I just finished this book and was wondering--- could you love a man with that big of a secret about his past? and could you live the lie for the rest of your life?

Hmmm, I dunno.  What happens in most romances is so far off from anything resembling real life to me, I usually take things pretty much at face value.

I didn't like this book much, so it's hard to decide.  I think it was her idea of Sommersby (which was basically a remake of something else), with a happy ending.  In any case, she flubbed it up by putting a sanctimonious, TSTL heroine in it and having her make a moral choice - which really didn't end up being a moral choice at all, but rather the vengeful act of a TSTL idiot.  In either scenario, my own inclination would probably have been to shut up & let the "better man" have the spoils, but of course it would make for a much shorter book, so I suppose Kleypas decided it was better to flub it than to write a short story:P

what's TSTL?  I'm thinking too stupid to live maybe?

yes Karen, that is exactly what it means