Review by Krystle : Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

I'm going to start off by saying that I really, really enjoyed this book. The story and characters really took off and sucked me in. It wasn't anything I was expecting it to be, it was better!

Abby Abernathy is starting fresh with her best friend America at Eastern University. Early on in the book you keep getting some clues that Abby's past wasn't so great, and it really gets you guessing as to what it could be. Then you find out what it is, and it pretty much threw me for a loop, I wouldn't have thought it would have had anything to do with having a dead beat poker playing father in Las Vegas, and that she herself is a bit of a card shark thanks to her good for nothing dad. Now with of that all in her past, and wanting to start fresh, she gets dragged to a secret type of “Fight Club” on campus and the person fighting is not only her best friends boyfriends cousin Travis, but everything Abby needs to avoid altogether if she's serious about starting fresh.

Travis 'Mad dog' Maddox..... I fell in love with this broken young man. He's the perfect example of a boy you would want to keep your daughters away from, or your parents told you to stay away from, but couldn't. He's the school slut, shaved head, covered in tats, cigarette smoking, drinking and swearing bad boy that all of us (yes you) would love to be with at some point in our lives. Or have already.....? Raised in a house full of testosterone since his mother passed when he was so young he became a hell of a fighter fighting off his older brothers and now uses these skills in what they call the “Inner Circle” fights that only a handful of college kids know about. He makes a lot of money from the bets placed so this prevents him from having to have an actual job... And this is where he meets Abby, and you can tell he instantly falls in love with her. I love the nickname he gives her.. “Pigeon”..

He pretty much finds Abby as something he wants like a shiny beautiful trophy, but he never thinks he's good enough to have her. His reputation of sleeping with all of the women on campus (by sleeping I mean “bagging” them on the couch since they're not good enough for his bed and then sending them away in the morning telling them he won't even think of calling them) definitely isn't helping him win Abby over either. She see's him for the pompous arrogant ass he is and wants absolutely nothing to do with him at first. Until, she loses a bet and has to stay with him for a month. . . Sleeping with him, in his bed, BUT without any funny business.

“I know we're fucked up, all right? I'm impulsive and hot tempered, and you get under my skin like no one else. You act like you hate me one minute, and then you need me the next. I never get anything right, and I don't deserve you . . . but I fucking love you, Abby. I love you more than I've loved anyone or anything, ever. When you're around, I don't need booze or money or the fighting or the one-night stands. . . all I need is you. You're all I think about. You're all I dream about. You're all I want.” - Travis Maddox

During the duration of the bet a man named Parker who's pre-med, clean cut, rich, everything Abby should be going for if she wants to get away from her past lets her know he's interested in her.. They try to go out on a few dates, but Travis makes it damn near impossible playing the needy best friend, when actually he doesn't want his pigeon having eyes for anyone but himself. So Abby and Parker decide to try and give it a shot after the bet is over and she's back to staying at her dorm room. Well.... too many sweet things happen for Abby to really consider giving Parker a chance, although they did fool around a few times and I even thought what in the world is she doing? Travis is doing a completely 180 for you and you're fooling around with this guy? A Mr. Rogers wannabe??? Get with the program girl LOL!!!..

There's so much more I want to gush about but I just think that I will just tell you to go get this book and read it for yourselves. You won't be disappointed, it will send you on an emotional roller coaster, but it'll be worth it!!

**I will say this tho, the one thing that did really bother me was when Travis would become a complete control freak of Abby. Getting pissed off at her when a guy buys her a beer at a bar, wanting her to change a dress because it was cut too low in the back, punching a guy who tries to dance with her at the club, when they'd have a fight and Abby would leave and he'd lose his mind with crazy antics trying to win her back, etc... That was a bit much, and I think the author wanted that to tie in with the fact that he lost his mother at a young age and never really had “that connection” with another female until now.. I do get that, but still... It would have freaked me out too being with a man that had a temper like that. **

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Get the book!

 

Amazon / B&N

 

Visit the authors website

 

Jamie McGuire