Nicole read and liked Lisette's review of The Glassblower of Murano:

"I was fooled by a story that promised glassblowers in the beautiful setting of Venice and promises of intrigue in a historical setting. I should have known better. It was disappointing and foolishly romantic. When the main character turns out pregnan...more I was fooled by a story that promised glassblowers in the beautiful setting of Venice and promises of intrigue in a historical setting. I should have known better. It was disappointing and foolishly romantic. When the main character turns out pregnant after being involved with a man for a few days, I was stunned that an educated woman (the writer) would romanticize the fact that this woman in this day and age had unprotected sex.(less) "

Nicole read and liked Eleanor's review of The Glassblower of Murano:

"This book was okay. It certainly wasn't horrible, but it's far from being really, really great. It was engaging, in a light, simplistic sort of way of entertaining, but the author seemed to try too hard to make it really "deep". She quot...more This book was okay. It certainly wasn't horrible, but it's far from being really, really great. It was engaging, in a light, simplistic sort of way of entertaining, but the author seemed to try too hard to make it really "deep". She quotes Dante and other 'great works' seemingly as a way to make her own writing more sophisticated, but the effort falls flat.

Instead of following the essential rule and showing readers what she means and what symbolism is in her story, she tells, as in:

"He felt the assassin's final twist of the blade to snap handle from haft, felt his skin close behind the blade to leave no more than an innocent graze at the point of entry.... As he submerged in the freezing depths, the water closed behind his body to leave no more than an innocent graze at the point of entry." (page 8)

I mean, really? You have to spell it out for us that bluntly? The author often hits us over the head with this sort of thing. "The glass horse broke... and it was as if his childhood had broken, too", that sort of thing.

Beyond that, the ending is far too neatly resolved. Actually, the whole story seemed a bit contrived. But if you're looking for fluffy, easy beach reading, this isn't a terrible book for that purpose.

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Nicole read and liked Laura's review of The Glassblower of Murano:

"I received an advanced copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads.

This is a story about Nora/Leonora (present day) and her ancestor, Corradino (17th Century). Nora was born in Venice, but her mother took her to England when she was...more I received an advanced copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads.

This is a story about Nora/Leonora (present day) and her ancestor, Corradino (17th Century). Nora was born in Venice, but her mother took her to England when she was a baby. Her husband just left her for another woman (older and not as pretty), so to try and move on from the pain, she decides to return to Venice and follow in the footsteps of her ancestor to become a glassblower. Corradino was a maestro glassblower imprisoned on the island of Murano as all glassblowers are. He is followed by The Ten (the rulers of Venice) at all times because his father was a conspirator against The Ten.

The story follows Nora as she becomes Leonora (her given name) and she connects to her ancestor. There is a mystery surrounding his death and she is determined to find out more about him.

This book was difficult to read in the beginning. Nora's story could be followed, but Corradino's jumped back and forth without any understanding of what time it was--you have to figure it out yourself (many times books will give you a time/date stamp at the beginning of the chapter, but not this one). It took until about 100 pages or so into the book to really start to feel the timeline and not get confused.

The book is written in third person, but mostly from the POV of Leonora or Corradino--occasionally it will jump to another character. There is very little dialogue throughout much of the book--almost none at the beginning where there are lots of descriptions--of everything.

The story was fairly well written with the development of Corradino's story coinciding with Leonora's discoveries paralleled well. The writing tries to give you a sense of the Venician people--not really the city. It does that. I did feel like I understood more about how they people live/lived.

I didn't love this book, though. I was bothered by Leonora's relationship with Alessandro until the end. She seemed too uncertain (and pitiful) and it never gave you Alessandro's side until the very end. Also, my one pet peeve is in this book. I won't give it away, but it deals with Leonora and what happens to her--it comes across as if things that don't work will all of a sudden work when you aren't in the same setting anymore. I disagree with the speed of the change--it can happen, but it usually takes longer. I understand it was important to the story, but it annoyed me and it was the second book in a row with this pet peeve! Ugh.

My final assessment is that this is a decent book. Very different from most of the books that I read, but worth the read. I can't give it 5 or even 4 stars for some of the reasons I've stated, but it is better than 3 stars. I would give it 3.5 stars.
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