Review: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
5 Stars
Read February 14-15, 2013; 418 pages
I give Beautiful Disaster 5 stars because I already want to read it again. As soon as I finished it, I was sad that I had read though the book so fast, but I couldn’t stop myself. I devoured this book, staying up until 2am before I could get to a place that I could bare to leave the story to get some shut eye. The following morning I proceeded to pick it up right after my shower to finish it, forgetting to eat breakfast in the process. I just couldn’t get enough.
Thinking back on it, my reading experience was similar to Abby and Travis’ relationship in the book. Intense. Fast. Overpowering. Addictive. The title is so appropriate. A beautiful disaster – that’s certainly what this story was. A story of two people whose jagged edges somehow come together to create something whole. But it’s not a sappy romance; this is instead a troubled love that works against the odd. I admit that my heart was pounding in many places because I was so keyed up. I was nervous, fidgety, anxious to read as fast as I could to find out what happened next.
I liked that both Abby and Travis were realistically flawed. They’re two normal college students (with a bit of eccentric background thrown in – but who doesn’t have some kind of crazy history?) I easily saw this story playing out in my 1,200 student alma mater and I think that’s why I so easily connected to this book. I related to Abby a lot, especially in her desire to draw boundaries, create structure, so as not repeat the mistakes of her past, even if that meant leaving/hurting Travis, who she loves. She hurt a lot in this story and based on some reviews I read post-reading, I think people under-appreciated it because of Travis’ physically visceral reactions as opposed to her more subtle distancing.
In all, a great book that I’d love to read again. I’m going to have to go purchase it and add it to my collection.
the cato chronicles 