Tuesday 7 May 2013

New Adult Monday Review: Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Published by: Atria Books
Release date:
2nd April 2013
Series:
Beautiful #2
I got it from:
NetGalley
Quote:
Once she kissed me, my heart slowed, and every muscle in my body relaxed. How much I needed her terrified me. I couldn’t imagine love was like this for everyone, or men would all be walking around like lunatics the second they were old enough to notice girls.” 
 
Goodreads summary:

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.


My Review:
Oh yum! Travis Maddox is all kinds of yummy. After reading Abby's side of the story in Beautiful Disaster, having the chance to hear from the delicious Travis Maddox is a wonderful treat. In fact I think I actually enjoyed reading Walking Disaster more, although that might be because I didn't have to deal with the stress of not knowing the outcome.

I loved Beautiful Disaster, and I love both Abby and Travis (you can read my review of BD here). As a couple, they totally rock - the intense relationship that they have makes for a very emotional read. While Abby's story was an emotional rollercoaster, when it comes to reading Travis' side, it's quite a tear-jerker. If you can read about that kind of commitment and adoration without being reduced to mush then you're a hard person!

It's not easy for a woman to write how a man thinks, and either Jaime McGuire had some help from her husband, or she has an extraordinary insight into the workings of the male mind, because Travis seemed so very real and so very male.We get to explore his relationship with his brothers and friends a lot more here, which is good - we see a more developed, well-rounded character when taken in context with the people around him.

Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster are the epitome of the New Adult genre. They're all about the intensity of falling in love for the first time, about the fact that life isn't easy, and sometimes you have to fight for what you want. Abby is brilliant in Beautiful Disaster (ok, so lots of people don't like her, but while she's not always a good person she is a great character), but Travis is even better in Walking Disaster. He's a certain type of dream guy - the reformed rake. He meets the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with, and he becomes a different person. I think all girls dream that they can do that to someone on some level, even if it's a deep, dark secret - who doesn't want to change someone for the better - not because you're trying to change them, but just by virtue of being yourself and inspiring them to be more.

It is essential to read Beautiful Disaster before this book, and you really want to have it fresh in your mind, so that you can remember Abby's point of view during all the drama. Getting intimate with both sides of the argument is necessary to really understand what's going on - there's so much that these two think but don't say - they really could have sorted out their relationship a hell of a lot sooner if they just ignored their pride and said out loud what was going on in their heads! But they're only human, and we all do it. It takes time to learn to trust someone with your innermost thoughts.

The end totally blew me away - I really wasn't expecting to get a snapshot of Abby and Travis' life years down the line, and if I had thought about it, that is not what I would have expected from it! I need to get a proper paper copy of this book - seeing just Beautiful Disaster sitting on my bookcase, it looks lonely - it needs its companion!

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