Review: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publication date: May 2011
Publisher: Jamie McGuire

Read: September 2014

Pages: 416

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Summary:

INTENSE. DANGEROUS. ADDICTIVE.

Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

My review:

Intense? Travis' attitude and actions, yes! Dangerous? Travis is. Addictive? Nope.

I've been wanting to read this book after I read the Crossfire series by Sylvia Day back in January. Like Abbi Glines' Fallen Too Far series, I thought it was a bit too expensive for me at that time. I waited until this month to finally pick it up. I couldn't wait to read it right away. As you might all know I have other books to read but I still chose to read Beautiful Disaster first. 

You can say that I had high expectations on this novel. I read the summary and I thought it was really intriguing. It makes you want to read it in my opinion. Also, I heard  nothing but good things about this book and so I thought this would be a very good read. 

"I'll give you the happy ever after, Pigeon. If you just believe in me, I can do it."

At the beginning, I was really happy with the writing style and I also enjoyed the love, hate relationship that Travis and Abby had. I  found it hilarious and I was really enjoying it.

 Then, Parker appeared in the story and I completely loved him right away. But of course Abby won't end up with him. I was trying to find something about Travis that I liked. He's attractive, he's the mysterious bad boy who has a soft spot. When he started dating Abby, I didn't know how I felt about it at first. I thought I liked them together but the more we learned about Travis' over-protectiveness I got really annoyed. From that moment I was hoping Abby would give Parker another chance and break up with Travis. Usually I don't mind about the man being over-protective but Travis makes me hate it. It was pissing me off and I tried to ignore and forget about it but he kept messing it up. I stopped reading a couple of times because he was really annoying and the fact that Abby still loves him? I was like "Wow. Really?" The thing that I appreciated though is the fact that there weren't a lot of sex scenes. Which was a bit surprising because I was expecting this book to have a ton like in Abbi Glines' books. I also loved the characters who were very close to Abby and Travis. Like, America, Shep, Brazil, Finch and Travis' family. 

Jamie McGuire is an amazing author even though this is the first book I've read by her. I didn't love it as much as the other New Adult books I've read but I didn't hate her writing. I was just annoyed by the main characters. With that being said, it doesn't mean that I don't recommend this book to anyone. You might love the characters and the story so I still recommend this novel if you're a fan of New Adult Contemporary Romance. 

About the author

Jamie McGuire was born in Tulsa, OK. She attended Northern Oklahoma College, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Autry Technology Center where she graduated with a degree in Radiography.

Her 2012 novel, Walking Disaster debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. She has also written internationally bestselling contemporary romance Beautiful Disaster, and the Providence™ series. 2013 works include an apocalyptic thriller, Red Hill, a novella, and A Beautiful Wedding™. 2014 works include Beautiful Oblivion, the first in the Maddox Brothers series, and also a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her recently self-published Happenstance novella series is a USA Today bestseller, and is set in her hometown of Blackwell, Oklahoma. Please review her upcoming projects tab for more information on planned releases.

Jamie now lives on a ranch just outside Enid, Oklahoma with her three children and husband Jeff, who is a real, live cowboy. They share their 30 acres with six horses, three dogs, and Rooster the cat.

You can visit her site http://www.jamiemcguire.com/ 

Check out the other books from the "Beautiful" series!