Outlander (Outlander, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Aug 03, 2014 Book Concierge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, movie, audio, historical-fiction, series, library, romance, concierge, strong-women

Audiobook performed by Davinia Porter

While on a holiday to the Scottish Highlands with her husband, WW2 combat nurse Claire Randall goes to a miniature henge to gather interesting plants. It’s there she hears an odd buzzing noise coming from the stones, and, thinking there is a bee hive nearby, she goes to investigate. But as soon as she touches the stone she hears a loud scream and feels instantly dizzy and disoriented. When she fully comes to, she discovers that she has somehow gone back in ti Audiobook performed by Davinia Porter

While on a holiday to the Scottish Highlands with her husband, WW2 combat nurse Claire Randall goes to a miniature henge to gather interesting plants. It’s there she hears an odd buzzing noise coming from the stones, and, thinking there is a bee hive nearby, she goes to investigate. But as soon as she touches the stone she hears a loud scream and feels instantly dizzy and disoriented. When she fully comes to, she discovers that she has somehow gone back in time some two hundred years to 1743. There she quickly reverts to her maiden name Beauchamp to avoid having the suspicious Highlanders thinking her in league with the English Captain Jonathan Randall. The Scotsmen she is taken by are part of the MacKenzie clan, and one young man, Jamie, has been hurt. She deals with his wounds as best she can, and thus begins their relationship.

What a rollicking good story! I had avoided this book for some time, despite several friends telling me they thought I’d enjoy it. Every time I looked at the synopsis and saw the time travel I was turned off. Just not my genre of choice. But I was surprised to find that I liked it. That’s not to say that it’s a great book, however. There are parts that are a tad too “bodice-ripper” for my taste; in fact, Gabaldon actually used the phrase “ripped my bodice” at least once. I also wasn’t too keen on the whole “I’ll beat you to punish you and then we’ll make mad passionate love” scenario. Are there young men and women reading this kind of stuff and thinking this is okay behavior?

One of my pet peeves is helpless females who need rescuing. So I was pretty irritated by Claire’s continued insistence on going off by herself despite being warned of the dangers of such behavior, and then having to be rescued “just in the nick of time” by Jamie. I mean, once should be enough to teach her the lesson. But this happens repeatedly. It’s really not until the last 100 pages or so that she is shown as a strong, resourceful woman.

So with all these issues, why did I give it four stars? Several reasons. Jamie and Claire are compelling characters. Gabaldon introduced the reader to a first impression, but then allowed their relationship to develop in a way that interested me and kept me reading. And the huge cast of supporting characters were just as interesting – Murtagh, Dougal, Colum, Geilie, Mrs Fitz, et al added color and depth. I was completely caught up in the story and wanted to see how it would end. Finally, Davinia Porter’s performance on the audio is wonderful. She is a gifted voice artist and could handle all the various characters, giving each one a unique voice so that I was never confused. Her skill rated a star all by itself.

I realize that this is just the first in a series, and I’m glad I finally read it, but I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of them any time soon. Still, you never know ...
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Jul 26, 2014 Krissy rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, i-want-to-stab-her-with-a-spork, cover-color-blue, virginal-hero, abuse, buddy-read, pgs-600-or-more, read-before-2015

**2015 Reading Challenge W/Josh: #1 A Book With More Than 500 Pages**

This book could have been amazing. If it were about 300 pages shorter. I enjoyed parts of it. The writing was superb though. I will give it that. And the narrator of the audiobook did a terrific job.

Everybody kept telling me that once you get past the first few chapters you'll get to a point where you can't put the book down. I found that not to be the case. There were certain parts that were exciting and kept me glued to the **2015 Reading Challenge W/Josh: #1 A Book With More Than 500 Pages**

This book could have been amazing. If it were about 300 pages shorter. I enjoyed parts of it. The writing was superb though. I will give it that. And the narrator of the audiobook did a terrific job.

Everybody kept telling me that once you get past the first few chapters you'll get to a point where you can't put the book down. I found that not to be the case. There were certain parts that were exciting and kept me glued to the pages. But they were few and far between. Because in between those handful of exciting parts were extremely long, sleep inducing boredom. Like, I was literally falling asleep in many parts. So the book was about 70% of the author droning on and on and on about nothing and 30% of enthralling excitement.

I never warmed up to Claire. Her quickness to turn against Frank and their vows kind of left a bad taste in my mouth from the beginning. Maybe it would have been different if the author didn't portray Frank to be a sweet and loving man in the beginning. I just felt really bad for him. Going into this book I knew it was going to happen but I just assumed she chose to be with Jaime because she was in love with him. Not the case. I understood why she had to marry Jaime at the time despite not loving him yet. But she had sex with him over and over and over and over again because she thought he was "hot." So she "cheated" on her husband not because she fell in love with another man but because she thought the other man was sexy.

Now on to Jaime. I actually LOVED Jaime. Absolutely adored him. He was by far my favorite character. The last 20% of the book was brutal to read/listen to. It made my heart hurt for Jaime. That was the most difficult part of the book to get through for me.

Now, will I continue on with the series? I don't know. I'll have to think about it. The books just keep getting longer and longer and it was hard enough to get through this one. I just keep picturing the rest of the books following the same pattern as this one. Boring boring boring boring. AWESOME SCENE. Boring boring boring boring. AWESOME SCENE. Rinse and repeat. ...more

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Aug 09, 2014 Stacy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, e-books, read-in-2014, annoying-protagonists

This book was utterly ridiculous!!! I gave it 3 stars because it held my interest (for the most part), but I don't think I would have missed anything by not reading it.

While Claire is supposed to be from the 1940s, she acts like she belongs in modern times. She is shocked by the way the people of the 1700s react to her brazen behavior. On one hand, she thinks she should be able to do and say as she pleases, yet also benefit from the chivalrous strong menfolk protecting her. You can't have it bot ...more

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Aug 26, 2012 TheReadingKnitter/ Kasey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another...

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she innocently touches a boulder 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 border clans in the year of our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another...

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she innocently touches a boulder 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 border clans in the year of our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire's destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life ...and shatter her heart. For here, James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

My Review - Whew, this book took me long enough, 39 days to be exact! I think if I'd had it in Nook Book format that I would have read it MUCH faster. But still I started it and it sucked me right in. I was glad when she made her decision at the stones when Jamie took her back to them. Me personally I couldn't imagine being transported back 200 years. Some of the clans and historical stuff dragged for me but I know it's just because I don't know much about it. Even though this book took me over a month to finish it wasn't one of those books I was ready to be finished with cause I was tired of it. The characters were well written and it was good until the very last page. Everyone these days are raving about the book Fifty Shades of Grey and while this book wasn't exactly like that book, I would compare it to that book. The difference is it was less vulgar and graphic details. I will be reading the rest of the series sometime, but it won't be the next book I read. And the next book in the series, I will definitely buy on my Nook, even if it is $9! ...more

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Mar 15, 2015 Ama rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, all-time-favorites, fiction-adult, historical-fiction, romance-erotica-adult, 2008, 2012, repeat-read, 2015, 2017

Oh how I love this series!!

I think Claire and I would get along quite well – other than the fact that Jamie Fraser is my fictional husband.

Over the years, I’ve read this book at least 4 times. Every time I enjoy it immensely. I’ve always listened to the audiobook.

Davina Porter (the narrator) is phenomenal. She is excellent at differentiating between the characters – regardless of age, gender, or origin. My only complaints isn’t about her narration, but rather about the pauses, dubs, and other ...more

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Jun 08, 2012 Carrie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mgr, rrrc, romance, historical-fiction, historical-romance, part-of-a-series, time-travel, scotland, highlanders, new-to-me-author

Jan 24, 2018: Still 4 stars. I enjoyed the book like before but unlike the last time I am more interested in seeing what happens next.

I enjoyed the story but I found it to be a tad too long. I would have been perfectly happy to see the story end a little sooner then it did. Will I read the others? Not really sure, as I'm happy to see it as a stand alone, (view spoiler) ...more

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Feb 24, 2016 Rachel N. rated it liked it

Shelves: series, read-in-2016, romance, pbt-fiction-100, scotland, 1, time-travel, epic, rape, adventure

Claire Randall is vacationing with her husband Frank in Scotland after World War Two and trying to rekindle her marriage after many years apart. Claire is picking plants in a stone circle when she travels through a time portal and ends up in Scotland in the 1700's. Claire soon becomes involved in life of the time and finds herself attracted to Jamie Fraser. For the first half or so of the book I was fairly into the story then Jaime does something that really ticked me off and made me almost stop ...more

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