Chelsea Campion stumbles across a naked man washed up on the shore of the island she retreated to in shame so many years ago.  Her author’s imagination immediately comes up with all kinds of stories about him, but she won’t know if any of them are true, because the stranger seems to have lost his memory. 

Her mother is trying to force her into a hateful marriage.  Chelsea comes up with a plan to seduce the nameless stranger in order to get an heir for the family, and to get out of the plans her mother has made.  But what Chelsea wasn’t expecting was to find herself falling for him.

In When a Stranger Loves Me, the plan to beget an heir on a man with amnesia is not especially sympathetic, but Ms. MacLean covers her bases and makes sure there are consequences for everyone’s actions.  Blake, the amnesiac man, has a complicated character and the reconciling of his personality before and after losing his memory is handled well.  Overall, what could have turned into a horrible moral quandary, turns into a beautiful love story and an exciting adventure.