From the Granite Lake Wolves to the Six Pack Ranch, Vivian Arend has kept us entertained and purestdelightawardwanting more. Now she takes us into the lives of SAR and the team of Lifeline. Adrenaline junkies, hot males and women who not only hold their own but live their lives to the fullest while doing it!

Becki has to get her life together. After losing her partner in a climbing accident, she has lost faith in herself, her abilities and her life in general. She can’t remember the accident; she has no idea how Dane died; she doesn’t remember saving the girls from the mountain that made her a celebrity and has her hounded by journalists. She has nightmares that loop and loop but never bring her to the end – she really cannot remember what happened that fateful day in the mountains. Maybe it’s time to get back to her roots and remember what it was that made her the top SAR; remember the rules that were taught to her seven years ago by Marcus. She accepts a teaching position offered by David Landers and heads back to her beginnings hoping that she eventually remembers and can face a mountainside again.

Marcus Landers lost part of his arm in a freak accident. He suffers through the pain, he has black-outs … days that he can’t remember anything. Unable to climb anymore, he starts the top-rated SAR team of “Lifeline”. Only the best and brightest make his team. After a highly-publicized rescue, the team has become lax, cocky. It’s time to shake them up and get them back on the right track. After David tells him that he’s hired Becki, he decides on a course of action. Who better than to get his team back into shape than the person who is the top SAR in the North; the person that set all the school records; the dare-devil that climbed the outside of the Banff Springs Hotel on a dare her first year in SAR school. His Becki – the woman he still couldn’t get out of his mind.

There are several twists and turns in “High Risk” that have the reader wondering what really did happen. Not only with Becki and Dane but with Marcus’ accident. When the truth is finally revealed, you know that Becki and Marcus belong together and that fate had a crazy way of doing things. You cheer when Becki finally overcomes her fears and Marcus is there with her to not only cheer her on but support her through her darkest moments.

So, what did I get from this book besides falling in lust with another hot, alpha male of Vivian Arend’s imagination? Well, it made me realize that “faith” runs both ways – you have to trust in order to be trusted. You have to have faith that you will find the way through the darkness to enjoy the brilliance of the sun. You can be independent but still rely on the people around you to hold you up. Your friend and mentor can also be the love of you life and the people that surround both you and him will not only accept this but embrace it with open arms.

Marcus and Becki were two of a kind. Kindred spirits that found each other again when they both needed it most. Comforted each other, drove away the demons that haunted them. They were made for each other and will have a happily-ever-after that spans throughout the rest of the series.