Book Review : The Risk (Mindf*ck #1) by S.T. Abby

A Sneak Peek Into The Story :

Some people might say her life is a lonely one – a life without friends or loved ones – but Lana doesn’t mind, she prefers it this way. The less people she cares about, the less weakness she has. And with her plan on getting her revenge and constant strategizing, she doesn’t really have much time to worry about having friends or lovers. That is, until she meets Logan.

He winks as he leans over. 
“If you ever want help feeling alive, call me. I could use some life as well.”

With blue eyes, dark blonde hair and an easy-going stance, Logan Bennet is definitely an attractive man. But that is not why he catches Lana’s attention in the first place. What shocks and intrigues Lana is the fact that she isn’t able to get a good feel of his personality and him as a person. While she is fumbling to try to understand why isn’t she able to profile him as easily as she does others, he takes one look at her, and is able to read her like an open book.

Despite him being friendly and laid-back, she knows she should be careful around him. And sure enough, when she read his name card that he slips into her hand, it proves her worry to be true, he is an FBI.

Lana knows she should know better than to go and pursue a romantic relationship with an FBI agent, despite the attraction that she feels towards him. Knowing his line of work and her plans, the right thing for her to do is to run as far away from him as she possibly can. And yet, she finds herself wanting to get closer. The feelings he evokes out of her is unlike anything she has ever felt before, and like a moth who is attracted to the light, she just can’t seem to let him go.

Review :

The book is written in two POV; Lana and Logan’s. Lana, for one, is one hell of a really funny main character. I can’t count how many times I laughed out loud reading her train of thought and the way she chastised herself when she does something stupid. While at first she does come off as a bitchy, too-good-for-thou kind of girl, she turns out to be very easily relatable and really hilarious character.

“Should I run and put on pants? Or will I look like an idiot who forgot to put on pants? Confident girls walk around in a T-shirt and panties all the time, right?

“Fucking eh.”

The same goes for Logan. Even though he works as an FBI, he’s not all about work and solving cases – even though that is a big part of it. He is very down to earth and altogether just very likable as a character. When you have two amazingly interesting characters and you put them together, believe me when I say, masterpiece happens.

LANA: Your boxers are comfortable.
LOGAN: You’re wearing them? Didn’t know I left them behind.
LANA: I figured you did it on purpose. So you’d have a reason to come back.
LOGAN: Already got a reason to come back.
LANA: Now you have two…

It cracks me up every time they tease each other back and forth like that. And being that both of them has been out of the dating field for a while, there are moments when they are both really awkward towards each other and that makes them even more lovable as characters.

Not only that, while reading this book, I also notice that the story was going at a very fast pace. And I usually don’t mind the pacing as long as the writer knows what they are doing, but with how quickly the plot is going, I find it hard to get into the book. Especially when it comes to Lana and Logan, it is just hard to believe how quickly they cozy up to each other. Moreover, throughout this book, I find myself having a hard time connecting with the characters. As I gravitate more towards authors that spend time building the connection between their readers and their characters.

Would I Recommend ? 

At a first glance, I wasn’t sure if I want to start this book, seeing that I have been binge reading really dark and twisted books lately, I worry that this isn’t dark enough for me. But because this series come highly recommended from a friend, I decided to give it a try. And sadly, it ends up kind of meh for me. Make no mistake though, this book is highly enjoyable and I had a lot of fun reading it, it just that for some reason doesn’t seem to have a lot of substance to it, at least in this book.

Even though a lot of readers say this is a “dark” book, there is nothing dark to it romance wise. I think what they mean as “dark” is more towards revenge dark. Surely, the story will be more interesting in the second book onwards, but I am not sure if I will continue to read this series. For now, I will put this series on hold. I will definitely get back to reading it when I feel like reading something lighter.

So for those of you who are looking to read some action packed crime books with some steamy romance in it, definitely check this series out.