19 Dec 2012

Review: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful #1) by Jamie McGuire
August 14th, 2012 · Simon and Schuster
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 416
The new 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 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.
I’m sure you're all familiar with the saying a picture is worth a thousand words. Now, this might not be a picture exactly (GIF alert) but whenever I see this, it reminds me of Travis from Beautiful Disaster. Why? Because like this guy who is chasing after this poor lady who obviously doesn’t want to be loved by him, Travis is a little extreme, desperate, possessive and I certainly wouldn’t put it pass him to chase after Abby, declaring his love all psycho-ish while she runs to lock the door (but knowing her, she’d leave it wide open or better yet, run towards him. When will this girl learn?).


Instead of the warm and fuzzies that usually happen when romance arises, I found myself cringing. I love chemistry, sexy times and a good old fashioned swoon but Beautiful Disaster just didn’t do it for me. I mean, cringing? Who wants that? Certainly not me, that’s who; I want to swoon and ache and giggle and grin and for my heart to skip a beat and I’m sad to report, but none of that happened for me.

Travis is clingy, overly jealous, bad-tempered, a loose cannon waiting to happen and deserves an honourable mention on the list of Worst Male YA Love Interests. I love a good male love interest to swoon over (who doesn’t?) but he definitely isn’t one. Also, Travis went from being this womanizer to a love sick puppy - talk about unrealistic! Oh, and Abby? I didn’t particularly like her either. She was all over the place and rather annoying, plus she just let the thing with Travis (whatever you want to call it) go on and on, letting it brew and simmer for a whole 416 pages.

I haven’t read 50 Shade of Grey, nor do I plan to, but in my opinion, this is what I would expect the YA version to be.

Some parts were that predictable and cheesy that at times I just couldn’t help but laugh and giggle out loud. Even though I had issues with Beautiful Disaster, I did appreciate it for its entertainment value and that it made for an addictive read but that is all.

2/5

P.S – Pigeon is the worst pet name ever. I don’t know about you but I don’t get the appeal at all. It’s not cute or sexy and if someone called me that I’d probably throw a pie in their face, just sayin'.

26 comments:

  1. I totally agree with you! Pigeon IS the worst pet name ever! If a boy ever called me that . . . I would punch him in the face. haha. Blah. Hated it. Can't stand pet names . . . but I didn't mind this book but I wouldn't go and say the main characters's relationship was of the healthy sorts, you know?

    Anyway nice review!

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    1. Definitely! Glad to know I'm not the only one who despised the pet name. The book was OK, I mean I enjoyed it for being addictive and entertaining but that's pretty much all. Thanks Erin!

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  2. Lol! There was once a time when I decided to try Beatiful Disaster out to see what everyone was talking about, but reviews like this reaffirm my belief that I was right to avoid it. I'd be one pissed off reader! On the flip side, at least is provided some sort of entertainment!

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    1. Avoid it, Steph! Your better off not knowing and being kept in the dark ;) It sure did provide entertainment! I was glued to it and the amount of times I laughed and giggled were plenty!

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  3. This is definitely a "love it or hate it" book, lol. It was a hot mess but I enjoyed it. It's always interesting to where everyone lands on this one. :)

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  4. I have heard so much about this book and man, so much of it has been negative. I think I'll have to read now:)

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    1. Ha, will be in interesting to see if you love it or hate it :)

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  5. I haven't read your review because I have the book and want to read it! I don't want to ruin it. :) I'm sorry you didn't like it! Hopefully it's good when I read it. :)

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    1. No worries, Kristilyn, I totally get not wanting to spoil it! I might not have liked it but I liked it for being addictive and entertaining :D

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  6. Oh gosh I've read loads of cringing reviews for this book, but also so many gushing reviews, that I never know whether I should give this book a try or not. I am certainly intrigued, but don't know whether I'd be able to cope with Travis' behaviour. And pigeon as a pet name? I have to agree with you I don't like it at all. Great review Rebecca, sorry this one didn't quite work out for you

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    1. Thanks Jasprit! I bet you're intrigued! If I were you I would be too.

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  7. Great review, Rebecca! I was having a discussion with a number of bloggers on Twitter today about this book. It seems to be a love it or hate it novel with a lot of divided opinions. I'm intrigued though! Even is it's bad, I kind of want to see for myself, just to see how bad. I never got that with 50 Shades, so I'm thinking BD must have something going for it, haha! Thanks for the review!

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    1. Thanks Jo! Ha, I totally get it! Even if it is a Beautiful Disaster, you want to see it for yourself, you just can't look away.

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  8. Pigeon IS terrible. And the picture made me bust out laughing. Like, loud.

    But I thought the book was okay, maybe even pretty good. I really liked Jamie McGuire's writing, even though I couldn't stand Abby as a character and I felt like Travis needed help. I mean, I was kind of warned about what I was getting into when I started it so I was expecting a disaster. Both of these characters are awful for each other - that's clear. Since I knew what I was getting into, and thought the story was written pretty well, I'm kind of anxious to read the next one and get into Travis' head. I found him WAY more interesting than Abby. And I think he may be redeemable. Hopefully, anyway. We'll see.

    LOVE this blog post. Had me laughing!

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    1. Ha, glad you found the GIF funny and that you agree Pigeon is an awful pet name! It was okay. I loved it for being entertaining and addictive...but the rest, mainly Travis and Abby and their "relationship" was pretty awful. It makes me so happy to hear you love the post and that it had you laughing. Thanks Ash!

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  9. Okay wow. Thanks for this review. I had been wanting to read this one and then I saw you hated it so I went and checked other reviews and they hated it too.

    Yuck, Pigeon? Really. Nope not for me.

    Thanks for your review once again.

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    1. No worries, Danica! Glad to review and I actually had fun writing it!

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  10. Eek clingy? That's the biggest turn off ever! Sorry but it's true! >.< NOt sure how much I would like this Travis guy. I'm also not a fan of cringing during romance stories... lol. I have this one so I will try it mostly because there's been so much talk about it, but I feel like I'll have the same opinion on it than you do.

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  11. It's good to see a more negative review of this, Bed, because all I used to hear was how good it was but I'm really not so sure about it. I have the Kindle version but I just don't know if I want to bother, the characters sound awful!

    Thanks for your honest review!

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  12. Great review Rebecca! You know my feelings on this one, I could seriously talk a hind leg of a donkey about how much Travis Maddox needs a straightjacket! :D And the GIF oh lord, cracked me up. I just....I know people enjoyed this, and that's okay because there are books out there that I love and people hate, I know, but I just bleed a little inside when people gush over him. I have a SRSLY??? moment. It's just...not healthy. And Pigeon OH MY GOD. HEAD DESK. WHY? WHY? What does Pigeon have to do with Abbey? Is it her size? Is she such a pain in the neck? Is it because she talks s*** all the time? WHY DO YOU CALL HER PIGEON? I hate nicknames. I really do. I hate baby, sweetie, hun - the list goes on. I'm probably the most unromantic romantic out there. Nicknames like Kitty Kat still annoy me, but hey, at least the girl is called Kate or Katherine or whatever. BUT PIGEON????

    Anyways, ranting over. Loved the comments as much as the review, well done for being so honest. I can't bring myself to review this book. And if I didn't have such a needy weird obsession for owning every book I've read, this one would not be on my shelf/

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    1. Ha! Great GIF, huh?! Funnily enough I saw it on your blog and straight away thought of Travis so thank you! I love that you hate Pigeon just as much as me! I get it, some nicknames are just URGH.

      What? You have this book on your SHELF. O__O And you HATE it but you still hold on to it? O___O

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    2. Please don't judge me! I said it was a weird obsession. I have Beautiful Malice on my shelf and I hated that. I've got a stack of books I actually don't want, I really need to do a clear your shelf giveaway! :D And I had the GIF on my blog? I MUST FIND IT! :D

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    3. I found it. I love GIFs.

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    4. No, it's just funny! Keeping a book you don't like and would probably rather use it to kill insects with? ;D Go Hannah, clear your shelves! I love GIF's too.

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  13. Eek. This book! I've heard the absolute most awful things about it, so I know for sure that I'll steer clear of it. Travis sounds insane, and if I were to read this book, I have a feeling I'd chuck it across the room. And Pigeon? Definitely NOT sexy! Thanks for the honest review, Rebecca!

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