An Echo in The Bone by Diana Gabaldon

This is the seventh installment of "The Out-lander" Series. This book Follows Jamie and Claire Frasier and their young Nephew Ian as they try to leave the United States while they are at war with England.

While back in their own time 1980 Roger and Brianna with their two children Jeremiah and Amanda try to settle in to life in the Scottish Highlands. While they read the letters left for them by Brianna's parents in the 1700's.

Jamie's best friend Lord John Grey is no longer a soldier of the Royal army, but finds himself on a boat heading for the colonies with his young niece Dorothea to find young Henry is nephew who has been wounded in battle and taken prisoner of war.

Jamie's son Lord Ellesmere or William is a captain in the British Army and is fighting his was towards the father he doesn't know, ans Jamie and Ian do everything in there power to keep from being wounded or killed.

This is a very good book, there is so much that happens that if I allow my self to get too much into I will spoil the book for you and then you wont need to read it for your self.

The Copper Bracelet....a Compilation

This is a very unique book, it was written by 16 separate novelist. The book was started by Jeffery Deaver a brilliant author of mysteries and the Author of the Book "The Bone Collector". Each Author writes a chapter and then passes it off to the next Author. Each author reads what is written and picks up the story from there.

I was a little Hesitant to read this series, because I wasn't sure how the book was going to flow. I could not even tell that the book was written by more than on person. It is suspenseful and keeps you hanging on every word until the last page and the story closes.

This book is about a group of people who help the government track down terrorist The group call them selves "The Volunteers" There is a plot to kill the Secretary of State and they have to find out who is behind the plot and try to stop them before it happens. But how do they know who they can trust, are their friends their enemy and will they figure things out before more lives are taken and more innocent people die?

The Copper Bracelet was written by: Jeffery Deaver, Gayle Lynds, David Hewson, Jim Fusilli, John Gilstrap, Joseph Finder, Lisa Scottoline, David Corbett, Linda Barnes, Jenny Siler, David Liss, P.J. Parrish, Brett Battles, Lee Child, Jon Land, and James Phelan. Jim Fusilli was the Project Editor.

The Help By Kathryne Stockett

This is a very powerful and moving book. Told from three different woman's point of views you find out what it is like to be a black woman living in Mississippi in the early 60's before the start of the Civil Right's movement.

Miss Skeeter guides you through white society in Mississippi and what it means to be up standing and proper. Skeeter fresh out of school, she graduated from Ole Miss with a degree in writing with aspirations of being a journalist is finding it hard to settle to any thing when she gets home from school. But because she is a woman and has no experience doors are being slammed in her face.

She is the Editor of the woman's league news letter, and has taken to writing the cleaning column for the local news paper but doesn't know how to clean. She grew up on a Cotton plantation and had every thing done for her by her beloved Maid Constantine.

She refuses to put a letter in the league news letter about the diseases you can get from your black maids, and how it is beneficial to build them there own bathrooms out side in the garage. When she gives in and does it, she asks people to donate old toilets her Miss Hilly's house and it is the start of her down ward spiral with her friend's and life as she knows it. Mississippi would be very lonely for her if it weren't for her unlikely friendship with Abilene.

her world is about to be turned upside down, with Constantine gone and her life being held together by a string she turns to her friend Elizabeth's Maid Abilene to help her write her articles. She soon gets an idea to write a book about what it is like to be a Black Maid working for a white family in Jackson Mississippi. All the woman are scared to get involved with a project like this but after certain events happen 11 other woman step forward to tell Skeeter their stories.

She opens her book with her beloved Constantine, and closes it with Abilene's best friend Minnie's story which is one of the sadder stories in the book.

Follow These three women through a year living in 1960's Jackson Mississippi, the Civil Right's movement is being fueled with hatred and violence and these brave woman step forward and play their part in making a change. The book is beautifully powerful and moving, and if you love to read this one is a must. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry, but as you close the book it will leave a big smile on your face and happiness in your heart.

My review does not do this book justice, but I was extremely moved my this book. Don't take my word for it pick up the book and read it!

Beauty by Robin McKinley

Beauty is the youngest of three daughters of a wealthy merchant, Roderick Huston. Her given name is Honour, but at five years old, she said that she'd rather be called "Beauty". The nickname stuck. As she grew older, she felt increasingly ill-named as her sisters, Grace and Hope, became lovelier and more socially adept and she stayed plain and bookish. Her two sisters were quickly engaged—Grace to one of her father's ship captains, Robert Tucker, and Hope to blacksmith Gervain Woodhouse. Robert was lost at sea only a few months after their engagement along with all the merchant's ships and with them, his fortune.

Destitute, the family relocated to Gervain's home town in the north to begin afresh. A few months later, one of Huston's ships limped back into port, and Huston returned to town to deal with the crew and selling the ship's cargo. He asked the three daughters if he could bring them any gifts; Grace and Hope, tongue in cheek, requested ropes of pearls and jewels and luxurious ball gowns, while Beauty asked only for rose seeds. The ship was not Robert's, and the proceeds from the sale of the cargo went largely to repay the merchant's debts. On the merchant's return from town, he was caught in a blizzard a few miles from home and lost his way in the forest, stumbling across a mysterious castle as he and his mount came to the end of their strength. As he left the next day he plucked one rose from the garden to bring home to Beauty, who hoped to grow roses. The Beast appeared before him, ready to kill him, but he begged for his life, pleading that he had daughters to return to. The Beast decided to let him go if he returned in one month with one of his daughters. Although he demurred, Beauty insisted that she be the one to go in her father's place.

The Beast seemed kind, but Beauty was utterly terrified of him and could barely be around him for the first few days. The castle provided her with invisible servants and all the books and food she could want. She came to understand the enchantment on the castle and the Beast. One day, she overheard her servants saying that she was their last hope and that they hoped she could figure it out before it was too late. As the months passed, Beauty came to enjoy living in the castle. There were only two problems: she missed her family and every night the Beast asked Beauty to marry him. Every night she said no.

One night, she had a magically real dream of her family; the Beast revealed that he could send her 'dreams' of her family's life, and showed her his "mirror" through which he watched them—the contents of a special vial poured over a table which served as a distance viewer. Through this mirror, Beauty saw that Grace was planning to marry a local minister and that Robert was alive and had returned from sea. She begged the Beast to let her go to her family and tell them the news. He reluctantly agreed, but warned her that she could only stay a week, because he would die without her. Beauty was so excited to see her family that she ended up over-staying the week. During her stay, she realized what she had tried to ignore: she was in love with the Beast and he with her. On the eighth morning, Beauty dreamed that the Beast had died and hurried back to the castle. She found the Beast as he lay dying, and she confessed her love to him and said she would marry him. This broke the enchantment, and returned the Beast to his human form, that of a now middle-aged man. Beauty insisted that she could not marry him. "You should marry a queen or something, a duchess at least, not a dull drab little nothing like myself," she said. The ex-Beast showed Beauty her own reflection in a mirror; in the past year, she had transformed into beauty. She and the Beast had a triple wedding with Grace and Robert and her father and Melinda who he became close when Beauty was away

" This is one of my all time favorite books, I am in love with the story of "Beauty and the Beast" which ever form that it is told. I am a believe that beauty is not skin deep, that true beauty lies deep with a person and shines for all the world to see through their countance and the way that they choose to present them selves to the world.

This is a charming story of a girl who is plain and in love with books, and her sacrifice to her father and how she found her life's one true love in the most unlikely of places and people. This version of the Beauty and the Beast has been made into a movie and is very beautiful. I remember upon picking up this book to read it I could not put it down until I was finished with the last page. I am a hopeless romantic who believes that love can blossom in the least likely place.

If you have never read the book "Beauty" by Robin McKinely I suggest that you add it too your list of books too read."

Happy Reading!

One For The Money By Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum is out of a job and there isn’t much work for an ex-lingerie buyer. After caving under pressure from her mother, Stephanie goes to her cousin, Vinnie, who is a bail bondman for some filing work. When arriving Vinnie’s assistant, Connie, tells her that the filing position has been filled. Connie tells her about apprehending people who skip out on their bonds, pulls a file out of her top drawer, and shows her Joseph Morelli’s file. Morelli is a vice cop who is wanted for murder one and has a history with Stephanie which includes two sexual encounters in high school and a hit-and-run when he didn’t call afterward. Connie suggests Morelli because Stephanie will get percentage of the bond that sings to the tune of $10,000. Stephanie has had to pawn off the majority of her possessions and her car gets repossessed, she thinks bringing in Morelli will fix all of her financial problems.

Stephanie decides she wants to join up and blackmails Vinnie about an incident with a duck in order to let her try to get Morelli. With the help of some friends and the best bounty hunter in the business, Ranger, she slowly learns what it takes to be a badass bounty hunter. Along the way of trying to find Morelli Stephanie gains the unwanted attention of a heavy weight boxer that has a history of making women disappear, gains some hookers as friends, steals Morelli’s car, and enters into an agreement with Morelli himself. Then on top of all that she still has to deal with a pushy mother, a crazy grandmother, and a father who would rather not watch.

It's one hell of a way to spend the first two weeks on the job.

"I love the Stephenie Plum novels, they are hillarious. If something bad can happen somebody it WILL happen to Stephanie. She is out of a job and will do any thing to keep her apartment. If you want a good laugh you should read these books, it will leave you in stitches!"

The Poet by Michael Connelly

The book starts with Jack McEvoy, a crime reporter for the Rocky Mountain News ("Death is my beat"), relating how the news of his brother Sean's suicide was broken to him. Sean was a homicide detective with the Denver Police, who was found dead in his car in a remote parking lot. A one-sentence suicide note was found in the car with him, and it seemed impossible that someone else could have killed him. McEvoy, though, is reluctant to accept that his brother had succumbed to depression resulting from his investigations, even though the last one was particularly brutal: Theresa Lofton, a young college student, who was found in a park in two pieces.

After much investigation on his own, including retracing his brother's investigation into the Lofton case, Jack concludes that his brother's death was simply made to look like a suicide by a serial killer. By focusing on homicide detectives who committed suicide in a similar fashion and left a one-sentence note quoting the works of Edgar Allan Poe (as Sean's did), Jack finds three clear matches to his brother's death. When the FBI finally realizes that he is on to something and attempts to block him from further access, he is able to trade his knowledge of the other deaths (one of which the FBI had not uncovered) for a role with the FBI investigative team headed by Robert Backus, the son of a famous agent within the bureau who has been overshadowed by his father's legend. Assigned the duty of handling him is agent Rachel Walling, one of Backus' main proteges, and the two of them become personally involved. The FBI nicknames the serial killer "The Poet" due to his use of Poe's lines with the victims.

As the case focuses on an Internet network of pedophiles and one in particular (William Gladden), McEvoy is taken along on the operation to arrest Gladden, who is suspicious of the set-up and kills the FBI agent trying to arrest him, Gordon Thorson (Walling's ex-husband). McEvoy ends up killing Gladden himself while being held hostage. However, Gladden's comments about his brother's death lead McEvoy to believe that Gladden was not the killer, even though the case has been officially closed. He then finds evidence that the killings had a connection to the FBI and identifies a phone call to the FBI from Thorson's room that he links to a "boasting" fax sent to the bureau by The Poet. Since McEvoy knew that Walling had sent Thorson on a fake errand to buy condoms during the time the fax was sent, he suspects Walling of being The Poet and of posting to the pedophile network under the name "Eidolon", another Poe reference. He then learns that Walling's father, a cop, had committed suicide when she was a teenager ... and had been suspected by the investigating officers of molesting Rachel over a period of time. Since pedophiles tend to have been abused as children, McEvoy becomes worried enough to tell Backus of his suspicions. Backus tells McEvoy that they'll set a trap for Walling and then takes him to a remote location -- where Backus drugs McEvoy into nonresistance. He admits that he himself is both Eidolon and The Poet, because the room mistakenly billed to Thorson was actually the one in which he stayed. He admits to all of the deaths and to his setup of Gladden as the "fall guy" for the murders.

As Backus prepares to sodomize and then kill McEvoy, Walling (who was suspicious because of messages that she had received from both men) shows up and eventually saves McEvoy's life by knocking Backus out the window and down a long hill. Later the police find a body, however it is left open if this is Backus. Meanwhile, as the facts of the case become known, Walling's judgment is called into question due to her personal relationship with McEvoy and her professional relationship with Backus. A tabloid publishes a photo of McEvoy and Walling together. However, because McEvoy suspected her, Walling ends their relationship and takes a leave to Italy. McEvoy then takes a leave from his paper to write a book about the events, although Walling explains to him that the book will forever taint the FBI because of Backus.

"This is an incredible book, very good. It is the first of the Jack McEvoy novel's. This books content may offend some, so be causious reading this book. Stephen King said that it was the most disturbing book he has ever read. Having said that, it is a good book Jack McEvoys bother was murder but it was made to look like a suicide. He goes with the FBI to find the man who killed his brother, and nearly gets killed him self. There are so many twist and turns in this books that you'll find that you can't put it down."

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly

The story begins with Jack McEvoy's termination by the Los Angeles Times due to the newspaper's financial crisis. He is given two weeks to train his replacement, Angela Cook, on the "cop beat" and decides that he wants to write one more major story before his last day. Jack focuses on the case of 16-year-old drug dealer Alonzo Winslow, who confessed that he brutally raped one of his clients, then stuffed her body in the trunk with a plastic bag over her head, tied shut with a length of rope around her neck. Angela, a beautiful and ambitious young reporter, maneuvers to get herself a part of the story. However, after Jack is given access to the defense files, he learns that Alonzo only confessed to stealing the car containing the body, not to the rape-murder. In researching trunk murders on the Internet, Angela unwittingly finds evidence of a similar crime in Las Vegas. However, Angela's research also took her to a "trap" site set up by the real murderer: Wesley Carver, an MIT graduate who is the chief security officer of a "server farm" (colocation and backup services) in Phoenix, referred to by everyone as the "scarecrow" of the farm. Carver cracks her e-mail password at the Times and learns that Jack is headed to Vegas. He promptly creates a fake data emergency so that his company will send him to L.A.

The next day, Jack finds that none of his credit cards nor his cell phone work, so he buys a throwaway phone. He shows the evidence of the identical L.A. murder to the attorney for the convicted Vegas murderer, who gives Jack a letter permitting him to meet his client, imprisoned in a remote location in Nevada. During the lengthy drive on the "loneliest road in America", Jack calls FBI agent Rachel Walling, his former girlfriend to whom he hasn't spoken in years, to report the "under the radar" serial killer and also tells her about his bad luck that day. When he arrives at the prison, he is told that he cannot see the prisoner until the next day and books a room in a local hotel. A cowboy with long sideburns plays slots next to him. When Jack heads to his room, he sees "Sideburns" coming directly toward him in the hallway as his door opens ... to find Rachel inside his room. "Sideburns" passes by. Rachel had taken a private FBI plane to the prison after she concluded that Jack's discoveries and his electronic problems were linked but that she had no way to warn him. Rachel and Jack learn that "Sideburns" was not staying at the hotel and surmise that he must be the killer. When calling the Times, Jack learns that Angela has disappeared. Rachel and Jack promptly take the FBI jet back to L.A., during which Rachel examines the evidence and notes that the murdered women were both exotic dancers with similar body types ("giraffes"), and that both were put in leg braces ("iron maidens") while being sexually abused before death, a perversion known as abasiophilia. On arrival, Rachel admits that her recent relationship with a police detective ended in part because she still had feelings for Jack, but they then find Angela's dead body under Jack's bed, killed in the same style as the other victims.

Because of Rachel's testimony, Jack is cleared of Angela's murder, and the evidence causes both Alonzo and the Vegas convict to be freed. The FBI links the trap site to Bill Denslow, a fake name used by an online client of Carver's server farm. Jack is a featured guest on CNN to discuss the case, but Rachel is summoned to a disciplinary hearing and forced to resign from the FBI under threat of a theft prosecution for "stealing" the gasoline in the FBI plane during the round trip to Nevada. Carver has his assistant, whom he gave the pseudonym "Freddie Stone", help him murder and bury the server farm's CEO and then quit. Jack deduces that the serial killer knew non-public legal information about his victims and finds that all of them were represented by law firms whose sites were handled through Carver's server farm, just like the trap site. He persuades Rachel to join him there, where they pose as potential clients and talk to Carver, who doesn't reveal that he knows their real identities. Following a trail laid by Carver, they find Stone's house, identify him as "Sideburns", and uncover evidence concerning the killings. They call in the FBI, and Rachel is able to use her role in finding the killer to regain her job. Jack agrees to return to L.A. and goes to Rachel's hotel room to say goodbye -- but finds that she has just been kidnapped by Stone. He intercepts Stone, rescues an unconscious Rachel from a laundry bin, and then chases and kills Stone in a battle on the top floor. Rachel tells Jack that the FBI believes there were two killers: Stone and Angela's murderer. With Carver's help, Rachel and the FBI team find evidence that Stone and the missing CEO committed all of the murders.

Jack's high profile causes the Times to rescind his termination, even though Jack's role as a participant means that he cannot write the story of the Arizona events. Jack turns it down and accepts a two-book deal to write about this case. However, Jack then sees a picture from The Wizard of Oz and realizes that the method used to suffocate the victims looks like the classic head of a scarecrow, except using a plastic bag instead of a burlap sack. He immediately heads to Arizona to warn a disbelieving Rachel, including the links to the real Fred Stone and Bill Denslow, but unfortunately meets her in a coffee shop near the server farm with a full-time Webcam in it. Carver watches their discussion, then ambushes the other FBI agents. Carver's plan to kill the agents and fake his own death is foiled when Jack figures it out, and Rachel shoots Carver in the head when he tries to ambush them. In a brief epilogue, Jack's research has revealed that Carver's mother was an exotic dancer similar in appearance to the victims who needed to wear leg braces when not performing, and he and Rachel have continued as a couple.

"This was a really good book, I love Michael Connelly. the only book that I have read by him that I was disappointed in was "The Narrows" THe completion to "The Poet" The Poet was one of the best books that I have ever read. The Subject may be a little disturbing to many who read it, so if you decide you want to read it keep in my it touchs on Child pornography. It doesn't go into descriptions, but it is there in the book.

This book was fast passed and intense, and doesn't slow down at all. The book is left open for a sequal, there are so many questions left unanswered. If you love a good mystery pick this one up and read you wont be disappointed."

Drum of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

The heroine of the bestselling Outlander, Claire, returns in Drums of Autumn, reunited with her husband Jamie Fraser and facing a new life in the American colonies. As the preceding novel, Voyager, concluded with Jamie Fraser and his wife Claire shipwrecked on the Georgia coastline—and happy to be out of Scotland—Drums of Autumn picks up right where Voyager left off. Except for a new set of lovers introduced subtly in Drums of Autumn and Voyager, Brianna Ellen Randall and her suitor historian Roger Wakefield, safely ensconced in the 20th century. Now orphaned by her mother's departure to the past, Brianna struggles to accept her loss and satisfy her curiosity about a father she has never met, only to discover a tragic piece of "history" that threatens her parents' happiness in the past. This discovery sends Brianna back through time on a mission to save her parents and sends Roger after her.

Drums of Autumn is an intricate tale of the now famous lovers, Jamie and Claire, and their daughter who risked her life and future to save them. As the fourth in what is now a seven-book series (with a promised 8th book[1]) of Claire Randall Fraser and her Highlander husband Jamie, the story is an integral step in a bestselling and surprisingly rich tale spanning the time from the Scottish Rising of 1745, to the American Revolution.

"The books don't slow down or get boaring, but i have to tell you that a lot happens in this book and there is a lot of DRAMA and there are times I want to scream and Brianna and Clair and tell them to stop being stupid! The book is good none the less and ends happy."

Voyager By Diana Gabaldon

Voyager, book three in the best-selling Outlander series, was written by Diana Gabaldon.

The storyline centers on a time-travelling 20th-century nurse (Claire Randall Fraser) and her 18th-century Scottish husband (Jamie Fraser), and are located in Scotland, France, and America.

The heroine of the bestselling Outlander, Claire, returns in Voyager as a mother to Brianna Ellen Randall and living in Boston in the year 1965. The preceding novel, Dragonfly in Amber, ended with Claire and Brianna coming to grips with the truth of Brianna's real father Jamie Fraser and Claire's travel through time. In Voyager Claire and Brianna trace Jamie's life since the battle of Culloden during the Scottish Rising. Discovering Jamie survived the massacre that heralded the destruction of many clans in Scotland sends Claire back to the stone circle that first hurtled her through time - twenty years before.

Voyager is a poignant tale of two lovers finding each other again, embarking on a whirlwind journey filled with danger on the high seas and the constant peril of Jamie's past catching up with them. As the third in what is now a seven-book series (according to the author there will be a Book 8, possibly a Book 9) of Claire Randall Fraser and her Highlander husband Jamie, the story is an integral step in a bestselling and surprisingly rich tale spanning the time from the Scottish Rising of 1745, to the American Revolution.

"I can't tell you which of these books are my favorite because I love all of them. You can't help but to fall in love with all of the characters in the books, ok their are some that you can't help but hate. I think that a good book needs to have a little bit of everything and if that is what you are looking for these are the books.

After searching for her one true love Claire Randall returns to the 1700's Scottland to find her Jamie. They fall right back into what they had before Jamie sent her away. After many trials and a long journey the two of them settle down in the colonies to start their lives over again."

Dragon Fly In Amber by Diana Gabaldon

Scotland, 1968

Dragonfly in Amber opens when Claire returns to Scotland with her twenty-year old daughter, Brianna, hoping to find what happened to the men of Lallybroch after the battle of Culloden. After discovering Jamie Fraser's gravestone in an abandoned churchyard, Claire ends up breaking the news of Brianna's true paternity to her and Roger Wakefield.

The story then flashes back in time (literally and figuratively) to when Claire and Jamie lived in Paris after leaving the abbey at the end of Outlander. As the story develops, we learn about Claire and Jamie Fraser's fight to stop the 1745 Jacobite rebellion and the bloody battle of Culloden - and also why Claire returned to the future.

Paris, 1744

At the end of Outlander, Claire convinced Jamie that they should do everything possible to stop the Jacobite Rising and the slaughter that would follow. After learning that Charles Stuart is trying to get money from the French King, Louis XV, they travel to Paris. In Paris, Jamie agrees to work with his cousin Jared, running his wine business and, since many of his French relatives are Jacobites and are well placed in society, secures meetings with Charles Edward Stuart (also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie) and many well-to-do members of the French aristocracy and bourgeoisie. So, while running Jared Fraser's wine business, Jamie and Claire begin to plot against the Bonnie Prince.

However, their lives are soon interrupted by the arrival of Jack Randall, a character that Jamie and Claire thought had died at Wentworth Prison. Jamie, in spite of promising Claire that he would spare Randall's life in order to spare Claire's previous husband, Frank, challenges Randall to a duel in the Bois de Boulogne. Though he doesn't kill the man, he does wound him and renders him impotent. And, after she witnesses the duel, Claire loses the child she was carrying and is taken away to l'Hôpital des Anges, where they believe she won't recover. Jamie is sent to the Bastille for the crime of dueling.

Scotland, 1745 and the Rising

After recovering from her illness, Claire manages to free Jamie from prison. A condition of his release is that they must leave France, so they sail to Scotland. (Fortunately, Jamie is pardoned for his crimes). Once in Scotland, Claire and Jamie settle in to farm life at Jamie's home at Lallybroch, with his sister, Jenny, and her family. However, Jamie receives a letter from Charles Stuart, announcing his attempt to retake the throne of Scotland. There is no escape, as Charles has had Jamie's name on the letter as one of his supporters. The Rising has begun.

Seeing no option but to fight for the Stuarts, Jamie gathers the men of Lallybroch to join the Stuart army. They fight and win at the battle of Prestonpans, but the tide soon turns against the Jacobites. The Rising culminates in the disastrous battle of Culloden. Jamie, knowing that the Scots won't win at Culloden, takes Claire and heads for Craig na Dun, where he forces her to travel back to her own time, to spare her the battle's aftermath. Before she goes, however, Jamie tells Claire that he knows she is pregnant again. After sending her through the stones, Jamie returns to Culloden, intending to die.

1968, again

The lengthy flashback ends and the reader learns that the child Claire was carrying through the stones is Brianna. Claire explains that Frank asked Claire where she had been during her absence but refused to believe her, thinking she was mentally unstable. Claire told him to leave her but suspecting he was sterile and desperate for a child, he asked Claire to allow him to be father to her baby and only tell Brianna the truth after his death. The novel ends with Roger informing Claire that Jamie didn't die at Culloden. And the reason why Claire wanted Roger to be present while revealing to Brianna her true parentage.

"This books goes into the Political side to the Jacobite rising in the Scotland, and the annihilation of the Clans of the Scottish Highlands. The book starts in 1968 Scotland with Roger Wakefield, looking for Jamie's men who fought at the battle at Culloden field. Claire tells Roger and Brianna the story of her travels through the standing stones her life with James Fraser and the reasons why he sent her back through the stones too her own time."

I think that this book is as good as the first one was, full of love and joy and tragedy. The two of them go through so much together that nearly tears them apart; but when you start book 3 Voyager and read Jamie and Claire's story from the 20 years they are apart, can they come back together and pick up where they left off after living separate lives with other people? Keep reading to find out!

Outlander By Diana Gabaldon

Claire Randall is a practical woman, a nurse in the British Army during World War II. She and her husband Frank, who were separated during the war, have recently reunited and are enjoying a second honeymoon in Inverness, Scotland. They married there and Frank combined their holiday with some research into his family tree, investigating an ancestor named "Black Jack" Randall, who was a Captain in the Army in the 18th century.

After seeing some traditional Scottish sites, such as Loch Ness, Claire goes plant-gathering with an amateur botanist. He shows her a group of standing stones on the hill of Craigh na Dun. Claire tells Frank and he tells her that a group of local women will be enacting a pagan ritual and that the local vicar's housekeeper is one of them. As a history professor, Frank is fascinated; Claire, a budding botanist, is particularly captivated by the flowers and herbs she finds, although the unusual ritual is of interest to her. Returning the next day for a particular plant that interests her, Claire realizes she can hear a buzzing noise from the stones and investigates. The buzzing gets louder as she approaches but makes her disoriented and she blacks out, waking to the sound of battle in the distance. Assuming it is a re-enactment or a movie set, she takes a detour through woods suddenly thicker than they were. Struggling to make sense of her surroundings, she bumps into Captain "Black Jack" Randall, who is, incidentally, Frank's six times great-grandfather and double, physically. Unfortunately for Claire, Randall has earned the "Black" in spades and detains her, asking why she is traveling alone in a "state of undress" and concludes that she is a prostitute. She is saved by an unknown Scotsman who knocks Randall unconscious and takes her with him when he rejoins his party who have been rustling cattle. Still befuddled, Claire doesn't understand the situation, and further puzzled by the reactions to her dress, which everyone calls a "shift," and that her legs are bare.

Forced to travel with them through the Scottish countryside, Claire sees the lack of modern technology and roadways. She begins wondering exactly has happened as the "costumes" and weapons are very realistic. Claire rides with one of the younger Scots, Jamie, whom she met and reset his dislocated shoulder when he was wounded during the fight with the English under "Black Jack's" command. The Scots return to their home, Castle Leoch, seat of the Clan MacKenzie. When questioned by the laird, Callum ban Campbell MacKenzie, Claire claims she was sailing to France to visit relatives and lost her gown, luggage and servant when they were attacked. The Scots are suspicious, wondering exactly who she is. Unfortunately nothing can be proved and after seeing a letter Callum is writing, she realizes when she is for the first time: 1743. The Scots see Claire as a "Sassenach"-- an outsider to Scottish Highland culture and an Englishwoman to boot - though she earns their respect, due to her work as a healer. Wanting to know who Claire really is, Dougal MacKenzie - Callum's brother and war chief of the clan - takes her to the English. She is interrogated by none other than "Black Jack" Randall.

Dougal is horrified at Jack Randall's treatment of her and determined to avoid having to give her to Randall for further questioning, Dougal is informed by Ned Gowan, the clan's lawyer, that the only solution is to make her a Scotswoman. He tells her to wed Jamie but suggests other men when she refuses, telling Dougal she can't marry anyone but admits she isn't married so Dougal ignores her. She gives in and marries Jamie in the same church - much to her horror - that she married Frank. By now, Claire - impressed that Jamie insisted on them having a private room to consummate their marriage and find her a decent dress to marry in - finds that she and Jamie are falling in love, despite Frank and feels guilty.

Claire's healing skills as a 20th century nurse save Jamie repeatedly but as the story progresses, she is determined to return to the stone circle and Frank, knowing he must be worried sick. As life continues at Castle Leoch, Claire's marriage to Jamie, ignorance of local superstition, and jealousy lead to a charge of witchcraft. Thrown into a hole with another accused witch, Geilie Duncan, to await trial, she is rescued by Jamie. Just before her escape, she realizes that Geilie Duncan is from the future too. When Jamie asks her to explain, she initially tells him she can't as he won't believe her, saying it's easier to call her a witch. Shocked by Claire's explanation, he takes her to the stone circle and tells her to return to Frank - seeing for himself, that Claire is telling the truth about the stones. Jamie leaves her there to decide if she wants to return to Frank or stay with him. He is over the moon with her decision to stay and he takes her to his home, Lallybroch, but their happiness doesn't last.

Jamie has a price on his head and is betrayed by Ronald McNab, one of his tenants. Angry that Jamie, after being told by Claire and Grannie McNab of Ronald's abuse of the child, insists Rabbie become a stable-boy at Lallybroch. Jamie is held at Wentworth Prison and sentenced to hang. Sadistic Jack Randall is also at Wentworth and takes the opportunity to torture Jamie. Jamie, however, promises Jack that he'll sleep with him if he lets Claire go. Jack agrees and in revenge, Claire tells Jack she is a witch, cursing him with the "gift" of knowledge that he will marry and have a son but will die before the child's born, giving him the date of his death.

Aided by Sir Marcus MacRannoch, a former suitor of Jamie's mother, Ellen MacKenzie Fraser, Claire, Jamie's relatives and men employed by Sir Marcus, rescue Jamie. She patches him up and they escape to Ste. Anne de Beaupre's monastery in France, where Jamie's uncle is stationed as Abbot. At Ste. Anne's, Claire tries healing Jamie, but discovers broken bones are simple, compared to repairing the damage done to his mind. As he recovers, Jamie tells Claire that his life is hers, that she should decide, will they go "to France, Italy, or even back to Scotland?" for "[they'll] need a place to go, soon." His Uncle, Abbot Alexander, provides Jamie with a letter of introduction, describing Jamie as, "an efficient linguist and translator", to King James of Scotland, living in Rome with his sons Bonnie Prince Charlie and Henry Stuart. Claire and Jamie decide Rome it will be, "to do what they can"(quotes from this paragraph, p 620, Dell Trade Paperback).

Whilst at the abbey, Claire learns more about her faith - she was christened Catholic but not raised as one - and receives absolution from a friendly monk. He describes her as a shipwrecked traveler, forced to survive in a strange land as best she can. He describes her marriages as something she should leave in God's hands as nothing can be done about them. At the last, as they emerge from the healing waters of a sacred hot spring under the Abbey, Claire reveals that she is pregnant with their first child.

As the first in what is now at least an eight-book series (Book 7, An Echo in the Bone, was published in September 2009, and promises at least one more book) of Claire Fraser and her Highlander husband Jamie. The story is the first step in a bestselling and surprisingly rich tale spanning the time from the Scottish Rising of 1745, to the American Revolution.



"This is my favorite books series of all times; I have read all of them and listened to them several times on audio book while I am work sewing. These are the kinds of books that the more you read them the more you get out of them.

You can't help but fall in love with the main characters, there are so many amazing characters weaved in and out of all the books. Some that you love and others that you hate some that you can't wait for them to die; Some characters that you have torn feeling about, you like them but then they do something to make you hate them and some times they don't get back into your good graces.

The thing that I love most about these books is the fact that you can tell Historical fact from Fiction. She has a wonderful companion book to the series call "The Outlandish Companion" she talks about the historical characters the places, the Gaelic language and what the different words that they use in the books.

If you love historical romance a little science fiction and Historical Fictions then you need to check out the Outlander series and go on an amazing journey with Claire Randal and experience what life in 1700's Scotland is like. Here is the link to her website



Plot Summary

The Scottish Bride by Cathrine Coulter

This book is charming and whitty and everyting that you could want from a romance novel. As you are reading this book, it is almost as if you are watching a film unfold infront of your eyes. It's about a widowed Vicar with three children who come into his inheratige and becomes the Lard of Kildrummy castle.

His young Vivatious daughter disquised as his lion (I think that's the term) so that she can go to protect her father whom she says is not worldly enough to know when some one is going to do him wrong. Young Tyson got more than her was barganing for in scotland.

Shortly after arriving at Kildrummy he meets Mary Rose the local bastard, that no one likes or will give the time of day because she has no station. A young women who also needs protecting from her uncle and Erickson a young man with not so noble intentions. We will do what he has to, to get young Mary Rose to marry him even if it means defialing her.

When he returns home, he returns with a young bride and learns what is means to give some one your heart and have them give theirs in return, but can his paritioners handle the changes in young Tyson, and except his scottish wife? can there marriage with stand the challengs that it encounters.

I loved this book, it made me happy reading it. If you like historic romances novel you should add this to your list of must read books. It is book six in a series of ten, Cathrine Coulter is an amazing author and is worth reading, I am going to go back and read the rest of the books!

Beach Music by Pat Conroy

Jack McCall, an American living in Rome with his young daughter, is trying to find peace after the recent trauma of his wife's suicide. But his search for solitude is disturbed when a telegram from a family member summons Jack back to South Carolina to be with his ailing mother. He begins to explore his past and all its demons, as well as a new mystery that his sister-in-law and two school friends invite him to explore. They want Jack's help in tracking down another classmate who went underground as a Vietnam protester and never resurfaced. As Jack begins a journey that encompasses the past and the present in both Europe and the American South, he also begins a quest that will lead him to shocking truths -- and ultimately to catharsis, acceptance and maturity."

This is one of the most emotional book I have ever read, this book had me giggling one minute and teary eyed the next. It is a tragic and beautiful love story between a young boy, his friends and the south that hold nothing but heartache and hurt for him. He loose his best friends to Vietnam and betrayal and the love of his life to suicide. He comes back to sit by the death bead of his ailing mother, to come to terms with his demons from the past, his abusive and alcoholic father, his emotionally demanding mother the town that he holds so much contempt for.

Some of the stories he was told of his mothers past, the past of his mother and father in law left me feeling sick to my stomach and very angry. I can deal with a lot of thing but nothing is more ugly and revolting to me than the way that the Nazi's treated the Jews, The Complete Degradation and slaughter of these religious people. The stories of his in-laws life during WW2 are some of the ugliest and heartbreaking I have ever read.

This books is very long and there is a lot of back and forth, but I think that it is worth reading. You can't help but fall in love with all of the characters in the book, even the scoundrel. If you like drama's you should give this book a chance!

The Mortal Instrument Series by Cassandra Clare

For any of you who like to read Teen Lit, you must read the mortal instruments by Cassandra Clare. Every time I would go to a store that sold books, the books all jumped out at me. I had thought about reading them for a while but didn't know if I really wanted to.

I read the Twilight Saga and it was good, good story good characters and I know that this is going to get me into trouble but it was not well written. Stephenie Meyer tells a good story but she is not a brilliant writer. Then I decided to give the Vampire Diaries ago, the books were well written but so terrible slow I had a hard time getting into give and gave up for a while. I will finish the books, I just had no reason to keep going.

I finally decided to give the Mortal Instruments a chance and I have to tell you that I LOVE THEM! They were so good, Cassandra Clare is not only a good writer but she tells an intriguing story as well. These books are kind of like Harry Potter meets Twilight, you have the NEPHILIM, Werewolves, Vampires, Warlocks and Demons of all kinds. The books are exciting and action packed from the first page. You even have your fair share of an incredible romance.



Here is a link to her website and the series, it will give you a lot more on the books, I don't to ruin any thing for any one who wants to read them.

http://www.mortalinstruments.com/mortalseries.html

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With 200 million copies sold, it is the most printed original English book, and among the most famous works of fiction.[1]

It depicts the plight of the French peasantry under the demoralization of the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and a number of unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events, most notably Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated British barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette.

The novel was published in weekly installments (not monthly, as with most of his other novels). The first installment ran in the first issue of Dickens' literary periodical All the Year Round appearing on 30 April 1859; the thirty-first and final ran on 25 November of the same year.

I Read this book when I was in the ninth grade, but to be honest with you I don't think that I really enjoyed it all that much. I did not remember anything about this book, unless it was that long enough ago that I forgot.

I think that this is one of the most beautiful and tragic stories of the ultimate love and sacrifice one human being can make for another. When I first started the book it flopped back and for between London and France and some of the different characters so much that I was getting confused and lost. (I was suffering from A.D.D and the time) I listened to the unabridged version on audio book, it was narrated by Frank Muller. He is one of my favorite narrators; he is brilliant. This Book brought out a lot of emotions in me, Anger and revulsion. I thought that the British back in the day were brutal when it came to punishment, but they were nothing compared to the French during the French Revolution. If the citizens didn't like the cravat that you had on they would send you to the Le Guillotine, for the closet shave in France.

I loved this book; The characters the plot everything about this book. If you have never read Charles Dickens "The Tale of Two Cities" Add it too your to read list. It is defiantly worth the read.



Narrator Frank Muller

On Wings of Eagles By Ken Follett

"In December 1978 two EDS executives working in Tehran are arrested on suspicion of bribery. Bail was set at 13 million dollars. When Ross Perot, head of the Dallas-based company hears about it, he decides to get his people out no matter what. While the firm's lawyers are trying to find a way to pay the bail, he also recruits a team of volunteers from his executives, led by a retired United States Army officer, to break them out by force, if necessary.

Their well-rehearsed plan to break the two out of jail fails because of a prison transfer, and the team has to figure out another way to rescue their colleagues, culminating in a harrowing overland escape to Turkey. Meanwhile, riots and violence dominate the streets of Tehran more and more each day, culminating in the Iranian Revolution led by Khomeini against the Shah, endangering the other EDS employees as well."


I am a huge Ken Follett fan and have been since I first read the book, A Dangerous Fortune when I was twenty. It is one of my all time favorite books and have reread it many a times and never seem to get sick of it. I know that he has many more books and I am slowly reading all of them, but he is a popular author and his books are difficult to get your hands on.

I just finished reading the book On Wings of Eagles and it is an AMAZING book, beside the fact that it is a true story; it is well told and you become emotionally connected to all of the men and women who are in the book; or shall I say lived through this horrible nightmare. Many time through out the book I realized that I was teary eyed, and through out the story I developed a respect for Ross Perot that I never had before.

If you are into History and you like thrillers I say that you should add this book too your must read list, I give is 2 thumbs up and 10 stars, it is a wonderful story that is sad and heart breaking but in the end it is happy.

The Lovely Bones By Alice Sebold

I just finished reading the book "The lovely bones", and it was the most tragic and beautiful story that I have ever read. The first half of the book really played on my heart strings and made me really sad. At one point in the book I asked myself how much can one family endure before they have had enough heartache. This is a beautifully written novel and a wonderful story; if you love to read this is one that you must read I promise that you will love it.

The Lovely Bones is the story of Susie Salmon, who is raped and killed when she is only fourteen. However, rather than write this story as a thriller, which had been done many times before, Sebold tells it from Susie's perspective: the dead victim tells her own story. This shifts the focus from suspense to the emotional impact of such a crime. The Lovely Bones evokes in minute detail just how much was taken from this young girl, and how much she missed out on, but it also traces in exquisite, painful detail how this violent and undeserved crimes distorts her family. Her mother leaves her father for eight years. Her father tries to catch Susie's killer, and is crippled in the process. Susie's sister and brother are driven into emotional retreat, becoming very distant from their previously idyllic family.

Given that Sebold lived through the initial experience that the main character suffers, it isn't really surprising that The Lovely Bones captures her suffering so well. What is impressive is how Sebold combines well-chosen detail and exquisite prose to paint heartrending portraits of an entire suffering community, and how well she humanizes the serial rapist and killer Mr. Harvey, but without ever excusing his terrible crimes.

In 2004, The Lovely Bones won the Richard and Judy Best Read Award (given by the British Book Awards), and a movie version is currently in production (as of January 2005).