Review: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Publisher: Atria
Series: Beautiful #1

Pages: 432

Received: Received from publisher through NetGalley

Release Date: August 14, 2012
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Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

My Review:

Okay so I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book when I started it, I read a review or two before going into this that warned me of the emotional rollercoaster you would go on, but I still didn't expect it to be that much. I found myself in bed all day with this book refusing to put it down. At times I honestly felt like it was a train wreck I couldn't turn away from (but in a good way). McGuire's writing was absolutely beautiful and the detail she goes into keeps you invested in this story and in her characters.

I will admit this book is not for everyone, there are a lot of difficult situations that these characters are put in and their actions are not necessarily the best choices. Also I found that some of the things happening are romanticizing an unhealthy relationship. A lot of the things that happen throughout the book show that these characters have a lot of issues (which is mentioned in the synopsis) but it was a lot more than I thought. I did find that it took time to learn about Abby's past and what she was running away from,

I felt that McGuire did a great job of delving into the psychological impact that the relationship of Abby and Travis has on each of them. Everything is so intense and emotional and it affects everything these characters do. I found myself sympathizing more with Travis than with Abby throughout the story, her personality seemed to take different paths at times.

This book definitely had me going through many emotions and I needed to keep going to see what the characters would do next. And long after I've read this book, parts of it still stick with me, some in a good way and some in a "I'm not sure what to think" way.

I'm not sure what this book is classified as, I've heard that it's YA from some people, but the writing and the content is a lot more adult (I hope it is classified as this). I can say that this book is definitely not for everyone, there are a lot of issues these characters go through that takes the reader on a whirlwind of emotions. I really enjoyed this book myself and find McGuire's writing to be beautiful and really captures the reader. I'm interested to read the second book (called "Walking Disaster"), which is told from Travis' point of view.