BOOK REVIEW - BEAUTIFUL DISASTER by JAMIE McGUIRE - BEAUTIFUL # 1 - 5 STARS! 10 HEARTBREAKING TRAVIS STARS!

By: Jamie McGuire

Published By: Simon & Schuster

Available : NOW!! WOOT!! 

Details: Paperback, 416 Pages, For Review

RATING: 5 STARS! 10 HEARTBREAKING TRAVIS STARS!!

After seeing the awesome review Cimmaron did at Talk Supe back when this book was self published in April 2012 I knew I had to read it. Then Simon & Schuster picked up Jamie and then I begged ...I am not beneath begging people.... then my lovely publicist contact sent me a copy.

I had it on digital but I knew I had to hold this book when I read it. A bit like there are movies that are dvd worthy and movies that are big screen worthy. I had to hold this puppy when I read it.

Blurb: Goodreads

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and 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 needs—and wants—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.

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle :

Jamie I bow down to you. What you did to me. What you will do to most readers who read about Travis and his ‘Pidge’.

What you are doing to me now. * face plant*

My head is just racing at the moment. I have been sitting here trying to figure out how to express this book in words. I want to just drop the ‘f bomb’ all over the page and the word ‘WOW’. Just splatter it all over the page and leave it at that.

5 Stars for the review and 10 Stars for writing a character soooooo achingly, heartbreakingly raw in Travis Maddox.

I loved Pushing The Limits, by Katie McGarry..... Beautiful Disaster will do that and so much more to you. Pushing The Limits is YA genre , and Beautiful Disaster, in my personal opinion only, leans towards NA = New Adult, older, more mature due to the content. I heard this term a while back and thought NA really does need to be used more with some books.

I will try to express this masterpiece of flawed characters and story into a review. I am going to talk mainly about Travis ‘Mad Dog’ Maddox. This story could not be without a character like Travis.

Daniel Conn - Aussie - Ex Rugby Player
A nice idea for Travis Maddox

Addictive, honest, fearless, thoughtful, over protective, smexi, funny, dangerous, intense, complicated, tattooed, fighter, HEARTBREAKING, whiskey drinker, ladies man, jealous, damaged, confident, eighteen year old, smart, tutor, insecure, caring, FLAWED, consumed by love for his ‘Pidge’ ,are words that describe Travis.

Oh, and that smexi, Harley Night Rod motorbikeJ

The minute Travis laid eyes on Abby Abernathy, his ‘Pigeon’ , his ‘Pidge’ the rules he had set out for himself changed.

He became at odds with this world he had made for himself.

Travis brings home a girl nearly every night. The skanky couch gets a work out. They never stay overnight. He never takes phone numbers. He never dates. He is honest with the girls. He uses protection. He never makes promises.


“She’s someone’s daughter, Travis. What if, down the line , someone treats your daughter like that?” 

“My daughter better not drop her panties for some jackass she just met, let’s put it that way.”

~~~~

 "Did you rob the health clinic?” 

 “No . Why?”

 I pulled the cap off the pen, unable to keep the sickened expression from my face. “Your lifetime supply of condoms.” 

“Better safe than sorry, right?”


The girls NEVER sleep in his bed...... until Travis makes a bet with Pidge.


“Which is more unsanitary than the couch, I’m sure.”

“There’s never been anyone in my bed but me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Give me a break!”

“I’m absolutely serious. I bag ‘em on the couch. I don’t let them in my room.”

“Then why am I allowed in your bed?’

One corner of his mouth pulled up into an impish grin. “Are you planning on having sex with me tonight?”

“No!”

“That’s why. Now get your cranky ass up, take your hot shower, and then we can study some Bio.”


Travis is an underground fight club style fighter. He is tattooed, handsome, and built like a ‘brick sh*t house’ as we say here in Australia, ( muscley and strong)

He never loses a fight. He didn’t lose his bet with Abby.

Abby must live in his apartment for one month. Sleep in his bed. No hanky panky.

A friendship with a girl, Travis does not do. It is the couch or nothing.

Rumours are flooding the cafeteria on campus. Cashmere cardigan wearing Abby and Mad Dog are a talking point. The girls don’t understand this new Travis and the guys think Abby spreads her legs easily. If only they knew......


“Have you ever had a girl - that’s a friend - stay with you? Have you ever given girls rides to and from school? Have you eaten lunch with them every day? No one knows what to think about us, even when we tell them!”

~~~~

“First of all...... I have standards. I’ve never been with an ugly woman. Ever. Second of all, I wanted to sleep with you. I thought about throwing you over my couch fifty different ways, but I haven’t because I don’t see you that way anymore. It’s not that I’m not attracted to you, I just think you’re better than that.”

~~~~

“I don’t want to date her; I just want to be around her. She’s ....different.”

“Different how?” America asked, sounding irritated.

“She doesn’t put up with my bullshit, it’s refreshing.


America, aka Mare is dating Shepley, Travis’ cousin, and the boys room together in an apartment. America is Abby’s best friend, loyal to the core and keeps all Abby’s secrets.

Abby plays by Travis’ rules. She is his friend. Travis’s own rules have become blurred and he is falling for his Pidge. Abby is checking out Parker and Travis is getting all belly up about it.... Travis style.

Shepley is a great character. I really loved his loyalty to Travis but at the same time he was the meat in the America and Travis sandwich. He has his own intense love for America going on and he sometimes gets his loyalties wrong.... according to Mare.

Poor Parker gets a bit of a working over in this book. I did feel sorry for him.


“Abs’? What are you, a workout video?’ he sneered.

“Pigeon’?” I said with the same amount of disdain. “An annoying bird that craps all over the sidewalk?”

“You like Pigeon,” he said defensively. “It’s a dove, an attractive girl, a winning card in poker, take your pick. You’re my Pigeon.



Abby was a character that I sometimes got frustrated with how she treated Travis. Her ability to make up her mind , even though she has her reasons, had me wanting to shake her sometimes. She is shielding her heart and the mistakes of her past. At a great cost to Travis' heart.

“It’s over. Go home.”

His eyebrows pulled in. “You’re my home.”
( grabs a tissue...Jamie you are killing me here.)

I LOVED! Travis’s brothers and father, Jim. The boys are all great value.

Finch is the wonderful gay friend that all girls should have. He is funny and loyal.

Your heart will trip over itself many times with Travis. I highly recommend reading this book in paperback format. I found myself just gripping this book so many times with the intense scenes.

Travis’ raw pain literally explodes from the pages. You have to hang on tight to your book. He makes so many mistakes with Abby. You just want to hug him and hold him tight. You will 'feel' his pain too.


A pained look shadowed his face. “You know why I want you? I didn’t know I was lost until you found me. I didn’t know what alone was until the first night I spent without you in my bed. You’re the one thing I’ve got right. You’re what I’ve been waiting for, Pigeon.”

This song from Aussie Guy Sebastian and Lupe, it just kinda feels like Travis and Abby??

What do you think?

Not the book but what goes on between them?

I found myself hugging the book or holding it to my forehead with some of the mistakes he makes. Travis will drain your heart and then fill it back up and then drain it again. He will make you smile , cry and sob. Your hand will go over your heart at the helpless situations he puts himself in and the way he tries to dig himself out. This guy just screams at you from the pages. Jamie’s words will tear you apart and then put you back together, over and over....... and over.

I don’t think I have ever read a character like Travis. 

By the end of the book, you will have witnessed Travis's soul bleeding, crying, begging.....

Lordy knows what Jamie has instore for us in Walking Disaster ,# 2 in the Beautiful series. I personally can’t wait .

CHECK THIS OUT

Michelle