I read one of those book lists, this one was the X number of literary summer hits you'll love, or something. I copied the summary for the ones that I thought I might like, and I sent them to my husband and said, you subjectively choose. He picked Outlander, the one I was least excited about reading on the list. 
 But hey, I enjoyed it. Gabaldon is a fine writer, and I added a decent number of words to my Kindle's Vocabulary Builder while I got through its many, many pages. I also have the miniseries waiting on my DVR, ready now for me to watch. 
 If you aren't already familiar with the premise, Claire (the protagonist), an English nurse from the 1940s, accidentally travels back in time to 1743, where she is somewhat-soon forced to wed Jamie, a stubborn, red-headed, quasi-mysterious Scotsman. 
 There are fights, there are many descriptions of wounds being dressed and otherwise attended to, there are horrific descriptions of torture, there are difficult decisions to make, and there is plenty of sex. I found the sex to be average a lot of the time, and above average some of the time. It was never lousy, and it was never AMAZING. It kept me reading til the end, anyway. Well, maybe not exactly that, but the grand character development, the world building, and the wonder of WILL SHE EVER GO BACK TO HER OWN TIME or WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?? 
 The romance comes perilously close to being gag-making, but if you read it while jet-lagged, you will either not notice, or not care. 
 It was long enough and not incredible enough (to me) that after finishing, the next book I wanted to read is NOT the sequel. Still, it was good enough that I would not avoid reading the next one, though knowing that there are so many already out there, I am hesitant to commit further down the line. An enjoyable read, and I've heard that the audiobook is quite well done!