Friday, October 19, 2012

Beautiful Disaster

Review Time! Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire was published by Simon and Schuster Australia in August, originally self published as an Ebook, Beautiful Disaster is one of the first to be categorised as a "New Adult" novel. You can purchase a copy of the book from Fishpond | The Nile | Booktopia | Dymocks | Angus and Robertson. Thanks to Simon and Schuster for the review copy!


(Goodreads) The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and 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.
The Short Story? - I'm absolutely taken back by how much I LOVED this book! I almost hate myself for liking this book so much because it's a cliched college love story that's been redone over and over again but at the same time, Beautiful Disaster has that "wow factor" that makes it impossible to put the book down! The plot was comfortable, the characters were enticing and the writing style wasn't all that bad either. If you're like me, put aside your prejudices and JUST READ because this book is absolutely amazing!

The Long Story? - I'm not going to lie - I'm a book snob. I do not read self published novels and I probably would have never read Beautiful Disaster if it wasn't picked up by Simon and Schuster. Even more, I'm always hesitant when reading previously self published books ( i.e. 50 Shades of Grey). I went into Beautiful Disaster cringing and expecting the worst - 3 hours later - book finished and ABSOLUTELY ADORED. I can not explain how much I loved Beautiful Disaster because it's an illogical kind of love, there isn't anything that stood out but all together the novel was just incredible! The plot is quite cliched, the good old opposites attract and college love tag lines, throw in a little drama and steamy romance scenes and you have Beautiful Disaster in a nutshell. However the novel was just SO MUCH MORE. It was such a comfortable and the chemistry between Travis and Abby was just amazing! It's got the "wow factor", this book is just beyond words!

The characterisation was great, despite the quite cliched opposites attract romance tag line, I really liked the two love interests. Abby was a great protagonist, initially I didn't know what to think of her because she's was so ridiculously cliched. The sweaters and pearls and the rule following, the ultimate good girl. I don't know about you but I really don't like the good girl characters, they always seem so boring and I totally don't buy into the fact that they get all the hot, bad boys! Luckily as Abby and Travis start hanging out, Abby loosens up and shows her less than honourable past! That's when I fell in love with Abby as a character! Travis was a great love interest, despite being overly cliched in the bad boy department, his personality development was really a job well done, I could sympathise with him and connect with him. Both characters were great, not the best but definitely likeable!

Beautiful Disaster is one of those novels that people might call a guilty pleasure. Honestly, I can't pick out one thing that really stood out to me but when all the elements of the novel are put together, something happens and the novel is just unputdownable! I LOVED this novel, more than I can say ( or would like to admit) but if you love steamy romances and bad boys, Beautiful Disaster is definitely worth checking out! For lovers of the Perfect Chemistry trilogy and YA bad boy romances!

What's it Worth? - Break out the Piggybank

Badass Bookie xx

4 comments:

  1. This seems to be a love it or hate it book.

    I'm glad it worked for you :-)

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  2. I enjoyed this one too! A little cliche but it was a hot and addicting train wreck of a romance! I couldn't stop reading!

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  3. Great review! My kids, husband and I like to read the same books; it's like our very own little book club. We just finished reading a great book called "The Gilded Butterfly" by Sergei Selivanov. You can check out the book and get it right off the website, http://thegildedbutterflypage.com/index.html. I'll have to suggest this to my family. Thanks for the post and the suggestion!

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  4. Eeeeeeeeeeeeee! Lisa, I'm so glad you loved!
    I kind of struggled with this one, but the emotions and the romance and the WOW. I kind of maybe need to give it another go, huh? :D

    WONDERFUL REVIEW.
    LIKE ALWAYS.
    Seriously, I bet your brains are DELICIOUS.

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