doesn’t happen all that often, so it’s definitely the sign of a book that’s successfully tugging at the emotions!). Even the side characters are wonderful, each presented with just the right details to make him or her come alive.

I feel as if I’m not doing justice to this one, but suffice it to say, if you enjoy a good mix of romance, erotica, and suspense, and want a truly romantic couple that can pull at your heart-strings, Pamela Clare’s Unlawful Contact is a fantastic choice!