Review: Beautiful Disaster

Title: Beautiful Disaster

Author: Jamie McGuire

Date of Publication: May 26, 2011

Formats Available: Hardcover, Paperback, E-Book

 Buy This Book: Amazon

Synopsis: 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:

There's a thousand reasons why I shouldn't like this book, a million even, but I just can't help but love Beautiful Disaster. A complete emotional rollercoaster this novel made me ecstatic then furious, laugh then cry, scream then cheer; I loved every second of this novel and in the end even its flaws made me love it even more.

Abby and Travis are completely wrong for each other and that's what makes them so perfect. Despite Abby's efforts to unimpress him and push him away he still falls completely in love with her. Travis bounces back and forth from being one of the most frustrating characters that I'd ever read about to one of the sweetest. Even though I loved Travis (and then I hated him, then I loved him again...) Abby was a bit of a lackluster character. I liked her but other than a few witty comments and an interesting background she honestly wasn't a very exciting character. I could understand why she was the way she was, no other character would balance Travis out quite like Abby did, and in the end the story wouldn't be the same without her even if she was a little boring at times.

As well as having two entertaining main characters I loved Shep (Travis's cousin) and America (Abby's best friend). They made an adorable couple and honestly I would love to see a book about them in the future. Having a much more stable relationship than Abby and Travis they are the perfect contrast to show just how much of a disaster Abby and Travis are. By the end of the novel I really cared about Shep and America and I wanted to know more about them.

While I loved this novel there were a few things that got on my nerves after awhile. The first and foremost being that Abby and Travis do not have a healthy relationship; Travis is completely obsessed with her and constantly feels as though he cannot survive with out her. While this may make an entertaining story to read about it isn't a good model for a real life relationship. Likewise their constant breaking up and getting back together was starting to get a little ridiculous by the end, I felt that the author was dragging out their times apart to make the story longer and not because it contained any plot value.

Overall I would 100% recommend Beautiful Disaster. Even though it has its flaws it really is a fantastic novel and this book really is a beautiful disaster. I love, love, love this book and can't wait to read the sequel!

5/5