There’s nothing better than an escapist summer series. I discovered Outlander after my second child was born, when—exhausted by a newborn’s constant needs—the idea of disappearing into 18th-century Scotland was irresistible. Based on Diana Gabaldon’s novels, the show follows Claire Randall (Caitríona Balfe), a plucky nurse who enters an ancient stone circle and travels in time from 1946 to 1743, where she meets the perfect romantic hero: Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), a Highland lord built like a bronzed god—and with empathy to match.

I wasn’t alone in my Jamie worship. My friend Torri believes Jamie heralded today’s “romantasy” heroes: the likes of Rhysand from Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses and Xaden Riorson from Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing . “He checks all the boxes—

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