Billy it's getting tougher for me too (but now that my kids are away I'm finding more time again. :)
No I haven't Ginny..........I'd love it if you could remember the author's name. Here's what the library's Novelist database has...I kiss it, google, and our Genrereflecting books often because there is no way I can keep up with all the fiction books out there.
Read-alikes of the Outlander Series:
Other than not having a time-travel element, the romantic Historical Fiction series by Sara Donati that begins with Into the Wilderness (which is most easily described as a sequel to the Daniel Day Lewis / Madeline Stowe movie version of Last of the Mohicans) offers a similar and satisfying reading experience to Outlander readers. Donati's novels have the same smooth integration of solid history, evocative and detailed settings, the love of two "outsiders" for each other that matures, survives and overcomes -- and the same rousing storytelling that weaves together a growing and evolving cadre of family, friends, and adversaries and sweeps the reader into the adventure along with the characters. Donati regards Gabaldon as her mentor -- and it shows in her writing style.
Romance readers seem to have a fondness for Scottish Historicals -- and there are many. However, it is rare to find a 400-page Romance whose deep sense of time and place even begins to compare with the multi-volume sweep of Outlander. Marsha Canham has come close with her three Scottish romances set squarely in the time of the Jacobite rebellion. Midnight Honor is a stand-alone, while The Pride of Lions has a true sequel, The Blood of Roses, so the latter two are better enjoyed when read in order. Canham's solidly researched history takes these tales well beyond "wallpaper history" to the point that some Romance readers find her violence too graphic, too accurate. Her romantic relationships are as sensual as Gabaldon's -- if a bit more explicit. Canham's melding of steamy romance, evocative settings, and solid Jacobean politics and history might be just the ticket for those Gabaldon fans who are particularly drawn to the Scotland of the Outlander series.
For those readers who enjoy the time travel element of Gabaldon's series combined with solid Historical Fiction and an engrossing storyline, Nancy Bond's Another Shore is a good choice. Here, a teenager working as a historical interpreter in a reconstructed 18th century Nova Scotia town finds herself back in the 18th century. Lyn's struggles to adapt to life in the 20th and 18th centuries, a bit of a love story, and the unusual goings-on she sees in both times will resonate with Outlander readers. Bond's protagonists are a bit younger, but the tone, vivid and accurate historic setting, and depth of character development in her novels have a similar feel to Outlander. If Another Shore pleases, several of her other titles, while not exactly time travel, involve the past as an active part of present-day events.
Anya Seton wrote several "thick" books with elements of appeal for Outlander fans -- though no one book has everything. At least two time-travel novels, Green Darkness (in which today's Celia must solve the mystery of a Tudor Celia) and Smouldering Fires (contemporary young woman's life parallels that of another in 18th century Acadia), and several solid Historical Romances, Katherine (she's Chaucer's sister-in-law and John of Gaunt's mistress), The Winthrop Woman (Colonial Massachusetts), and Devil Water (Englishwoman, Jacobite sympathizers, Colonial Virginia) have the nicely paced, involving stories woven through with solid historic detail and attention to character in a story-telling style. Many also have settings that will seem familiar to Gabaldon's fans.
Finally, it might seem a bit of a stretch at first, but Christy by Catherine Marshall takes the reader into the same mountains Jamie's Scots settled, only 150 years later. There are some wonderful parallels here: Christy is an "Outlander" in these mountains, her move to Cutter Gap in 1912 is akin to stepping into the past; she brings a special skill (teaching) that helps her win acceptance, and she certainly is caught between two men who are as different as Frank Randall and Jamie Fraser. The sense of place, the well drawn and important secondary characters, and the growth and development of the primary characters will help Gabaldon readers feel right at home.
