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!

Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard

Rating: 3.5

Synopsis (taken from Barnes&Noble.com):

It's the Christmas season, and Mr. Timothy Cratchit, not the pious child the world thought he was, has just buried his father. He's also struggling to bury his past as a cripple and shed his financial ties to his benevolent "Uncle" Ebenezer by losing himself in the thick of London's underbelly. He boards at a brothel in exchange for teaching the mistress how to read and spends his nights dredging the Thames for dead bodies and the treasures in their pockets.

Timothy's life takes a sharp turn when he discovers the bodies of two dead girls, each seared with the same cruel brand on the upper arm. The sight of their horror-struck faces compels Timothy to become the protector of another young girl, Philomela, from the fate the others suffered at the hands of a dangerous and powerful man.

A different kind of Christmas story, this breathless flight through the teeming markets, shadowy passageways, and rolling brown fog of 1860s London would do Dickens proud for its surprising twists and turns, and its extraordinary heart.

My thoughts:

I wasn't as involved in Mr. Timothy as I was in Bayard's other novel, The Pale Blue Eye. It is nicely written and was a pretty good story though. I loved the gritty atmosphere of 1861 London. There were also some memorable characters....especially Mr. Timothy's young protege, Colin the Melodious.

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!

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Rating: 5.0

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

Considered one of the greatest war stories ever written -- and one of the classics of antiwar literature -- Remarque's 1929 masterpiece tells the story of young Paul Baumer, who enlists in the German Army in World War I and takes place with his comrades in the trenches.

My thoughts:

This book shows the brutal reality of war in the brilliantly written words of Remarque. Some of the sentences I read more than once because they were so profound and beautiful. There are a lot of not so beautiful scenes in here though. Trench warfare was a b***ch. All Quiet on the Western Front is a wonderful, yet emotionally draining, book that is deservedly a classic.

Dark Descent by Andrew Pyper

Rating: 5.0

Synopsis from Barnes&Noble.com:

At the dawn of the new millennium, twenty-something dot-com millionaires Wallace and Bates travel to Brazil to market their breakthrough product, Hypothesys -- a "morality machine" designed to help people make the best decisions of their lives. But when they impulsively join an eco-tour deep into the Amazon rain forest, they may have sealed their own dire fates....In the dead of night, their boat is attacked, and Wallace and Bates are kidnapped along with their enigmatic female interpreter. Imprisoned and savagely tortured, they struggle to hold on to their humanity. But after Wallace engineers a violent escape, the survivors' own hidden dark natures begin to emerge -- posing a threat more lethal than either the jungle that surrounds them, or the merciless gunmen who pursue them.

My thoughts:
This book starts out slow. Once you get past the first hundred pages though it becomes a great thriller! I had a hard time putting it down once the group were kidnapped. Fatigue, fever, dehydration, internal parasites....the jungle has quite a lot of suffering to offer this group on top of being creatively tortured by their captors. There is also the mystery of who kidnapped them and why. Dark Descent is a very well written, character focused thriller that turned out to be an awesome read!

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Rating: 5.0

Synopsis: taken from Barnes&Noble.com

Set in 1935 England, this "New York Times" bestseller is enthralling in its depiction of childhood, love and war, England and class, making it a profound—and profoundly moving—exploration of shame and forgiveness, of atonement and the difficulty of absolution.


My thoughts:

This is such a beautiful book filled with characters I really cared about. As soon as I started reading I was totally drawn in to the writing and the story. I could not put this book down! Atonement is quite the tragedy, and while I wouldn't want every book I read to be tragic, what happens to the characters in this story felt completely right. I have a feeling this story is going to stay with me for a long time.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Rating: 3.0

Synopsis - taken from Barnes&Noble.com

A spellbinding, beautifully written novel that moves between contemporary times and one of the most fascinating and disturbing periods in American history -- the Salem witch trials.

Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie discovers an ancient key secreted within a seventeenth-century Bible. The key contains a yellowing fragment of parchment with a name written upon it: Deliverance Dane. This discovery launches Connie on a quest to find out who this woman was, and to unearth a rare colonial artifact of singular power: a physick book, its pages a secret repository for lost knowledge of herbs and other, stranger things.

As the pieces of Deliverance's harrowing story begin to fall into place, Connie is haunted by visions of the long-ago witch trials, and begins to fear that she is more tied to Salem's dark past then she could have ever imagined.

Written with astonishing conviction and grace, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane travels seamlessly between the trials in the 1690s, and a modern woman's story of mystery, intrigue, and revelation.

My thoughts:

It took me a long time to get through this book. I was in a reading slump though so that may be partly to blame. I just couldn't really get into the story or most of the characters. I did find the love interest, Sam, to be a charming character and enjoyed the scenes with him. Also I really enjoyed the descriptions of the cottage and the surrounding garden and forest. It sounded romantic and quaint. Overall, a decent story but I don't think it'll stick with me for long.