Claire Randall, an English nurse from the 1940's, is in for the surprise of her life. While on vacation with her husband in Scotland, she finds a strange circle of stones and somehow is transported back into 1743 Scotland. Confused and disoriented, she finds herself in the hands of a Scottish lord and his men, on the run from the English.

As Claire adjusts to her new life in Scotland, she take son the task of being nurse to the castle she now lives in. The people slowly work their way into her heart. At the same time, she desperately misses her husband and searches for a way she may be able to sneak off and use the stones to go back to her own time and place. Instead she finds herself right in the middle of a feud between the Scottish people that have taken her in and an English Corporal, that just happens to be one of her husband's ancestors.

I enjoyed the little twists and turns the story took along the way. Gabaldon was able to keep the story moving very nicely throughout the almost 900 pages, something that can't be very easy to do. There were a few sections that I did struggle through, but were important to the development of the many characters.

I was very surprised at the amount of romance that was included, and have to admit there were times I skimmed over a bit of the love scenes. There were times it seemed a bit much for the type of novel that I expected, but at the same time it didn't seem to effect my overall liking of the book.

4/5

Welcome back to the Tudor court (one of my favorite places to read about). King Edward is sick and rumored to be dieing. The kingdom is in an uproar, and the regent prepares to put Jane Grey on the throne, usurping both Princess Mary and Princess Elizabeth.

Enter Brendan Prescott, an orphan raised by the Dudley family at their country estate, sent to court to serve their son Robert. But as everyone in the Tudor era seems to, they have an ulterior motive. Brendan finds himself sucked into a web of intrigue revolving around a plot to imprison and possibly execute the Princesses.

Overall, a very interesting story. The author admits to taking liberty with some of her characters and expanding on rumors that were very vague in the time. I had two big complaints. One, that there were a few contradictions in the story. People were said to have one point of view or opinion only to have it miraculously flip a couple of chapters later without any explanation. Two, the romance in the story seems to spring out of nowhere. I was very much blindsided by it. Once I paused and went back, just accepting it and moving on, it was a nice part of the overall story.

The characters grew and developed, but it was all very abrupt and made things a bit choppy. If there is a second in the series, I will probably give it a try and give the author another chance to smooth out the flow of her story.

2.5/5

Lexi Carmichael is a geek, a computer geek to be specific, and works for the NSA. She has no love life to speak of, and doesn't find herself to be very appealing to men. But now her best friend Basia has disappeared and men seem to be lining up to help find her.

I loved the action in this story. It was fast paced and exciting. It was great to see a bunch of computer geeks in action to save the day. In fact, the computer geeks were my favorite part...except for Lexi. Now since Lexi is our main character, that poses quite a predicament. Lexi is just a little too depressing. She complains about her lack of love life, her lack of taste in clothes, and about anyone who tries to help her. She gets a bit annoying at times just because she is always talking herself down.

The action, on the other hand, is fantastic. There are so many twists and turns subtly worked into the story, and they kept me guessing up until the very end.

3/5

Galen Pathwarder, not so affectionately referred to as Weasel, is the third son of a noble family of Solomnic Knights (think uber honorable and a bit uptight). He isn't the son his father always wanted. Instead he lies, cheats, and occasionally sets something on fire. His older brothers aren't much better. The oldest is rather stupid and is always up to no good, while the middle brother seems to be some sort of a priest or monkish type, always meditating and trying to live among the animals.

One night Galen is approached by an entity of sorts he refers to as the Scorpion. Now the Scorpion is a very foul character that only lead Galen even further astray from the path his father hopes he will someday follow. Little do any of them know that the seemingly dark path Galen finds himself now on is far more important than they can imagine.

Galen is faced with a multitude of trials as he travels through satyr and centaur infested swamps, ogres in the mountains, and curses in the castle. He handles each situation with his own version of knightly duty - namely hiding and claiming to be keeping look out. But the journey changes him along the way and he finds himself the unlikely hero several times.

Another DragonLance novel that can be read as a stand alone book. It fills in some of the history and culture of the world without directly relating to any of the other stories.

3.5/5

Ruth Galloway is a forensic anthropologist. Our story starts with the discovery of a set of bones under the doorway of a building being torn down for new development. Ruth is called in to investigate and determine if the bones are "old" or "new". Her analysis leads to the discovery of a murdered young girl.

I was hoping for something different from this book. A big fan of the Bones series on TV, I thought the story would be more scientific. However, it is much more about the people solving the crime than the crime itself. Once I realized this I found the story to be very entertaining.

Ruth finds herself working with Inspector Harry Nelson again (I assume they worked together in book 1 as well). Consequences of their last encounter will be following Ruth for the rest of her life. Inspector Nelson finds himself feeling the need to protect her when he realizes that someone is literally trying to scare her to death to keep her from solving the case of the murdered little girl.

An enjoyable read, characters were fantastic, but it left much to be desired from a more technical/scientific point of view.

3/5

19. Tragic Magic by Laura Childs
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 280
Acquired: March 2010
Book of Your Shelf? Yes
Why I have it:
Series: Scrapbooking Mysteries (7)

Carmela and her friend Ava have been contracted to decorate Medusa Manor for a haunted house by their friend Melody. When they arrive a the house for the first time to meet Melody, they find her in a gruesome and unexpected way. They find her murdered. Carmela finds herself investigating a crime where some of her friends seem to be suspects.

I loved the setting of New Orleans and the idea of setting up a haunted house. Childs brings the city to life in many ways, from the people to the streets to the celebrations. Carmela is avery believable character that quickly grew to like...almost a little too much. She almost seemed a little too perfect at times. The mystery kept me guessing up until the very end, which is something that really makes a mystery for me.

3.5/5

I’m not sure where to start with this one – probably because I was very lost at the beginning. I thought that perhaps I had picked up a second in a series, but I could find no reference to a first book anywhere. The book in a nutshell is vampires meet cyperspace, but this isn’t clear at first.

The Eternals are somehow “chosen” to become immortal in a non-aging sense. People can link to cyberspace by hooking up with a cord coming out of their head which seems to be connected to microchips they have had implanted in their brain. Ok – so far I’m following, but then come the strange references to levels and ranks in the cyberworld with no real explanation of what they mean.

Now, if you take the Eternals and the cyberworld somewhat out of the equation, the realtionships between the people are fascinating. The story revolves around a father, mother, and son. The parents are both Eternals and are trying to find a way to “infect” their son as well. They travel to the ends of the known universe (literally) to try and find this virus. However, beyond this the relationship was rather odd. Perhaps as a result of being so virtual based, the family’s responses to each other seemed overly strained and impersonal.

2/5

21. By the Time You Read This I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters
Genre: Young Adult Lit
Pages: 200
Acquired: April 2011
Book of Your Shelf? No
Why I have it: Book Battle
Series: No

Daelyn feels like a broken person. Her latest failure has left her in a confining neck brace and unable to speak. She's under constant watch by her parents and school, but she is determined that next time she won't fail. Next time she will succeed in killing herself.

Santana is a young man that notices Daelyn as she waits for her ride home after school one day. He decides she needs a friend, and as much as she resists, he continues to try and get her to open up.

The story follows Daelyn as she plans her next attempt. We get to see inside her mind to whatmotivates her and what may hold her back. This may sound grim and depressing, but at the same time it is also very mind opening. We see how things we don't even think about can deeply affect the lives of others. The story was very real and the ending is very unexpected. I can't say how without giving too much away.

5/5

Shane Hunter lives a privileged life. He has a great house, a great family, and goes to a great school. On top of that he is the best closing pitcher for baseball anyone has seen in high school in a long time. But that all changes when the police show up to arrest his father.

Shane's life changes quickly and dramatically. He resents his new life and starts to fall into bad habits with bad people. But there is still hope for Shane. He has a strong group of people trying to help him, he just needs to learn to let them.

Baseball plays a very major role in the story and I really don't know much about it. That may have been one of the reasons I did not rate this as highly as I may have. Also, there were times Shane came across a bit wrong to me. Not incorrect wrong, but there was just something off in the way he behaved that didn't quite flow with the story.

Othewise, this was a great story of dealing with life.

3/5

23. Storm Thief by Chris Wooding
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Pages: 310
Acquired: April 2011
Book of Your Shelf? No
Why I have it: Book Battle
Series: No

Rail and Moa are thieves in the only city of Orokos (and by only I mean only - there is nothing else). While on a mission they discover a piece of ancient technology and they don't turn it in to their patron. This is all the start of a very grand adventure as Rail and Moa run from the secret police, monsters knows as Revenants, and the thugs sent by their thieve's patron.

Along the way the meet a very interesting "person". A golem named Vago that has quite an interesting past,of only he could remember what it was. Together the three flee across the city looking for a new and better life.

This was a fantastic story. The characters are fantastic and come to life on the pages. Their relationship is unique and wonderful to read about. They are all bound together by a fate that is greater than any one of them.

5/5