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The Four Ms. Bradwells
By Meg Waite Clayton
(Ballantine Books, Hardcover, 9780345517081, March 2011, 336pp.)

The Short of It:

A pending Supreme Court appointment and a secret which could ruin it all. How much are friends willing to sacrifice in order to keep things under wraps?

The Rest of It:

Lainey, Mia, Betts and Ginger have been friends since their days at the University of Michigan. While studying law, their teacher aptly nicknames them “the Ms. Bradwells” after discussing a case where a woman was not allowed to be appointed to the Court.

Several years later, many of them have families of their own yet they still remain the best of friends. Betts is about to be appointed to the Supreme Court and as she completes the interview portion of the appointment, a secret from the past threatens to surface. The four women decide to spend the weekend at Ginger’s family home on Chesapeake Bay to discuss their options and to avoid the media.

There are many things that I enjoyed about this book. The story centers around four, very strong women. I found this refreshing. Usually when reading a book like this, I get frustrated with the women because they are too timid or weak. I never felt this way while reading this one.

I also enjoyed the setting quite a bit. A beach house on Chesapeake Bay is pretty perfect no matter how you cut it and Ms. Clayton does a wonderful job describing the house and its immediate surroundings. I also enjoyed the closeness of these women. Sometimes the interactions between women can seem forced, but I did not get that here. There was the closeness I mentioned, but also a realistic tension to the characters that made them seem real.

However, I did have some issues with the book. This is where the setting sort of worked against the story. Once they got to the house, the only things really discussed were things that happened on the Bay. Through flashbacks we’re given the rest of the story but as a reader, in order for me to really understand how these women think, I needed to know more about their lives prior to becoming “The Bradwells” and unfortunately, there wasn’t much said about their lives prior to college.

As for the secret, it was sort of anti-climactic and a bit predictable. Since I don’t classify this as a mystery, I didn’t expect there to be a big reveal or anything, but it seemed rather abrupt in the telling.

Overall, the book read like a play to me. It was pretty much confined to the one setting and although I loved the setting, I think it stole the show a bit.

But, if you are intrigued with the setting and enjoy reading books with smart female characters, enter to win your own copy. Details below.

To visit Meg’s website, click here.

To visit her blog, go here.

To follow her on Twiiter, @megwclayton.

To follow her on Facebook, go here.

To view Meg’s other TLC tour stops, click here.

Source: Review and giveaway copy provided to me by the publisher via TLC Book Tours.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

This giveaway is for one copy of The Four Ms. Bradwells and is open to the US and Canada. A winner will be chosen randomly by me. The book will come directly from the publisher. Only one entry per person. Giveaway closes on April 22, 2011 (pacific). I will contact the winner for his/her mailing address.

To enter the giveaway, please click here. (This giveaway has closed! Thanks!)

The Murderer’s Daughters
By Randy Susan Meyers
(St. Martin’s Griffin, Paperback, 9780312674434, February 2011, 310pp.)

The Short of It:

An impressive, fictional debut that had me in tears at one point. Beautifully told, sad at times yet ultimately hopeful.

The Rest of It:

The murder of Lulu’s mother and the near murder of her younger sister, Merry is hard enough for Lulu to understand, but at the hands of her own father? How does a ten-year-old child deal with the fact that her mother is no longer there for her? How does she accept that her father is a murderer and in prison? In addition to the enormity of the situation itself, Lulu feels responsible for her sister, who happens to still love her father, despite the fact that she almost died because of him.

This book did all sorts of things to me. It made me angry and sad and sometimes I hated the father, but other times I questioned myself. Would it be possible to forgive someone for killing your own mother? Does a child’s love run that deep? Although The Murderer’s Daughters deals with some really heavy themes, there is a brightness to it. It’s not all dark. In fact, much of it is hopeful.

I loved these sisters. I loved their relationship and I could relate to both of them. Meyers managed to create realistic tension between them, without it seeming forced. They were each complex in their own way, and each so different, yet close, very close and I admired the skill it took to make them that way. I also loved the touches of detail here and there that helped round out the story. It wasn’t too much. Not the “in your face” filler detail that you often see with new writers.

I’m not sure what I expected when picking this one up, but I think I expected a more melodramatic tale and I was so pleased that it wasn’t that kind of book. Book clubs would do well with this one. There is so much to discuss and much of it is still on my mind. I recommend it highly.

A note about the author:

The copy that I was given had a section on why the author wrote the book. Turns out, that the author and her sister had a similar experience with their own father. Their experience did not result in death, but Meyers was haunted by the “what ifs.” This explains why the story elements were so convincing.

If you’d like a chance to win a copy, check out the details below.

Source: Review and giveaway copy provided by St. Martin’s Press.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

This giveaway is for one copy of The Murderer’s Daughters and is open to the US and Canada. A winner will be chosen randomly by me. The book will come directly from the publisher. Only one entry per person. Giveaway closes on April 15, 2011 (pacific). I will contact the winner for his/her mailing address.

To enter the giveaway, please click here. (Giveaway is now closed!)

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