No, this is not a book I enjoy. I have read 267 of 972 pages and have decided to quit. I know the historical facts are correct so I have been forcing myself to continue to learn about the Restoration period in England, the plague, London’s Fire, clothing, food, customs and manners. Yes, all that is here. Still, I did not enjoy it. The beginning was fun because Amber felt like a young, spunky girl determined to get what she wanted from life… and Bruce did blow her over! That was all fine and dandy, and they went off to London together. Then he disappears, and he had told her he would be leaving so he is no rotten schmuck. Don’t worry; this is all so soon in the book it is not a spoiler. It is just that I don’t like Amber at all anymore. Prison and thievery and marrying for personal gain, well, I just don’t like her anymore. OK, I could follow her footsteps to learn about the events at the end of the 1600s. It is just that I don’t care for any of the characters; in fact I dislike all of them. I would only recommend this book to those who particularly enjoy plot oriented novels because the characters just do not draw you in. Maybe I am too picky, but I want more than just plot. I want characters that feel real, some bad, some good, at least one for whom I can feel empathy. Nope, this is not my thing. I am going to stop here. I tried.

Remember, my one star doesn’t at all mean this is a bad book. It just means it was not for me. You have to decide for yourself what you are looking for in a book.

I know some of you just love this book...and I'm happy for you...you are the good kind people who are able to go out into the world and make friends easily because you see the good in everyone regardless of how horrible and shallow and rotten they are.

I am not like you...I'm fussy, I'm particular, I'm very judgmental...and I could only stand to read 323 pages of this awful book!

I too am one of those people who thinks you should finish the book if you start it. I have never left a review about a book that I didn't complete, I'm making an exception here because 323 pages IS a book for most authors and certainly plenty long enough for me to know I wasn't going to like it any better by reading 650 more.

If you are particular like I am and you like what I like (take a look at my other reviews to get an idea) you will probably think this book is horrid drivel too. But if you liked Slammerkin you might just love this.

I did not like any of the characters, they were rotten, especially Amber. I have to like someone in the story in order to read 975 pages about them, I'm funny like that.

The character development was seriously lacking, the dialogue was horrid, the story line was barely if at all believable...And I will admit I am happy to suffer all of those things if I love the protagonist. Here, I couldn't even like her.

Save your money and borrow this from the library if you have to read it!
The two nice things I can say are the cover is pretty and it's heavy enough to use as a doorstop.

This was one of my sister's favorite books, and it took me several decades to finally get around to reading it. Why did I wait so long? FA is really the grandmother to most current historical romance literature. I think its racy content caused quite a firestorm when it was published. By today's standards, it's fairly tame, but it's still a well written story of an amoral girl's dream to rise above her station in life no matter what it takes or who she steps on. Amber isn't a likable woman, but she's determined, ambitious and scheming - much like another fictional heroine we love to hate: Scarlett O'Hara. FA is arguably a classic in the genre of romantic fiction, and a highly entertaining read.

What a guilty pleasure read! Definitely recommend for those Outlander fans
Amber is born of noble unmarried parents and reared in a country village with people she thinks are her aunt and uncle. As soon as she's of age, she runs from home following a cavalier to London. From there she lands in one adventure or another, men always involved. Slowly her naïveté wanes, and at one point she is even bedded by King Charles II and the Duke of Buckingham.
Beginning during the first days of the Restoration, Amber's life does not seem to directly involve the goings-on of Whitehall beyond this point. Instead, chapters discuss Amber, then chapters discuss the king, or Castlemaine, etc. Amber always seems to come out victorious. She's rash, impulsive, selfish, but romantic and giving. Slowly her life of ascending precedency merges with the royal court, where she flourishes.
I can't help but pity Amber for all of her wealth and prestige. At heart she stays a country filly and never wins, but what a race she runs! My one regret is that there is no sequel.

Forever Amber is a historical fiction novel set in the 1600s. I never expected to love this as much as I did! So interesting, it taught me so much about the plague that swept over London in the 1600s and life in general from that era. There were so many shocking twists in this book! Amber is such a strong willed woman! I am not so happy with how this book ended though.

Re-reading an old favorite ...

Why have I not read this before!? What an amazing, action-packed book! Everything possible is contained in this novel - intrigue, romance, duels, kings and queens - it's a veritable medieval 'Gone with the Wind'!

I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter of this book, and find it hard to believe it was written in 1944.

Highly recommended!!!

Цената на любовта може да се окаже успехът - разбиран като стремително издигане от бездънните и безнадеждни низини, на всяка цена.

Амбър е дете на любовта - но така и никога не и е отредено да го научи в размирния 17 век. Съдено и е да срещне любовта много млада. Но не и да я задържи. Защото аристократичната кръв никога няма да се принизи да се свърже с простолюдието. Защото цената на успеха за човек от простолюдието пък ще му коства всичко - душата, която и не подозира, че има; унижения от всякакъв род и калибър; презрението на висшестоящ��те, завистта на низшестоящите и вечният танц - с маски и над опънато въже.

Амбър извървява пътя от мъничко английско селце до двора на Чарлз II с всичкия му блясък и капани. Труден път за красива жена с живо сърце. Но не толкова труден за жена, вярваща с детска неистова упоритост, че всичко, което блести, е злато, и трябва само да протегнеш ръка към него - ако трябва с измама и кражба, с удари под кръста (получени и нанесени), с много търпение, изобретателност и себеотрицание. И че веднъж достигнато, ще реши с магия всички проблеми, и ще запълни липсващото и отдавна захвърлено по пътя парче душа. Подобно на парче кехлибар, Амбър ще блести ярко от пречупените слънчеви лъчи, без дори да ги забележи или заподозре съществуването им. Никога няма да опознае истински себе си, и никога няма да опознае истински хората. Затова няма никога да види и оцени доброто в себе си и другите, а ще го отхвърли като ненужен баласт, за да завладее с щурм света на богатите, красивите и успелите.

Книгата ме завъртя във вихрен калейдоскоп от приключения в една Англия, току що реставрирала монархията си и жадна за живот - и тепърва завладяваща първите си отвъдморски колонии. Англия на крале, аристократи, търговци, капери, актьори, крадци, селяни. Пъстра, жива, гъмжаща от възможности и интриги, която нито чумата, нито големият Лондонски пожар могат да забавят и за миг. И която унищожава човека, след като му е дала всичко, което си е мислил, че желае.

I tried to read this once years back. I got perhaps halfway through. The writing is good however Amber was the most annoying, unlikeable heroine ever at the time for me. She was...sort of a brat. I don't want to go as far as calling her a slut but she kind of was *cringe*. Have u ever watched or heard of Game of Thrones and knew about the prostitutes in the brothels and just WANT them to revolt and become something?

Well here Amber uses herself to reach the position of...a high noble's prostitute. Or excuse me, is the term mistress? Whatever. I wasn't a fan.

Absolutely the best chick-lit classic of all time. This historical romance is poorly written worthless junk, and I loved every second of it! I have never read a Harlequin Romance, anything by Barbara Cartland or Danielle Steele, or anything with Fabio on the cover. The only reason I bothered was the person who sent it to me. Not just recommended it, took the trouble to send it. This is a thoroughly enjoyable piece of fluff, entertaining in ways I can't begin to understand or describe. Heartily recommended for a long plane flight.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars. I did like this book and was pulled into it against my better judgement.

Wow, this is a door-stop of a book and apparently when the publisher accepted it for publication, they cut it down to one fifth of its original size. I can’t imagine having to wade through even more pages to get to the conclusion, so I thank the editors profusely!

It’s difficult, from our 21st century perspective, to see what the fuss was about in the 1940s. This is one of the novels that began the path that led us to 50 Shades of Grey. It caused a stir for all the sex (which is not graphic at all) and for the sexual manoeuvring of the main character, Amber St. Claire. I suspect some of the fury was about the depiction of a woman who (gasp) enjoyed sex and had some ambition to rise in her society. Maybe the female ambition was even more objectionable than the frank discussion of sex, who knows?

I was reminded of some other novels that I enjoyed in the past, namely the Angelique series by Anne Golon (under the pseudonym Sergeanne Golon in the 1950s). Angelique is a French adventuress, in much the same vein as Amber. Instead of one huge novel, Golon published about 10 books, each detailing its own swatch of history. I blush to confess that I learned a lot of French history from these books--when other university students complimented me on my knowledge, I did not admit that I learned it from somewhat erotic novels!

Also brought to mind was Victoria Holt’s book My Enemy the Queen, published in 1978 and set in the court of Elizabeth I of England. It was the sexual rivalry of its main character Lettice with Queen Elizabeth that reminded me strongly of Forever Amber.

I was frustrated by several personal beliefs of Amber’s, namely that sexuality was the be-all and end-all of life, that conspicuous consumption was THE way to go, and that everyone thought about life the way she did (and if they didn’t, then they should).

I think that we 21st century women can view Amber, et al., as markers of how far we have come—to a place where women are actually considered to be persons, i.e. we can vote, we can choose who we marry or if we marry, we can support ourselves—at least here in the Western world, we are no longer completely dependent on men to defend and support us and we have more autonomy than ever before. I think my biggest annoyances in reading Forever Amber were the limitations that Amber put on herself. She keeps saying that she won’t remarry—until a man shows up who is richer or of higher station than herself, and then she just can’t seem to resist the urge to jump into matrimony again. Plus, being an introvert myself, I couldn’t empathize with the constant drive to be at court, to be involved in all the back stabbing and plotting that went on there.

Incidentally, I believe I have added a new word to my vocabulary—I can hardly wait until I encounter someone who I can call a “varlet.” I think it will be highly satisfying.

this aptly titled book did go on forever. amber is a rather disagreeable woman who i wished would be poisoned before i would read, yet again, about how she absolutely must see bruce one more time. this book is a historical tribute to how a super bitch can get everything she wants with a small amount of wit and great beauty- well almost everything she wants.