Beautiful Disaster - Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction

Blurb (on back of book): 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 OPINION: *****

Let me just say that I full-heartedly and completely adored this book. I loved the characters, the setting, the actions and dialogue, and the really cheesy, yet adorable romantic scenes. However, I WAS going to give this book SIX stars! I really was... but there were a COUPLE of things that bumped it down a star, though FIVE stars is still an amazing rating.

FIRST, let me introduce to you all the characters in this book that are worth mentioning.

Abby "Pigeon" Abernathy. At first, when I met her, I thought she was kind of shy, annoying, and bossy. She was clearly modest and she wasn't looking for love with the school's "bad boy". Her nickname was adorable and definitely grew on me as the book progressed. I loved how really only Travis called her that. It made the term somehow more endearing. As the book went forward, I started to realize that Abby was hiding something and I didn't know what it was. When I found out, I was kind of disappointed because I thought it was going to be something life-shattering, though what DID happen was kind of unique. Abby was definitely a great protagonist and can be added to my list of favorite characters.

Travis Maddox was the most adorable guy ever. Well, no, I wouldn't describe him as adorable exactly. He was just sweet when he was calm. LET ME JUST SAY, THOUGH, HE HAD SOME SEVERE ANGER ISSUES and he NEEDED to start taking anger management classes. For every ten pages or so, he was in a fight, whether it was for money or to protect his girl or whatever. He also punched doors and mirrors and threw his phone and stereo... this guy needs to control his emotions. He WAS sweet when he was normal but at times, he kind of scared me. Let me just say, I personally do NOT want a boyfriend like this... he was kind of moody and he made up for his tantrums by "kissing them away" and stupid Abby fell for it... only for him to break something three pages later.

Not to say I hated Travis... no, if I was Abby, I would full-heartedly love him. But his mood swings kind of got to me by the end.

PARKER HAYES. I need to give you guys a head up before I launch into a full-out rant about this guy: THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A MALE CHARACTER WHO I HAVE HATED MORE THAN PARKER FRICKIN HAYES. There were times when I wanted to reach through the pages and STRANGLE him.

Not that he was bad or anything. He just annoyed me to no end and caused me to scream at times. His longing and OBSESSION, yes obsession, with Abby freaked me out and I wanted to just DITCH or KILL him.

HIS REALLY CHEESY LINES WERE THE CRINGIEST THINGS EVER. He never stopped with the "I really care about you" and "You look gorgeous" and "I MISSED YOUR MOUTH" (THAT WAS THE ONE THAT LEFT A SEVERE DISTASTE IN MY MOUTH AFTERWARD).

He also was so ANNOYING and I just do NOT understand why Abby liked him at ALL. HE MADE ME WANT TO SCREAM and there were times when I would launch into endless rants to my family and my sister would tell me to shut up.

America was a sweet friend and I wish I had a friend like her. She was a little obsessed with her boyfriend, but hey, who isn't? And she was actually caring and nice and she may have done a couple of bad things but I liked her all the same. That was SO relieving to write after my brain being stuck on PARKER.

Shepley was kind and I really liked his character. He was Travis's cousin, I believe? And he was a great fit for America. I liked him as a whole because he was actually a nice guy. He may have been the only really perfect guy in the book, but of course, he's taken.

Finch. I need to ask... who was Finch and when did he come in? Maybe I was reading this so late at night that I didn't even notice him walk in until he announced he was gay. And I was like "WHO IS THIS GUY" and even though I tried to backtrack, the story was far too interesting to go back too far.

This story sometimes left me up late at night because I wanted to read it. I loved the first half of it the most. It was the most interesting and I thought that it was more compelling.

The ending... let's just say I wasn't a big fan of it as I thought I would be. Don't they think marriage at 19 is a little young? Shouldn't they have waited before they tattooed each others' names on their wrists and legs? Yes, it was LOVE, I know, but still... even though you survived things like fires and break-ups and everything, I would still have waited... at least until they were dating for a couple of years.

You do not know how many times I had to stop to rant about this book to whoever was nearest. Sometimes it got me so angry that I could barely speak. Sometimes it got me so in love that I was crying from the physical pain of all the FIGHTS and BREAKUPS and everything. But honestly, I REALLY loved this book...

BOOK TWO!

Main Character: Abby
Sidekick(s): Travis, America, Shepley, Finch, etc
Villain(s): PARKER (YES HE IS ONE IN MY EYES), Ethan, fights, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.