This is one of those books that is proving hard for me to rate. While I was reading it I was completely engrossed, and I enjoyed every minute of the book. Normally that kind of reading experience would be an automatic four stars, but I find myself strangely resistant to giving this book four stars and it's hard to explain why. I think it comes down to the book's conclusion and the feeling it left me with when I turned the final page.

I don't want to give away too much, but Stranger in My Arms fairly begs for a comparison to the movie Sommersby. For those unfamiliar with either, the basic plotline is the widow, finally free of an unhappy marriage, who is unexpectedly faced with a husband seemingly come back from the grave. The reader/audience struggles throughout the story with questions about the husband's true identity as the widow begins to fall in love with the man she was formerly so relieved to lose. It's an intriguing plot, and I enjoyed it, but the author's final twist, for reasons I can't seem to explain, left me feeling slightly disappointed. Nevertheless, I always enjoy Lisa Kleypas and will continue to go to her whenever I'm looking for a few hours of escape. ( )

FROM THE BACK COVER:
A classic tale of sensuous deception and bold new beginnings, from the remarkable "New York Times" bestselling author Lisa Kleypas.

"Lady Hawksworth, you husband is not dead..."

With these words, Lara's life is turned upside down. Her unhappy, loveless marriage had ended when the Earl of Hawksworth was lost at sea. But now a man stands before her, virile and powerful, who says he is her missing husband, revealing secrets that only he would know. While this dark-eyed stranger closely resembles the earl, he is as attentive and loving as Hunter was cruel and cold, promising to make Lara his wife once again in every way. With every beat of her heart, she aches to believe that this remarkable man is who he claims to be. But is he truly the rake returned and reformed...or is Lara being seduced by a cunning impostor? ( )

Lara was a widow, or so she thought. Up until the day she received the unwelcome news that her husband Hunter, Earl of Hawksworth, had survived the shipwreck that had freed Lara from her loveless marriage. But, the Hunter who has returned to her does not act at all as he had and instead woos Lara with an affection she had never dared dream of. Is he in fact, a changed man or could he be a doppelganger with a nefarious secret? And a bigger question, does Lara really want to know the truth?

Once again Lisa Kleypas has taken a storyline which may sound familiar and cliché and fleshed it out into an entrancing fast moving tale to keep you guessing. Although I won't say Lara is my favorite Kleypas heroine, being a bit too pious for my taste, I couldn't totally dislike her. Hunter as the hero and the secondary character of Johnny more than took up any slack in the interest level of this story for me. Stranger in my Arms is another wonderful Kleypas novel and I do believe any of her stories are must reads for lovers of historical romance. ( )