BotW: Outlander

Hello lovelies and happy Beltane! Welcome to the start of a new month!  It so happens that this month starts on a Sunday...which means that I must share with you my book of the week for this coming week!  Wonderful! 

Happy Sunday!  This week's book of the week is by far one of my favorites, and I figure I will share it with you!  

In honor of today being Jamie Fraser's Birthday...the book of the week is...

Outlander

Diana Gabaldon

This series, this book, it has absolutely EVERYTHING that I could want in a book.  The series come to life on television has done it so much justice and I love that Diana is involved in the process.  

I highly recommend checking this book out if you love historical romance, time travel, hot men in kilts...did I mention the kilts...and the hot men? Oh, and there is plenty of adventure too! 

#TBT: My First Historical Romance

So very, very true.  This week's Throwback Thursday (#TBT) is a book that is very near and dear to my heart.  This book was given to me when I was sixteen, it was sent to me by my Aunt as a birthday gift.  At the time, I had no idea that it was the fourth book in the series, all I knew is that I'd fallen in love with the characters, the world, the history that enriched every page of this very large book - 1,070 pages.  

At the time, I'd never read anything in this particular genre.  Nor, had I read anything this large (aside from textbooks because I was in high school at the time).  The size of this book intimidated me, it made me nervous.  Could I actually read a book this large cover to cover?  Would I like it?  Why had my aunt sent me something so big? My fears were at the time well placed, and ultimately the reason she'd sent me the book was because she knew I loved reading and thought I'd like the book.  I did read it.  No, I devoured it - cover to cover.  All one thousand and seventy pages.  Did I like it? More than like, I loved it.  

What book am I talking about? Diana Gabaldon's Drums of Autumn book four in her Outlander series.  Jamie and Claire easily became my all time favorite couple, Black Jack Randall easily became my favorite villain.  I loved absolutely everything about this story, to the point that when I was attending college at Flagler in St. Augustine, FL, there was a second-hand bookstore close to campus and I bought the first three books in the series, as well as book number five.  I am still missing book number six in the series.  

When I heard that Outlander was going to become a television series, I think I seriously fangirled.  I absolutely love the fact that this world has been brought to the screen and everything about it is perfect, is wonderful, and I'm reminded of all the reasons I fell in love with this series in the first place. 

Throwback Thursday: My First Historical Romance

Welcome to another edition of Throwback Thursday.  I realize I missed a couple of weeks, but I think you'll forgive me, at least I hope you'll forgive me.  Today is a very special throwback, to the first historical romance that I was given at the age of sixteen.  It was my introduction to the world crafted by Diana Gabaldon in her Outlander series, of which I have now become obsessed with, and am currently only missing like 3 books in to have them all.

When I turned sixteen, I'd gotten a package from my aunt, and it was thick.  I wasn't entirely sure what it was, but I had at least the idea that it was a book.  Little did I know, that the novel she'd sent me would suck me in whole-heartedly and have me addicted to this wonderful romance between Claire Randall and James Fraser and the rich history of Scotland.

It took me a day or two to actually gather the courage to read the book, because it was thicker than most of the books that I'd read up until that point.  Also, I'd not been an avid reader until I'd finally sat down and read this book - which took me all of two and a half days to read.  880 pages was intimidating despite the fact that I was sixteen and should have been reading more than what was required of me in high school.  Do I regret not reading a whole lot when I was in high school - most definitely, however, I have since made up for it now that I am older.

Gabaldon's descriptions are phenomenal and you can't help but get sucked in by the story she has weaved of Brianna's own step into the past to find her mother and the father she's never met.  To be the daughter of an eighteenth-century Scotsman and a twentieth-century woman, has got to be something that makes growing up interesting especially when you discover who your father actually was.

This series is one that I will always have with me, and eventually I will complete it.  This is one that I ultimately prefer to have in physical copy.

What's On My Kindle? Series Overload Part One

Welcome to the seventh installment of What's On My Kindle?

What exactly is What's On My Kindle?  This is my own little thing that I am going to be getting out every Sunday.  Within this post I'll list a few of the books that are currently on my TBR list on my Kindle.  Some are freebies (or were when I bought them), and others I paid for with gift cards, or had a few spare bucks to spend on a book.

All of them, I fully intend on getting to, at some point (and taking a massive chisel to my to-read list and hopefully hack it down to under 1000, again).

I have book OCD! I have to have each and every book in a series, and I have to read them in order.  This is how I've always been.  I blame it on my Aunt when she ultimately sent me BOOK FOUR in the <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/43943-outlander">Outlander Series</a> when I was sixteen and I got hooked on it, and I think I'm only missing one or two books of the series (and those I have in print).  

One of my big things to do on my Kindle is I have all my series in a specific category, by their series.  Some I have listed by Author because I've only got one book in the series, type of thing or I have multiple books that are in a couple of different series (but not the same series).  

Some are free, some are ones that I'd paid for, and indulged in occasionally when I have the extra money for. 

The series I have on my Kindle right now are: 

1. The Mortal Instruments which was featured in the first edition of What's On Your E-Reader? which can be found here.

2. The Infernal Devices - which is another series by Cassandra Clare and set in the same world as The Mortal Instruments and just as good. The books in this series are: Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, Clockwork Princess

3. Delirium - which is a three book series by Lauren Oliver.  These books are: Delirium, Pandemonium, Requiem.

4. The Devil's Roses- a five book series by Tara Brown that I'd picked up for free on Amazon.  The books in this series are: Cursed, Bane, Hyde, Witch and Death. 

5. The Hunger Games - one of my favorite dystopian series of all time by Suzanne Collins. The books are Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay.  I am desperately looking forward to Catching Fire coming out in theaters in November. 

These are just a small amount of series that I have on my Kindle, there will more than likely be a volume two of this particular topic coming soon! 

For now, what are some of your favorite series? Do you have to have all the books before you can properly enjoy a series? 

Series Sunday: We Love Them

Series.  Everyone loves a good one, as much as we love a good stand alone novel.  There are so many that have stood the test of time, been turned into major motion pictures, and some that have fallen into obscurity.  I have my favorites, and I'm sure that everyone out there has their own personal favorites.  These are the books that we fall back on time and time again when we need to find something for "comfort" reading or simply to revisit the worlds that we have fallen in love with.

I have fallen in love with The Witches of Eileanan series by Kate Forsyth.  I was originally turned on to this series a couple of years ago by a good friend and I now own all six books of the series, simply because I borrowed the first one from her!

• The Witches of Eileanan  
• The Pool of Two Moons  
• The Cursed Towers
• The Forbidden Land
• The Skull of the World
• The Fathomless Caves

One of the other series that I'd been given as a gift was the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  I was initially given book four, Drums of Autumn for my sixteenth birthday by my aunt.  I loved it, it's got elements that I absolutely love in a good story: romance, time travel and historical events.  

• Outlander
• Dragonfly in Amber
• Voyager
• Drums of Autumn
• The Fiery Cross
• A Breath of Snow and Ashes
• An Echo in the Bone

There are also so many urban fantasy, vampire, werewolf and classic series that I love, and there are some that I just never started reading (please do not throw stones, I will eventually get into them at some point). What got me on a series kick for today, I'm not sure, but I have a feeling it may have something to do with one of the past episodes of Laser and Sword where they had been talking about series and the time between books, since the last book in the Wheel of Time series is due to come out in the next year or so.  That would be one of the series that I never actually started reading, but I know some who have gotten into it and loved it all the way through, and there are some like Veronica from Laser and Sword who stopped at book four.  

Urban Fantasy series that are my favorites are the Alpha and Omega series and the Mercedes Thompson series both by Patricia Briggs.  I've also fallen in love with the Iron Fae series by Julie Kagawa.  Some of the classic series that I love are Tolkins Lord of the Rings series, and I even loved the movies.  I also love some of the more popular trilogies and series such as Fifty Shades, The Hunger Games, Wings, and Artemis Fowl.

What are some of your favorite series?