Review: Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Walking Disaster
by Jamie McGuire
Series: Beautiful Disaster #2
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: April 2, 2013
Genre: New Adult Contemporary
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ARC received in exchange for unbiased review
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My review of: Beautiful Disaster

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.

After devouring the turbulent romance of Travis and Abby in Beautiful Disaster I was on pins and needles awaiting the companion book Walking Disaster told from Travis point of view. Every story has two sides and McGuire shared the raw, gritty, emotional side of Travis and his relationship with Abby. I literally consumed this in a single afternoon, as I laughed, cried and found myself  swept up in the beautiful disaster of these damaged soul-mates.

The tale mirrors the events of Travis Maddox and Abby Abernathy's rocky relationship as portrayed from Abby’s point of view in Beautiful Disaster but this time through the eyes and heart of Travis. If you haven’t read Abby’s then I recommend you do so. There are slight variances to the tale as Travis perceives things differently. We get inside Travis’s head to see his damaged, vulnerable, sensitive side. Something I knew was there all along, but it also showed Abby’s issues, fears, and her contribution to the storm they created.

It is very hard not to become emotionally attached to Abby and Travis. They are flawed, crazy, often times needy, fearless, passionate, mature, juvenile and lost looking for an anchor. Abby is trying desperately to escape her past as Travis has spent the past eleven years cutting off his emotions and attachments in fear of losing someone again.  Their fractured, broken personalities make them volatile. He is too needy and she is afraid of loving him because he closely mirrors her past. Together they are a storm gathering off the coast, magnificent and deadly. At their core they are good, honest and loving. Against the odds they work as a couple. McGuire demonstrated how each makes the other better, stronger, and wiser. I think we get a better understanding of America and Shep and their friendship, love and impact on the couple. 

Told from Travis’s point of view, we see his insecurities, what drives his violent outbursts and his love for Abby. For years he cut off his emotions and now he feels to much and it's raw and powerful. We see the damaged side of Abby and the things she did; running from hot to cold as she struggles with her own emotional issues. We see his efforts and mistakes driven by his need to make Abby the center of his universe. Right or wrong the characters are well-developed, raw and genuine. Travis’s perspective captivated me and reality slipped away as the tale unfolded effortlessly. I actual preferred Travis’s perspective and I think it’s because I already knew how damaged Abby was. The odds of a relationship like theirs surviving are low and yet McGuire makes it believable. The epilogue was sweet and gives us a glimpse at their future. Do I still wish these two fractured souls were offered helped other than a bottle of Jimmy Bean? Heck yes! These books are appropriately titled as alone Travis is a walking disaster and together they make a beautiful disaster.

Fans of Beautiful Disaster will enjoy Travis’s perspective in Walking Disaster. McGuire is working on the Maddox Brothers Series. They will give us Trent and Thomas’s stories. They will be on my auto-buy list.

Four and half cups of coffee out of five from Eastern College