** spoiler alert ** 
 This book has left me swimming in conflicted feelings. I really didn't like the book when I first started it and was cursing the entire historical fiction genre for boring me to death yet again! Then something magical happened and I was swooning over Jamie and loved the book so much I literally hugged it! The characters came alive and I was walking in Claire's shoes and experiencing the Highlands of Scotland in medieval times (it was glorious.) Claire will remain one of my all time favorite heroines from here on out, but unfortunately I can only give this book four stars. After devouring several hundred pages things started to slow again and I found myself skimming for the good stuff (tender moments with my dear Jamie.) Then something horrible happened. Gabaldon took my brave manly hero and deflowered him. I'm sorry, but my knight in shinning armor doesn't ever get ass raped in my fantasies. What the hell was the author thinking? I would have given this book 5 stars if it were 300 pages shorter and the main heart throbbed didn't get buggered. 
 Character Casting: 
 Claire: Reece Witherspoon 
 Jamie: Jason Lewis