Harbinger of Books

Stranger is my Arms is a story of a women whose husband who she assumed was dead has returned. Their marriage was not a happy one and she has found a place for herself with the elderly and orphans, needless to say now that she learns her husband is alive was not cheery news. Everyone questions whether her husband is who he says he is including his wife.

This was a really interesting premise but in the end it really did not work for me. Lara the wife baffled me, here we have this independent smart woman but then she allows her uncle-in-law (what happened to her family?? I thought widows went home to their own family) anyway the uncle-in-law treats her like crap and she lives in substandard housing but hey it is ok because she is independent. She is a pest because she is always begging on behalf of the orphans, even with her husband, Hunter, she will only kiss him if he does something for her. Talk about manipulation I felt bad for the guy. The author really did try to make me feel for her with stories of her kindness but seriously if you are not taking care of your family first then everything else is a sham. She decides to adopt a child without even a conversation with her husband. Bottom line is that I just never connected with Lara. Moving onto the husband Hunter, he was ok, I mean from the start you think something is fishy about him but I thought he was quite considerate and very kind. He tried to be there for his wife without pressing her including accepting the orphaned kid. Things just got a little out of control where I think he does a little to much for Lara.

On the plot front there are some inconstancies that I just did not understand For example how does a man learn about his wife when the husband hated her? I mean where does he get the information? Then Lara never noticed the tattoo on his arm but she was intimate with him on several occasions? Finally at the end Lara totally tells the uncle-in-law, a man that treated her so badly and bankrupted the estate, that her husband is an imposter, this man Hunter that she is love with, who funds your precious orphanage and saved your sister, Lara tells everyone he is a fake knowing he will hang…

The book is not awful the writing is actually quite good, but the plot just did not work for me.