A Beautiful Wedding, By Jamie McGuire

You know that Abby Abernathy unexpectedly became Mrs. Maddox. But what do you really know?

Why did Abby pop the question?
What secrets were shared before the ceremony?
Where did they spend their wedding night?
Who else knew about it . . . and didn’t tell?

Everything about Abby and Travis’s elopement was top-secret . . . until now. Fans of Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster will get all of their questions answered in this whirlwind tale of the wedding day (and night!)—and as with all good stories, this one will definitely have been worth the wait.

 

I should probably let you know at this point that I am not a Beautiful Disaster fan.  Yes, yes I know.  Don’t get me wrong, I see the appeal of the books, but they just have never set right with me for a variety of reasons, chief among them the violent tendencies of Travis coupled with the bizarre plot twists of the original book. * CONTAINS SPOILERS*

In this installment, we see what we didn’t see in Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster…Travis and Abby’s spur of the moment wedding in Vegas.  That’s about it…this is their wedding.

There were some very sweet moments in this book.  I’ll admit I got a little misty-eyed when Abby read the letter from Travis’ mom, and I smiled when he goes all Tom Cruise on her in the chapel.  But the old questions came back to me as I was reading this, and Abby’s motivations for wanting to go to Vegas just didn’t make sense to me.  I mean, her first thought after they survive that devastating fire that killed lots of people is to hop a plane to save him? In what Universe does that makes sense?  Besides the fact that it’s a terrible reason to get married, there are also records indicating that they were not, in fact, at the airport OR in Vegas when the fire broke out.  I know that at the end of the day, Abby wanted to marry Travis because she loved him and felt he was the “one”, but the her original motivation – while a testament to her love for him – would be incredibly hurtful if he ever found out.  Not a great way to start off what should be a life-long relationship. 

My problem with these books isn’t the writing; obviously Jamie is a fabulous writer. I mean, here I am telling you that I haven’t really liked any of these books, but at the end of the day I’ve read them all.  Touché, Ms. McGuire.  I guess I’m just one of those rare people with whom Travis and Abby’s relationship does not resonate.  I don’t get it, I don’t feel it, and I’m not a fan of it.  That’s just me.  Please don’t send me hate mail.