I have loved the Outlander series and was looking forward to the Lord John series. I have nearly finished the 2nd and I must say Ms. Gabaldon was either bored, misguided, or under pressure from her publisher for more material. I am not in any way homophobic, but I find the constant rhetoric of "love" in these tomes extremely tiresome. These two books are giveaways for me. Please give us more Claire and Jamie. That is was she is good at. The old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", definitely applies here. Very irritating reads.