Recommended Romanic Reads
Author: Jamie McGuire
Book: Beautiful Disaster
Beautiful Disaster is an addictive read, McGuire finds the perfect balance between anticipation and excitement, leaving the reader bursting to turn the page to find out what happens next. Do Abby and Travis get together? Like all romances, you know they will, but the journey to get there is great fun to read.
Although not a particularly unique story line… seemingly innocent student Abby and college bad boy Travis fall for each other, she knows he’s no good for her and he wants her badly but keeps messing up; the suspense in the relationship is built on good foundations and makes up for it.
Firstly, there’s 'The Bet'. It makes a great hook, forcing the pair to share a room together for a month and creating great conflict that’s funny and certainly gripping.
Secondly, the friendship the two build, and in particular Travis’s respect for Abby is rather heart-warming and you soon learn that Travis is not as bad as he appears, more of a lovable rogue. It’s the affection I felt for Travis’s character that made the book so appealing.
My only two criticisms of the book is that the plot twist in the middle did jar a little as it seemed a little too abrupt without sufficient build up in the earlier part of the novel, and the other is that after a quite traumatic experience at the end of the book, there was limited emotional reflection on the actual event or those affected, which didn’t make the event seem a little unreal to the reader.
Those points aside though, I would still give the book a five out of five, it’s one of my favourites. The sequel Walking Disaster, the same story told from Travis’s perspective, didn’t disappoint either, perhaps I mentioned already I was a bit of a fan of Travis? I particularly loved the epilogue which told us how their story ends, so if you liked the first book, the second is also a must.