I am reviewing this book Outlander by Diana Gabaldon for the Chunkster Challenge, which in case you do not know for this challenge is a book that has to have at least 450 pages, this book Outlander surpasses that and has over 800 pages. A little history about this book, it was originally written in the early 90's and I had read three of the books by the late 90's (there are now eight in the series) but at the time the author took five years in between books, so I ended up forgetting about this series. This has now been made into a TV series, which I do not have the channel it is on, but have gotten to see the show through Amazon and it is very good. Anyways, by now you are probably wondering what this book is about and not wanting to read my ramblings. Claire Randall has recently reconnected with her husband after a five year absence due to WWII. Claire was a nurse while her husband, Frank, was involved in intelligence, and in order for them to reconnect they go on a second 'honeymoon' to Scotland. Frank mostly wants to visit the Highlands because of his ancestor who served in the British Dragoons as a Captain in the 18th century before the Scottish Uprising (in which the Highlanders were trying to have Bonnie Prince Charlie take over as King). Claire just seems to tag along and not necessarily care about her husbands ancestors, she is more interested in the ancient druids and superstitious stories. At one point Claire gets sent back in time to 1743 in the Highlands and she meets her husbands 6x grandfather who was alive and in Scotland at this time named Captain Jonathan Randall otherwise known as Black Jack. Their first meeting doesn't go well and Claire is 'rescued' by members of the Clan MacKenzie. Claire meets Jamie Fraser who is nephew to the Laird, Scottish version of Lord, of the Clan MacKenzie and who is also a member of the Clan Fraser. Both Jamie and Claire have their own secrets, some that they share with each other eventually and others they keep to themselves, that will end up in various disastrous results for both parties. Both of them are trying to stay away from Black Jack and the English. Throughout the book Claire meets some interesting people and tries a few times to get back to her own time. She makes a few friends but she is seen with suspicion as a English Spy or otherwise known, as the English are called by the name of "Sassanach" by the Highlanders. Claire has various adventures and dangers at the hands of both Highlanders and British Dragoons. As Claire is a nurse during her "previous" time and has 'healing powers' that others don't some are superstitious as to how Claire has these abilities. There are a lot of action and drama throughout this book and it doesn't fit in one genre; it has romance, time travel, witchcraft (or what others think it is), historical, politics, justice, etc. The author does a good job in being very descriptive of the way of the life of the Clans and the scenery of the Highlands. I did like that this author was realistic in some historic aspects as I think quite often authors seem to romantic certain aspects of history, and in this book we see the brutality of "justice" or not "justice" being served during this time. We also see that sometimes people had to make choices based on practicality as well as necessity. I no doubt am not the best at explaining this book as I do not want to give anything away. I rate this book a four out of five. 
This is my first review for the 2014 Chunkster challenge , I signed up late and then this year didn't read very many books that had more than 450 pages.The book I read for this review was The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly, it is the third book in the Harry Bosch series. The plot of this book is that Detective Harry Bosch a few years ago killed a serial killer and is being charged in civil court by the widow. However, recent questions have been raised if indeed Bosch killed the correct person or if there is a second killer involved. We learn more about Bosch's past and what he has to admit in court, even though he would prefer some things to by private. So many different things occurred in this book, that I don't want to give anything away, so I know this isn't much of a review. This is one of those books that you want to pass on and have others read. My version of book had 505 pages which went by really fast, since it is a page turner. If you like crime detective mystery type books this one might be a good one for you. Even though this is part of a series I don't think you necessarily have to read the first two (I actually thought this was the best so far in the series).
