2012 Outlander Series Reading Challenge, Sign up now!

It’s that time of year again Sassenachs! Time to sign up for the Outlander Reading Challenge 2012! This is the time of year where all my fellow readers begin looking for new year reading challenges and book clubs and unlike last year, I am getting an early start and spreading the word about the Outlander Series Reading Challenge that I am hosting again this year. This is the second annual Outlander Series Reading Challenge, last year was my first year hosting the challenge and after great success I decided to host it again this year!

I will be changing the format slightly from last years style. Last year I just read and posted my reviews while commenting on other participants review, I also had a discussion forum where I just posted general questions. This year I will be sending out discussion questions to keep you all thinking about Outlander and our beloved Jamie ! Answer the questions, don’t answer the questions, it’s entirely up to you! You can be as active or non active in this challenge as you want to be. The weekly discussion questions will be a new way to keep people actively interested, thinking about, and reading the series.

Here is the info if you want to sign up and please spread the love by grabbing the button!

Grab the button by copy/pasting the code to your blog from the Outlander Series Reading Challenge button on the main page:

For details and official sign up go to the 2012 Outlander Series Reading Challenge page by clicking here. Continue reading “2012 Outlander Series Reading Challenge, Sign up now!”

Review: An Echo in the Bone (Outlander #7) by Diana Gabaldon

I am JUST NOW getting around to blogging about the last book in the Outlander series, An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon. I completed the book on the way back from Aruba….surprisingly, I didn’t read much while I was on vacation. I was SURE that I would finish at least two books while there….I was lucky to finish the one we were so busy!

Then when we came back from vacation I was busy blogging about our trip so it’s taken me a few days to muster the energy to blog about AEITB :). But at any rate here you have it….I have finished the last book in the series and the Outlander Reading Challenge that I have been hosting.

When I started the Outlander Reading Challenge, I was sure it would take me the better part of a year to finish the series and then as I got into it I know that would not be the case….I KNEW I would finish them in relatively rapid succession.

Though after the first four books I felt like I needed a mental break from the emotional roller-coaster I couldn’t WAIT to know what happened next so I just pushed through the emotions and kept reading. I am so glad I did because the books just kept getting better and better but then again I was sad that I read them all back to back because now I have nothing to look forward to…..except the next book which I hear won’t be out until 2012 or 2013…..I don’t know what I am going to do between now and then. Continue reading “Review: An Echo in the Bone (Outlander #7) by Diana Gabaldon”

Review: A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6) by Diana Gabaldon

Lots of things have happened over the last few weeks since I finished The Fiery Cross but I have now I finally finished Book VI in the Outlander Series, A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon!

I have to say, I am completely agog at how much happens in one single book!

I swear I have been reading the Outlander Series for about six or seven weeks now and everything seems to be running together.

I feel like all of the characters have come so far and changed so much since the first book, which I suppose is the concept of this really really really long story. I read somewhere Gabaldon plans at least two more novels….all I can say is WOW, she’s ambitious!

I am glad I bought The Outlandish Companion….I think I’m going to need it to keep everyone and all the sub-plots/characters straight!

ABOSAA picks up where the others left off (obviously) Brianna has finally adjusted to life in the 1700’s (more of less….) and life with Roger. Roger has found his calling–ministry which I found awfully ironic but rather fitting. Ian has returned form the Indians but he struggles to readjust to his ‘old life’ as he is rather changed by his various life experiences.

The Revolutionary War has begun with Jamie joining in the fight for freedom with Claire at his side. Claire is (as per usual) trying to save everyone with her medical knowledge. Stephen Bonnet, gets his ‘come-uppins’–along with his ‘man parts’–ultimately meeting their demise! Claire experiences every married woman’s worst nightmare–a young ‘jezebel’ who claims Jamie has fathered her baby. After said woman is murdered in Claire’s garden, Claire is promptly arrested, along with Jamie.

Between the murder accusations and arrest, tension in the colonies heats up to white hot temperatures forcing friends and families to declare their loyalty. While the political lines are being drawn for the Fraser family and friends of Fraser Ridge, Brianna and Roger are busy exercising their marital freedoms and soon there is another Fraser/MacKenzie baby in the making! However when the new edition arrives, she is born with a heart defect. Since Claire cannot fix it, even with her ether, Brianna and Roger are met with an unpresidented decision—stay and let her die or go back through the stones–I so didn’t see that one coming!  Continue reading “Review: A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6) by Diana Gabaldon”

Review: The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5) by Diana Gabaldon

I feel like it’s been forever since I posted last and I suppose it has, two weeks almost!

The last couple of weeks have been so crazy though, it’s a wonder I haven’t gone completely off the deep end yet! So I admit, I have been dragging my feet a little finishing up the latest Outlander installment, The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon for the Outlander Series Reading Challenge.

I have been entirely consumed by Outlander drama. One of the things I loved about FC was that Claire finally reflected on her time with Jamie and likened their relationship to sponge which just sucked her in–Claire I know EXACTLY how you feel LOL.

For the last six weeks or so I have been sucked into the world that is Outlander the soap opera and I’ll admit, maybe I should have taken a break between books IV and V as there was just so much going on and so many stories happening that I could have used the mental break to sort out and appreciate all that were going on.

But of course I couldn’t help my self and just kept reading right after Book IV. I did feel like FC went a little faster than the others in some ways and I liked that the story alternated between Claire’s, to Roger’s, to Jamie’s, and Brianna’s perspective/voices. I felt like I got a more broad sense of what was going on and it made me want to keep reading, especially when something happened and the character perspective changed–I wanted to hurry up and find out what happened! Overall through–break or not–the book was worth every chapter–as usual. Continue reading “Review: The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5) by Diana Gabaldon”

Review: Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) by Diana Gabaldon

I am cruising along through this series!

I just finished the fourth book in the Outlander Series: Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon.

When I started the Outlander Series Reading Challenge I had no idea I would be flying through these books like no other…..well I suspected but was not entirely convinced. I guess thats what being a book-a-holic is all about though and I should just go with it.

As I have mentioned before in my other posts, if you have not read the books up until this point, read ahead at your own risk….this review might contain spoilers.

Let’s get right in to the good stuff and talk about this amazing book!

So like the others in the series, Drums of Autumn (DOA) picks up right where the previous book Voyager left off with Claire and Jamie reuniting and making a safe landing in the Colonies after escaping the West Indies.

Both Jamie and Claire begin to settle down and fall right into a more or less a ‘domestic routine’. Jamie and Ian are working to build a house, farm, and on-site clinic for Claire. Claire is busy delivering babies and making house calls on those to sick to travel and of course there is lots of ‘mmmphmm’ happening all over the Carolina backwoods territory between Claire and Jamie.

There is also a new set of lovers in the series though….Roger and Brianna are now a ‘thing’ which adds a fun layer to the epic novel. Brianna and Roger are kind of on again/off again but basically love each other and are soul mates until Roger does the unthinkable–he doesn’t tell Bree about a newspaper notice he sees about Jamie and Claire’s death by fire! He is worried that Bree will try to go through the stones and find her mother and father and likely be lost to him forever so he decides to lie and not tell her but all the time he knows it’s not if but rather when he will be found out by Bree….and he is! Continue reading “Review: Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4) by Diana Gabaldon”