Book Shelf: Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful #1) by Jamie McGuire

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.

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Beautiful Disaster is an electrifying, utterly addictive read that will steal your heart, steal your soul and leave you completely breathless!

Trying to put her past behind her, Eastern University student Abby Abernathy’s life is about to be shaken up when she meets Travis Maddox, the university’s biggest “bad boy” who’s pertinence for fighting, drinking, smoking and using women is well known throughout campus. Abby quickly proves that she won’t be like one of Travis’s other girls and when their initial meeting blossoms into an unexpected friendship that soon cascades into something more, something thrilling, desperate and completely unpredictable, Abby soon finds that Travis is willing to do anything to keep her with him and it’ll mean doing the ones thing she’s no sure she can do......surrendering her heart.

My goodness.....this book......I have no words! Honestly, I don’t know how to properly articulate my thoughts and emotions towards Jamie McGuire’s deliciously addictive novel Beautiful Disaster. From the very first page, I was glued to this novel; stuck, entrapped, totally and completely and this is considering this isn’t my usual type of read. Beautiful Disaster had my complete and utter attention from the very first chapter and only got better and better as the novel progressed. I’m easily adding it to the list of the best books I’ve read this series, not to mention my all time fave list!

I have to say, going into this I didn’t expect too much from it. Normally, I’m not a fan of contemporary romance, not to mention destructive relationships, but the intense, perfectly written tale Jamie McGuire weaves together in Beautiful Disaster is so complex and layered that it really does work. While it’s certainly for a mature audience, my mind was blown with the rich, steamy story McGuire has written where the chemistry between main characters Abby “Pigeon” and Travis is so thrilling, so compelling that the entire story bleeds with their attraction, their passion and desperation for one another.

Beautiful Disaster encompasses a lot of the collage spirit in a very dark, harsh way. Set in Eastern University, this book has a fantastic cast of characters to shape the novel, including Abby’s best friend America and her boyfriend Shepley (who also happens to be Travis’s cousin) but none more so that main characters Abby and Travis. It’s undeniable that Pigeon and Travis’s relationship is in fact destructive at times, but the histories and complexities that McGuire gives these two characters makes it understandable and allows it to work. And, as the author Jamie McGuire never shies away from the fact that Abby and Travis relationship is a disaster, pointing it other through the eyes of her characters many times throughout the book.

As our heroine and leading lady Abby is the perfect match for Travis. While painted as the good girl; innocent and sweet, Abby is far from fragile, easily able to stand up for herself. From the very beginning Abby makes it clear that she’s not willing to take any of Travis crap and proves just how strong she can be as she meets him head on. I must admit Abby’s inability to admit her feelings annoyed me at times, but you know what....I still love this girl. It’s hard not to. She was stubborn and hard headed, but sweet and vulnerable at times. And no matter what anyone says, she had the strength to walk away from Travis at times.

Gah. Travis Maddox! Wow. Not quite sure how to tackle him. What a character. Really. What a character! The ultimate bad boy, Travis is incredibly flawed and raw. He’s a womanizer, he’s intense, he’s stubborn, he’s dangerous. However he’s also insecure, over protective, irrational and about a dozen other things I’m not going to name. His rash personally blends with his stubbornness and temper to create a Molotov cocktail of a man who just lights the pages of this book up. It seems irrational to adore Travis.....but I do. Jamie McGuire created the ultimate destructive boyfriend and made me like him. No, she made me love him. There’s a vulnerability in Travis that Abby sees; that you in turn see as the reader and it’s this allows Travis to steal you heart, even as he slowly steals Abby’s. He has his flaws and he makes his mistakes; good golly does he make his mistakes, but he truly, truly does change once his “Pidge” is a part of his life and it’s this grow, this change within him that makes him the amazing character he is.

It would be impossible to speak about this book and not talk about the relationship between Abby and Travis, especially as this book is ALL about the relationship between these two collage students. Oh golly, the chemistry in this book....just wow! I’ve mentioned it earlier on in my review, but it’s just a never ending rush; weaving, twisting and bleeding out of the pages. Abby and Travis’s relationship is passionate and desperate relationship and drives the novel. There’s a sweetness and tenderness to it that’s impossible to ignore and a comfort that both these two people find with one another. Their romance can border on unhealthy at times but that doesn’t make it any less spectacular or brilliant.

With intense, passionate romance and loveable, abet flawed characters, Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire is truly a “beautiful disaster” to read. This book isn’t for the faint of heart however while it may not be for everyone this book could quite possibly become your new obsession......

Rating:
Source: Sent for review by Simon & Schuster Australia (Thank you Caroline!)
Format: Paperback finished copy.
AU Release Date: Available now!
Buy it: Booktopia // The Nile // The Book Depository
Reccomendation: This book isn't for those faint of heart, but if your a fan of Simone Elkeles Perfect Chemistry and are looking for something romantic, dark and gritty, this is the book for you!
Cover: Wow, I just love it! Simply, but so striking!
Will I read sequel/continue with series: YES. YES. YES! I'm already counting down the days for more