by Jamie McGuire
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Published: April 2nd 2013 by Atria Books (first published January 1st 2013)
Format Acquired: ARC from publisher via NetGalley (thanks!)
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Finally, the highly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Beautiful Disaster.Can you love someone too much?Travis Maddox learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder.In Walking Disaster, the life of Travis is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. But just when he thinks he is invincible, Abby Abernathy brings him to his knees.Every story has two sides. In Beautiful Disaster, Abby had her say. Now it’s time to see the story through Travis’s eyes.
The disappointment that is Walking Disaster. Let me start off by saying I didn't like Beautiful Disaster. Travis' womanizing, the constant push and pull and the underground fighting didn't spell out AMAZING for me. It gave me a headache. So I started Walking Disaster with low expectations and a little bit of hope that I'll somehow find Travis' thoughts endearing. I usually enjoy reading stories (or bits of it whenever authors decide to be generous and share bonus content on their pages) written in the guy's POV. I love reading how guys think. There's this quality to it. However I didn't get that satisfaction from reading the same story written in Travis' perspective. Very little satisfaction.
I think it's the fact that Walking Disaster is exactly like Beautiful Disaster save for the first chapter, very few of Travis' alone time and the epilogue. The same lines were used and even if I vaguely remember every detail of Beautiful Disaster I suddenly had a deja vu reading Walking Disaster. There wasn't much to look forward to and that sucked! I was also expecting a lot of insight into Travis' head but it was half-baked. The only thing that this book accomplished was make me hate Abby. I neither liked nor hated her in Beautiful Disaster because I was so focused on hating Travis. But when I read this... oh man, Abby turned out to be such a bitch. If you barely remember what happened in Beautiful Disaster, like me, you'd end up confused and hating her. Her actions were confusing because she'd be all cuddly with Travis one second then go on a date with Parker. Then again maybe that was deliberate so you'd really get a feel of how Travis was feeling and why he acted the way he did. But anyway. It's like a huge chunk of the story that's essential to making readers understand everything that's going on was taken out. A lot of the scenes were confusing because they made references to events that were told in detail in Beautiful Disaster but were only mentioned here. I think the only thing that I really liked here was Travis explaining his nickname for Abby. Other than that? Nope.
Now. The first chapter and the epilogue. THOSE I like. I liked reading the brief chapter with young Travis. It really gave me an insight on why Travis was so bent on making him and Abby work out. And the epilogue, it may have been far fetched but at least it was something new. It would've been better if a little more detail was put into it. As it is though it was good - probably the only thing I found truly interesting in the whole book.
Fans of the first book would most likely love this book. Most likely. But for people like me... yeah, disappointment is inevitable. You could skip a whole lot of the book because you'd already know they'd kiss and make up several times before their happily ever after. Walking Disaster barely gives you anything new. Cut-paste-edit. That's what this book is.
My Rating
About the author
Jamie McGuire
Jamie McGuire was born in Tulsa, OK. She attended the Northern Oklahoma College, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Autry Technology Center where she graduated with a degree in Radiography.
Her most recent novel, Walking Disaster debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. She has also written bestselling contemporary romance Beautiful Disaster, and the Providence series.
Jamie now lives in Enid, OK with her three children and husband Jeff, who is a real, live cowboy. They share their 30 acres with six horses, three dogs, and Rooster the cat.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Great review! I've been tempted to read both of these books, but don't know if I want the headache. I'll probably end up reading them anyway.
ReplyDeleteI read Beautiful Disaster and I have been tossing up to whether or not to read this one to see what his version is like. Now I'm torn! I think I will have to read it anyway :)
ReplyDeleteSo I've been avoiding Beautiful Disaster like the plague because I've read some negative reviews. But then, some people just love it so much. The reviews are so polarizing and I don't know whether to read it or not. Sigh. Maybe I'll just have to read it for myself. But, wonderful honest review!
ReplyDelete