Beautiful Disaster, By Jamie McGuire

INTENSE. DANGEROUS. ADDICTIVE.

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.

This was one of those train wreck books for me.  Like, it’s terrible but I can’t look away kind of books.  I know a lot of people won’t agree with me on this, but there are some themes in this book that I found really, incredibly disturbing.

First off, the characters are awful. Abby seems a bit clueless vapid and Travis should be every woman’s worst nightmare. I know that it's fiction and just romantic fantasy, and I'm a lover of the alpha male as much as the next girl, but Travis needs help. There is nothing redeeming about him...at all. He's abusive, controlling, misogynistic and violent. I don't know why so many reviewers seem so head over heels for this character. If I met someone like him in real life, I'd run far and fast.  I also really don’t understand how people think that Travis’ love for Abby is soooo great.  Yeah, no, it’s not.  He’s a dick. He may feel something for her he’s never felt for another woman, but he abuses her trust and their frail relationship.  Plus, she sees how he treats other women, and I know it’s this big romantic fantasy that he’s going to change just for her and treat her as he’s treated no one else, but that’s not true to this character at all.  He would love her for a while, maybe a few years, but eventually he would get drunk and screw around.  I guess the bottom line for me is that I just didn’t like Travis.  Maybe that’s my own baggage and I can’t see beyond it, but a stellar book boyfriend he is not. In fact, if this book played out and were true to its characters, Travis would go to prison for killing Abby in a blind, jealous rage one day.  How about that for love? 

As for the plot, it became beyond ridiculous for me.  I was on board until the whole professional card playing in Vegas/mob thing came out of absolutely nowhere, and it added zero to the plot for me. I mean, really, there were zero hints up until this point that Abby was some poker-playing royalty with a horrible father.  Perhaps if we had been eased into the idea it would have worked, but as it is, it’s almost like another book takes over from this one.  I failed to see the congruity of the story at this point, and whatever momentum I thought it had gained just totally stalled. 

I don’t mean for this review to be a reflection of the author in any way.  She wrote a story that isn’t poorly written, really, but just wasn’t a book I could get into and seem to appreciate like a lot of other people out there.  It happens.  Nothing is made for every person; this book was not made for me.  The writing wasn’t bad, but because of the plot and my general distaste for the characters, it’s only a 2.5 star read for me.