The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

The Moon and More

Sarah Dessen

4.5/5

Summary

Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.

Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?

Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?

My Review

First off, I have to say, wow. I really enjoyed The Moon and More. I think what caught my attention more than anything (other than your talent for telling a story) was the fact that this isn’t your typical “summer changes everything” book. It’s not so much about this great romance that has a cosmic impact on the MC’s  life, but more of a subtle growing up and Emaline finding out who she is through a couple different summer romances and complicated family dynamics. I loved how there was so much going on in her life, but not in an overwhelming and confusing way. Everything fit together nicely. And even though it wasn’t your classic romance HEA, I was okay with that.

The feel of Colby, the small island beach town when Emaline has lived her entire life, was very real and quaint. And the story was addicting. I’d be reading for a few hours straight, would take a break, and do nothing but think about what was going on while I wasn’t there, and would have to pick the book up again.

Dessen has an amazing knack for telling a story. It’s smooth, effortless, and wholly organic. It’s hard to believe that it’s just a story that’s been written and not experienced by a living, breathing person.

Rating

4.5/5. This book was addicting and so well-written. A great story to lose yourself in

--Me

15 Days Without a Head by Dave Cousins

15 Days Without a Head

Dave Cousins

YA Contemporary

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Laurence Roach just wants a normal life, but it’s far from easy with his little brother who acts like a dog and their depressed alcoholic mother. If Laurence can win the luxury vacation in a local radio contest, he’s certain his mum will finally be happy again. Then one night she doesn’t come home from work, and Laurence must face the reality that she might not come back at all.

Terrified that child services will separate him from his brother, Laurence does whatever he can to keep their mother’s disappearance a secret. For two weeks, he spins a web of complicated lies to friends, neighbors, and the authorities—even dressing up in his mother’s clothes to convince everyone she’s still around. But Laurence can’t hide the truth forever. He begins a desperate search for her, and that’s when the real trouble starts in this powerful story about family, forgiveness, and hope.

My Take: Laurence isn’t your typical 15-year-old. He lives in a run-down, small apartment infested with roaches, a brother who thinks he’s a dog at times, and an alcoholic mother. But that changes when Laurence wakes up one morning to find that his mom didn’t return home from work the night before.

Determined not to let outsiders know what’s going on, and telling himself and his little brother that, “Mom will come back soon”, Laurence lives the most dangerous 15 days he’s ever known. No money, running out of food, and a nosey neighbor that would turn them into social workers are the stakes he’s playing against. But he’s convinced he has a couple of advantages. One being the late night radio contest he’s been sneaking out to enter. If he wins, he wins a family trip to any vacation spot they want. He knows this win will bring his mom back from her drunken stupor and make them a family again. At least, he hopes it will. At the very least, it will put her in a good mood. The second ace in his hand is a girl from school, who keeps his secret and helps keep him and his brother alive.

Although a gloomy and serious story, Cousins manages to fill the pages with bits of humor and lightness that equal out the trials Laurence is experiencing. A touching story about sticking together as a family, forgiveness, and learning to trust again, 15 Days Without a Head is a great read.

Rating: I’d give this a solid 4/5 and rate the content as PG for some mild language and drinking.

Happy reading, my friends! 

--Me

True by Erin McCarthy

True 
Erin McCarthy 
New Adult Romance 

Summary: When Rory Macintosh’s roommates find out that their studious and shy friend has never been with a guy, they decide that, as an act of kindness they’ll help her lose her virginity by hiring confident, tattooed bad boy Tyler Mann to do the job…unbeknownst to Rory.

Tyler knows he’s not good enough for Rory. She’s smart, doctor smart, while he’s barely scraping by at his EMT program, hoping to pull his younger brothers out of the hell their druggy mother has left them in. But he can’t resist taking up her roommates on an opportunity to get to know her better. There’s something about her honesty that keeps him coming back when he knows he shouldn’t…

Torn between common sense and desire, the two find themselves caught up in a passionate relationship. But when Tyler’s broken family threatens to destroy his future, and hers, Rory will need to decide whether to cut her ties to his risky world or follow her heart, no matter what the cost…

My Take: This is yet another one of those “tragic” romances in the emerging genre of New Adult, but it’s better than others I’ve read. With a storyline a cross between “Beautiful Disaster” and “Easy”, but with writing more like “Crash”, “True” is a good read for any fan of that genre. Fast paced and funny, there’s plenty of angst and drama to keep YA fans reading and romance to keep the older readers interested.

The main character, Rory, is what made the book. She was refreshing compared to the typical, damaged, willing-do-to-anything-to-get-the-guy, cookie-cutter female lead this genre produces. Rory was honest and doesn’t hide what she’s thinking or feeling from anyone. She tells it how it is, and as a result is a bit socially awkward. It was a very nice change of pace from the norm.

Despite the stereotypical setup this genre has, (good girl falls for bad boy, but bad boy isn’t good enough for good girl), it was set apart from the crowd. The writing was detailed and kept me interested. The characters more fleshed out. But, there was a lack of depth to the “threat” that faces Rory and Tyler’s relationship. I would have liked to have seen that played up and made into more of a strong secondary plot point. So much could have been done with that. Instead it just kind of fizzled and fell flat.

Rating: For this genre, I’d give it a solid 4.5/5. Compared to the other books I’ve read of all genres, I’d rate it more of a 3.75/5; still pretty strong. Content wise, this is a definite R for sex and some language.

--Me

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

The Eternity Cure
Julie KagawaYA Dystopian

Publisher’s Summary:
Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.

My Take:

Katanas, blood, revenge, and betrayal. What more could you want from a YA vampire dystopian?

“Eternity Cure” picks up right where “Blood of Eden” left off and keeps the momentum going until the very last page. I have to applaud Ms. Kagawa, once again, for her talents in writing and storytelling. Taking an overworked storyline, like vampires, and making it new, and fresh, and serious, is a hard thing to do, but she does not disappoint.

Just like “Blood of Eden”, “Eternity Cure” is filled with fights, blood, revenge, and betrayal. There’s even a bit of forbidden love to keep those romantics happy. But in the end, it’s a tough book with an even tougher female lead. Allie is everything a protagonist in a post-apocalyptic, vampire-run world: Brave, smart, leery, and rough; but not without a dark sense of humor and a little bit of humanity still intact.

I’ve said it before, this is, hands down, my favorite vampire series and my favorite of Julie’s books. Definitely worth the read.

Rating: 4.5/5, and a strong PG-13 for the amount of violence and blood between the covers.

Read more here: http://blogs.idahostatesman.com/katanas-blood-revenge-and-betrayal-what-more-could-you-want-from-a-vampire-dystopian/#storylink=cpy

--Me

Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Walking Disaster

Jamie McGuire

Genre: NA (New Adult)

Cover: Eh, it's okay. Not really my taste

Coffee Beans: 3.5/5

Instalove: Kind of, but it's a worked-for instalove (if that even makes sense)

Spoilers: No. Same story as Beautiful Disaster

Content Rating: “R” for sex and for Travis’ extremely creative use of cussing

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for this honest review. 

Publisher’s 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 Take: This book has been waited on in anticipation by A LOT of people. To be honest, I totally forgot it was coming out until I got an email reminding me about the ARC. You all remember by review about “Beautiful Disaster”. Well, Walking Disaster is the exact same story, but told from Travis’ point of view.

And I must say, after reading Travis’ side, and knowing his backstory, I like him better that I did the first time around. As extreme as they are, his actions are clearer and make more sense, for him. Abby comes across as the whiny, inconsistent, brat that I thought she was in the first book, so I’m glad the author was consistent.

I won’t go into all the issues I went into on the BD review(and they’re still here, believe me, just not as severe) because I don’t like beating dead horses.

So, what goes on in this version? Travis meets Abby (and we learn why he calls her that ridiculous nickname; it’s actually kind of endearing) and is attracted to her because she’s not like the other girls on campus. 

Mainly, she doesn’t put up with his shenanigans and isn’t throwing herself at him like all the other girls. One thing leads to another, and now Travis is on the prowl for Abby. He just has to make her his. With that goal in mind, he concocts all sorts of schemes for them to spend time together. His biggest one is making a bet he knows he’ll win so that she has to stay with him and his roommate (which happens to be her best friend’s boyfriend) for the next month.

During the entire book, they both dance around their feelings for each other. Travis keeps waffling internally about pursuing Abby. One minute he thinks things could actually work out, the next he tells himself that she’s too good for him and he should just stop. But he still gets mad when she dates other boys. And she still gets mad when he hooks up with the random girl from Red Door. America is still a little bi-polar when it comes to supporting or condemning Abby for her relationship with Travis. But, the voice of the narrator (Travis) was the best out of the two. Everything he say, all the words he uses, are spot-on him. You get a good feel for who his drive in life and the story seems all around better this time. Something that really bothered me about this one, the very end. It was waaaaay too cheesy for me. Like, 10 year aged, extra sharp cheddar kind of cheesy. 

Rating: Worth the read, especially if you’ve read “Beautiful Disaster” and want more of Travis, but be prepared for the same elements and dysfunctional moments. 

Happy reading!

--Me

You Look Different in Real Life by Jennifer Castle

You Look Different in Real Life

Jennifer Castle

June 4, 2013

HarperCollins (?)

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for this honest review. 

Publisher’s Summary

Readers of John Green, Sarah Dessen, and Laurie Halse Anderson will be touched by the emotional depth and realistic characters of Jennifer Castle’s YA novel You Look Different in Real Life.

Justine charmed the nation in a documentary film featuring five kindergartners. Five years later, her edgy sense of humor made her the star of a second movie that caught up with the lives of the same five kids.

Now Justine is sixteen, and another sequel is in the works. Justine isn’t ready to have viewers examining her life again. She feels like a disappointment, not at all like the girl everyone fell in love with in the first two movies. But, ready or not, she and the other four teens will soon be in front of the cameras again.

Smart, fresh, and frequently funny, You Look Different in Real Life is a piercing novel about life in an age where the lines between what’s personal and what’s public aren’t always clear.

My Take

I’ve never read any of Jennifer’s books before now so “You Look Different” was a good one to cut my teeth on.  Justine has mixed emotions about the cameras that will soon be documenting her life again for the big screen. There’s too much to live up to and as she examines her own life, she realizes that she’s disappointed herself a little. Not living out the dreams or goals she had at eleven. Letting friendships go because they didn’t “fit” anymore, and drifting away from others for reasons she doesn’t really understand.

So agreeing to the sequel of Five at is less than exciting. As she’s struggling to figure out what to show the camera and what the public wants to see, Justine ends up discovering herself. She finds out who she really is, who her friends really are and growing into the person she’s always been, but never seen.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It’s fast moving, funny, and real. Castle did a fantastic job with Justine growing in each relationship with the other Five at stars, as well as each character growing on their own. Even though Justine is the center of the novel, the other characters are still given a fair amount of screen time.

My Rating: 4/5 stars, worth the read. 

--Me

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

The Host

Stephenie Meyer

Little, Brown & Company

Publisher’s Summary:

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away.

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy that takes over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. But Wanderer, the invading "soul" who occupies Melanie's body, finds its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Soon Wanderer and Melanie-reluctant allies-set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

My Take:

I was reluctant to read another Stephenie Meyer book after the Twilight Series because I didn’t find her writing to be that good or her stories that deep. But, the movie’s coming out at the end of the month, the previews looked amazing, and the summary of the book seemed pretty interesting, so I gave it a shot. Here’s what I’ve come to decide about The Host:

It’s about 200 pages too long. The total length of my ebook was 601. Meyer tends to over state her ideas when she’s writing. She’ll choose the long way of saying something simple, and she’ll give unnecessary details to add word count to her story. There were quite a few times where she would over describe how the cave looked to her, or who was present in a room--all by name--or give us a play by play of just exactly what it was the main character was doing at all times. She did the same thing with the Twilight Series, so it seems she hasn’t necessarily learned to be a better writer, despite her fame and popularity.

I had two other big problems with this book, and they too, are due to Meyer’s writing. The character development and relationship development between characters was nothing short of weak. The book opens with the scene of Wanderer entering her host, Melanie. (This next part is somewhat of a spoiler, but you find out about it pretty soon in the book--within about 30 pages or so). Melanie is still present inside her head with Wanderer, and Melanie hates Wanderer. But then, a month or so passes in the book, we know this because Meyer says “a month or so later”, and magically, Melanie and Wanderer don’t hate each other anymore so much as tolerate each other. I enjoyed it more when Meyer showed how they went from tolerating each other to liking each other, later on in the book.

Then there are the love interests Melanie has. She has a younger brother and a boyfriend, Jamie and Jared. Melanie loves them both so much and Wanderer has access to those feelings and memories. And magically, again, Wanderer loves both Jamie and Jared, not because Melanie’s feelings love them, but because she loves them. And of course, this development mostly occurs during the month that takes place “off stage”. It’s cheating when authors use this method to explain development they don’t have the skill to create.

My other point of irritation was that the main character, Wanderer, was so incredibly weak. The beginning of the book, she was kind of a “middle of the road, sometimes I can be tough”, pretty normal character. Then when the true story starts, she disappoints, and literally curls up into a ball most of the time, waiting to be beat-up on because of what she really is. She never stands up for herself, always backs down, never says what she should say, and a lot of times, is a coward. I can understand her acting this way in the first part, but as time progresses, I expected her to grow as a character. Apparently I was expecting too much. Instead of evoking sympathy from the reader, Meyer almost creates a self-righteous weakling, with Wanderer’s actions. It wasn’t noble, it was annoying. And, she's so hard on herself all the time, the reader doesn't end up rooting for the underdog, they end up hoping someone will stuff a rag in her mouth and knock her silly (or at least, I did).

But, there was something I was very impressed about, and that was the love triangle or rather, love rhombus. It was not forced or instant or annoying. It was actually very natural and subtle and I wanted Wanderer to end up with the new guy and not Jared. That relationship, the relationship that really didn’t matter, was the only one I thought was truly developed the way it should have been. The way all the other relationships should have been developed.

And despite the generally weak characters, there were a couple I warmed up to, though they weren’t as developed as I’d like to have seen.

Some of you may argue, “Well, she must be a good author, all of her books were made into movies and she’s probably a millionaire by now.” And to you I would say, “Tsk, tsk. The outcome is not necessarily a result of the quality of her writing, but the salability of the idea.” Poor writing is still poor writing, even if it’s made into a movie or some publishing house pays six figures for a series.

Like I said, the movie looks a lot better, definite changes were made to the overall story, though. I'm hoping that the movie will add in what the book lacked (with a background song like Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive", how could it not, right?) But, I'll have to wait and see. 

Read more here: http://blogs.idahostatesman.com/meyers-newest-book-doesnt-show-any-improvement-from-twilight-series/#storylink=cpy

All of that being said, here’s the bottom line: the idea for the book was very intriguing and good. That’s what kept me reading the story (and also seeing which boy would get the girl, because up until the very end, you really have no idea), and it’s not a bad way to spend the afternoon, you just have to get past all the filler Meyer puts in and see the story for what it is: unique and one of a kind. I did like it, despite the small annoyances I found. 

Happy reading, my friends!

--Me

The best in the series, so far

Scarlet
by Marissa Meyer
YA Sci-fi
Coffee Beans: 4.5/5
Content Rating: PG for kissing and fighting
Instalove factor: From Marissa? Pffft, please!
The Cover: In love
Spoilers: Nope
Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for this honest review


I had been on the prowl for an ARC of Marissa Meyer's latest installment in the Lunar Chronicles for a long time. Keeping a sharp eye on Shelf Awareness, Edelweiss, Net Galley--all the usual suspects.

Nothing.

It was a couple of weeks before the book was due out, and I was loosing all hope at getting an early copy when, low and behold!, an email in my inbox from her publicist asking me if I'd like to have a galley!

Um, yes?!?!?!

So my wish was granted, and I was not disappointed.

Publisher's Summary:

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive. 

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

My Review:

I have to say, that out of the two books, this one is by far my favorite. There was so much more action and drama and the relationship between Scarlet and Wolf is my favorite so far of the YA literary sci-fi/paranormal world. They hate each other in the beginning, and it's a reluctant alliance until about a little bit past half-way through the book.

I love how Meyer is introducing new characters and stories in the fairy tale vein and tying their stories into Cinder's. As you can guess, Scarlet is about Little Red Riding Hood and the big, bad Wolf. The majority of the book focuses on her search for her grandmere, but the book also jumps around to what's going on with Cinder and her goofy and very likable, Captain Carswell Thorne, her new sidekick; and twists and turns until the two stories meet up and finally, so do the characters. And don't worry, Levana is still around, and as evil as ever. Poor, poor, Prince Kai.

This is a must read. Enjoy!

--Me

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Disaster

By: Jamie McGuire

Genre: Seriously messed-up dysfunctional YA romance

Rating: R (for bedroom scenes and language)

Coffee Beans: 3.5/5

Spoilers: Nothing major

Favorite Line: “It looks like Vegas threw up on a flock of vultures,” America sneered.

Warning: This is going to be long, but I promise you, it will be interesting and entertaining to make the ride smooth. Also, I will not be commenting on the technical side of the book (writing, etc), I will only be commenting on the story itself. Point 3, this is, 100% a guilty pleasure review, because that’s the only way I could review this book.

How I would catagorize this book: Fight Club + a Lifetime Original movie = this train wreck of a romance.

Publisher’s Review

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

From me

I’m learning my lesson this time around and writing my review as I go. Mainly because with this book, there’s a lot I want to say and I don’t want to forget any of it.

I started this book at 7pm last night, read to 11 (past my bedtime) and then sat in my car before work and read as much as I could there, too. Repeat the process for lunch, add in reading under my desk and then in the car on the ride home. This book is addicting, and pulls you through with such force, you’re bound to get whiplash.

But that in no way means that this is a “good” book.

It just means I couldn’t put it down. And based on a lot of the reviews out there, that’s how the majority of the readers felt, too; no matter how slight.

Guilty Pleasure Review

I’m probably going to offend a lot of people out there with this next statement, but here we go!

Any woman who says, that deep down, she doesn’t have some sort of fantasy of or desire for (on any level), a man to be an Alpha Male around her is lying to herself. Girl Power is all over the place (yay, I support that! I’m all for strong women and doing things for ourselves, etc), but deep down, I think it’s a primal instinct of our gender that we want to have the big, strong, burly, somewhat aggressive/protective/dominant male to single us out, find us attractive, and then defend us against any other encroaching male. It’s also a strange (and somewhat stupid, IMO) desire to find the broken man and be able to “fix” or “change” him because we’re that special or he loves us that much.

That being said, I want to make it clear that I don’t think that that’s what this book does. AT ALL. I think this book supports more of an abusive, co-dependent, dysfunctional relationship. But that’s obvious, so I’m not going to talk about it anymore than that.

Continuing.

As I was saying, it’s not that this book is particularly well written or has a very strong plot. The female is a worse flip-flopper than Kerry during the 2008 presidential election and weak, but for some blasted reason, I couldn’t put the book down, and when I wasn’t reading it, all I thought about was picking it up to read it some more. I think the reason is this: That’s a pretty dangerous/exciting/thrilling life to be living vicariously through Abby. Admit it. Going back to your early college years. The partying, the hooking up, the careless fun with no consequences or responsibility….Psychopathic boyfriend with anger and obsession issues…..Oh, wait…

Moving on.

On a safe, light level, this is probably a life that some women secretly long for or wish they could go back to. And this entire book was one fustercluck of a dysfunctional, twisted train wreck that you couldn’t pass by without slowing down to gape at.

You all know how I feel about books being written glorifying this type of relationship, so I’m not going to get up on my soapbox…much. Instead, let’s break down what’s going on here, in a somewhat light-hearted manner.

The Setting

Okay, really, what college has a cafeteria and an hour lunch period devoted strictly to eating? Any hands? Bueller? That’s right…none. That I know of. I got the distinct impression that this was supposed to be/originally written in a high school setting. Here’s how I pictured the author’s original scenario playing out:

• Two girls in high school, maybe a private away-from-home school. America falls for an older guy from the nearby college. Abby follows suit with the guy’s cousin. (It would explain why the girls are living in the dorms and the guys are living in an apartment instead of in dorms or in the frat house, like they should be. Which is also why they have lunch hours – to develop the Travis-Abby relationship dynamic and the Travis-gets-to-pummel-the-football-team opportunities.)

• But wait! If I have it set in high school, then I can’t really have the content in the book that I want to (because, let’s face it, even though “anything goes” in YA, there are some decency limits). And, it’d be weird to be publicly talking about and okaying the fact that they’re sneaking off to their college boyfriend’s apartments and doing the unmentionable (Mare, at least).

• So I’ll make it college. Voila! Everything is fixed and now it’s okay that they’re dating older guys and there are underground fight circles and I can push the limits EVEN MORE!

• The end.

I’m sure it didn’t go exactly like that, but probably pretty close.

The Best Friend Factor

America sucks as a best friend. I’m putting that out there now. She encourages Abby to like Travis. Then tries to protect her from Travis because he’s “scary” and “dangerous”.  Then she doesn’t really give any merit to what’s happening in her best friend’s relationship. BUT, when her boyfriend, Shepley, makes some stupid wrong decision, the world is ending and she breaks up with him.Multiple times.

And what’s up with Shep? Always warning Abby to be patient with Travis and to overlook the “mistakes” he’s going to make. Uh, okay…is that what they’re calling psychotic-jealousy-induced-violent tantrums now a days? Mistakes?

Then there’s the scene where Abby ends up leaving in the middle of the night. Travis wakes up and freaks out. Tearing down drapes, throwing stereos, punching mirrors, ripping doors from hinges, etc. America actually has the nerve to call Abby and tell her what’s going on, confess that she’s really scared of Travis right now, and then tell Abby that she has to come back.

What the hell?????

(Let’s face it, reality is seriously skewed in this book, which is why I can’t really give it a serious review)

Abusive relationships

Yes, there is more than one. For instance, with me. I felt like I was in an abusive relationship with this book. At first, it’s fine. I like the storyline, I like the characters. The book is nice to me. The extreme fantasy of this situation playing out the way it was was okay.

Then, little things started happening. The wrong reaction from Travis, the wrong decision from Abby. The flippant attitude of everyone involved when disturbing things start happening. But then, everything goes back to how it was in the beginning, normal. Gifts were exchanged, smiles flashed, compliments given. It’s all good, right?

Wrong.

I didn’t want to read. What I was reading was wrong. But I was promised everything would get better. And I had to know what was going on. So I read on. Which is the whole point, and the cycle starts again.

Even though there wasn’t any physical abuse going on between Abby and Travis, there was certainly some mental and psychological abuse present. From the outside, this was definitely a relationship that shouldn’t have been explored. But I can also understand how it may not have been so obvious for Abby. But, there’s no excuse for Mare and Shep not to have stepped in with the red flags.

Abby

Oh, crazy, emotional, dysfunctional, blind, inconsistent, Abby. Okay, so I understand why she took the bet and held to it. I mean, she just out of high school and not all that mature. I’m sure that if a lot of girls were in her position, and Travis was a guy they were interested in (because, let’s face it, she was lying when she said she wasn’t interested), they’d totally lose that bet on purpose and claim integrity and honor by fulfilling it. So, for a few people out there, it’s a realistic set up. Sometimes I think Abby’s smart, seeing that Travis is not a wise choice for a boyfriend, and then she surprises me and turns dumb again, ignoring her previous decision.

Lame “Secret”

That’s right, I’ve called you out, “mysterious reason as to why Abby doesn’t want to get close to Travis”. L-A-M-E. I mean, it could’ve been good, if it were executed better, given more weight, and showed up more throughout the story except for where it was convenient to move the plot forward or explain some back-assward reasoning for Abby’s actions.

Nicknames

Everyone and their dog has a nickname! For the love of Pete, can’t we just call ‘em by their names?? Pigeon/Pidge/Abs = Abby; Mare = America; Shep = Shepley; Trav = Travis. Pigeon kind of annoyed me at first, but then it grew on me.

Addictiveness

I’ll admit, I thought this was a completely different book when I started reading it and was a bit confused when I saw it on an end cap in B&N next to 50 Shades and Ann Rice’s old books. (I thought I was starting the YA book Love & Other Perishable Items, the covers are so freaking similar. It’s not my fault).

But the more I read, the more addictive it became. And I couldn’t put it down. I stayed up past my bedtime the first night. Sat in the parking lot before work to read. Read on my lunch. Read under my desk. And went to read after work at Sbux, BUT MY NOOK BATTERY DIED!! So yes, this plot is strong enough and fast enough to pull you through the unbelievable crap that’s between the covers (and not the bed sheets kind).

I loved this guy’s review and in particular, this snippet:

“Anyhoo, with all this rambling it may seem like I hated this book. Not at all! Much like a junkie getting kicked out of rehab for shooting up the smack he smuggled in his anus, I continually keep coming back to these type of stories! It’s a love/hate relationship! I just want to see how the story is going to end…even though I sort of already do.”

For me, that’s the perfect description.

The Ending

It sucked. I’m not saying anything else, except: It was a little too cookie cutter of an HEA. I think there should have been a bit more dysfunction in the end. Like maybe a murder (Travis has it in him) or a mob contract, or something equally as interesting (Joking, but only slightly).

There’s Another One

And you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m gonna read it. It’s gonna be told from Trav’s POV so we’ll understand why he acted like he did and all fall in love with him. Awwww! (Every time Travis is in a scene, the song SmoothOperater comes to mind…)

My friend, Tiff, described it as a “train wreck of a romance” and I couldn’t agree more. There are two times when the characters describe the truth of the relationship. Abby says, “We are dysfunctional, Travis.”(amen) and then Shep tells Abby that when her and Travis are happy everything’s rainbows and butterflies but when they’re not, it’s like a tornado is destroying the world.

I think Beautiful Disaster is the perfect mash-up of Fight Club and some outrageous Lifetime Original Movie. In fact, I totally envisioned this as a movie and the success it would have if ever put into one, from the first scene at the Circle. Come to find out, it’s going to be made into one sometime in the future.
In the end, I think this book—as much as some people don’t want to admit it—is believable and a reality to a lot of girls out there. So deal, even if you don’t like it or agree. Overall, I liked it for the mindless, emotional abuse of a ride that it was.

Happy reading!

--Me