Outlander

I lied. So sue me.

Way back in November of 2009, I got the book Outlander for free on my Kindle. It took me over two years and some strong-arming from some Romance reading ladies on GoodReads to read it, but I finally did last week.

Boy Howdy. I thought I hated romance novels (a single incident of opening one of my mom's trashy novels and seeing all the "throbbing members" and "heaving bosoms" running around unchecked scarred me for life). I thought I would hate this one. I couldn't have been more wrong.

There are some steamy sex scenes, but nary a "throbbing member" and a single "heaving bosom" keep it from triggering flashbacks.

The gist of the book is this:

Claire Randall travels back in time to 1743 (from 194-something) after stepping through the cleft rock in a mini-Stonehenge. She gets taken hostage by Scottish rogues and quickly proves her worth as a healer (hard earned knowledge from being a nurse during the war surely helped there). Shenanigans ensue, she gets together with Jamie Fraser, one of the hottest fictional characters ever. Tall, ginger (I've got a thing for gingers), Scottish, well built, blue eyed, warrior Jamie *drool*.

More shenangians stemming from the simple fact that Jamie is an outlaw with a price on his head. They get married, they have lots of steamy sex, more shenanigans. Oh, and did I mention that since Claire is from the future she knows that Bonnie Prince Charlie is coming, bringing about the slaughter of ridiculous numbers of clansmen?

Add in some inter-clan politics, a deranged British officer with a tendency towards sadism, and Claire's inner struggle to determine if she should go back to her husband in the 1940s and you've got a winner.

If you're one that blushes at the mention of a female ankle, don't read this book in public. If you're like me and cry at the least provocation from books/movies (stupid Maxwell House commercials get me every time), then keep the last half of the book for strictly home reading. Unless you don't mind having people think you're in the middle of some kind of breakdown.