I think this was the first Bookcrossing book I ever registered. I tried to read it, but found it just wasn't my thing, so I sent it out into the world.

But since I recently got stuck into the television show, and found it so compelling, I decided to give the book another try.

Well, it's unabashedly romantic, that's for sure, and yet not at all cheesy. And count Jamie Fraser as one of a handful of memorable romantic male leads in literature—strong, capable, funny, sexy, sensitive. There are so few. Rhett Butler definitely. Maybe Howard Roark. But I can't think of any others offhand. So kudos to Diana Gabaldon for this creation.

But the pros outweigh the cons. For instance, shouldn't Claire be more FREAKED the hell out that she's been tumbled through the void into 17th-century Scotland? I mean, it's all very la dee da, oh well it happened and, hey, aren't YOU cute, with her. Few internal musings on her part as to how in she got here, why, and what it all means. And are we to seriously believe that after being sexually brutalized, Jamie needs only a few weeks to get all hot hand bothered over Claire again? I mean, okay, yours is a romance for the ages, guys, I get it—and your sex is incredible. But it stretched the limits of reality way more than the whole time travel issue. And some of the dialogue reads as stilted, especially on Claire's part.

I think I'll stick with the television show. It seems to have compensated a bit for some of Gabaldon's missteps.