Twisted

Beautiful Disaster

Jamie McGuire

Fiction

I’d say the title of this book pretty much sums up how I feel about it.

Beautiful Disaster is the story of Travis and Abby. Abby, a freshman, meets Travis, another freshman, at a Fight Club-style event when he sprays his blood on her cardigan. Their eyes lock and it’s love at first sight. How romantic, right? Oh, but it gets worse. Abby knows Travis is a ladies man and refuses to be another notch on his bedpost. To her surprise, he agrees that they should just be friends. Except she doesn’t really want to be friends, but she doesn’t tell him that. So she gets jealous when he sleeps with random skanks. And he’s jealous when she dates other guys. Finally, after endless back and forth, they have sex and start dating. But Travis’ jealousy and Abby’s past trust issues start to tear them apart and she has to decide if their drama-filled relationship is worth the hassle.

Good lord. This book is sick. I thought for sure that one or both of them would end up dead in the end, but no (spoiler alert). Instead, they get freaking married! Idiots, both of them. But Abby, especially, for not realizing or caring that Travis’ obsession with her and love for punching out any other guy who even looks in her direction is worrisome. Also, he calls her Pidgeon and Pidge (and it’s never explained why). I'm pretty sure he doesn't ever call her Abby at any point during the book, even after they get hitched. That annoyed me so much. All the other characters’ weird names annoyed me, too—America (seriously?), Shepley, Finch. 

I’ll give Jamie McGuire credit in that she’s a pretty good writer who managed to keep me reading despite being horrified by what was on the page. If you’re looking for a train wreck, you have found it.