Book Review | Book Chatter

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.

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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!)

Wither
Book #1 of The Chemical Garden Trilogy
By Lauren DeStefano
(Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Hardcover, 9781442409057, March 2011, 368pp.)

The Short of It:

As fun as a book about death and dying can be!

The Rest Of It:

In the not too distant future, women are dying at the age of 20 and males by the age of 25. Only the First Generation can outlive them, and although many have tried to come up with an antidote for the virus that takes their young, so far…no one has been successful. In an effort to save the human race, young girls are abducted and forced to be sister wives who share one husband. Their goal? To produce as many children as possible before dying.

After her parents are killed in a lab explosion, sixteen-year-old Rhine is abducted and forced to marry Governor Linden, who is twenty-years-old and approaching his twilight years. Rhine is a beauty with very unusual eyes. It’s because of her eyes, and her likeness to another girl named Rose, that she is chosen as a bride. However, when she arrives at the house she realizes that she is only one of three new wives and that a fourth is on her deathbed.

Although Governor Linden is actually quite likable, his father, Housemaster Vaughn is anything but! His presence in the house makes Rhine very uncomfortable and when one of her sister wives has a baby, Rhine becomes concerned over what is being done to the baby. Add to that her attraction to a handsome attendant by the name of Gabriel and Rhine finds herself conflicted over what she needs to do.

Polygamy is a loaded topic and DeStefano tackles it successfully. At times, the idea of young, pregnant brides is disturbing, but with the human race dying out as it is, somehow the idea isn’t so bad. The topic is handled delicately and there is nothing overly graphic or violent contained within these pages. I’d say that the target age range of 14+ is accurate.

From an adult perspective, I found the book utterly readable and fun. There’s the whole class struggle thing going on, as well as the conflict that being a sister-wife creates. It was a quick read, and the pages flew by and at the end I found myself looking forward to book #2. If you like to delve into YA now and then and like dystopian fiction but not necessarily the violence, then this might be a good book for you.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

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