Cross Stitch (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon

• Paperback: 880 pages
• Publisher: Arrow; New Ed edition (3 Mar 1994)
• ISBN-10: 0099911701
• ISBN-13: 978-0099911708

CLAIRE RANDALL IS LEADING A DOUBLE LIFE, SHE HAS A HUSBAND IN ONE CENTURY - AND A LOVER IN ANOTHER...

In 1945, Claire Randall is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon in Scotland. Innocently she walks through a stone circle in the Highlands and finds herself in a violent skirmish taking place in 1743. Suddenly she is a Sassenach, an outlander, in a country torn by war and by clan feuds.

A wartime nurse, Claire can deal with the bloody wounds that face her. But it is harder to deal with the knowledge that she is in Jacobite Scotland and the carnage of Culloden is looming. Marooned amid the passion and violence, the superstition , the shifting allegiances and the fervent loyalties, Claire is in danger from James Fraser, a gallant and courageous young Scots warrior. Jamie shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire, and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

Cover:  A simple, pretty cover with significance!!

I have been seeing all over the internet, about Outlander, the TV show, and then a revival of interest in the book because of said TV show.  Naturally I was intrigued.  And I was dying to watch the TV show, but I wanted to read the book first.  And the book is a beast, coming in at 880 pages.  If I watched the show first, would I bother to read the tomb?  Probably not.
So I was dying to read this book from the moment I ordered it.
And.
I loved it.
I haven't read a book so big in a very, very long time.  With book blogging, I think the timescale is a worry- How long will it take me to read this?!?!  I need to keep posting content and not be held up!  So the larger books get bumped further and further down the to-be-read pile.
It definitely is not for everyone.  There's some cheese.  Some cringe.  Some scenes of a sexual nature.  Some sexual abuse orture.
It was a little slow to get into, hardly surprising with a book this size and with so much to set up.
But once it got to the hundred page mark- I was hooked.
Jamie Fraser.  Total book crush right there.  Rugged, charming highlander...need I say more.
There was definitely a lot that was hard to read- and I can see why a lot of people wouldn't have enjoyed it.  Particularly towards the end of the book.  There is a lot of sexual torture and abuse that was difficult to read.  So be aware.
Over all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and will definitely picking up the rest of the series, although maybe not straight away  as they just get bigger and bigger.
4.5/5 stars.

	Read from October 11 to 18, 2014 * To note, I've to date now watched 3 episodes of the tv series, and...I'm loving it.  I think they're done a great job not only of casting it, but also adapting it.  They've been very faithful to the book, (again so far) and yet the changes have been minor but I think necessary to make the show work.