Fearless

February 24, 2020
A new relationship throws a woman’s family into danger in this soapy, melodramatic romance from Michaels (the Sisterhood series). Widow Anna Campbell, a popular 41-year-old lifestyle vlogger from Lubbock, Tex., goes on a singles cruise to find romance and escape a stalker. But when she wakes up in another passenger’s cabin with no memory of their sexual encounter, she ends her trip early. Back home, she visits a hypnotist and learns that her night with widower Ryan Robertson, a mathematics professor, fellow Texan, and fan of Anna’s videos, was consensual. She reaches out to him and they quickly fall into a relationship. When they agree to meet each other’s children, Anna is disturbed by Ryan’s 13-year-old daughter’s aggression, his college-bound son’s cryptic sullenness, and Ryan’s harsh criticism of them both. But she ignores her doubts and invites them to a barbecue that ends tragically when Anna’s 13-year-old daughter falls down the stairs under mysterious circumstances, landing her in the hospital and leading Anna to question her attachment to Ryan as his family’s dark past haltingly comes to light. Readers will need to suspend both disbelief and judgment to accept Anna’s initial blithe disregard of warning signs and the Lifetime movie theatrics of the plot. Late-book twists are effectively shocking, but unearned and unconvincing. This is an easy one to skip.