Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

It took me forever to finally read this book! I got it from the library a couple of months ago, but never read it because I was rereading the Twilight series and then I read Breaking Dawn. By the time I was ready to read something new, this book was due back to the library. I begged them to renew it again for me so that I could finish it, and I finally have!

Here is a summary from Publisher's Weekly:

English nurse Claire Beauchamp Randall and husband Frank take a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands in 1945. When Claire walks through a cleft stone in an ancient henge, she's somehow transported to 1743. She encounters Frank's evil ancestor, British captain Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall, and is adopted by another clan. Claire nurses young soldier James Fraser, a gallant, merry redhead, and the two begin a romance, seeing each other through many perilous, swashbuckling adventures involving Black Jack.

I am having a hard time deciding how I feel about this book. It was difficult to read because I had a hard time getting in to it at first. Then, I decided I liked the book and wanted to continue reading, but by the time I was near the end, I just wanted the book to be over. It was very difficult to read the end of the book. If you've read this book, you know why. Some people have called me closed minded because there are just some things I don't want to read about or watch in a movie, but it's just the way I am. I wasn't emotionally ready for parts of this book as I was expecting it to be a cute historical fiction/romance/chick lit book. It was, up to a point. Overall, the book was good, but not my favorite. I haven't made up my mind about reading the rest of the series yet.

2.5 out of 5 stars for my own reasons.

More About Breaking Dawn

So I decided that I wanted to write exactly what I thought about Breaking Dawn without having to avoid spoilers. I'm going to do that here. Just follow the link...

Don't read the rest of this post unless you've read the book!!!

Click for review with spoilers
My opinions about this book have changed so much as I had time to think about it. I still really like the book, but there are some things that bothered me.

I LOVED the wedding and the beginning of the honeymoon! That was very cute and very Bella and Edward. When I realized that Bella was pregnant (getting sick after eating), I was like, "NO! How could Stephenie do that!!!" I'm still not so sure about it, but it's what Stephenie Meyer wanted, so it's how it should be, obviously!

I liked that the second book was in Jacob's perspective. It was very interesting to see things through his eyes, especially the imprinting! I really liked the chapter names; they definitely sounded very Jake-like! I was definitely weirded out about the imprinting on the baby thing, though. It was weird because she's Bella's baby. I mean, Jake kissed Bella and had some very naughty thoughts about her, and now he's in love with her CHILD?!?! WTF?! I'm still not totally happy with that part. I was hoping Jake would end up with Leah, but at least he's happy. The birth/death scene was pretty good. It was very emotional when Jake was pumping her heart and everything. I was pretty close to tears at that point.

By the way, what is up with the baby's name?! Renesmee?? You've got to be kidding me. What was Stephenie Meyer smoking when she came up with that one?! Her middle name, Carlie, would have been a better first name than Renesmee!

I really liked when Bella "woke up" as a vampire. I thought it was kind of cool how Stephenie Meyer described it. I was a little confused about why Edward wasn't being very fatherly. He didn't say anything about Renesmee when Bella "woke up" and I don't really remember him holding her that much at all! It was very weird. I thought you were supposed to love your kids more than anyone else, including your spouse!

I thought Charlie accepted everything way too well.

Jake: "I'm a werewolf and your daughter is something else, but we're not going to tell you what."

Charlie: "Ummm...OK"

??????

What kind of parent would just say "OK"??? Whatever.

I'm glad that the book had a happy ending, but the Volturi scene was so anticlimactic! It was just like, "We're going to kill you! ... Oh, um never mind. Bye!" I did really, really like Bella's power and the very end where she lets Edward into her mind. That was very cute!

So, overall, I enjoyed the book, but I think Stephenie kind of lost sight of her characters and made their personalities all weird and not like them at all! Edward was so boring and kind of shoved into the background. I liked it better when he was all protective of Bella. And what was up with him calling Jasper "Jazz"??? No one had ever called him that before! When did that start? I'm done. I just wanted to write what I really thought about the book with as many spoilers as I wanted. Sorry it kind of turned into a rant!

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Don't read this review if you haven't read the other books in this series, as it may contain spoilers!

I finally finished the book! I got it the minute it came out at Walmart, but I haven't had much time to read it. I'm glad I finished it! It was great! I think it was a good end to the saga. I'm a little sad that the series is finished, but I'm not feeling as depressed as I thought I would.

I wasn't sure I was going to like Breaking Dawn at first. I was a little unsure of where the story was going, but I started to like it more and more! I want to reread it already, but I have a lot of library books to read. I've renewed them as many times as I can already. Well, I hope Stephenie Meyer changes her mind and decides to continue to write books in this series. I have to say that it pushed the Harry Potter series out of the top spot on my favorite series list. I guess I'll just have to make do with the movie and the guide that are being released in December!

5 out of 5 stars, of course!!

Post-Reading Deprsession

I'm getting closer to the end of Breaking Dawn and I can feel that my post-reading depression (I swear it exists!) is going to be worse than usual. I'm kind of procrastinating so that I can hold it off a little longer. This happens to me a lot when I finish a really good series, or even just a really good book. It happened with the Harry Potter series, Uglies series, His Dark Materials, and Pope Joan, Eclipse, and The Host. I can't believe I'm almost finished with the Twilight series! It's not fair! I'll post about the book when I finish, and after I come out of the "depression" a little bit.

Note: I realize that post-reading depression is not really depression as it only lasts a few days or so, but it's the best way I can describe the feeling. It's pretty awful and emotionally draining.