Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Rating: 5.0

What it's about: synopsis from Barnes&Noble.com

From the author of Outlander... a magnificent epic that once again sweeps us back in time to the drama and passion of 18th-century Scotland...

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....

My thoughts:

I can never get enough of the Claire and Jaime saga. It's the most beautiful love story I can think of. Yet Dragonfly in Amber is also historical fiction full of court intrigue and action. As it starts out with Claire back in her own time with her grown daughter Brianna, I got antsy for it to get back to the story with Jaime. After nearly 100 pages the story jumps back in time to the Claire and Jaime from Outlander. There is a lot that goes down in these pages and the end just about brings tears to my eyes every time I read it. It definitely makes me anxious to pick up the next book in the series. Which is what I'm going to do right now!

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Rating: 5.0

What it's about: (from Barnes&Noble.com)

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 thoughts:

Outlander is full of history, romance and adventure! I've read this book more than once and each time I read it I become so emotionally involved. I think about the story even while I'm going about my daily business. Outlander has so much to offer. I love the time travel aspect. Seeing how Claire adjusts to the life that is 200 years before her own is amazing! The historical detail was very interesting as well. And of course there is the romance. Claire and Jaimie's is the greatest love story of all time!