Beautiful Disaster: A Novel [Kindle Edition]

Jamie McGuire (Author)

Book Description

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 wants—and needs—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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Beautiful Disaster is insanely addictive. Beautifully sexy, beautifully intense, and beautifully perfect. Jamie McGuire has written a damn good book." —Jessica Park, author of New York Times bestseller Flat-Out Love

About the Author

Jamie McGuire is the author of the New York Times bestseller Beautiful Disaster and The Providence Trilogy. She and her husband, Jeff, live with their children just outside Enid, Oklahoma, with three dogs, five horses, and a cat named Rooster. Please visit JamieMcGuire.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 869 KB
• Print Length: 434 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1476719071
• Publisher: Atria Books; Original edition (July 12, 2012)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B008JMKN4Y
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #329 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #32 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > New Adult & College
  • #43 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction
  • #44 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Contemporary Women

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

284 of 339 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing and fulfilling June 25, 2011

By Paddington6159

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book centers on a new college student with a hope to stay out of trouble. Of course the first thing that happens is that she catches the eye of the school "bad boy".

I enjoyed the dynamics within the first half of the book, even how the sexual tension between Maddox and Abby was sometimes unbearable.

This is not a book about perfect love, and happily ever after. Don't get me wrong, the ending wrapped everything up with a pretty little bow. However, the relationship was so raw and emotional that the rollercoaster that was their relationship became quite stressful. By the end of the book I just wanted them to stop fighting! I believe the ending was a bit hasty, and the epilogue a bit silly.

However, the plot about Abby's past is truly creative and unexpected. I am not used to books about dysfunctional and unhealthy relationships. If you are sick of Twilight harmony and love, this book encapsulates everything human about a relationship. The love, tears, sex and fights. There is a relatively good understanding of reality, with some strands of a life that most of us are unaware of.

If you like lust, illegal college fight nights, poker and of course good sex, I would tell you to take a chance on this one.

214 of 256 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not For Me November 24, 2011

By A Book Vacation

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is not for me. Now, I realize that I am in the minority here, because if you look on Goodreads, over 1400 people gave this novel five stars and absolutely loved it, but I'm not one of them. This just goes to show that different people like different things; we all have different tastes, and that's okay, because it makes us unique. I may love a novel that my best friend absolutely hates, and vice versa, but that doesn't mean either of us is wrong, only that we have different likes and dislikes, different opinions. That being said, I really didn't care for this novel. In fact, it really turned me off, mainly because I know someone just like Travis Maddox, I've been in Abby's shoes, and it's not a pretty thing--it doesn't end well. I think I spent a majority of this novel sitting there yelling at Abby to get the heck out of there, and for Travis to get some therapy. I know, it sounds terrible, but Travis is so unhinged, physically destroying things when he doesn't get his way, that it was nerve-wracking to read about. I felt like Abby was in danger throughout the entire novel, and even though things turn out okay, anyone as needy as Travis is dangerous, in my opinion, especially when alcohol is in the mix.

Abby is trying to outrun her past, but in the end she seems to be right back where she started, making bad decisions and throwing in her lot with someone who I, personally, don't think is the best person to hang around. Yes, this is fictitious, and McGuire has tailored her story to go a certain way, making it almost fairy tale like in the end, but I felt like it was unrealistic, mostly based on my own personal experiences with my own Travis Maddox, so my bias tainted my reading of this novel. I am not an extreme feminist, by any means, but I am an independent person, and watching Travis control Abby as he does throughout the novel really irked me, again, based on personal experience. Because of this, I had a difficult time reading it and, therefore, can only give it two stars.

399 of 496 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid this book - it sends the wrong message! March 8, 2012

By Wendy Knight

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

At first I thought this book was addicting. Then I took a step back and actually THOUGHT about the characters. There is something about using your brain that puts things into perspective. The relationship was beyond dysfunctional. I could not condone how they treated each other. Travis was not hot, sexy, or anything in between. He is a possessive VIOLENT man who has no redeeming qualities. If you put his character in the real world he would most likely be a date rapist/serial killer. I think that people who claim he's a great guy, just because he is so in love with Abby, need to start using their brain as well. This is a YA book, and I'm scared that it will send out the wrong message to young girls. Guys like Travis aren't the ones you should aspire to be with. There is a difference between a bad boy and a violent, co-dependent one. Sorry for my rant, but I just couldn't look past it, and I hope that others see this point as well.

More About the Author

New York Times best selling author Jamie McGuire has penned the Providence series and contemporary romance Beautiful Disaster. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three children. She is an RT(R), a graduate of Autry and Oklahoma Northern College, and a full time writer.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#44 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

#51 in Books > Romance > Contemporary

#54 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

#56 in Books > Romance

#72 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance

#44 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

#51 in Books > Romance > Contemporary

#54 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

#56 in Books > Romance

#72 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance