New reads:

This week, I'm reading An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon. It's the 7th book in the Outlander series. The newest installment comes out next month so I am trying to hurry and get through all 800+ pages of this novel before the new one is released. I've also got a sort of ticking time bomb situation happening here so I want to get all my reading wrapped up/caught up before it goes off as I doubt I will have much time for leisurely reading in the coming months.

Here's the plot, if you're interested:

"Jamie Fraser, former Jacobite and reluctant rebel, is already certain of three things about the American rebellion: The Americans will win, fighting on the side of victory is no guarantee of survival, and he'd rather die than have to face his illegitimate son -- a young lieutenant in the British Army -- across the barrel of a gun.

Claire Randall knows that the Americans will win, too, but not what the ultimate price may be. That price won't include Jamie's life or his happiness, though -- not if she has anything to say about it.

Meanwhile, in the relative safety of the twentieth century, Jamie and Claire's daughter, Brianna, and her husband, Roger MacKenzie, have resettled in a historic Scottish home where, across a chasm of two centuries, the unfolding drama of Brianna's parents' comes to life through Claire's letters. The fragile pieces reveal Claire's love for battle-scarred Jamie Fraser and their flight from North Carolina to the high seas, where they encounter privateers and ocean battles -- as Brianna and Roger search for clues not only to Claire's fate but to their own. Because the future of the MacKenzie family in the Highlands is mysteriously, irrevocably, and intimately entwined with life and death in war-torn Colonial America. 

With stunning cameos of historical characters from Benedict Arnold to Benjamin Franklin, An Echo in the Bone is a soaring masterpiece of imagination, insight, character, and adventure -- a novel that echoes in the mind long after the last page is turned."

I just started it this weekend, so I'm not very far into the story yet, but I am excited to see where it goes. The last few books have been building to a great conflict and while they were good, it started to feel like things were dragging on a bit. I am anxious for things to start happening and feel like this book might bring all of the resolution I have been seeking. So, hopefully it will be a much faster read.