Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Title: Outlander
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Release Date:  June 1, 1991
Publisher: Dell
Pages: 850
Format: Paperback
Acquired: Bought
Age Group: Adult
Challenge: None
Rating: 5 Stars

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives

My 11th grade English teacher actually recommended this book to me and I wasn't sure because it was so thick and big. I read so it wasn't a big deal for me, and I read it on the way back from St. Louis. I have not regretted it since.

Claire is so independent and so real. I love how much control in dangerous situation she has, but I guess being a combat nurse you would have to be. I love how she adepts so well, because I can promise that if I were sent back two hundred years I would freak out. And she is super smart too, especially in times when women were suppressed.

And Jamie. I am in love with Jamie. When I read this all I wanted to do was go to Scotland, fall through some stones circles, wake up in 1743, and find Jamie Fraser. As much as I thought Frank and Claire make a good pair, they were just too different from each other. Jamie is a strong soldier, who also happens to have a price on his head. He's honest, strong willed, and the most loyal husband I have ever read about.

The entire book is just full of description and the story doesn't go unbelievably fast or unbelievably slow either and there is action everywhere you look. Jamie's godfather creeps me out, but I'm glad he's there. Fraser's are a stubborn lot. Black Jack should have scared me, but instead I felt almost bad for him. Almost.

And, for those who love history, this starts from before the Battle of Culloden, which I actually didn't know about until I read the second book in the series.

While the book is huge, once you start you'll fly right through it. I read this in three days, especially now that there's still time in the summer.

Romance, adventure, time travel, dysfunctional families, history, and the hottest man in a kilt you'll ever meet. This book is highly recommended.