bibliogramma | Bonny Braes and Banks

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

I have no idea why I waited so long to read this book. I'd heard about this great series about a woman from modern times (well, post-WWII, anyway) who is magically transported two hundred years into the past, where, despite having a nice husband in her own time, she falls in love - somewhat unwillingly - with another nice man in the past, and gets all mixed up in the events preceding the battle of Culloden.

But for some reason I just didn't get around to reading it until recently - and now I find that I must go out and buy about half-a-dozen sequels, because the first book was every bit as good as everyone has been telling me it was.

Outlander begins with one of the lead characters, Claire Randall, an English nurse, on a second honeymoon in Scotland. There's some discussion of the role her husband's ancestor, a Captain John Randall, played in the bloody hisory of the Jacobite Risings - the long attempt by the Highland Scots to return the house of Stuart to the throne of England and Scotland following deposition of James II in 1688, which was finally crushed in 1746 at the Battle of Culloden. (I should digress here to note that I myself am part Scot, part Welsh, and all Celt, and as far as the history of the time is concerned, my sympathies are all with the Scots and not the slightest with the Sassenach.)

While in Scotland, Claire discovers that there is a standing circle near where they are staying, where some of the local women still worship in the "old ways." When she explores the circle herself, she finds herself drawn back to 1745, where she finds herself caught up in the politics of the clans, the cause of the Jacobites, the invading Sassenach - one of whom is her husband's ancestor, and eventually a bold Scotsman named Jamie Fraser who wins her heart.

It's fascinating historical fiction wrapped up in a time-travelling frame, with all the complications that entails, it's a refreshing romance between two people who become friends and partners as well as lovers, and it's - most welcome of all - a story of an intelligent, resourceful, courageous and tough woman who survives and thrives despite being thrown out of her own time and all that she knows and understands.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm curious, which paranormal romance did you read that you liked? And what were the others you didn't enjoy?

(this is

calico_reaction under her personal journal)

Oooh, this is going to be long.

I loved Susan Krinard's Prince of Shadows (but still haven't read the rest of the series). I also moderately liked Krinard's futuristic Kinsman's Oath, but the speculative elements worked a lot better for me than the romance did. On the other hand, I hated Krinard's first Luna book.

I'm not sure if futuristic romance is considered paranormal or not, but I liked the first J. D. Robb book and one shorter piece set in that universe, although I haven't liked most of Nora Roberts' other books I've tried.

Oh and I've read a few time travel or ghost paranormals by Lynn Kurland, which I liked.

Let's see, the paranormals I hated... I tried two Christine Feehan books and I thought that not only were they badly written, but they were horribly misogynistic and celebrated the rape culture. Silver Shadows by Sylvie Kurtz was a mediocre book. Several of the Lunas by romance authors were more paranormal than fantasy and had all of the gender stereotypes. And even in the romance/fantasy crossover anthologies that have come out in recent years, I've liked the SFF stories and hated all but one romance story.

Even in Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan, which I thought was more fantasy than paranormal, the gender stuff really pissed me off.

Once a Pirate by Susan Grant did nothing for me, although I think I might like her futuristics a lot more.

Shield's Lady by Amanda Glass (aka Jayne Ann Krentz) was okay and I kind of wish I didn't get rid of it because I'd like to try it again now. I'd also like to read her books as Jayne Castle.

I'm trying to read Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris now and it's not the romance angle or any kind of sexism interfering with my enjoyment of the book, it's Sookie's voice. So I guess I'm destined not to like most paranormals or romantic fantasy that paranormal readers love too.

Warrior's Woman by Johanna Lindsey is right up there with Feehan's books as being one of the most offensive books I've ever attempted to read.

Awaken Me Darkly by Gena Showalter had a kick-ass heroine, except every time she was with the hero, she was shown to be less than he was. Here's a great post about this trend: http://www.romancingtheblog.com/blog/2007/03/15/the-envelope-that-still-needs-pushing/

There's a few more I can't remember now, all of which had very sexist themes.

Then there's a few books which I consider half romance and half SFF, like Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair. I loved the heroine, liked the space opera story (although the world building felt cardboard), but hated the domineering alpha hero. And in Elphame's Choice by P. C. Cast, the world was really neat, but I didn't like how the heroine turned into a wet dishrag as soon as she met the hero.

I would like to try Marjorie Liu, more by Grant, J. R. Ward, Nalini Singh, Robin D. Owens, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Patti O'Shea, Karen Marie Moning, Liz Maverick, more Tor Paranormals, and I put the first Shomi book on reserve at the library.

Thanks for such a lengthy response! :) I ask because I'm just now getting acclimated to the SFF/R and paranormal romance sub-genre, so I'm interested in hearing what people think works and what doesn't. :)

You're welcome. :-) I'm still just getting acquainted with paranormals and I also love to hear what people like and dislike. When I first started reading SFFR, or first realized that's what I liked all along, I found romanticsf.com to be the biggest help.

Oh, I remembered that the other paranormals I couldn't think of were mostly published by Love Spell. I've been going through a very negative toward romance period for a while now though and a lot of those books were attempted recently, so my mood might have biased me against some of the books. But I stand by what I said about Feehan and Lindsey. ;-)

I find that a lot of stuff that I read is mislabeled paranormal romance, because it's urban fantasy with more or less a romantic subplot. My favorites in this genre are all of Carrie Vaughn's books, starting with Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Kim Harrison's Dead Witch Walking (which has no romantic element really, but hints to later books which I haven't read), and Kelley Armstrong's Bitten, which is VERY MUCH paranormal romance.

I've read a few of Asaro's Skolian Empire books and have enjoyed them, but I can't think of other writers, off the top of my head, that write SFR.

But Juno Books's anthology, Best New Paranormal Romance had some good stories in it, and introduced me to Sandra McDonald, whose SF (with a romantic subplot?) novel, The Outback Stars debuted earlier this year. I've got it, but haven't read it yet.

Alas. So many books, so little time...

I read Tate Hallaway's Tall Dark and Dead because Hallaway is really Lyda Morehouse, who wrote the Archangel Protocol series, which is an amazing religious cyberpunk novel.

It was probably the first book I've read that way officially labelled as paranormal romance - unless you count Laurell Hamilton's books, the first of which kind of predate the growth of the genre, or half a dozen other books that have both paranoraml urban fantasy elements and romance elements.

I enjoyed it a lot, but that's probably because I enjoy Morehouse's work a lot. I know there are other paranormal romance writers out there that I will like, becasue for years and years there have been people who have been writing books that I've liked that would now be marketed under that label. Tanya Huff's Victory Nelson books (and to a lesser extent, her Keeper Chronicles, too). Mercedes Lackey's Diana Tregarde books. And so on.

And on another note, I'm looking forward to reading Sandra McDonald's book, too. I read her Tiptree Award-winning short story "The Ghost Girls of Rumney Mill" earlier this year and was highly impressed. I think I put the anthology you mention here on my wishlist based on one of your reviews - is this the one edited by Paula Guran?

I think I put the anthology you mention here on my wishlist based on one of your reviews - is this the one edited by Paula Guran?

Yep. :)

Bonny Braes and Banks

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