Read-A-Long Wrap Up Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor

Welcome to the Wrap Up Discussion Post for HF-Connection's first Read-A-Long! If you didn't officially sign up for the read-a-long, you are still welcome to chime in with your thoughts. The original post with the schedule can be found here.**

IF you were able to follow the schedule, you should have finished the chunky novel by now. So no holds barred.. go forth with spewing your thoughts!!

Obviously there can be spoilers now, so if you have not finished reading this, please go back to the previous discussion posts to find where you fit with your reading schedule.

I did want to take a moment to thank all of you who tried to keep up with the read-a-long... we appreciate the participation very much. I do understand a hectic schedule, so if you haven't finished by now please just remember to come back here to comment with your thoughts or with the link to your blog. I saw one post from another blogger with her thoughts of Forever Amber at Fiction State of Mind, which you can read here.

Marie's Thoughts:
I finished! I posted a review on my blog a few days ago, which can be found here. Overall, I am very happy I carved so much time out of my busy reading and reviewing schedule to fit this huge novel in. I was told that the pages would go by fast, that I should not be daunted by the page count of this one.. and they were right. I was almost as obsessed with Forever Amber as much as Amber was obsessed with Bruce Carlton. ALMOST!! I did get annoyed with Amber, with her shallowness and her lack of dimension. I had to force myself to get over her flawed character traits over and over again, and simply focus on the overall storyline of the magnificent Restoration era.

The amount of supporting characters that came in and out of Amber's life were so intriguing.. the nurses who came to 'help' during Bruce's illness.. one being pushed out of a window... I was rolling with evil laughter at some points. My goodness, what a tale this author spun! The Count who tried to poison Amber, and instead ended up killing his son.. and then Amber killing the Count... what madness!

I read how some readers were really annoyed at how similar the theme was to the classic Gone With The Wind. Were you put off by this resemblance? It really didn't matter to me, but it did cross my mind, especially during the heated conversations between Bruce and Amber. It was glaringly similar at those moments, but I was easily able to move on and not let that bother me.

Michelle's Thoughts:
Unfortunately, I'm not finished with the book yet.  I've been sick for a week and sleeping has been more my forte lately than reading.  I will finish this weekend and come back and post my final thoughts.