By Cheryl Rushing

In my last post I talked about the Outlander series and how, being almost finished with the second book (Dragonfly in Amber) I was simply not going to read any further into the series.

Well, damn Diana Gabaldon and her ability to suck you in, because the minute I finished Dragonfly in Amber I was dying to know what happened next.  Luckily, a friend owns the entire series and brought me over Voyager and the fourth one (I don’t know what it’s called).

Voyager has been a very easy read.  So easy, in fact, that I find myself saying “I’ll just read to the end of the chapter” but something happens that is so shocking I have to keep reading, and then it’s 2 a.m. and I have to be up for work in 4 hours.

I think there are what, 3 or 4 more books after Voyager?  I’m not sure, but I think this will keep me busy the rest of the year.

A few years ago a friend recommended that I read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  I picked up the first book (Outlander) from the library, and was unable to get through the first chapter.  I was bored with it.

My friend was aghast that I was not as enthralled as she was by the series.  I was at a local bookstore about a year later and bought Outlander from the used section, then found it dusty, with the receipt still in it, two years later.

I slogged through the first several chapters until it got good, but even then I only wanted to finish it because I’d already invested so much time in the characters.  Normally a 2 book a week girl, this one took me nearly a month to finish.

For some reason I bought the second in the series, Dragonfly in Amber.  Despite a strong start, it is still taking me a month to read this one, and no matter how it ends I will not be finishing the series.

It’s an example, in my opinion, of how I do NOT want to write, and not something I want to read.  No offense meant to Diana Gabaldon, she’s just not my style.  Maybe I’m missing something?  She’s made a lot of money and is quite popular, so she must be doing something right.