Grace

I enjoyed this book. Sometimes I grow impatient with timid characters like Julia. She cowered and trembled a few too many pages for my taste; but still, I remained in her corner throughout the story. Plenty of angst and tortured souls. If you're not a fan of heavy literature, some of the exchanges and references are a bit pretentious, but are necessary to reveal the inner workings of Gabriel's mind . These conversations reveal the musings of two brilliant but socially challenged individuals who have, thus far, lived very sad lives.

Anyone with a family will appreciate the imperfect and absolutely realistic characterizations of family relationships. There's a dad who can still give his adult children a scolding..and they still know they have to listen.

Be prepared..there is a sequel. This story comes to a conclusion..sort of. There are many loose threads remaining. A couple of the supporting characters were more engaging than the hero and heroine, in my opinion. All the ingredients for a series.

The performance was pleasant, although the sound of the narrator's voice and his speech patterns sound a lot like H.A.L. (2001 A Space Odyssey). Once it occurred to me who the narrator's voice resembled, it made me giggle and was somewhat distracting from time to time, but that's my problem, not the book's.

This may sound like a negative critique, but revealing my list of positives will give away too much. All in all, worth the credit, but I will likely read something a little sunnier before returning for the sequel. Something sans Dante.

Good story. The story and relationships are a little meatier than a lot of books in this genre,
But the best part was the descriptions of the magical effects of different flowers and plants. It was all presented so well that it seemed plausible you could whip up a love potion cupcake in the kitchen. (I have added a few edible flowers to my garden this Spring! Just in case.)

Worth the credit.

I like Ms. Banks Highlander books and her Kelly family stories, but this one..not so much.

The heroine is horribly mistreated and survives this treatment bravely. Undoubtedly there would be emotional scars and skewed perspective. The author does a good job creating a character who elicits the reader's sympathy. The following points, however, ruined what could have been a really good story.

Spoilers here: (not that you won't know where this is going by the 20 minute mark or so)_

1) Genevieve, as we find fairly early on, is an amazing archer, She takes out four men in a battle with her custom fitted bow. It leads one to ask why she didn't use a bow earlier in her plight.

2) Even though the people of Genevieve's captor's clan disdain and mistreat her, curiously they take orders from her when the Montgomery/Armstrong forces show up. Then return to stoning her a few days later...go figure.

3) Okay..this point is really why I'm posting a less than positive review. Its just a romance novel..escapism. And the point is missed if one picks too much. I get that. But the scenario presented is this: the heroine is held captive for a full year, raped by an undisclosed number of men over that time; but after only a brief period with the hero, she's pregnant. No discussion of this irony. Harkens to the "legitimate rape" theory we were treated to during the last Senatorial elections. Seemed irresponsible and poorly reasoned, even for this genre.

The hero is a sweety, of course. Kristen Potter's performance is outstanding as always. She has a great voice that never grates and her accents add to the experience.

Can't really recommend this one.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon was the first romance novel I ever read. I loved it and when I caught up on the series, was left wanting another really good story and set of well developed characters within the romance genre. I have been frustrated trying to find such a work until this one.
Okay, Matthew Claremont is no Jamie Frazer. but as 1500 year old vampires go, he ain't bad.
This story is so hard to describe, think a little Harry Potter, a little 1960's Dark Shadows, a little Twilight and some Sabrina the Teenage Witch (two eccentric witch aunts with a cat named Tabitha). But this is not fluffy, there's genetics, alchemy, history; all presented in a way that makes the whole thing seem plausible with just a little imagination. It's imaginative grown up reading about witches, vampires, ghosts and creative, scatterbrained demons.

The few love scenes are decidedly PG.

The narrator is amazing as well. Such a wide variety of accents.

Can't wait to get started on the next book of the trilogy. Just in time for Halloween!

My family thinks I've totally lost it. Laughing to myself as I did Spring cleaning.
Chalk one up for the brainy girl who can expand her horizons without relinquishing her "self". Excellent story! Fun and romantic.
Be patient through the first thirty minutes or so. In my opinion...a slow starter .but well worth a bit of patience.