High Risk by Vivian Arend (Adrenaline #1)
March 5, 2013
Contemporary Romance
Berkley

Reviewed by Mandi

When I first heard about this book, there were a few things that drew me to it. First, it’s about a team of people who climb mountains and rescue people. I love this premise. Also, the hero only has one arm. You can’t expect me to pass up a hero like that. And finally, it’s set in Banff which is in Alberta Canada. Awhile ago, the talk show Regis and Kelly did their show from Banff, and I just thought it was the coolest town. So this series excites me, but this first book didn’t quite do it for me.

Becki lost her climbing partner in an accident about a year ago. Dane was also her partner in bed. They weren’t in love necessarily, but she had feelings for him and his death was a shock. She also can’t remember the details of what happened that day, and she now suffers from bad nightmares. Trying to move forward with her life, she accepts a job with a very well known climbing institute in Banff, brought on to structure some specialized lessons for the students who attend. Becki used to attend the school, and it was there she had a brief and passionate affair with the brother of her new boss, Marcus. Marcus lost an arm years ago, but has come back with a highly trained team and leads rescue operations now. Marcus suffers from episodes where he blacks out and can’t leave his apartment for days. His past swallows him up sometimes. His team, while having notoriety as being the best, isn’t working as well as they should be together, so before classes start he asks Becki to give his team some insight. Becki has to prove to herself she can get back out there and climb again and Marcus is there to guide her.

Marcus is more of an intense, cranky hero which for the most part I liked. Him and his brother give each other a hard time, and Marcus is somewhat feared for his crazy and intense training methods. He doesn’t let his disability hold him back. From page one when he learns Becki will be coming back to his school, there is a ton of sexual tension, and I’m just going to say it – it’s too much. It’s spilling out of this book. Sex is on Marcus and Becki’s mind constantly. And then when they finally break down and do it, there is a lot of sex. I almost found myself skimming through the scenes – although I ended up not skimming because there are some pretty dirty scenes in this one. I have to give the author some props for spicing things up.

So there is a lot of sex and a lot of thinking about sex and it wore me out. There is also a lot of Becki struggling to remember what happened on the mountain when Dane died. She slowly starts to remember through her dreams. Marcus too suffers from blackout type episodes, yet his woes kind of get forgotten about as Becki’s trauma takes center stage. The end where we get the reveal about what really happened on the mountain with Dane and Becki and also how Marcus lost his limb – didn’t do it for me. I just didn’t like how it played out.

The team mates are fun to meet, as the next book in the series will continue to feature them. I feel like the author takes the tedious, technical mountain climbing procedures and makes them fun to read about. However, I kept waiting and waiting for something big to happen, and I finished the book still waiting. There is some drama at the end, but I wasn’t a fan of what happens (don’t’ want to go into details because it’s a bit spoilery).

This is definitely a series I will follow because of its premise. We’ll see how book two goes

Rating: C

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