Summary: Mia, Laney, Betts, and Ginger, best friends since law school, have reunited for a long weekend as Betts awaits Senate confirmation of her appointment to the Supreme Court. Nicknamed “the Ms. Bradwells” during their first class at the University of Michigan Law School in 1979—when only three women had ever served full Senate terms and none had been appointed to the Court—the four have supported one another through life’s challenges: marriages and divorces, births and deaths, career setbacks and triumphs large and small. Betts was, and still is, the Funny One. Ginger, the Rebel. Laney, the Good Girl. And Mia, the Savant.

But when the Senate hearings uncover a deeply buried skeleton in the friends’ collective closet, the Ms. Bradwells retreat to a summer house on the Chesapeake Bay, where they find themselves reliving a much darker period in their past—one that stirs up secrets they’ve kept for, and from, one another, and could change their lives forever.

My Thoughts: For starters, I’m going to be somewhat vague here, because to spill anything likely would ruin the impact of this story.

This was quite the story. It is dark, heavy, and not at all a light read. But don’t hold that against it. It’s done very well. A very delicate subject is handled very well, and leaves you thinking afterward. And while normally I prefer all questions answered at the end, I don’t mind the way this one ends. No, not all questions are given a definite answer, rather we are given possibilities. My reason for not minding this time is that it’s true to life. Often, we know what happens, and what the official take on things is. But we often don’t know with 100 percent certainty what exactly happened, who is to blame for what. There is ambiguity in this story, as there often is in real life. And in this case it’s handled very well, in large part because the characters don’t know any more than we do. They accept it as what it is, and decide to go from there.

The format is one that seems pretty popular lately: first-person perspective, switching the narrator on a chapter-by-chapter basis. If you’re not used to reading something like this (think Picoult, for one example of an author who uses this quite frequently), it might be a bit confusing. At least until you get used to it. I even had a few times where I had to double check whose voice I was reading in a couple of spots. But, I didn’t find it the least bit confusing.

Overall, this was a very well-written story, and a book I would recommend. Just don’t expect it to be light, fun reading. It’s not. It’s heavy and packs a punch. But it’s worth it. I look forward to reading more books by Ms. Clayton.

Favorite Quotes: There were a lot of good quotes in this book. At first I wasn’t going to share any, but then decided that some were just too good to pass up. By that point, I was more than halfway through the book, so these are all in the latter half of the book.

I knew what happened wasn’t my fault. I knew that. But knowing a thing is not the same as believing it. ~ page 194 (ARC)

Oh, so true. Very insightful.

Maybe you want it to be your fault. The thing about it being your fault is that it means you have some control over it, that you have some ability to keep it from happening again. ~ page 194 (ARC)

I can totally understand. When something tragic, something huge, something out of your control happens, how easy is it to beat yourself up? How hard it is to recognize – and accept – that it was NOT your fault, that there was nothing you did to cause it, that you did NOT have any control? And I can see how scary that can be for what it could mean for the future. Does that mean I’m never safe? Does that mean I’m completely powerless? I can see wanting to take the blame for something for the sole purpose of thinking that maybe you can prevent it – or something like it – from ever happening again.

What I know and what I feel are so often two different things, though. What I feel doesn’t always make sense. ~ page 238 (ARC)

I don’t think emotion and logic work together very well. At least for me, my emotions don’t always want to follow my logic, to follow what I know. My emotions go off and do their own thing.

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Source: Received as part of a blog tour promotion on TLC Book Tours.

Read It: Get your own copy HERE. (This is a Book Depository link, and purchase through this link will result in my receiving a small commission at no cost to you. Your support is appreciated!)

About the Author: Meg Waite Clayton is the author of The Wednesday Sisters and The Language of Light, a finalist for the Bellwether Prize. A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, she lives in Palo Alto, California, with her husband and their two sons.

You can find Ms. Clayton on her Web site, her blog, facebook, and Twitter.

Tour Info: For the main page for this blog tour, including more reviews of this book on other blogs, visit TLC’s post.

Challenges: Counts for 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*****WIN IT*****

I am able to offer 1 copy of The Four Ms. Bradwells to one lucky reader!   I do not require anything in order for you to enter. Simply leave a comment to on this post. ONE ENTRY PER PERSON.

Entries will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. (Central) Saturday, April 30, 2011. The winner will be chosen randomly with the help of random.org. I will send the lucky winner an e-mail notification. (It will come from proudbooknerd(at)gmail(dot)com, so make sure to add this address to your safe list or address book to ensure it doesn’t get lost in junk/bulk mail.) If I do not get a response within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. Unfortunately, this giveaway is only open to readers in the U.S and Canada.

FTC Disclosure: All items reviewed were either obtained by me for my own enjoyment or sent (from the author, publisher, publicist, via tour sites, etc.) in exchange for an honest review. I receive no monetary compensation for my posts. All opinions expressed are my own.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.