I love Diana Gabaldon and she recommends the series Jack Absolute by C.C. Humphreys.  Have any of you Outlander fans read this series?

I don't think I would like something she recommends.   I remember reading an article about her where she said that Outlander wasn't written with romance in mind and that she prefers not to be linked with romance writers.  If that's true then I would think she wouldn't be recommending something that I'd like to read.  I don't know, maybe I'm wrong?

You're not wrong.  A few years back, I read a diatribe of hers in which she insisted she doesn't write romance(s). And seemed to be highly insulted that anyone thought she did.

That completely turned me off of her.  I won't read the rest of the "Outlander" series nor would I EVAH take a recommendation from her about anything. 

You would think authors would just appreciate that fans of other genres found something to connect with in their writing instead of being "offended" that someone would categorize their work as "romance."

Redwing I know just how you feel :)

A few years ago I went to a signing of hers in AZ, she said how her books are not romance then read a excerpt from the just released Breath of Snow and Ash, of course it was a bedroom scene!! I should have returned the book right then, because I haven't crack it open since that night.

I really loved the first few books, recommended them to others and even went to Scotland on a tour that included some time with Diana (that by the way was put together by Romantic Times Magazine).  It's really a case of don't bite the hand that feeds you :)

I haven't- I am a huge fan of the Outlander series, but don't get on her website very often or anything, so haven't heard of this before.  I would be willing to check it out, though I don't know that it would be anything I'm that interested in- I know that she pumps up her friend's (Sara Donati) Into the Woods series, and I just couldn't get into that one.  I also could not get into the Lord John series, so I guess Outlander is the only thing that Diana and I have in common, lol.

That seems a little snooty of her, doesn't it?  She might as well say that she finds it beneath her to have her writing appeal to romance readers.  What the hell does she call it then?

She isn't being snooty IMO - she's being honest. The Outlander series really does not fit the Romance genre. If containing a bedroom (or any sex) scene made any book a Romance novel, we'd have to reclassify a lot of books that are not sold as Romance!! (probably way more than half the non-Romance adult fiction books out there, I'd guess!)

That being said, Gabaldon reads and loves Romance genre novels- if you read her website, you'll see that she recommends Romance authors, including, for instance, Susan Elizabeth Phillips. That's where I first learned about SEP and started reading Romance in earnest. She also recommends Darlene Marshall, another Romance writer, in her "methadone" list. She also posts regularly on a compuserve forum and you can see there the discussions about Romance - including her views on whether Outlander is, and what she thinks about them in general. From my own research reading all that, I would say she is not anti-Romance.

Personally, I don't find her saying her books are not Romance genre to be offensive. I found Nifenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife to be wildly romantic and it's not a Romance genre book either, even though it contained bedroom scenes.

Back to the OP question - no I haven't read that series. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on it!

I guess it would depend on the description of romance. For me, a book (or series) that deals with a couple's love and all the obstables they confront to be together is romance. And from what I can see, that's exactly the main theme of the Outlander series. There may be some paranormal and historical aspects to it but most of the thoughts/actions of the two main characters relate to their love for each other. If I had to pick a genre, it's more romance than anything else. Maybe it's not exclusively romance but I definitely think that's the main one.

Yeah, I agree with Diva.  And I don't think it's snooty of her to say they aren't romance, I just think that acting insulted or offended because some people view it as romance is snooty.  Who cares if your work crosses over different genres.  That just means you appeal to a wider audience, and that should be flattering, not offensive.

.......I guess it would depend on the description of romance. For me, a book (or series) that deals with a couple's love and all the obstables they confront to be together is romance.

I agree with the above writer.  A bedroom scene doesn't make a book a romance.  My MIL was just visiting and she was so nervous that one of my kids would pick up the book she was reading because she said there were too many bedroom scenes in it, and she's an avid suspense reader.  She should only know what I leave lying around    ;p