Review: "Beautiful Disaster" by Jamie McGuire

"Beautiful Disaster" is the first book in Jamie McGuire's new series, Beautiful.

     Abby Abernathy is trying to get a fresh start by starting college far away from home in an attempt to escape her troubled past.   She gets off to a good start when her and her best friend move into the dorms at Eastern University.  Things take a turn when she meets the ultimate bad-ass, king of one night stands.  She refuses to my sucked in by his charms and way of life but quickly finds out he has a softer side too.  Travis "Mad Dog" Maddox is a champion underground fighter and everyone at school knows all to well what a loose cannon he can be.  It doesn't stop all the women from falling all over him just to get a few hours alone with him.  Travis is immediately drawn to Abby and the fact that she seems resistant to his charms.  With one lost bet, however, Abby is required to move in with him for one month.  Will that be enough time for Travis to convince her that she means more to him than a one night stand?

     The story between Travis and Abby was certainly an emotional rollercoaster ride.  If Travis is the king of one night stands then Abby must be the queen of holding out.  There's a ton of sexual tension between these two to the point that I just wanted to shake some sense into Abby.  I get that Travis is quite flawed but come on, she knows she likes him so I wish she would just stop torturing him.  Abby seems like the typical angst ridden teenage girl which gets a bit tedious after a while, but certainly didn't stop me from enjoying the book.  I can't even place my finger on exactly why I liked this book so much but it was one of those that I just couldn't put down.  I stayed up late and could barely drag myself away from my book to go to work.  There are so many ups and downs that I think I felt about every emotion throughout this book.  Abby comes to learn that not only is Travis the tattoo covered fighter/biker but he's also a straight A student.  There's was definitely a lot going on below the surface with him and I enjoyed getting to know the real Travis and Abby as the story progressed.  A couple of the names where hard for me to get over, I mean come on... America, Brazil, Finch?!  There's one area that felt a little out of place and that was the initial trip they take.  I can't really say why without giving anything away but it just felt a little forced to me, like the author was trying to add more suspense to the story when it didn't really need it.  I did love that the author managed to make sure that Travis always treated Abby with respect even with his bad reputation.  A lot of times the bad boys in these stories treat the women like jerks but then realize they love them and turn it all around.  Short of a couple small things, he always put her on a pedestal and looked out for her best interest.  Travis and Abby's story is wrapped up in this book but there are plans to have a book out in April 2013 from Travis' point of view called "Walking Disaster" and then another with a story of one of Travis' brothers.  This is a definite recommended read if you don't mind a little teen angst.