Review: Faith is Fearless: Normal is Overrated

Faith is Fearless: Normal is Overrated by D. Pichardo-Johansson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was gifted this book by a different author.

Fe Hernandez is a speech therapist, specialising in children. Despite what some might view as a difficult life she is eternally optimistic. Her only rule is that she will never ever date a doctor again.

Dr Shawn McDevitt seems to have everything anyone could ever want, but seems eternally dissatisfied. After his wife was murdered his son disappeared for a year and now appears to be developmentally stunted, perhaps on the autism scale. His father never stops criticising him, and praising his rivals, his peers dislike him and he's lonely. When he accidentally ploughs his bike into a beautiful woman in the park one day he is entranced and intrigued by her sunny outlook and gorgeous looks but devastated when he finds out she will never date a doctor, even worse when he finds out they actually work at the same hospital. But fate is with him and he is referred to Fe as a therapist who might be able to help his son.

Swirling around the romance and the therapy are professional rivalries, the mystery of Shawn's wife's death and the little matter of threatening letters that he keeps receiving.

This read to me like an old 1980s romance where the man is a big important doctor and the little woman has a caring profession like nurse or nanny and is totally self-sacrificing. Shawn has no clue how to look after his son and spends all hours at the hospital whereas Fe is deeply nurturing and caring, despite wearing skin-tight clothing and skyscraper heels (which I would have thought were impractical when working with children but what do I know).

I have to admit I was very close to DNFing this book, especially when Shawn kept referring to himself as a physician and such a catch that women threw themselves at him, not just women but gold-diggers. See why I thought it was a reprint of an older book? Also, why are female friends in al these books so god-awful? Fe's friends were ghastly.

But I persevered and overall it was an enjoyable romance but I think there were maybe a few too many plots swirling around.

Also, some interesting views on the way that the medical profession is quick to label people/ children as on the autism spectrum when there may be other contributing factors to development issues. I liked that and I would love to have seem more of Fe's work and less of Shawn's political dramas at the hospital.

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