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Sisters of Glass

3.15 of 5 stars 3.15 · rating details · 193 ratings · 86 reviews

Maria is the younger daughter of an esteemed family on the island of Murano, the traditional home for Venetian glassmakers. Though she longs to be a glassblower herself, glassblowing is not for daughters—that is her brother's work. Maria has only one duty to perform for her family: before her father died, he insisted that she be married into the nobility, even though her o...more

Hardcover, 160 pages

Published March 27th 2012 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

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Feb 23, 2012 Maja rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-the-right-choices, arc-2012, are-you-kidding-me, netgalley, ya, reviewed-in-2012

I visited the Island of Murano twice in my life and the only word I can use to describe what I saw there is magic. It is a small place with a huge soul, so when I noticed Sisters of Glass on Netgalley and realized what it’s about, I jumped at the chance to read it. I felt that the spirit and the mentality of the place were captured exceptionally well.

Like her father before her, Maria has never left the island of Murano. She adores her family’s glassblowing business and has every intention of wo...more I visited the Island of Murano twice in my life and the only word I can use to describe what I saw there is magic. It is a small place with a huge soul, so when I noticed Sisters of Glass on Netgalley and realized what it’s about, I jumped at the chance to read it. I felt that the spirit and the mentality of the place were captured exceptionally well.

Like her father before her, Maria has never left the island of Murano. She adores her family’s glassblowing business and has every intention of working with glass for the rest of her life. Her older sister Giovanna doesn’t share her interest at all, she only wants to marry a nice nobleman and be a lady in Venice. But when Maria’s beloved father passes away, his will clearly states that Maria is the one who needs to marry a nobleman and Giovanna the one who should stay on Murano. With her family in financial trouble, Maria needs to marry well and quickly and Senator Andrea Bembo seems like an excellent choice. Everything is working out great until Maria realizes that she has feelings for one of her family’s employees, Luca – an orphan and certainly not a nobleman, and the obvious choice for Giovanna to marry. At the same time, Maria notices that it’s not her Andrea Bembo really wants to marry, but her sister Giovanna. If these two couples follow their hearts, Maria’s family will be ruined, but if they don’t, four people will be miserable forever.

”For after the ship
takes you to consummate your marriage
and live in the house
of Andrea Bembo and his father
you shall not return to us”-
Vanna can hardly
finish the last words-
“but only wave us good-bye from on board.”

This would have been a lovely and charming little story were it not for the author’s attempt to turn it into a novel in verse, a decision that backfired spectacularly. The idea itself had merit: were the attempt successful, the fairytale feel of the story would have made a good combination with this type of narrative. However, there was no real poetry in it, the sentences were just awkwardly broken into lines. I decided to completely ignore it at one point, and only because of that did I manage to finish, and actually enjoy Maria’s story.

Although it apparently has 270 pages, it took me no more than an hour to read Sisters of Glass, and I finished it with a smile on my face. If you can get past this whole unsuccessful ‘novel in verse’ business, the story is quite charming and incredibly cute.

For this review and more, please visit The Nocturnal Library (less)

22 likes · like · see review

Jan 24, 2012 Jo rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-review, ya, own, poetry-in-motion, 2012

2.5 stars rounded down because I'm feeling crotchety.

I picked up this book because I was told it was written in verse.
Also because of the cover because I'm a fickle, fickle reader who only likes the pretty things in life.

To me, this book wasn't written in verse.

It was basically
normal prose which was
actually quite lovely to read
but just set out
in this way
so it looks
like people think
poetry should look
like.

Also,
there was so much dialogue
that many of the "poems"
consisted of
people just
having a
chin...more

18 likes · like · see review

Aug 05, 2012 Rhiannon Ryder rated it 4 of 5 stars

So this is one of those super rare YA books in verse. And I know you're suddenly thinking of some awful thing you had to read in high school and you're writing it off as not your cup of tea. Please don't!

I'm the first to admit books in verse appeal to me based on the story (not on the fact that they're told in verse), but once I get them they tend to sit on my shelf for awhile while I try to get myself in the mood. Then I read them and I immediately regret my reluctance and chastise myself for...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: coming-of-age, poetry, romance-star-crossed-or-otherwise, sibling-relationships, young-adult-literature

"Learning to be a lady
is like learning
to live within a shell,
to be a crustacean encased
in a small white
uncomfortable world.
You hear the ocean
whirl about you
but feel not the wet
nor ride the wave
nor see the sun.

Bedded on the sand,
protected from harm
with the other fair dainty shells,
all safely collected
so no damage be done
to precious contents.
I cannot venture outside my cage,
cannot dirty my gloves."

Set in the 15th century, on the island of Murano, near Venice, this verse novel is narrated by Maria,...more

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Dec 22, 2011 Stephanie Redwine rated it 3 of 5 stars

This story is written in verse and is about a young girl whose father's dying wish was to see her married to a nobleman. Maria would rather be working with the glass that her family creates rather than learning to be a lady and attracting suitors. Maria has to work through her sisters jealousy and her mother's unending devotion to finding her a husband to find what she truly wants in life.

This is a very quick read and is able to be read in one sitting. It is written in verse so it has a nice flo...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 27, 2012 Aeicha rated it 3 of 5 stars

~~THREE~~ FOUR WORDS: Good Story, Wrong Execution

MY REVIEW: I really had no expectations (positive or negative) at all when I starting reading Sisters of Glass by Stephanie Hemphill, and while I actually enjoyed much of the story itself, I think the overall execution was lacking.

Sisters of Glass is a historical fiction novel, written in verse, that centers around a Venetian family of glassblowers that live on the island of Murano. Before he died, Angelo Barovier declared that his youngest and favor...more ~~THREE~~ FOUR WORDS: Good Story, Wrong Execution

MY REVIEW: I really had no expectations (positive or negative) at all when I starting reading Sisters of Glass by Stephanie Hemphill, and while I actually enjoyed much of the story itself, I think the overall execution was lacking.

Sisters of Glass is a historical fiction novel, written in verse, that centers around a Venetian family of glassblowers that live on the island of Murano. Before he died, Angelo Barovier declared that his youngest and favorite daughter would marry a senator, even though this honor and responsibility should really go to Giovanna, the eldest daughter. Maria does not wish to marry a senator and would rather be a glassmaker like her brothers, but as her sixteenth birthday looms, Maria’s mother begins to seek a suitable husband for her younger daughter in order to secure the family’s finances. All the attention placed on Maria puts a strain on her once close relationship with her older sister. And things get even more complicated with the arrival of Luca, the new glassblower.

I don’t read much historical fiction, but I did enjoy the world and time that Hemphill has described and explored in this novel. And I was truly intrigued by the story itself and found myself very invested in the complicated and rocky relationship between the two Barovier sisters.

Hemphill does a great job of creating very tangible emotions throughout the book. Both Maria’s feelings of inadequacy compared to her older sister and Giovanna’s jealousy of her little sister are easily felt and wonderfully explored. Hemphill has given both girls such complex and intriguing layers and I found both characters dimensional. And I easily connected with both sisters and found myself sympathetic of each sister’s turmoil- Maria’s fears of disappointing her family and Giovanna’s heartache from feeling unloved and not worthy.

My biggest issue with this book is the way it has been executed. I love poetry and I love books written in verse, and while the book claims to be written in verse, and really isn’t. Instead of being made up of individual, yet interconnecting poems, it seems as if the book’s prose has simply been broken up and manipulated to look like a bunch of “poems”. While there is some truly beautiful and powerful imagery in this book, and Hemphill’s writing is quite lovely, the “verse” style just feels lacking and forced. I think the book would have worked better if it had been written in traditional prose.

While I think Maria and Giovanna are nicely developed, all of the other characters are lacking serious development. Perhaps the rest of the Barovier family isn’t meant to be important to the story as a whole, but I do think the character of Luca is significant and I’m disappointed with how flat his character is. I wanted to get caught up in Maria’s feelings for Luca, but found the whole romance hard to believe in simply because the Luca she falls for is not the Luca presented to readers. And by that, I mean it seems as if Hemphill must have created this swoon-worthy, compelling Luca in her head and when she wrote about Maria’s feelings for him, it is this imaginary Luca that she refers to, yet somehow she forgot to introduce this guy to her readers…does that make any sense at all?!

The ending is pretty predictable, but satisfying nonetheless.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: I feel like there’s so much potential within this book for a romantic, emotional story but the chosen form and execution limited this potential greatly. Sisters of Glass has an interesting enough premise and two intriguing female characters, but a lack of character and story development, along with the execution, kept me from loving this book.

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Mar 26, 2012 Cassi aka Snow White Haggard rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: galleys, read-in-2012

Sisters of Glass was an impulse request over at Netgalley. The cover is beautiful and whimsical. That combined with the fact it's set in Venice, one of my favorite places, convinced me to request a book that did not sound like me. After seeing a couple of low reviews I felt even more duped.

However, even though Sisters of Glass is not a great book it was a pleasant read. It felt more like a novella in length. It was written in verse but the verse didn't really feel like poetry. It felt like quite...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Krystle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I got the shock of my book reading day when I opened this up and found that it was in verse. Now I’m really picky about things in verse because I don’t have the patience, usually, to try and figure out obscure references and metaphors even though I love the descriptive imagery. Well, this book can be called the poser verse book. It’s actually not even verse! It’s more like normal prose split up into fancy lines to make it seem like verse. All it does is take up more page space and make the book...more

5 likes · like · see review

Feb 19, 2012 Vidya-BooksAreMagic rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads, arc-netgalley, disappointed, i-own, young-adult

Giovanna and Maria are the two daughters of the prestigious glass-blowing family of Murano, the home of glass-makers. When their father died, he mentioned his last wish for their second daughter, Maria, to be married to a noble man. So, Giovanna was left with no dowry, while Maria was made to learn the ways to be a lady and to marry a noble man. Maria, although not wishing for any of this, had accepted to be her fate..until she falls for someone else, who is not a noble. Maria has to work her wa...more

2 likes · like · see review

Oct 16, 2012 Jan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, teenbooks

This novel, told in prose poems, is a historical read about two sisters who live on the island of Murano, near Venice, and are part of a renowned glassmaking family. The youngest daughter, Maria, is to marry a nobleman, per her father's last wishes. But Maria cares more about making glass than dressing up for prospective suitors. Her old sister, Giovanna, is pretty and wants nothing more than an advantageous marriage, but she is destined for the convent. This conflict puts the sisters at odds, p...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 01, 2012 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, read-2012, young-adult, netgalley

Posted on Book Chelle.

The cover for Sisters of Glass by Stephanie Hemphill is gorgeous. The doves, the glass vase, the ribbon, and the gondola. It screams romance to me. It’s different, and I think, a great representation of the book and story itself.

Sisters of Glass is a historical novel written in verse. It revolves around a family of prestigious glassblowers that live on the island of Murano. There are two sisters whose lives are disrupted by a father’s dying wish. Angelo Barovier declared th...more Posted on Book Chelle.

The cover for Sisters of Glass by Stephanie Hemphill is gorgeous. The doves, the glass vase, the ribbon, and the gondola. It screams romance to me. It’s different, and I think, a great representation of the book and story itself.

Sisters of Glass is a historical novel written in verse. It revolves around a family of prestigious glassblowers that live on the island of Murano. There are two sisters whose lives are disrupted by a father’s dying wish. Angelo Barovier declared that his favorite daughter, Maria, would marry a senator, and not Giovanna, the eldest. Tensions rise when Maria’s sixteenth birthday comes, and it rips their relationship apart. A new glass blower has shifted the dynamic between the two sisters. But isn’t that always the case when a boy is involved?

For me, the characters were hard to relate to. Reading something in verse just didn’t translate the characters personality completely. I felt like there were pieces of their voices and thoughts that were missing. At times, especially during ones of anguish and sorrow, I didn’t think that it didn’t translate. I saw where Hemphill was going, trying to portray Maria’s shortcomings in comparison to Giovanna, but I didn’t think it was fully there. I longed for the words used to fully relay jealousy and anger. There were disconnects and it just felt like sentences were cut a part.

Sisters of Glass is unusual in the way that it is written. Hemphill wrote it all in verse. Now, I haven’t read a book in this style since I was last in school. I was hesitant to read it because I wasn’t sure if the intention of the story would be translated through the words. There is something lacking and maybe this style of writing wasn’t the right outlet for the beautiful story.

The historical details about Murano and the process of glass blowing was interesting. I appreciated all of this because I’ve been to Murano. But sadly, for me, it fell short and wasn’t a great appeal.

But don’t take my word for it. Pick up Sisters of Glass and check it out for yourself.(less)

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Jul 05, 2012 Destinee Sutton rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry, historical-fiction, italy, teen

Sometimes novels in verse work beautifully and sometimes they leave me thinking, "What was the point of writing this as poetry?" This book falls into the latter category. I couldn't see the poetic form serving any purpose, except to make the book short. In fact, the line breaks seemed random to me and there were times I thought I'd enjoy the writing more in paragraphs instead of stanzas.

Like glass, this story is pretty and transparent (oh, snap!). If I weren't so annoyed by it being written as...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Whitney rated it 3 of 5 stars

A story told in verse about two sisters in Renaissance-era Venice. The daughters of a prestigious glass-blowing family, Maria longs to work with the glass like her late father, but instead must marry into a well-to-do royal family, while Giovanna has no dowry and will likely end up in a convent. Maria has resigned herself to her fate until she starts to fall for Luca, a new glass blower in the family's shop.

Stephanie Hemphill has crafted a beautiful tale that captures the essence of the historic...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Christina (A Reader of Fictions) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley

Having actually been to Murano, I was super excited to read this book. There's nothing better than getting to remember the awesome places I've been! What I did not know going into this book was that it was written in verse. At first, I assumed it was my lack of attention, but it's not in the description anywhere, so go forward with this knowledge as my gift to you.

Ordinarily, this would have been a revelation of tragic proportions, since I'm not typically a big fan of poetry, but I just read and...more

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Oct 06, 2012 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I did not realize that this was a book written in verse. At first I was disappointed, but it was very well done and made for a quick read. (I finished it in less than an hour).

The story was fascinating, I am not very familiar with the culture and that time period. My eyes popped when one of her suitors declared her too old, because she was 15!

I loved the chapter for her sister:

"She is a straw hat against noon glare, a melody bludgeoning night gloom. Between me and my doubts, my sister is a shore...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Mara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-to-buy, 2012-reads, historical-fiction

Cover Blurb: I like the colors and the simplicity of it; very charming and attention-grabbing.

What I Liked: The characters were all good, and for such a bloody short story, I felt that I got to know them rather well.

What I Disliked: Giovanna’s sudden meanness - and equally sudden good mood - struck me as strange. What caused her to turn so horribly against the sister that she’s always been close to and love? And why is she suddenly all buddy-buddy with her again? Maria falling for Luca can be sp...more

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Mar 18, 2012 Kris added it

Shelves: books-reviewed, arc, ya-books

This story was a little too packaged for my enjoyment. I enjoyed the glass working and setting, and Maria is a nice girl. However, the verse didn't work for me. While there was lovely imagery worked into the verse, the feelings didn't convey themselves to me, and the story seemed to be given to me instead of taking place in my mind. If the verse worked, it would have made this even more of a fairy tale, but it ended up looking like a prose whose lines have been chopped up and separated. If you e...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Danica rated it 3 of 5 stars

~This is a review of an ARC received through Netgalley~

Opening "Sisters of Glass" and discovering it was a verse novel was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed the quick read it became, but I think I would have enjoyed the novel more if it has been a regular novel with fully fleshed out characters. I felt as if I didn't really understand what Maria saw in Lucas or why Giovanna went from resentment to supporting her sister almost overnight. The story felt a bit awkward in places and rushed in others. I...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Merin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley, read-in-2012

Thank you to Random House Children's Books and Alfred A. Knopf BFYR (via NetGalley) for the e-galley of Sisters of Glass.

Maria is the youngest daughter of a glass-blowing family on the island of Murano. Per her father's will, she's supposed to marry into the nobility, even though her older sister, Giovanna, should be the one to do so. Her life is further complicated when her family hires a glassblower, Luca, to help them, for Maria finds herself drawn to Luca in a way that definitely goes agains...more Thank you to Random House Children's Books and Alfred A. Knopf BFYR (via NetGalley) for the e-galley of Sisters of Glass.

Maria is the youngest daughter of a glass-blowing family on the island of Murano. Per her father's will, she's supposed to marry into the nobility, even though her older sister, Giovanna, should be the one to do so. Her life is further complicated when her family hires a glassblower, Luca, to help them, for Maria finds herself drawn to Luca in a way that definitely goes against her father's wishes. She becomes torn between performing her duty and going after her own heart.

When I first read the synopsis for this book, I was really intrigued. I thought we'd get a lot of atmospheric prose about the art of glassblowing and the island of Murano, and I wanted to know how things would work out for Maria, and if she'd get to follow her heart or have to submit to her family's wishes. But reading this was just sort of an indifferent experience for me; while there were some really great phrases used to describe Luca's glassblowing ability and Maria's feelings for the art form, there was no atmospheric prose regarding the surroundings, and I never really connected to Maria. I found that the story was just kind of flat, and it got to the point where I was only reading to finish the book (which is not very long), rather than because I was enjoying the story and wanted to see how things ended. While I liked the resolution, I sort of felt like all the problems could have been figured out well before they were, without the unnecessary heartache and stress Maria goes through. I don't know. This just wasn't that great of a story for me personally.

Also, this is touted as being written in verse, but it's really not. Instead it was like the author took actual sentences and broke them up into chunks, so you'd get short phrases. For me personally, the "verse" format wasn't useful here at all; she could have easily just written actual paragraphs and sentences and achieved the same effect.

Sisters of Glass will be released in North America on March 27th, 2012.(less)

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Feb 07, 2013 Amanda (Born Bookish) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Stephanie Hemphill writes a unique and captivating story about a family of glassblowers in 15th Century Venice. The story focuses on sisters Giovanna and Maria and their strained relationship.

Maria and Giovanna live on the island of Murano, famous for it’s glassmaking. Maria grew up helping the family business by mixing batches of glass, helping out in the furnace, and dreaming of someday becoming a blower. Traditionally, it is the eldest daughter who marries into nobility but Maria’s father spe...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Emily (Book Jems) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: netalley-e-galley, kindle, young-adult, boring, historical, cover-love, letdown, not-my-thing, meh, released, romance, review-on-blog

As seen on Ed and Em's Reviews!

Sisters of Glass was very, very short. I read it in less than two hours. Just because I read it quickly, does not mean that I enjoyed it. I liked it, yes, but I would never immediately recommend it to anyone. It's not that Sisters of Glass is a bad novel, because it's not. I just won't remember it after awhile. In my opinion, it is an easily forgotten novel.

Even now, just a few days after finishing it, I'm having trouble remember the characters' names. Besides Luca...more As seen on Ed and Em's Reviews!

Sisters of Glass was very, very short. I read it in less than two hours. Just because I read it quickly, does not mean that I enjoyed it. I liked it, yes, but I would never immediately recommend it to anyone. It's not that Sisters of Glass is a bad novel, because it's not. I just won't remember it after awhile. In my opinion, it is an easily forgotten novel.

Even now, just a few days after finishing it, I'm having trouble remember the characters' names. Besides Luca… Because I kind of adore Luca. A lot. More than a lot. I love him immensely. As you read, you don't see a whole lot of him. The focus of the novel is usually on the sisters, Giovanna and Maria, and how they are changing as they get older. But his role in the story is larger than it seems and what you do see of him? He just is brutish, all quiet and strength. For some reason, I find it irresistible.

I didn't enjoy the flashbacks. The setup of the novel often confused me. The story is written in verse and I've never really enjoyed reading those kinds of novels. This was very short though, so that made it easier to get through. There were parts of the plot I enjoyed and found myself immersed in the story, but there were other parts that I grew bored and sped through.

There was a part closer to the end that tugged at my heartstrings. The sisters are trying to find their way as their thoughts war against what they want to do and what they need to do. Duty and honor or lifelong happiness. Maria and Giovanna must work together so that they can have all three. The lack of communication is what really is the driving force behind the conflict. If the sisters had opened up about their true feelings, things would've gone much smoother. I believe that with the time period and setting of where Sisters of Glass took place, the conflict fits very well. It's set in 1291, during the rein of the Venetian government over the glassmakers, which if you didn't catch from the title, includes Maria and Giovanna's family.

This book was a sweet, short read. Like I said earlier, I probably won't remember it later, but as I think of it now, I would definitely recommend it to the younger age group of young adults. I think the fast pace and quick read that ends on a happy note.

I received an e-copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley.(less)

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Apr 25, 2012 Elizabeth B rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book was supposedly written in verse. Don’t believe that. It’s not. It is sentences spaced out to look like verse. It’s narrative writing with intentionally bad printing skills. I make no qualms that I don’t like novels in verse but this is going to fall one step below that even because it failed at what it claimed to be. Now, onto the story itself.

Due to the nature of the “verse” there is little character development. This is a huge issue in a young adult book where the characters traits...more

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May 05, 2012 Beth G. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley, 2012, novels-in-verse, historical-fiction, fiction, ebook-challenge-2012, ebooks, arcs, books-for-teens

The Barovier family furnace / has molded glass on Murano
for nearly two hundred years, since 1291 / when the Venetian government
required that all furnaces move / to my island home.

Synopsis:
When Maria was just an infant, her father declared that she would one day marry a nobleman, even though such a fate should rightfully belong to her elegant older sister, Giovanna. Maria would much rather learn to blow glass in the family fornicas, but that work is for men only, even after her father’s death an...more

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Mar 20, 2012 ephrielle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Written similar to verse, which makes for a quick read. The story is simple and allows your imagination room to play where there is limited description. I didn't find it lacking and was able to read it in one sitting.
I enjoyed Maria, Vanna, and Luca. The two sisters are easy to understand and even trade places emotionally and physically during the book. Luca is so mysterious as well a deep. There is more than meets the eye to this one.
A great message is incorporated into this book. Maria and Van...more Written similar to verse, which makes for a quick read. The story is simple and allows your imagination room to play where there is limited description. I didn't find it lacking and was able to read it in one sitting.
I enjoyed Maria, Vanna, and Luca. The two sisters are easy to understand and even trade places emotionally and physically during the book. Luca is so mysterious as well a deep. There is more than meets the eye to this one.
A great message is incorporated into this book. Maria and Vanna have a few choices to make. Accept that life is going to be miserable or find another solution. Maria is slated to marry a much older man and do little other than be a doll. Vanna is expected to work for her family until they send her to a convent. There is no other way, or maybe there is? Maria sneaks out and befriends Luca. There is also a war waging between convention and modern thinking. The younger generation often finds the expectations of the older generation confining. Maria's father decided, when she was a child, that she would change their fortunes by marrying a senator. To that end he set down a path she could not sway from even after his death. Years later the family has come upon hard times and intends to enact the plan to change their fortunes. It turns out that this plan isn't feasible. While trying to reach it they grow more and more desperate. Far be it for them to abandon ancient ideas and consider that times may call for new thinking. There is a way to respect the past and make a future possible.
The romance, characters, and story are simple and sweet. I really liked this book and recommend it for a light cute read.

P.S. Why is it that marriages back then were between forty to fifty year old guys and sixteen year old girls? Did they encourage this cradle robbing or was it preservation of the species? Does it really take men that long to establish themselves? Surely they weren't remaining chaste that whole time, otherwise their balls would have shriveled up and dropped off. I suppose marrying a woman the same age would have decimated the population, since they were likely infertile.(less)

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Mar 17, 2012 Celine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, historical

I will preface this review by saying that I know absolutely nothing about poetry. When I hear about famous poets I say "I must read those some time!" but as you all know, I never do. I know they're those strange people that don't fill the page like normal writers do, and sometimes just put maybe two or three words on a single page. They can ramble on about an old shoe and their work will be called a masterpiece. I don't get poetry at all.

That being said, I enjoyed reading Sisters of Glass. The...more I will preface this review by saying that I know absolutely nothing about poetry. When I hear about famous poets I say "I must read those some time!" but as you all know, I never do. I know they're those strange people that don't fill the page like normal writers do, and sometimes just put maybe two or three words on a single page. They can ramble on about an old shoe and their work will be called a masterpiece. I don't get poetry at all.

That being said, I enjoyed reading Sisters of Glass. The book is a young-adult historical romance set in Venice, and all written in free verse. For those of you that don't know what free verse is, here's a quote from Wikipedia: "Free verse is a form of poetry that refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern".

It was an interesting book and I enjoyed reading about Maria, the youngest daughter of a Venetian glass-maker. Her father's last dying wish is that she should marry a nobleman. Her beautiful older sister, who is way more suitable to navigate the world of nobility, is condemned to work in the furnace. With the arrival of Luca, a skilled glass artist, Maria is getting even more confused whether or not she should obey to her father's wish.

I'm a sucker for everything historical, and I loved the Venetian setting. It has a certain charm with the gondolas and the piazzas and even the floodings, although maybe not that much fun, add to the credibility of the story. I very much enjoyed the descriptions Ms Hemphill has weaved carefully. There is a lot of attention to detail in this story which was great to read.

Although I liked how the romance progressed between the different characters, I still felt like this story could have been a little longer. Maybe it's just because I'm not used to this format, but at times I wanted more. I wanted more emotions, more of the interactions, more of everything.

Overall Sisters of Glass was an interesting little book and I would recommend it for people that are in love with Venice or historical settings, and that like a flush of romance in their reads. (less)

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Mar 25, 2012 Sharon Goodwin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sisters of Glass begins with the history of the Barovier family furnace and the family background. Having once been the only family to have created Cristallo, once the secret was out, all major furnaces used the secret recipe and this affected the family’s social standing.

Even after the death of Maria’s father she was allowed to help in the furnace but the changes start happening in her (and subsequently Giovanna’s life) once she is being groomed for marriage to a nobleman. Luc, the orphaned gla...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Tina (yAdultReview) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books, historical-fiction, ya, romance, arc-netgalley

Originally published at Nose in a Book

This book was written in verse, which was slightly disappointing to me, but it’s not annoying. In lieu of chapters, there are short little poems detailing all manner of things, from Maria’s father’s history to the glassblowing profession. It was incredibly easy to read, and only took me a few hours. I still remember reading a David Eddings novel where a character tells the protag “glass is just melted sand.” I never forgot that, for some reason, and glassblo...more Originally published at Nose in a Book

This book was written in verse, which was slightly disappointing to me, but it’s not annoying. In lieu of chapters, there are short little poems detailing all manner of things, from Maria’s father’s history to the glassblowing profession. It was incredibly easy to read, and only took me a few hours. I still remember reading a David Eddings novel where a character tells the protag “glass is just melted sand.” I never forgot that, for some reason, and glassblowing has always held some appeal to me. Maria is an artist among glassblowers, and once her family sat with the Doge at church. But then, someone stole her father’s cristallo recipe, and all was lost. When I first started reading, this struck me as very simplistic, less YA and more middle-grade, but that doesn’t diminish it. Maria knows Giovanna resents her, and that resentment comes through very clearly in the poems. Maria very clearly loves glassblowing, but she’s stuck in her role. Eventually, she is no longer allowed to draw, as she must stay clean as a lady. Maria really chafes at being a lady.

After the initial introduction, we start meeting Maria’s suitors. It’s pretty amusing watching Maria bumble around, and the descriptions of the men are hysterical. One of them says Maria’s age (15) is too old and I gagged a little, but that was the only overtly creepy thing I noticed in these chapters. You know what the suitors’ chapters reminded me of? That scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding were Toula’s father keeps inviting weirdos over to woo her. Each one makes you cringe in a different way. The saddest part is how sad Giovanna is and how it makes her lash out at Maria. Maria is only somewhat baffled by Vanna’s behavior and it made me hurt for them both. Vanna becomes almost vicious in her resentment, and it made me glad I only have brothers. And then, Luca shows up. Luca, who is ungrateful and snobby when we first meet him even though he’s from the laboring class, much lower than Maria’s family in status.

Luca, of course, has a story. He’s not just a jerk, he’s a jerk for a reason. I had my suspicions about him from the very first word he spoke, but I won’t spoil anything. He’s got his issues, but he’s like most other YA heroes, really. Aren’t all hero/ines in YA the same in the end? I think they are. It takes a lot to make them stand out on their own. Even some of my favorites (Evie from Paranormalcy, Clara from Unearthly, etc) are cut from a standard cloth. Near the middle of the book, Vanna seems to have a change of heart, though I remained suspicious of her as well. Maria doesn’t really realize what’s happening between herself and Luca, plus she feels this intense pressure to help her family, especially after a storm hits their island. And maybe this is just because of the poems, but I didn’t feel anything between Luca and Maria. We were being told instead of shown, I think. I really didn’t see any passion between them. They hardly see each other at all up to this point.

In the end, there is some of the passion I was looking for between Luca and Maria, but what was really interesting was the sisterly scheming. I really liked the relationship between Vanna and Maria (once Vanna stopped being a jerk). I felt like this was more a story of family and change than a romance, and I liked it better for it. If you like little historical romances, I think this one is going to be for you. It’s short and sweet, and the verse really flows after you get used to it. It comes out in exactly two weeks!(less)

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Jun 10, 2012 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars

The premise of this book was so interesting when I first picked it up.

However, as I opened the book and started reading, I was pretty let down. The book itself is short, on my reader it was 158 pages. And while I have nothing against short books, as I've read some really spectacular ones, this one was...short.

The chapters were choppy and short. Just as I'd get into a chapter it would abruptly end. The entire book was fashioned this way and because of it I felt like I lost a lot of the character...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Yearning To Read marked it as did-not-finish · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, novels-in-verse, 2012-dnf, did-not-like, fiction, historical, borrrrring, netgalley-dnf, young-adult, dnf-review, huh, insufferably-stupid, reviewed

Sisters of Glass by Stephanie Hemphill
Pages: 160
Release Date: March 27th, 2012
DNF date: 2012, January 17th
Received: ARC via NetGalley

SUMMARY -
(From Goodreads)
Maria is the younger daughter of an esteemed family on the island of Murano, the traditional home for Venetian glassmakers. Though she longs to be a glassblower herself, glassblowing is not for daughters—that is her brother's work. Maria has only one duty to perform for her family: before her father died, he insisted that she be married int...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Clementine rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, fiction, poems, ya

Maria and Giovanna are sisters in a prestigious family on the island of Murano, famed for its Venetian glassmakers. Although Maria would very much like to be a glassblower, her only duty is to marry into the nobility–her father’s dying wish. Although her older sister Giovanna should rightfully have that role, the girls’ mother begins priming Maria for such a marriage. When a young glassblower enters the picture, things get even more complicated.

Hemphill is a Printz-winning poet, and it’s clear w...more

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JPL YA Reading Ch...: Verse novel:Sisters of Glass	2	6	Apr 23, 2013 05:57am

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About Stephanie Hemphill

Stephanie Hemphill's first novel in poems, Things Left Unsaid, was published by Hyperion in 2005 and was awarded the 2006 Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Excellence in Poetry by the Children's Literature Council of Southern California.

Her second novel, a verse portrait of Sylvia Plath, Your Own, Sylvia was published by Knopf in March 2007. A third novel in verse for teens, Wicked Girls, a verse st...more

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Books by Stephanie Hemphill

Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath

Hideous Love: The Story of the Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein

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“Learning to be a lady / is like learning / to live within a shell, / to be a crustacean encased / in a small white / uncomfortable world.” — 4 people liked it

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