Stranger in My Arms

A common trope in romance novels is the hero and husband of the heroine have a less than ideal marriage, he goes away for several years until he's presumed dead, and then he magically reappears. I used to think this was a pretty unique premise, but I now know of three different authors who have done this, all quite differently. Apparently, it's not that uncommon! Unfortunately, this book didn't really deliver, in my opinion. Stranger in My Arms is full of misogyny, some racism, and even more tired tropes than the resurrected husband figure.

When I first met Lara, I was told she sacrificed her own comfort for those less fortunate than her. She cares deeply about orphans, children in general, and anyone sick or injured. I really hoped she show more would evolve into a more dynamic character. Sadly, she never does. Haunted by an unloving and neglectful marriage, Lara doesn't want anything to do with Hunter when he returns from India. In a way, her rejection of his sexual advances is progressive. She exerts her desires (or lack thereof) with confidence. That said, she often comes off as self-righteous, to the point where she is quite critical of anyone who doesn't live as sanctimonious of a life as she does.

This is most evident when we meet Hunter's old mistress. Lady Carlyle is considered as less ideal than Lara because she is independent, preferring to have men on her own terms instead of marrying them. She likes masculine pursuits like hunting and hawking. Additionally, she's tall and described as "mannish". Yet, if a reader looks deeper, we see a woman who loves a man with similar interests, a man who is then pushed into a marriage with a woman he doesn't love, who then dies in a shipwreck, and when he returns to the land of the living, rejects her outright. Lady Carlyle is not as pure as Lara, but she doesn't deserve to be ridiculed.

Additionally, all of the women in this story who aren't Lara are repeatedly disparaged. They're compared to the heroine and constantly coming up wanting. Even Lara's own sister is described as the "less interesting sister" when she's deathly ill. Hunter's own mother is described as outlandish, and Lara clearly considers her as not maternal enough. Finally, Janet is considered a "creature" for constantly saying nasty things. Which, she does, but there is a grain of truth to them. Overall, I don't mind a heroine who is "pure" and "innocent", but I don't like being preached to that those are the most desirable qualities in a woman and that a woman who's anything else deserves her unhappiness.

The racism part of this books gets a little trickier. Please note, I am a white woman, and so my response to these elements are colored by my white experience. I understand that authors sometimes want to set a particular tone and to be "historically accurate", and so sometimes their characters will say things like "that's barbaric" when learning about another culture's customs. And yet, there are enough times that I, as a reader, looked at the text and wondered "is this necessary? what point is this trying to make? who is this serving?". There are times when Kleypas paints Indian culture in a respective light, but there are also times when the turmoil is meant to be an exotic backdrop and to provide additional depth to the hero's character, rather serving any real substance.

Yes, this is historical romance, so things like petticoats and reputations and women being unable to hold jobs is a staple, and if it's disregarded, the story feels disingenuous. However, this is also a fantasy, and if we can have a husband who respects the word "no" and a man who has never worked with money before suddenly knows how to make sound investments to triple their income in 3 months, then we can have characters with more forward thinking attitudes about cultures different from England's.

Overall, this book doesn't offer anything unique while being painfully moralizing. This book was trying to make me adopt a dozen poor orphans, but all it really made me want to do was wish the hero divorced the heroine and left her to be poor, since that's what she clearly wanted. Then, she wouldn't feel so guilty for being a hypocrite. show less

I've been reading through the Kleypas oeuvre and this is the first one I've encountered that, as a writer, I found intriguing enough to write about here. What do I mean? Well, the heroine is hard to like or even relate to. She's an inconsistent person, deeply sensitive to the suffering of others, but this is combined with a complete lack of self-awareness (or self-preservation) and worse, to parse complex ethical situations consistently (what she wants to do for her sister vs how she copes with Hunter). Yes, she was hurt in her first marriage, but golly, she sounds like such a wetsop. It's hard. (And yes, I can't help but think the love triangle is based on the Camilla, Diana, Charles scenario.)
While it's dangerous, in terms of show more pleasing faithful readers (who do and don't want the exact same story every time) to create an unlikeable main woman character in a novel about love and romance--Madame Bovary comes to mind, if that's not over-reaching. I can't say much without spoiling but the ethical issue that arises around the returned Hunter, is again not in the least bit simplistic and several characters have to make difficult decisions based on what they feel is best for everyone in Hunter's orbit--his community. The point of writing this is to say that Kleypas as a writer was going a little out on a limb and I admire her for daring to do something difficult in the generally tight choreography of the genre. **** show less

I have read and re-read this book multiple times and it has never failed to entertain me. I love the story and to be honest, I have read at least once in each book cover design.

This is a very unique story, I thought and I never expected the twist in the end when it was revealed who the real Hunter was. When it was revealed that the stranger was Hunter’s half brother, I felt that it was a little bit unsettling to a certain extent but I still enjoyed reading this story.

The story starts off with the family solicitor announcing that Hunter, the Earl of Hawksworth was not dead as was originally thought of a year ago. Apparently, Hunter was the only survivor of the ship he was on when he was in India leaving behind Lara a widow. Hunter show more and Lara’s marriage was a typical one of that era, arranged and without love. However, it left Lara hurt and disillusioned with her building a wall around her heart and devoting herself in charity endeavors. Hunter, on the other hand, continued his scandalous relationship with a widow without any regard to Lara’s feelings. To top it off, Lara was unable to bear any children which was the only reason Hunter married her.

With Hunter dead and with no issue, his title went to his cousin and his wife who did not treat Lara well and in the span of a year, nearly bankrupted the whole family. Of course, the couple did not take kindly to this new development and vowed to expose Hunter to the fraud that he really is. Incidentally, Hunter’s mother was touring the continent so they couldn’t ask her to identify him for the time being. Since the solicitor and the family doctor, and even one of his closest friend (who was married to Lara’s sister), and even Lara (with doubts) vouched for his identity, he was able to reclaim his legacy.

Naturally, it is not revealed in the story if the stranger is really Hunter but from his actions alone, one would guess that something was not right. Most especially Lara, since the return of her husband brought about changes in his demeanor and treatment toward her. In fact, Hunter had changed and this time, he wanted his marriage with Lara to work. Lara, who had built a wall around her heart started to believe that this would be a second chance at finding love at last and appeared to ignore the obvious changes in her husband.

I love the sparks that flew between Lara and Hunter. I liked that this Hunter was doing his best to make up for his supposedly transgressions before he left for India. I also liked that the author focused on those little things that made Lara fall in love again with her husband despite her suspicion and misgivings.

I also fell in love with Hunter, well the new Hunter. Because he was a bastard and he wanted to live the kind of life his brother, the real Hunter took for granted. Both men had met in India when the new Hunter (it was never revealed in the book what his real name is) confronted his half brother who was being a jerk as always. The new Hunter was desperate to find out his real family and he snooped around and managed to read his brother’s journals and Lara’s letters to the real Hunter. Stealing a locket that Lara gave Hunter before he left for India, he started to become a little bit obsessed with Lara.

Despite the creepiness of Hunter’s desire to take over another person’s life, I thought this story was perfectly executed. In fact, the theme did not feel creepy or disturbing at all and I love it! I will definitely be re-reading this book again!

Originally posted on my blog I Heart Romance show less

Lara is married to a man who has been declared dead. Before he died she had not seen him for years because he left for India. When a man shows up claiming to be her husband she's not immediately convinced. She takes her place as his wife and life becomes so much better for her. The author does a great job of keeping us unsure. Is it him? Is it an impostor?

I found Lara to be a bit wishy washy but enjoyed the overall plot of the book.

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 show more 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. show less

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, show more 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. show less

This wasn’t as good as the Ravenls or Bow Street Runner Series. Hunter the Earl of Hawksworth is presumed dead after having gone missing for 3 years. Lady Lara Hawksworth is not unhappy about being a widow since she likes being independent and was in a loveless marriage to a brute. He turns up but she doesn’t believe it’s really the Earl even though he looks like him and has knowledge only that he could have. He claims to have changed by his experiences in India. He’s loving, agrees to let her adopt an orphan she fond of, is managing the estates finances better, and rescues her sister from an abusive husband.

She still has doubts about his authenticy and is falling in love with him; but when she hears evidence from a neighbor of show more his real identity and believes him, she goes to the authorities because it’s the right thing to do even though it would be sentencing him to life in prison.

Spoiler: The Dowager has a long talk with her the night before the trial. show less