Now, it's not a typical romance novel, or certainly not what I would consider typical. It's a real mix of history with time travel and a slow building romance. There are also two heroes which will may be a bit strange for readers (I will admit I had a bit of an issue with this initially), and the connection between Frank and his rather creepy ancestor lends a kind of oddness to the story (for me, anyway!).
The detail is amazing, and it's obvious Diana did a lot of research into the Scottish time period she set the majority of the book in. I love history, but as I was after romance, I found myself getting a little tired of waiting for some action in that area. Once the romance really began, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and found Claire to be an interesting heroine. Jamie, her highlander lover, possesses the wonderful qualities of a romantic hero - attractive, brave, loyal, loving and dedicated to the heroine.
Diana can certainly tell a wonderful story, and knows how to suck a reader into the world she has created. Although I can understand why people love this book (and I will HAVE to buy the rest of the series as I need to know how it all plays out!), I don't know whether I'd consider this one of my favourite romance novels of all time. It's partly to do with my issue with Claire's relationship with Frank being unresolved/rather murky. I won't explain further as this will ruin it for readers who haven't read the book, but if you have, you'll know what I mean. I'm interested to see if people have an issue with this at all, but I felt Claire didn't pine after her husband enough, in my opinion.
All in all, it's a fantastic book and well worth reading, but if you are after a classic romance, this may not quite fit the bill. As I've mentioned before, I'll definitely get the rest of the series, however I won't have the expectation that it'll pan out like a typical romance with a HEA. I could be wrong, but I look forward to finding out if I am.
Happy reading,
:-) Mon
4 comments:
Ooh a friend of mine raved about this book and your review has made me think I should give it a go. Will add it to the To Buy/Borrow list :)
Rach, it's a great read, but don't be surprised if you have a few issues with it. The again, you may not have any issues with it, but I can't go into too much detail without giving the plot away! Lol.
Let me know what you think when you finish (chances are you'll want to borrow/buy the rest of the series like I do!).
I used to work with a lady who LOVED this series and couldn't stop raving about it. Really must get around to reading it myself one day.
One day...when my to-be-read pile isn't so huge!
Cathryn, I know what you mean about the TBR pile - this book was sitting there for a while because I have a massive pile to get through! Gives me a headache just looking at it.
The advantage of getting hooked so late to a series is that you don't have to wait for the next book to come out because it's been out for years. Yay! :-)
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