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Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful, #1)

Jamie McGuire

Start date: April 1, 2014

Finish date: April 30, 2014

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What Members Thought

Oct 03, 2012 Britt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, romance, new-adult

I will confess that given many negative reviews on goodreads (particularly Sophia's) I almost didn't buy this book. In the end I thought to myself well why not? I've never written a scathing review before so even if this book is as bad as some people had me think, then at least I would be given this opportunity.

The only explanation I can find for those reviews, that were so damn misleading is that they had to have read a complete different book to what I have read. Either that or they don't rea I will confess that given many negative reviews on goodreads (particularly Sophia's) I almost didn't buy this book. In the end I thought to myself well why not? I've never written a scathing review before so even if this book is as bad as some people had me think, then at least I would be given this opportunity.

The only explanation I can find for those reviews, that were so damn misleading is that they had to have read a complete different book to what I have read. Either that or they don't really know the difference between abuse and this book. Even reading some other reviews of people that were mainly positive I was expecting the kind of naughty read (similar to Fifty Shades of Grey) where there is a bit of BDSM stuff that people wrongly interpret as violence. However there is nothing of this sort in the book. In fact Travis Maddox is way more mellow than Christian.

Sorry but although I value everyones opinion I just feel that this book has been gravely misinterpreted in the book. Yes Travis is a possive individual and given that he supports himself through fighting he is not going to find it hard to punch somebody. But there is a long stretch between Travis throwing stuff around his apartment in anger to actually physically abusing Abby. Throughout the book not once did he ever threaten to hurt Abby or hurt Abby. Not once did Abby confess that she was physically afraid of Travis. At the end of the day she knew that he was not going to hurt her and I can't ever believe myself that he would put her in danger. In fact most of his outbursts are a direct result of him believing that Abby is in danger.

If anyone can be accussed of abuse in this story than its Abby. She emotionally hurts Travis so much in this book. I know she has an explanation, what with her hard childhood but she is such a hypocrite. She says that she can understand him and when he says he will make mistakes she said something along the lines of 'its ok i'll always be here', but then whenever she gets the opportunity she splits, leaving Travis in an emotional wreck. Travis, having already felt emotional loss with the death of his mother is illequipped to deal with this and therefore responds by throwing things, drinking, etc. BUT NOT ONCE DOES HE LAY A HAND ON ABBY, OR ANY OTHER FEMALE FOR THAT MATTER!

Secondly many label Travis as intense, possive, spraying some BS about him keeping her from spending time with her friends. Firstly, Abby only has 3 real friends in the book (not because of Travis, these were established at the beginning), America, Finch and perhaps Parker. I really don't know where anyone could get this not hanging out with her friends crap from because Travis never stops Abby from spending time with America, in fact America always seems to be there, they go shopping, do all normal girly stuff etc. Abby becomes closer to Finch after her break up with Travis but even beforehand Travis never has a bad word to say about Finch and he still plays a big part in Abby's life. Finally Travis lets Abby date Parker (albeit while trying to make sure they don't have sex or he doesn't hurt her) because he feels he is not good enough for her. WHAT MORE DO YOU BLOODY WANT FROM HIM? He left her date a self-centered prick that is more interested in talking about himself, and how he has to leave early to do something for himself than Abby. I think Parker just wanted Abby because it was a challenge and he always hated Travis.
Finally, this idea of Travis following her around. During this relationship, and even before it, its perfectly normal. He is in love with the girl, he wants to spend as much time with her as possible (particularly given that he never knows when she is going to up and leave him again). When he follows her around its only to get an explanation. Abby always sneaks out and leaves without even having the decency to give Travis any explanation, any goodbye, any closure. Can we really blame him for looking for that? I know how I would feel if my boyfriend up and left without saying goodbye, I'd be at his front door asking for an explanation. After getting an explanation he does leave her alone, at Thanksgiving he even says he is trying to move on because he wants to ease her pain. I believe that if Abby had said to Travis 'I dont love you anymore' or 'I'm in love with Parker, not you' he would have left her alone, he would have given up. But how do you expect him to respond to 'i love you so much but we can't be together'. Travis only wants to prove to her that love is enough and in the end I am so glad that he was able to do this. I don't question his motives or methods one bit.

The plot in this book isn't fanatastic. Its you classic, cliche, boy meets girl, they become friends, boy becomes jealous, they fall in love, they confess their love, they break up, they get back together, they break up, they get back together etc etc. So if you are looking for a great work of literature don't bother picking this up. I probably would have only given it 3-3.5 stars if I didn't feel that the current scathing reviews are misleading and unfair and that I needed to balance the scales a bit. However I can say I absolutely loved this book. If you are looking for a book that you can't put down (I read it in one sitting), they will make you cry, laugh, smile and eventually finish the last page with a content and happy sigh then definitely give this a go. ...more

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Oct 22, 2014 Karmen rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015, thrift-store, ya, owned-ebook-deleted

YA read. College student Abby Abernathy attends an underground fight and meets Travis Maddox. Eastern University's walking one-night stand, Travis is of course, hot, tattooed and a bad boy.

Abby is looking for a fresh start from her past, which is not made known until near the end. Travis is a mess?
The typical setup to them falling for each other.

Maybe I'm cynical and too far removed from the 20-something (barely past teens) mindset. Maybe at this juncture, people can change other people. If so, ...more

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