In April I started reading The American Lady, the second book in the Glassblower Trilogy by Petra Durst-Benning, but for some reason I can't remember, I took about a 3-week break and ended up not picking it back up until about halfway through May. Once I started back reading, it only took a couple of nights to finish.

Like the first book in the trilogy, The American Lady follows the lives of the Steinmann family 20 years later. Ruth has been living in New York City with her new husband, Steven, and her daughter, Wanda. Back home in Lauscha, Johanna and Peter have been married and have two children. Marie is still the driving force behind their much-expanded glassblowing company, but she's unhappy and uninspired. So she travels to New York where she accidentally spills the beans about Wanda's birth father. When Marie falls in love with an Italian and doesn't return home to Lauscha, Wanda travels to Germany to help her family and find herself. Things do not end well for Marie, but for that you'll have to read the book yourself.

The American Lady has mixed reviews on goodreads, with many people saying it was boring and some saying it was better than the first book. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. I felt like there could have been more back story provided of the 20 years between the books. What I missed the most was Johanna and Peter's story; at the end of The Glassblower, I wanted more of their relationship; a lot can happen in 20 years, and there was very little of the couple in the second installment.

I still found myself rooting for this family, especially Marie and Wanda. If you're looking for a book(s) about girl power, I recommend this series.

Up next on my reading list - The Paradise of Glass, third book in the Glassblower Trilogy. Read my review of book one, The Glassblower, here.