Beautiful Disaster

Firstly, I want to preface my review of ‘Beautiful Disaster’ by Jamie McGuire with a note that I have previously read and loved the ‘Crash and Burn’ series by the same author. That series is the second spinoff series of this story and is loosely related to the ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Maddox Brothers’ books. I wanted to read a good romance series, so after seeing a trailer for the movie adaption of ‘Beautiful Disaster’, I decided to go back to the start and read the series, remembering how much I enjoyed ‘From Here to You’ and ‘The Edge of Us’. Unfortunately, I found ‘Beautiful Disaster’ to be a somewhat mediocre college romance that lacks any depth of character and follows the well-worn stereotypes of good girl / bad boy without adding anything new or exciting to the genre.The book is written from the POV of Abby Abernathy, a freshman at Eastern University in Pennsylvania who moved there from Wichita, Kansas, to escape her past. Abby’s best friend, America Mason, also enrolled at Eastern and promptly started dating Shepley Maddox, Travis Maddox’s cousin and roommate. The book centres around Abby catching the attention of Travis, a notorious playboy around campus. Our first introduction to Abby is when she is dragged along to an underground fight by America and Shepley to watch Travis fight. The fights are illegal but provide Travis and Shepley income to pay for an off-campus apartment and living expenses.After the fight, the fates seem to align as every time Abby turns around; there is Travis. He is now eating lunch in the cafeteria alongside her and her friends. He is helping to tutor her with her classes and is in constant orbit around her. Considering that Abby and America consider themselves closer than friends and more like sisters, it struck me as odd that Abby and Travis hadn’t met or been around each other once America and Shepley started dating. Travis also insists on calling Abby “Pidge”, short for Pigeon. I can’t recall if the reader is ever given a reason for the nickname or if it was just something the author added to infer an intimate relationship between them. I don’t mind a cute pet name if it relates to the individual, but why would you choose a pigeon? To me, a pigeon is a bird commonly referred to as a rat with wings.Abby and Travis spend more time together after Abby loses a bet and moves in with Travis for a month. Abby, the so-called good girl, has to sleep in the same bed with Travis even though she is going out on dates with another boy, Parker. Who also happens to be a fraternity brother of Travis. As you may imagine, some awkward situations arise as Abby tries to juggle the two guys.This behaviour is one of my main issues with Abby’s character. She knows Travis is interested in her, and she feels something for him too, but she thinks she should be dating a ‘good’ boy like Parker. So, she strings Parker along whilst emotionally cheating on him with Travis. Others call out this behaviour, and she does nothing to negate the damage that her actions cause. Her conduct is carelessly cruel, and she never shows remorse for the harm she causes, nor is there any reckoning. Abby is consistently written as the victim of every circumstance and never given a chance to grow or develop as a character.The other trait of Abby’s that I found frustrating was her inherent passivity to every situation. She has no spark, no fire, no spunk to her. Abby constantly runs away from her problems rather than dealing with them, and I honestly couldn’t understand why every hetero male in this book seems to want her so badly. She allows herself to be in situations that she finds uncomfortable and never sticks up for herself.Moving on to Travis, he follows the tortured bad boy with a heart of gold just waiting for the right woman stereotype a little too closely. Like Abby, his character is underdeveloped and lacks growth throughout the book. He has tantrums and behaves like a neanderthal, yet the reader is supposed to consider him a romantic character. He manhandles Abby and constantly tries to dictate her actions, but Abby forgives his behaviour without hesitation. His actions often have no consequences, and most minor characters tell Abby that she needs to forgive him and love him no matter what he does. I found their relationship to be unhealthy and co-dependent, something one of the minor characters pointed out!The book’s highlight for me was America and Shepley, and I wish it had been about them instead of Abby and Travis. America is a friend we all want. She is willing to stay by your side and help you when you’re in trouble, but she also stands by her actions and beliefs when she feels it’s warranted. Shepley is adorable and besotted with America. You don’t get as much of his character, but he is a loyal friend of Travis and always has his back. The remaining minor characters are relatively underdeveloped and don’t jump off the page at you. I did like the little of Finch we saw, but his character needed more love and attention.Overall, ‘Beautiful Disaster’ by Jamie McGuire was ok. It is not the best or worst book I have read of this genre, and there were moments when I could see how great the book could have been with a little more work. The writing lacks the depth and complexity needed to make the story genuinely riveting and requires a lot more detail to fill in the picture for the reader. The book starts a little slow, and I struggled for the first half, but it did pick up in the second half. I am planning to read the rest of the series as I think Ms McGuire has talent as an author, and I am hopeful the series will improve.3 out of 5 stars!‘Beautiful Disaster’ is the first book in the Beautiful series by Jamie McGuire. As of January 2023, the main series consists of the following books.Book 1: Beautiful DisasterBook 2: Walking DisasterBook 3: A Beautiful Wedding (novella)Book 4: Almost BeautifulNote: There are two spinoff series that relate to the Beautiful series. The Maddox Brothers series follows Travis Maddox’s brothers as they find love. Then, the books in the Crash and Burn series are more loosely linked to the Maddox brothers.

Okay, so not a great work of literature, but I wasn't looking for great literature when I purchased this book. And there are plenty of books that will never be compared to Tolstoy or Faulkner which are thoroughly captivating, engaging and magical.This book angers me on a number of levels. Not necessarily for the messages of violence and emotional abuse that can be inferred, which have already been so eloquently fleshed out by other reviewers. Nor for the related vitriol between haters of the book, lovers of the book, and the author. The book pisses me off for more than anything because it is so poorly done. It was, in short, the worst f-ing book I've ever read.There are a number of problems with this book. The writing is basic and I found the author used some of the same phrases over and over - to the point where it got annoying. Between that and the bland diagogue - a lot of which was irrelevant - the strained metaphors, the awkward phrases and even just down to word choices and grammar usage, there were a lot of speed bumps.The use of first-person here was also problematic. The narrator had way too much insight on other characters and interpreting their expressions, yet never clearly articulated her own thoughts and feelings (but more on that below).The pacing was ridiculous. By the end of the book, not only had the two main characters only known each other for only 6 months, but they were only officially a couple for a grand total of about 5 weeks. What?!?!?! This happened with other aspects too. For instance, the best friend was already spending nights at her boyfriend's house in the beginning of the book, when AT BEST she's known him 3 weeks. In 3 weeks they met, courted and are BF/GF? In college????? Who here went to college and was in a committed relationship 3 weeks later? Nobody? Oh okay.The story lines are also ridiculous. Parker is buying her diamonds (buying her anything, really) after their second date? This is just not how people, let alone college kids, really act. There's one scene where Travis, who is at most a junior, is carrying around $2500 in his wallet. At a frat party. I almost threw my kindle away after that. I get that she's trying to create scenes that demonstrate conflict, but even after factoring in the absurdity that is all things college, it's just too much.And on a related note, there are just holes in the story and randomness for seemingly no reason. [SPOILER ALERT] Abby's supposed to be a good girl that hung in "tamer circles" but the only friends she ever had in the whole book was America. Where are her other friends? And how did she not know she had a class with the big man on campus? And what exactly was the purpose of the fire? Where did her father go? How convenient is it that everyone in college eats lunch at the same time? And again - Travis is Shep's cousin, who is America's boyfriend. Why has Abby never met him before? Supposedly America's parents more or less raised Abby (even though they'd only been friends since jr year of high school) but she feels like Travis's dad is more her family than the people that let you live with them? After meeting him twice?There were a number of scenes that were so contrived it was painful. Like, it physically hurt. Just one example: the author wanted to create a drama where Abby catches Travis with another girl. So the backstory involved in her willingly going to her ex-boyfriend's house is just absurd. If you're all torn up over your ex, you don't go to your house so your BFF will have company on the 10 minute drive over there so she can go get something she left. And why was America pissed that Travis brought a girl home? Not I'm-on-my-friends-side pissed, but I-hate-you-and-someone-has-to-pull-me-off-of-you pissed. He hadn't done anything wrong.All of these things like that are distractingly unrealistic and/or just plain stupid, and while each instance is not enough to make you stop reading (well, until Vegas, but I managed to power through), it has the cumulative effect of making you realize how absurd the story is. Plus, while I've only given a few examples, things like this happen A LOT throughout the book. Every few pages you're going "who would do that?" or other assorted "WTF". I shouldn't have to work this hard to overlook all of these things to try to get to the heart of the story.But, and I think this was the biggest problem with the book, the character development is poor. Travis was probably the most fleshed out, though I think the beating-up-every-guy-that-looked-at-her was a bit too extreme for my taste. I know it's been said before, but seriously, where the hell were campus security/the police? And why does no one (except me apparantly) think this dude is off his rocker? But, you at least knew that he was going to do whatever over-the-top thing he could think of to keep Abby around.Travis is an extreme character. Which I did not enjoy, but apparently others did. But at least he was consistent in being extreme. Fine. The rest of the characters, including Abby, weren't consistent at all. It's one thing to be a confused teenager, but you really just felt like the other characters would do whatever it took to create drama in the story, not what their "personality" (if they had one) would do. From one page to the next, you don't know if America is going to be rooting for Travis or telling Abby to stay away. I think she flip flops about 5 or 6 different times. America follows Abby to college to keep an eye on her, then encourages her (sometimes) to go after what she's supposed to be staying away from. Huh? Parker's a pretty boy, why does he keep testing Travis (and for that matter, why doesn't Travis ever knock him out - he's done worse for far less Crimes Against Abby)?Related to that, one of the fundamental rules of writing is Show Don't Tell. Don't just say "Sue was beautiful" - describe what she looks like, and how people react to her. With respect to why the characters were who they were, it was all Tell Don't Show. So Abby just says Travis reminds her of her dad, but really, we don't know why. She has daddy issues, but it's sort of just like "well, my dad gambled and so I'm gonna go for the brooks brother type". Travis clearly has demons, but we're left to guess as to what they are (his mom?) and why he's running from them. How can I root for Travis if I don't even have a hint at the life reasons that are making him act like this? Or is he just bat-s*** insane? Why do I want her to pick more stable Parker if as far as I can tell his only motivation is to stick it to Travis? And Abby? I don't know who she should be with (if anyone) or why I'm supposed to feel that way, other than Travis is hot and he treats her better (arguably) than the other girls.Of course, in not every book are you going to understand all the characters. But for me, I have to get at least ONE of them. And if it's going to be in first person, that's the person I need to relate to. But here it was never made clear what makes even one of the characters tick (beyond obligatory one or two sentences thrown in to clue you in "I could tell he thought that it was just something about the two of us together that was so special"), so the book failed for me on this front. Again, this all just comes down to a bad writing style.Unlike other readers, I will say I didn't have a problem with the story of a dysfunctional relationship per se. There's always an intangible factor as to why two people are drawn to one another, and I am willing to give credit that for whatever reason, each of these two sparked something in the other, though I fully concede that the author does not shed any light on why. Others had problem with the blatant messages of violence being sexy, women who have sex outside of relationships as being sluts or otherwise deserving to be treated poorly and, because it bears repeating, violence being sexy. Silly, lightweight books, the rom-coms of the publishing world, are filled with bad messages. I wouldn't want any of the teenagers in my life to read this [NOTE: I'm still not sure if it's supposed to be a YA book or not - to be fair the author says it's not, but if it's not I'm not sure who the target audience would be], but I can't act like it's the only book out there that sends a bad message. And as a fully grown adult sometimes I look for books in which I can escape into a fantasy of love.Abby's two main suitors are terrible representaions of love. One thinks he can buy her and the other thinks he can beat up anyone who looks at her. All terrible qualities which other readers are justified in being appalled by. Here's the thing though, there are real life people like Travis and Abby and Parker. There are men who are controlling, there are women who will string a man (men, as the case here) along, and there are men who think they can buy affection. The fact that those qualities were present in these characters is not per se a bad thing. A book about self-destructive people in a codependent relationship could be a very interesting read, and I don't begrudge this book for creating a story about people like this.However, this book fails in its entirety when it GLAMORIZES this behavior. It's not just "here's a story about two crazy kids in love let's watch them go down in flames", it's "here's a story about two crazy kids in love AND ISN'T IT ROMANTIC?" Don't you find it only mildly annoying when your bf starts a fight in a bar because someone smiled at you? Yeah, sure. We laugh about it all the time...What the entire hell?! Rather than a detached perspective about the trials and tribulations of dealing with a passive aggressive gf, or a manipulative alcoholic boyfriend, it's presented in such a way that the reader is expected to buy into and root for this, and that's ultimately where it jumps the shark for me.I had to give it two stars because I must admit I found it quite the page turner. But I say that as an adult who has already lived my version of good girl/bad boy love. And honestly, it's a popular romantic theme, I begrudge no author for attempting this. I dated the big shot on campus who manipulated his way into my life and tried to control who I saw and how and when. good times.... So for me I was able to go back and remember that time and separate what I thought was love from the other nonsense. For young people who are living/haven't yet lived that time - or for older readers who were lucky enough to avoid Travis types - this romanticizes deeply disturbing behaviors from a bunch of lost kids who need lots and lots of therapy and doesn't do a good enough job of explaining how they got to there respective psych issues in the first place.One reviewer said learn to treat this book like some silly movie you'd watch. I tend to like my reading to have more substance and quality (even my light-hearted reads). But there are just too many problems: the writing and the completely irrelevant dialogue and the plot holes and the non-existent character development were just too much. The failures of this book both in style and in substance far outweigh brielfly reliving a misspent youth. Find another way to pass the time.

I’m honestly baffled by my response to this book because I not only enjoyed the story, but I also gave it high marks. In many ways this book is everything I love in a Young Adult romance, but I still found myself enthralled, giddy, and starry eyed, regardless of how annoyed I became at time. In fact, I felt like I was at odds with myself during most of it. There was my latent teenage self, all starry eyed and idealistic, who loved everything about this book, warring with my more mature and realistic 40-year-old self who knows better. It became quite exasperating.I found I liked all the characters in this book. Not once did I become annoyed with them- shocking for a Young Adult story. The characters were multi-dimensional and authentic. I was easily transported into their world of college drama (although, frankly, it felt more like High School).Right from the start I fell head-over-heels in love with Travis. He's such a lovable jerk. He epitomizes the charismatic, lackadaisical, tattooed, sexier-than-all-get-out bad boy over whom most young girls swoon. He's volatile, tough, flirty, compulsive, charming, aggressive, shameless, intelligent, domineering, proud, and nonchalant. He also has a tenderhearted, kind and vulnerable side that makes it impossible not to love him. He really is the ultimate fantasy.Our book begins with Abby, our level-headed and strong-willed heroine, attending an underground college fight club where Travis "Mad Dog" Maddox is the undefeated champion. Unimpressed with his slick and smooth talking manner, she brushes him off, wanting nothing to do with him. Only too familiar with his type, she knows he means trouble. Travis, intrigued because Abby is immune to his charms, all but stalks her, wanting to win her over. Eventually he succeeds. What begins as a genuine friendship slowly blooms into an all consuming, passionate, and frankly, obsessive and codependent relationship.I really liked Abby's character. I was braced to dislike her as the story progressed, fearing she would become little more than a doormat because of the codependent and obsessive relationship she had with Travis. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how level-headed she remained throughout the book. She confronted all of his “red flag” behaviors in a mature and rational manner, even leaving him for a time.The thing that makes this story both intriguing and appalling, is Travis' obsession with Abby. He is consumed by her. She becomes his everything. Exhilarating in theory; unhealthy in reality! His obsession, at times, becomes disturbing and worrisome. In the end Travis makes some behavioral changes, albeit more surface than substance, hoping to win Abby back. He succeeds, and Abby returns to the relationship. In doing so, some readers may believe in the misconception that one person can change another.Will I read this book again? Yes!

I should have read all of the reviews before spending £6 on this piece of junk.First off - this is the sort of teenage romance that belongs on Wattpad - the main guy, Travis, is quite clearly (at least) semi-abusive. He punches any guy who says anything to Abby (the main girl), he wasn't in a relationship with her and yet he intimidated the guy she was seeing, and told her what to do, he insinuates that she's going to get roofied and raped by any guy that isn't him - I mean, SERIOUSLY? It's disgusting.Second off - the amount of slut shaming in this book is ridiculous - Abby is a virgin, the only virgin that Travis has ever slept with, and every other girl that wants him is seen as a tramp; worth much less than Abby because they're lining up to get used and thrown away by Travis. The author tries to make it seem as if it's so unbelievable that a woman would want anything from him other than a full blown relationship: because women don't have casual sex.Finally - it's simply unbelievable as a story - Travis is this bad-boy type who can get any woman he wants and yet in the first two times he does it with Abby (the love of his life) he doesn't even attempt to give her an orgasm? Do the other girls he gets with have such low standards that they are desperate for him despite the fact he clearly doesn't know what he's doing?????? Travis also beats a guy to a pulp in a university cafeteria, TWICE, and there are no repercussions? I don't know if the author has been to a university, but where I'm from he'd be thrown out. And considering he's not some jock-superstar, I doubt they'd be so lenient on him there either.I only made it half way through, so for all I know this all gets answered at the end but, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't stomach any more of it. And I love angst-y, will they won't they, rubbish books, but this was awful. I wasted £6 and I hate myself for it. Save your money, save your time.

This is the first Jamie MacGuire book I've read. It's written from Abby's point of view and her life as a varsity student with her friend America. Abby is asked to accompany America and her boyfriend Shep to an underground fight between Shep's cousin Travis and some other guy. Enter stage left...Travis: gorgeous, muscled, tattood, smoking hot with chicks falling over themselves to get to his bed. Travis is portrayed as a womanising bastard that doesn't even buy his intended shag a drink before having his way with her. He meets innocent virgin Abby and becomes obsessed with her, his behaviour bordering on stalkerish and psychopathic. Abby and Travis enter into a bet which she lost resulting in her living with Travis for a month, sleeping on his bed with him but they are merely "friends". Until she decides to shower: Travis would walk in on her. She goes out on a date: Travis bursts out the door if their apartment and forcibly removes Abby from the arms of her date. Abby decides she wants to leave cause he's too controlling: he holds her hostage. A guy makes a rude remark about Abby in the cafeteria: Travis beats him to a bloody pulp.Great story with wonderful values being taught including respect, accountability and understanding. <--- sarcasm. Despite the criticism it was an ok book to read as I could see how the author tried to portray the story of an innocent girl taming a wild beast of a man. I just think there could have been better ways to get the message across. I won't be reading any more books by this author.

First off, the description says if you suffering Fifty Shades withdrawal then meet Travis,I don't think this is like Fifty Shades of Grey at all, and Travis the main male lead is not like Christian Gray in anyway, I think it was a silly way to get people to read the book as they are nothing like each other, but Beautiful Disaster is a great book with a great story and two leads that keep you guessing all the way through it is its own book and was a really enjoyable read, I have already pre-ordered walking Disaster that is Travis side of the story I cant wait.Abby has come to college to get a fresh start and be a different person no drinking or behaving badly, her friend America came to the same collage to keep her on track, so Abby works hard to keep the distance between her and her past, but when she attends a fight one night with America and her boyfriend she meets Americas boyfriends cousin and the main attraction at the fight, Bad Boy. Travis Maddox, sexy, built, and covered in tattoos, (my kind of man) he is the exact man Abby wants to avoid. as he spends his nights winning money in a floating fight club, and his days as the notorious college sex stud.But Travis is intrigued by Abby as she seems to think he is a first class idiot, Travis tricks her into his life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain celibate for a month. If she loses, she must live in Travis and Shelpy's (Americas boyfriend) appartment for the month.this is the start of their obsessive, intense relationship that leads them both into territory neither has been before.This was a great book it had a great story and I can see why its a hit with other readers I loved Travis, Abby, I sometimes wanted to smack on the head to get her to see what was going on under her nose, especialy when she attempts a relationship with Parker, great book cant wait for the next one.

Oh dear. Not sure what to say about this book. I sort of liked it. But it also bugged me.I liked the storyline, that was good and quite interesting... and I liked most of the characters. But the main character, Abby, really REALLY got on my nerves. Her actions didn't make sense, what she said and did were really inconsistent, she was hypocritical and just... ah.. really annoying!Another thing that bothered me was the actual relationship between the two main characters. One minute they loved each other, the next minute, they fall out, then they make up, then they fall out even more spectacularly... it got old... real quick. I'm not sure how long the book is in actual pages because I read this on my kindle but for me it just seemed too long... waaaaaay too long. Possibly because I was tired of all the breaking up and making up but by the end I was just glad that it was over.This book could have been great. If the main character acted more 'normally'... if the book was a lot shorter and if there weren't quite so much back and forth issues between the two main characters.Not a promising start to my first read in New Adult but I don't blame the genre...