Review: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2) by Diana Gabaldon
Publication Date: July 1, 1992
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 743
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For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland's majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones...about a love that transcends the boundaries of time...and about James Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his ....

Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire's spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart ...in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising...and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves....

The second Outlander book picks up not only right after the first one ends, but also twenty years in the future. That doesn't sound possible now does it? The beginning picks up twenty years later. Claire has returned to the land that she had once fell in love with, Scotland with her grown daughter. At some point Claire had returned to her time, back to Frank pregnant. Frank made Claire promise that as long as he lives she won't tell their daughter, Brianna, who her real father is. Now it wasn't made clear to me if Frank ever believed her story or not. Just that he's not the biological father of the baby. But with the passing of Frank, Claire knows it's time to tell Brianna the truth.

Claire seeks out Roger, the adopted nephew of the Reverend, the close friend of Frank's in the first book. She wants him to find out what happened to a list of Scottish warriors. In their search, Claire makes a devastating discovery that could change everything. She then reveals the truth to her daughter, and tells her and Roger her journey through time. This is where the book picks up from the last one. Jamie and Claire are in Paris pretending to be Jacobites to prevent the Highlanders from going to war. 

Although I did love this book, I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one. I've heard many complaints about how long the book is, and how a lot of it could be cut out. But that's one of the things I love about these books. We get to see their everyday lives, and it seems more realistic. Like you are right there with them. I do have to admit the beginning with them being in Paris kind of moved slow. Maybe it's just my bias towards Scotland, but the scenes placed there were my favorite.

I didn't think my love for Jamie could grow after the first book. But once again I was wrong. We saw Jamie and Claire grow as a couple. They weren't perfect, they had their ups and downs, arguments, and then there was even a few situations you weren't sure they could work through. Their love is realistic. You don't just fall in love and then happy ever after, you have to work for it.

Trying to change history isn't an easy task. And with a few surprising discoveries, they aren't sure if they can. But  with a twist of turns of events we discovered why Claire went back to her own time. I thought that at some point the story would go back to the present time and Claire and Brianna would venture back to Jamie's time, and was kind of disappointed that they didn't.

Like the first book, I thought this was just amazing. The same conflicts show up in this one as well, violence and rape. If you can't handle those subjects this isn't the series for you. Also the Scottish dialect is used and sometimes took me a few times to read a sentence to understand.

Rating: 4/5

Teaser Tuesday 27

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Want to play along?

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers
• Share the title and author

I know, I know, it's been months since I've done one of these. I always remember the day after. To make up for lost time I will post a few teasers.

The first one comes from Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon, the second novel in her Outlander series. I just finished this one today, and I absolutely love me some Jamie Frasier.

“I will find you," he whispered in my ear. "I promise. If I must endure two hundred years of purgatory, two hundred years without you - then that is my punishment, which I have earned for my crimes. For I have lied, and killed, and stolen; betrayed and broken trust. But there is the one thing that shall lie in the balance. When I shall stand before God, I shall have one thing to say, to weigh against the rest."

This next one comes from On the Edge by Ilona Andrews. I've only read the first book, but I can't wait to read more of the series.

"Go brush your teeth, comb your hair, put on dry clothes, and get the guns. We're going to Wal-Mart.”

 

Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon
Publication Date: June 1, 1991
Publisher: Delta
Number of Pages: 627
Format: Paperback
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Unrivaled storytelling ... unforgettable characters ... rich historical detail ... these are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon's work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured millions of readers.

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.

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.

I only have one word...AMAZING! This book blew me out of the water. I had a friend that told me about the series a few years ago right after I discovered the Fever and Highlander series by Karen Marie Moning. It's been on my tbr list ever since, even though I have had others tell me how amazing the series is. I just never got around to reading it. Finally I made that my goal this year. And now I'm wondering why the hell did this book sit on my tbr list for three years?! I could smack myself.

Claire Randall and her husband Frank have pretty much been separated for the past six years during the war. Finally reunited they are taking a holiday in Scotland-where they got married. Frank is a historian of a sort and is trying to trace his family back, and learn more about Captain Jack Randall. Clare stumbles upon a mini version of Stonehedge, and walking through it she is suddenly taken back almost 200 years to 1743. The first person she runs into is Jack Randall, who she first mistakes for Frank. Before Jack could attack her, she is saved by some Highland warriors who take her back to their land, the MacKenzies.

The book takes some time getting used to, with it written in a lot of Scottish dialect and even how Claire phrases words since she is from 1945. And at the first it's a little slow, and really didn't pick up until about 100 pages in. But once I got past the hump, I couldn't put it down. Felt so realistic and like I could be reading someone's diary. Claire is determined to get back to the standing rocks and go back to her own time and Frank. But it proves to be a problem time and time over. But when Claire is forced to marry Jamie Fraiser, the nephew of the cheiftan of the clan and outlaw, she wonders if she will ever get back home.

It's not long before Claire actually starts to fall in love with Jamie, and her heart torn into two. And oh Jamie...along with Claire you will fall in love with him. Even has some funny lines. It was easy to forget that he's a good five years younger than Claire; a very unusual twist to the story.

I've heard complaints about abuse and rape in this book. You have to remember what time this book is set in. And the abuse, for the most part isn't really. That was how they discipline. And it's not like they beat the crap out of the women or children. These issues didn't really bother me because I'm aware of how it was back then. And how it is written, somethings it reveals it never officially confirms. You have to read between the lines.

I fell in love with not only this book, but Jamie and Claire. And ever since I finished I've been dying to get back to the bookstore and get the second book.

Rating: 5/5

 

Review: Into the Dreaming by Karen Marie Moning

Into the Dreaming (Highlander #8) by Karen Marie Moning
Publication Date: April 24, 2012
Publisher: Delacote Press
Number of Pages: 253
Format: Hardback
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For the first time in hardcover, here is #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning’s novella Into the Dreaming, a tale of Highland fantasy, star-crossed lovers, and the timeless manipulation of the ancient, immortal Unseelie king. This is Moning at her romantic, funniest finest.

Free him from his ice-borne hell . . .

Stolen from his beloved home in the Highlands of Scotland, imprisoned in the Unseelie king’s dark, frosty kingdom, Aedan MacKinnon endured centuries of torture before becoming the icy, emotionless Vengeance, the dark king’s dispatcher of death and destruction in the mortal realm.

And in his century you both may dwell . . .

Aspiring romance novelist Jane Sillee has always believed that she was born in the wrong century, but she’s managed to make a decent enough life for herself—if only she could stop having those recurring dreams about a man too perfect to exist.

In the Dreaming you have loved him . . .

Haunted every night of her life by a devastatingly sexy Highlander who comes to her while she sleeps, Jane tries to write him out of her head and heart. As a child he protected her, as a woman he loves her.

Now in the Waking you must save him . . .

When an ancient tapestry bearing the likeness of her beloved Highlander arrives on her doorstep, Jane is whisked back in time to fifteenth-century Scotland, to the castle of Dun Haakon on the isle of Skye, where she is given one chance to save her dream lover . . . or lose him forever to the Unseelie king.

Caught in a deadly game between the light and dark courts of the Fae, Jane must find a way through the ice to the heart of her Highander. But will the love of one mortal woman be enough to defeat such ancient and ruthless immortal enemies?

As big of a fan I'm of KMM I can't believe it took me a year to buy this book. Especially since I've been dying to get my hands on it since before it was re published you couldn't even find the story anywhere. Not to mention all of the bonus material in it. The cover is absolutely beautiful. I've tagged the book with both Fever and Highlander tags because of some of the bonus material, it's has a little bit of everything.

The story itself is a very quick read and very cute. Not only did it feel good to read her work again, but to be back in the Highlander world. As long as Jane can remember she has had dreams of this Highlander warrior, which Jane can swear feels so real. But now she is swept back in time, and he doesn't remember who she is or even himself. To break the curse the Unseelie King has put on him, she must make him fall in love with her within the next month. I love the little twist in this short story, different from most PNR books. It's the female that is doing the seducing and chasing instead of the other way around. I knew going into the book that the fae mythology is slight different from her Fever series and even the later Highlander books, because at the time when she wrote it it was being published by a different publisher. None the less it's still a decent read.

On to the bonus material. Which is pretty much the main reason I was excited to get the book. The first one is a proposal for a never written book called Ghost of a Chance. It features the brother of Hawk from her first Highlander book Beyond the Highland Mist. After reading it I'm a sad it never got written. It sounds like it would be an awesome book. The second bonus feature is some deleted scenes from Kiss of the Highlander. As KMM explains originally when she write it, when Gwen goes back in time instead of confronting Drustan she fakes amnesia. Here we get a sense on how that part of the book played out.

The third and last Highlander bonus, and probably the biggest bonus content is the original draft for The Dark Highlander, or as KMM calls it The Dark Highlander Lite. It's a completely different story, and even has a different heroine, Elizabeth who happens to be a friend of Gwen. The draft itself is very good and would of made a good book. But it's lacking that darkness surrounding the real book. It's light and fluffy, but it did leave me interested and wouldn't mind reading the whole thing if it existed.

Now there's two bonus for the Fever world or well not really bonus. Since the book came out a few months before the Fever graphic novel, it contain a sneak peek of that with half of the arts still being in black and white. And then there's also included the first chapter of Darkfever. As a huge Fever fan not much that I hadn't seen before.

I think this book is an awesome introductory to both of her series. If you haven't read either or one or the other, this book is an excellent buy to get a taste. Even for a person who randomly picks it up, it will easily suck you in and make you wanting more of each series.

Rating: 4/5