Written in My Own Heart's Blood (Outlander #8) by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander Series:
Outlander (Outlander #1)
Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2)
Voyager (Outlander #3)
Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4)
The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5)
A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6)
An Echo in the Bone (Outlander, #7)


I was very much thrilled to find this volume getting back to what made me fall in love with the series in the beginning. There were no annoying kidnappings which was, as I said previously, getting old. The back and forth between what was going on with Jamie and Claire and what was happening with Roger and Bree created a sense of tension and with each shift left me feeling glad to be back with the other but wondering what the heck was going to happen next to the group being left for awhile. This was a good thing even if frustrating.

Jenny is back, not just physically, but the Jenny met in the earlier stories, who was tough and stubborn, but loving and fair, not the Jenny who was so unforgiving and harsh on Claire when she returned. This made me glad because Jenny was a character I loved and wanted more of but the way she treated Claire was so unlike the character she had been before that it felt untrue to her spirit. Yes, she is loyal to her brother first, but to do what she did and act so cruelly, it just didn't feel real to her and this turning back to what feels like the authentic Jenny is a relief.

It is really neat to watch these characters bump up against real people who play a part in the American Revolution. The fear and danger of war, even for those not directly fighting it is well written making the tension and danger is palpable.

At the core the Outlander series is a romance and where there is romance there is sex, and in this outing, there is some young and new love sex, and it is what we have come to expect from Gabaldon, but there is a lovely sense of innocence under it that makes it feel sweet and heartwarming.

I am now anxiously awaiting the 9th Book which I hope won't be too long, as we are left on a bit of a cliffhanger here...


(Finished August 17, 2016)

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

My reviews of the other books in the series:

Outlander (Outlander #1)
Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2)
Voyager (Outlander #3)
Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4)
The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5)
A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6)
Written in My Own Heart's Blood (Outlander #8)

Another solid if long outing. While we spend most of the time with Jamie and Claire in the midst of the American Revolution there is time spent in 1980 with Roger and Bree and their children Jem and Amanda. 

I was pleased that there wasn't what has become a routine kidnapping this go round. That doesn't mean the Frasers were safe, but I was, as I said in the A Breath of Snow and Ashes review, quite tired of Claire and Jamie being pulled apart by kidnapping. 

There was however a kidnapping but it wasn't part of the pattern and was heart wrenching and a bit surprising. It isn't resolved at the end so to find out how the victim fares and what the fallout from the rescue attempt that is going off in a very wrong direction will have to wait for book 7 which I will be getting next week. 

There is time spent back in Scotland with Jenny and Ian and their children and I shed some tears during this. I was frustrated with Jenny but haven't given up on her, there was a hint of the Jenny I liked in the end of this book so I hope she is back next book. 

Ian (younger) has grown to be a character I love and I really like the Hunter siblings. I am not happy with where the Lord John storyline goes and I was disappointed in Claire in how this went, but that too is left unresolved and will take reading book 7 to find out if their is lasting damage from this bit. 

I loved the first 2 books, maybe 3, but then have slipped into the really like column. 

(Finished August 11, 2016)

A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6) by Diana Gabaldo

My reviews of the prior books in the series

Outlander (Outlander #1)
Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2)
Voyager (Outlander #3)
Drums of Autumn (Outlander #4)
The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5)
An Echo in the Bone (Outlander, #7)
Written in My Own Heart's Blood (Outlander #8)


As we meet the Fraser clan again the date of American Independence is fast approaching. Back again is romance, adventure, intrigue, and sex.

While it is interesting to watch this family approach what thanks to its time traveling members know is coming, Revolutionary War, and how they prepare to take what they know will be the winning side, a side the members of the family born in this time are beginning to believe in, some of the plot devices are feeling over used. How many time can this family have members kidnapped? How many times will Jamie or Claire or Roger or Bree have to rescue or be rescued from abduction? Also I guess there are only so many words to describe the human genitalia and the acts that one can do with them so I give Gabaldo credit for trying to be creative with the sex scenes but at times the wording can be a little on the eye-rolling side. However what she really does best in these moments is the writing to make them seem to steam off the page with graphic description, it is that in these moments she captures the heart and soul of the connection that lives between Claire and Jamie. Their physical acts of love change in style and intensity to not only provide each other physical pleasure but to mend and heal each others emotionally. That after all these years and all the hard times Jamie still finds such enjoyment over the wonder he feels is Claire's bum just makes it kind of sweet and silly and endearing.

Some of the hard choices they face this time are murder they get suspected of but didn't commit, murders they do, revenge vs justice, and the sacrifice of being togetherness to save one of their own.

While I am going on to the next book because I have really want to know how they are and where they end up, what will happen with William and John and will the truth of that come out. I am really hoping that there is more of the same heart to this family that keeps me coming back but that there are much less by way of kidnappings this time and maybe some run ins with the members of the group of founding fathers, this is after all the days of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Hancock, Franklin....


(Finished August 6, 2016)