Summary from TLC Book Tours ~
Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and history that combines exhilarating adventure with a love story for the ages….
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.
Who hasn’t heard of this series? I had! Who hadn’t read at least the first book in the series? I hadn’t. And then I received an e-mail from Lisa of TLC Book Tours inviting me to read/review Outlander: A Novel for the August/September book blog tour. Of course I accepted! While waiting for my review copy to arrive in the mail I realized I already owned it… on my Kindle. Which is a good thing because even the smaller sized review copy that arrived in the mail a few days later proved to be bulky and cumbersome.
The story focuses on Claire Beauchamp Randall. A modern woman in 1945 post-war England. She is on her honeymoon, for a second blissful time, in Scotland with her beloved husband Frank. One evening, while in search for a specific plant one evening, she unknowingly steps through a standing of stones (not unlike Stonehenge) and finds herself in curious place. She has traveled back in time to 1743 and a Scotland very alien to the one she had been visiting moments before. Hijinks and adventure ensue for Claire and she is taken in (taken being the operative word) by a clan of Scotsmen who soon learn that her knowledge of medicinal treatments make Claire a special find. Difficulties and challenges arise for our heroine and the most curious one is having to marry (for traditional reasons, a woman just can’t not be married in those times) a young Scotsman, Jamie Fraser. Torn between the reality in her “regular life” of being married to her dear Frank and having to marry Jamie, a man Claire finds herself having feelings for, Claire must figure out how to live in this old world. There is so much to the story of Outlander! So much has been said about it over the last two decades so I will end my little summary of the story of Claire and Jamie here.
Galbadon’s writing is wonderful. It’s no wonder there are seven novels in the Outlander series so far it’s one of the most popular book series out there. Outlander won the RITA Award for “Best romance novel” of 1991 and that was just the beginning of the praise Galbadon’s books would receive. You don’t have to wonder why it won when you read it. Her characters are vivid and interesting. The plots are fun and thrilling. I may read more of the books in this series but I haven’t even read the rest of the books in the Twilight series and I own all of them. There are just so many good books out there to read and not enough time to get to them all.
{Rating ~ 4 out of 5}
Thanks to Lisa & TLC Book Tours for the invitation to read/review Outlander! I look forward to reading what other book bloggers on the August/September tour have to say about Outlander and the newest book in the series, An Echo In The Bone.
Planet Books 
YAY!! I’m glad you enjoyed the book! It’s definitely a chunkster but what a story!!
Thanks so much for being on the tour. We really appreciate it!
Thanks for inviting me Lisa! I always appreciate and enjoy participating in TLC Book Tours.
The other books are well worth the time investment! The audio books… they are fantastic too.
i love to listen on audiobooks while travelling on a bus, i could learn a lot from it while travelling -,:
who framed roger rabbit jessica rabbit,