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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was my first read by Kleypas & I really enjoyed it, April 27, 2000
This review is from: Stranger in My Arms (Mass Market Paperback)
Using the premise of the famous "Sommersby" movie, but set in Regency England, STRANGER IN MY ARMS tells the tale of a woman married to a horror of a man who's been lost at sea and is presumed dead. When he returns she is shocked and upset. She's made a new life for herself and does not want him back. But the man who returns to her is a changed one, he's kinder, he's honorable, he acts like he genuinely cares for her, and he awakens feelings in her she never had for her husband. He's now a man she could easily fall in love with. But is he an imposter and is everything they're building based on a lie? I thought this was a very romantic and sensual story. It had a strong, lovable hero and a heroine who was easy to empathize with but in all honesty some of her actions/reactions mystified me. She was a smart, self-sufficient person but she let her nasty Uncle and his abhorrant wife treat her like dirt without a word of complaint. She was also a bit of a tease throughout most of the book. Her "kiss me", "touch me" then "no, wait I've changed my mind stop NOW" made sense the first few times considering her past sexual experiences but quickly got on my nerves when it was continually repeated. She really tortured this poor guy ;) Even though I saw Sommersby I found this spin on the plot just as interesting and liked it even better because it ended happily. I cared about the characters, felt them fall in love and was only a little annoyed towards the end when their actions didn't ring true to their feelings. All in all this was a very well developed and a touching romance. I really enjoyed it.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
5 star hero, 1 star heroine, October 28, 2008
It pains me to give only 3 stars to a book with such a wonderful hero. Hunter is everything you could want. Loving, strong, patient and devoted to Lara. He longs for her tenderness and love, but she has none to give him. Lara is a cold heroine. Worse she is an annoying one.
All right so you used to dislike having sex with your husband. After 200 pages of woe-is-me, get over it already. Hunter tries to woo her with gentleness and she won't budge. The author goes into way too much detail about Lara's charities and kindnesses in an effort to make her sympathetic, but it doesn't work. Enough with the orphans, the sick and the matchmaking already. She's the epitome of the person who's charitable in public and treats her own family like dirt in private. Poor Hunter. He's reduced to bargaining for just 1 night with his wife in return for hosting a costly ball for yet another of her charities. Lara is indignant that he won't help for free and is using this chance to satisfy his disgusting manly needs. Grudgingly she agrees and even then she tries to welsh by shoving her husband's ex-mistress at him.
Finally hero and heroine hit the sheets, and Lara finds sex with Hunter is a good thing. She claims to love him. I'm hoping things will pick up in the romance department. Then Lara finds out (*spoilr*) that Hunter's an impostor and denounces him, knowing he will be tried and hung. With love like this, who needs enemies? She goes to see him to demand an explanation for his lies. He tells her about his miserable childhood and life. She barely sympathizes, she's all woe-is-me. Then, still knowing he is likely to hang, she tells him self-righteously that she won't lie for him. At this point I'm ready to bang the wall. The book ends with a HEA of course, but she never apologizes for anything. There's no redeeming the coldest heroine this side of Cruella DeVille. Hunter deserved so much better.
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62 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'LL CHERISH THIS EXTRAORDINARY BOOK 'TILL MY DYING DAY !!!!, June 24, 2001
This review is from: Stranger in My Arms (Mass Market Paperback)
I luuuv Lisa Kleypas to pieces. I've read & kept all 16 of her novels. Everytime I finish 1, I'd sigh & think this is her best. Then I'd consume another & say she's outdone herself once again. Before I encountered SIMA, my favorites were Love, Come To Me, Forever My Love, Midnight Angel & Somewhere I'll find you, but this 1 takes the cake. It has the most romantic story & compelling characters ever penned (right up there alongside Lucia Grahame's The Painted Lady). U can't compare Jodie Foster - Richard Gere's corpse & corpse chemistry (in Sommersby) to Hunter & Lara's intense sexual tension. Meet Hunter, the lustiest & sexiest man alive (oh well in romance fiction anyway) that'll make U swoon (have your smelling salts handy). In my biased opinion, he's the most exceptional, unforgettable, adorable, fascinating, passionate, gentle, loving, charming, dashing, wondrous, sensual hero ever created (did I leave anything out ? =P). Lara, a burned heroine with a heart of gold!, was reduced to a mixed state of confusion, misery & sexual daze whenever Hunter was in the vicinity. She's understandably frigid after the painful beddings she endured from her insensitive husband in the past. She resented the fact that just when she had her independence, here comes her long-lost husband to wreak havoc on her life. Lara desperately wanted to believe that Hunter's really a changed man -as he claimed to be- who'd never hurt her again (in & out of bed) & not a chameleon. Hunter was hopelessly entranced by his wife & tried his damnedest to convince her that somehow a second chance was being given to them to rediscover love & trust. Like Lara, I also fell in love with Hunter more with every page I devoured (done 'bout 101 times already), for his unwavering determination to break down her barricade & ice-melting ways to weaken her senses. Hats off to Lara too for not giving in too easily. She panicked at the thought of fulfilling her bargain to make love to her hu!sband after midnight. She put her desperate plan to divert Hunter's amorous attentions into gear by inviting Hunter's former mistress to the ball. Her outrageous scheme backfired & pushed an enraged Hunter over the edge. He finally took matters into his own hands & my oh my... that scalding HOT stairwell scene & the ones that followed were nuthin' short of breathtaking (gulp !) & guaranteed to curl your hair, toes & fingers (yes, really). Ms. Kleypas has really brought her trademark erotic scenes 100 notches higher here. The dramatic chapters at the end were heartsplitting & what a beautiful ending (sniff) !. Words can't do justice to what U'd feel when U finally put this sensational classic down on your bedside table. I never wanted the pages to end then & there. I'd be the happiest woman on earth if Ms. Kleypas'd be so kind as to include Hunter & Lara in 1 of her upcoming books (wistful sigh) !
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