Review: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Author:  Jamie McGuire

Pages: 432

Publisher: Atria Books

Release date: 10/3/11

Age Group: Young Adult

Genre:  Contemporary Romance 

Format: E-book

Source: Purchased

Summary from Goodreads: The new 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.

I will start by saying that the cover of this book alone is intriguing. I picked it up because it was recommended by a friend and boy am I glad I did. The book itself is addicting. I immediately swallowed it, it was hard to put it down and before I knew it I was at the end and once again disappointed because I needed more. It is the kind of book that you want to reread because you read it so fast the first time you did not have enough time to savor it.

I fell in love with the characters in the book, from the very first chapter I found myself laughing out loud but as the book continued I had a surge of emotions from happy to sad. This book is from Abbey Abernathy's perspective, she has just moved from her hometown to start a new life away from her past. The story is set in a college atmosphere and is based on Abbey's relationship with Travis. This relationship is at times romantic and at others a complete train wreck. They are faced with many challenges, wild, insane, and intense but at the same time addicting and exciting. Travis comes off as a jerk, a womanizer, and just has an overall bad guy image. As his character grows we find out more than we thought we would from him. He is a very deep character with interesting and difficult life experiences. As the story continues it is easy to fall in love with him and want to know more about what really makes him tick. He is not the only perplex character in the story. Abbey is also a very complicated character and as the story progresses we learn about her past. Jamie McGuire did a fabulous job at writing this story it is full of action and packed with love and distress.

I really loved the book and the characters. I can't wait to sink my teeth into Walking Disaster which is the entire story from Travis' perspective. This is a book that gives you a dysfunctional relationship that you would probably only want to read about in books but is hot and exciting. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.