Jamie + Claire + hot sex + time travel + Scotland + botany + obsession + spankings + Scots dialect + a lot of red hair + 800+ pages = Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Where to begin?
Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series includes so many disparate elements it's nearly impossible to find any one book that is similar to it. Since it is so popular (and we can't wait until the series premieres on Starz this summer), we thought we'd analyze Outlander's elements, and make recommendations for further reading, depending on what element is your favorite.
First, we offer suggestions of two books that include many of the elements, which two of H&H's Outlander fans, Anna Bowling and Aniko Nagy, both recommend. It's Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness series, an “American colonial era saga, but Jamie and Claire actually make a cameo in one of the books.” (Donati and Gabaldon are friends).
Charli Mac offers, “Paulina Simmons's epic trilogy of The Bronze Horsemen, also known as Alexander and Tatiana. They survive WWII ravaged Leningrad, POW camps, and anti-communist McCarthy era US. Its a sweeping love story with the backdrop of war, politics, and the deep wounds within us all. It's brilliant!”
Then there are the separate elements:
- Suzanne Enoch's Scandalous Highlanders
- Kinley MacGregor's Brotherhood/MacAllister series
- Karen Marie Moning's Highlanders series
- Julianne MacLean's Highlander trilogy
- Anita Clenney's Connor Clan
- Marsha Canham's Highlands series
Time travel romances
- Jude Devereaux's A Knight in Shining Armor
- Karen Marie Moning's Highlanders series*
- Nora Roberts's Circle trilogy
- Anita Clenney's Connor Clan series*
- Kinley MacGregor's Born in Sin* (in the Brotherhood/MacAllister series)
- Courtney Milan's Unclaimed
- Jessica Clare's Beauty and the Billionaire
Alpha males who aren't alphaholes
- Roarke from J.D. Robb's In Death series
- Adam Hauptmann from Patricia Briggs's Mercy Thompson series
- Brody Brown from Lauren Dane's Coming Undone
- Dallas O'Kane from Kit Rocha's Beyond Control
Historical fiction novels
- Philippa Gregory's Tudor Court series
- Anything Bernard Cornwell has written
- Colleen McCullough's The Thorn Birds
- Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series
What books would you recommend for Outlander fans?
*appears on more than one list