Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: Strangely, I read Scarlett before I read Gone With the Wind, but I had seen the movie and had a vague idea of what went on. In all fairness, I will say the first chapter is a little boring, but read on. You'll be glad you did! Alexandra Ripley starts out well; at Melly's(Melanie Hamilton)'s funeral. After that , Ripley makes the smooth transition from one town to Tara. This is where we meet the dashing Rhett Butler again, although for just a moment. This book is filled with the romance, melodrama, and charm of the original Gone With the Wind.
Rating: 
Summary: I try to forget I ever read this rubbish
Review: This is a truly dreadful book, and as the sequel to a classic work of fiction like Gone With The Wind it is an insult. The characters are not even consistent with the original - why, for instance, when Scarlett loves Tara so much, would she leave it? I cringed most of the way through this, especially for Rhett during some of the 'love' scenes - the Rhett Butler of GWTW would never have humiliated himself like that.But the most cringeworthy part for me was the section set in Ireland. How much Irish history does Ripley know? Has she ever visited Ireland, or is her impression simply based on the awful Hollywood films of the forties and thereabouts, themselves based on appallingly inaccurate stereotypes? This section was unbelievably bad; and as for the resolution at the end, it was so incredible - and out of character again for Rhett - that I wanted to be sick. Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful. Even as a stand-alone book, had I never read GWTW, I would have hated this.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the most painful weekends of my life
Review: Okay, here goes. After days of contemplating how I felt about this book, this is the best explanation I can give for the two stars. Straight through to chapter 32, I was thinking "5 stars! " It held my attention very well, and the story was captivating and gave me plenty of "Scarlett and Rhett" to keep me going. Althought the dialogue is not nearly as elegant and "make you want to smile because Rhett is so clever" as the original. Then more and more chapters of disapointment went by, with only a few positive little highlights to make me turn the next page, so 3-4 stars until chapter 55. After that, the book falls apart. It was so awful and so frustrating, all I could think was "She is ruining the best love story ever told with a storyline that would never have appeared in a Margaret Mitchell sequel to GWTW." So, I give chapters 55 through the last chapter 0 stars. It was uninteresing, and I was so upset and frustrated by what Ripley did in chapter 55, that I couldn't even stand to read any more. I honestly thought I was going to get up and burn the book for what she did on page 808. But, no I read on, praying for the ending that had made me pick up the book in the first place. And there it was, finally, the last 15 pages of the book gave me the closure I had been searching for. Yes, the book has a good ending. The ending gets 5 stars. So this is what I recommend. Read chapters 1-55, then read the last 15 pages of the book. Save yourself a lot of frustration. Oh, and read pages 862-865 just so you have a clear picture of what is going on in the end.
Rating:
Summary: As Good as a Sequel as They Get
Review: Those who expect this book to be an exact replica in style,characterization, etc., as Gone With the Wind expect too much. I enjoyed this book very much, and I beleive Ms.Ripley did the best job she could. The relationship between Scarlett and Rhett was as compelling as in it's predecessor, and I was satisfied with Scarlett's growth into a woman. The only complaint i would have about this book, is the lengthy amount of time Scarlett spent in Ireland. But trust me, this book is a joy everyone should read.
Rating:
Summary: Just as good as the original, but in a different way...
Review: Although a little slow in the beginning, this book is as meticulously researched and historically accurate as the original. I found the lessons in Irish and British history fascinating. And the growth of Scarlett O'Hara from selfish belle into mature woman is remarkable. Those who would criticize Scarlett for her insensitivity in GWTW will understand her a little more in the sequel and cheer her on as she discovers who she really is (finally!) and her self-acceptance. Imagine that you are chosen to write the sequel to GWTW. Of course people are going to rant that you are nothing like Ms. Mitchell, and that you just want to make a profit, blah blah blah. I will bet that few of those maligners know that Ms. Ripley had written several historical novels about Charleston before this book, and she ties in "real" history so successfully to Scarlett's and Rhett's time period and lifestyles that one can almost take the book for historical fact. As I stated before, this book is wonderful...as long as you don't expect it to be the original. Ms. Ripley has her own distinct writing style, quite unlike that of the original book, but I feel this allows her to express the characters better than if she had merely tried to copy the original author's style and pace. Buy it! Read it! It is a modern classic, one that I came to love after several readings during which I discovered something new each time. Just don't rent the movie. It is a HORRIBLE, boring, overly-dramatic, soap-operatic misrepresentation of the book (actually, it is nothing like the book...the plot, characters, everything is different!). Most loose ends from the first book are tied, and at least readers feel like they have experienced satisfactory closure.
Rating: 
Summary: Hi...the book's not great..but it will suffice
Review: I just read the review by"a reader from USA"and I found his language rather strong and vaguely disturbing.Contrary to his belief,authors do not always write sequels to reap profits.In this case,I believe that this sequel has satisfied readers who are disturbed by the unfulfilled passion of Rhett and Scarlett.Yet I can be the first to admit that the sequel has not the passion and majestic grandeur of GWTW:Scarlett did not and could not depict a style that remained true to the spirit of the original,but Ripley has done the best that she could,and the reunion between Rhett,Scarlett and his new found daughter,Cat,has been mutually satisfying to fans of GWTW.I will recommend it to readers who adore GWTW but would prefer a happier ending,and I assert that though it hardly parallels GWTW in its grandeur and sweeping intensity,it hardly merits to be named as "trash" or "garbage"
Rating: 
Summary: A great attempt
Review: This sequeal was a great attempt at recapturing the magic of GWTW. It starts the day of Melanie's funeral and follows Scarlett to Rhett's hometown Charleston in an attempt to win him back. Alexandra Ripley incorporates characters from her previous novel Charleston almost effortlessly and brings a new facet to Scarlett. She also goes to Savannah and Ireland to meet her O'hara kin. My only regret that it harps too much on Scarlett's adventures with the English and doesn't expand too much on the ending which I will not reveal. And to al those naysayers who claim they will never touch a gone with the wind sequeal.... if you don't read the book, don't post a review, it's simple as that.
Rating:
Summary: I avoid sequels at all costs
Review: I don't know about you but I have never liked sequels. The very idea of a sequel cheapens the original in my eyes to the point of no recovery. A sequel can be written by the same author that wrote the original, if he or she chooses to do so...but even that does not always work--sequel often breaks the dynamism, wholeness and harmony of the original work and leaves you confused and thinking that you should have not read it. And that all applies to the sequel written by the original author who FEELS her charactes as if they were her babies. But the very idea of someone else, 60 years later, coming up with a sequel, makes me shudder. When I saw this fat book in the bookstore, I knew right away that it was a cheap attempt to rip an unjust profit, nothing else. The reviews (negative as well as positive)that I read here at Amazon.com, prove to me that i was right. Gone With the Wind, dispise its faults, was a dynamic book where all events were connected and were causes or consequences of each other; the the book was complete and Margaret Mitchel avoided at all cost the idea of a sequel because she was a true writer, a writer of taste --she did not want to cheapen her work, to bring it down to the level of a mass market trash. Imagine how much money she could have made on writing the sequel to her book that was super-popular! But she was not in the run for money--she was in the run for quality. And that what distiguishes a good writer (or a person of any prfession for that matter)from a cheap one. Do authors that get published nowadays think of how their works will affect their readers? How by throwing garbage at them they do not leave them hope to develop taste for good literature? How their works convey NO point, have NO sense, should have NEVER been written? No, they want their readers have bad taste so that they can continue throwing cheap garbage at them and putting their ripped off money in their pockets. But, hopefully, not my money.
Rating:
Summary: An Good Sequal to a Good Book
Review: This book lived up to my expactations and even went passed what I was expecting. Most sequals are a dissapointment, but this book was a terrific follow up to Gone With the Wind. Alexandra Ripley really researched Gone With the Wind before she wrote this book. Her information follows up on what was started in the first book and continued what Margaret Mitchell would have written. Ripley keeps the reader guessing and always suprised at what Scarlett gets into next. She keeps the same excitement and fire that Scarlett had in the first book and expanded it into something more mature as Scarlett got older. I was pleased with how the book was written and expecially how it ended. If one enjoyed Gone With the Wind, they would most likely enjoy the sequal to it.
Rating:
Summary: stupid and unresearched
Review: What was Alexandra Riply thinking? This book said that the stock market crashed in the 1860s it didn't crash until the 1920s or 30s and that is just a starter. She messed up the entire book even more than it was already messed up. There was so much running around all over the world that I got confused. Scarlett did the chase after the man who doesn't want you again. Scarlett had no pride and once again no self respect. How could she? she should have moved somewhere else like Ireland eithout the entire running around and getting divorced it would have saved us a whole bunch of trouble. I could not stand this book it was quite frankly annoying and it seemed to have this long intricate plot that nobody understood.
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