Rating: 
Summary: A Bomb
Review: I first read this book when I was a teenager and loved it. Over the years, I have read it over and over. With the wisdom and maturity that I gained over the years, I find the book less enticing than it used to be. It is not about a great romance - it is about a very one-sided romance. Yes, Amber is selfish and greedy, but she truly loves Bruce. On the other hand, Bruce is selfish, cruel, and hypocritical. He scorns the court of King Charles II and acts like he is better than all of them, but his morals are no better. He sleeps with court ladies, slaves, and teenaged girls; compromises Amber and leaves her alone and pregnant in London; thinks nothing of sleeping with her when she is married; and repeatedly cheats on his wife. Amber saves his life and risks her own, yet for most of the book he uses her like a whore. He is responsible for what she has become, yet he shows nothing but contempt for her, and he pops in and out of her life whenever he feels like it, with no regard for the impact it has on her. It is sad and ironic that Amber was really from a noble, rich family and Bruce probably would have been willing to marry her if they had known her true background.
Rating: 
Summary: an amazing read
Review: I just finished reading "Forever Amber" today, and I have a new book to add to my list of favorites! This was a certainly a piece of excellent writing. Every sentence holds your attention; you can hardly put it down, wondering what will happen next. Although this book reminded me in some ways of "Gone With the Wind" (another one of my favorites), it has its own unique style and the two are actual quite different. Most definitely I will be reading this book again. I recommend it highly to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: You'll never tire of this one...
Review: "Forever Amber" is my absolute favorite historical romance. I've read it half a dozen times. It gets even better with each read... Amber St. Claire never disappoints!
Rating: 
Summary: Bruce a cad? I beg to differ...
Review: I must speak out on behalf of Bruce Carlton! LOL! He is not a cad at all; he's one of the most honest and decent characters in the whole book. He isn't a habitual batterer like some of the other men in this book; he is a loving father; and he is always straight-up with Amber about his intentions. He never tries to lead her on; she is deluded and keeps hanging on anyway. I was impressed with him because he's the only character in the whole darn book who is able to see through the fancy clothes and pompous manners of the royal court, and see it (and Amber) as they really are--shallow and false. Well, anyway, defense of Bruce aside, let me tell you about _Forever Amber_. It's the story of Amber St. Clare, a teenage girl who has a mostly undeserved reputation as a slut in the boring little town where she lives. Bruce Carlton, a handsome Cavalier/pirate, rides through town one day, and she sees her chance--she runs away to London with him and becomes his mistress. When she gets pregnant and he has to leave on business, he gives her some money and advises her to go back to her hometown, because "London eats girls like you". Home seems a fate worse than death to Amber, so she stays in London, and does her best to devour the city instead. City life and hardship toughen her; Amber is scheming, calculating, and ruthless, the kind of woman we all love to hate and hate to love. She charms and bullies her way through countless husbands and lovers and friends, using them all to her best advantage, until she manages to become the King's mistress and a duchess. And all the while, she forever carries a torch for Bruce, who pops back into her life once in a while. He brings out the best in her as she nurses him through the Great Plague. He also brings out the worst in her--some of her later behavior is the stuff that restraining orders are made of. He is the only person she doesn't use. Then she angers some important people, and they cook up a plan for revenge--the sort of justice that makes for devilishly perfect endings... Along the way, we get gobs of information about English life during the Reformation, from the King and his barren queen and his many mistresses, to the old Puritan families who look down their noses at the vanity of the court; to the bawdy world of the theater and the corruption of Newgate Prison. Other reviewers are right--you'll learn a lot about history by accident, while remaining convinced that you're just reading a guilty-pleasure romance. Devote a lazy weekend (or three) to Amber.
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Summary: The Ultimate Survivor
Review: I was fourteen and while my friends splashed in the swimming pool on a hot July day, I was shut in my room, completely lost in the last pages of Forever Amber. I have since read a quantity of books--a thousand or more--but only a few stand out so sharply as this one. Granted, Amber is not an inspiring character per se. She is not someone you would want as a friend for your daughter. But then place yourself in an era where a woman in her position could not survive on goodness alone. With Kathleen Windsor's writing skills, the streets of Restoration London come so alive that you slip into Amber's shoes effortlessly and they carry you through the heroine's trials in an almost three-dimensional world. Whether you like her or not, you are Amber and only when her ship sails away to America, you are released from the story. Why does the often irritating Amber persist in readers' memory while scores of more deserving heroines had long faded away? Because she rings true. Because she has touched the darker half of our heart. And because she is the ultimate survivor. Oh, and I remember feeling sorry for poor Captain Morgan, Bruce Carlton, and other male victims...
Rating:
Summary: I Usually Hate This Kind of Book...
Review: Forever Amber kept me enthralled from the very first page to the very last page. Amber is not a very likable person, but she certainly makes a very compelling main character. I loved the details of daily life during the time of the Restoration, especially all those nasty plague details, but the story never bogged down with too much extraneous information. As a rule, I really dislike so-called romance novels, or regency romances or whatever genres there may be. But I loved this book and I can't tell you how disappointed I was that there was no sequel. It took me forever to read but I never felt bored by this story--I always looked forward to and savored my time reading Forever Amber. By the way, the edition of the book that I read had no mention of Barbara Taylor Bradford--not quite sure what her role is in this editon offered by Amazon.
Rating:
Summary: Forever Lasting
Review: I first read "Forever Amber" when I was fourteen, and my mother told me it had been the great 'dirty book' of the '40's. I saw nothing dirty (all the bedroom scenes were so-called 'closed door' sequences: he carries her in, closes the door, etc). Even then, however, the Restoration period of English history was my favorite, and I was struck by the wealth of detail, the finely-drawn characters, the incredible research, and even the smell of London in the 17th Century. Years later, and a writer myself, I lost my badly tattered copy, and could never find another. On a whim, I checked Amazon, and am now delighted to renew my library with another copy. It's not dirty in any sense, but it is timeless, ageless, and altogether Amber. I cannot recommend a novel more strongly.
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Summary: A Long Remembered Favourite
Review: My Father has a first edition of this novel which he caught me reading when I was twelve or thirteen years old. He was aghast because he deemed the novel too 'adult' for my tender years. However he asked me for a synopsis of where I'd read so far and apparently I closed my eyes and vividly described more about this era of English history than he'd ever learned in school. Yes, I was a teenager when I first read this book but have read and re-read many times since. It's a glorious insight to this time of stark poverty covered with a mantle of extreme wealth. Throughout the raw, naked emotion of passionate love, the distressing symptoms of the Great Plague, the lavish entertainments of the seventeenth century royal court this novel transports one to a long-ago era. This novel flows; it is easy to read yet filled with a weath of detail and delight. Hugely recommended historical novel.
Rating:
Summary: Forever a great read
Review: I just reread this book for the first time in years, and couldn't put it down. From the first page, Winsor grabs the reader and takes you on an extremely entertaining, fascinating journey through one woman's life against the backdrop of Restoration-era England. Amber is far from a moral paragon, and makes foolish decisions, but her story is still gripping years after this book was written. Other historical romances are pallid when compared with this vivid narrative.
Rating:
Summary: Bruce Carlton is a cad!
Review: Kathleen Winsor scores on three points with Forever Amber: plot, descriptive ability, and emotional involvement. Her plot is Dickensian, weaving in and out of the Plague, the Great Fire of London, and the personal catastrophes of one gutsy girl named Amber. Her inventiveness is utterly satisfying, and whenever the time came that exhaustion compelled me to put the book down and go to bed, I usually had to peek ahead to find out what troubles lay just ahead. As for descriptive ability, her style should be taught in writing classes. Effortlessly she sets the scenes; the reader never has to strain to picture the action. As most reviewers have noted, her knowledge of history is amazing, and highly instructive, much better at reconstructing the past than a straight history book, so whether you want to be or not, you'll find yourself educated about the seventeeth century when you've finished the book. And you know a book is good when you find yourself emotionally involved with the outcome. When you finally reach the last page, you won't say, "Well, that was good" --you'll wail, "Bruce Carlton, YOU CAD!!" I must also note that the much-touted "raciness" of the book does not exist. In fact, the very first "sex scene" of the book is so subtly included that I didn't even realise it had happened until the characters' subsequent remarks implied it. Her skill here is impressive too, and allows one to read the book without the distraction of titillation. Good plot, good writing, good book--read it.
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