Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
I thought that the first book was good, but after reading this I feel as though it is been dwarfed by comparison. The things that Travis had done in the previous book seemed so wrong and random in Abby's eyes, but then in this book you get to see it from the guy's point of view and I think that was just a really good idea because you never normally get to see the opposing side.
A bit torn on this one. I am all for angst , passion but this was borderline creepy.
I am not sure at that young age the relationship was healthy. He literally would not let her dance with another guy. I am more of a 'you should have put on a ring on it ' kind of girl. I do believe in monogamy and won't even read a cheating book but prior to marriage , both girls;s and boys should be allowed to take an objective view of the options.
Rant over- the end was beautiful and made up for the weird bits. A solid 4 stars
I am not sure at that young age the relationship was healthy. He literally would not let her dance with another guy. I am more of a 'you should have put on a ring on it ' kind of girl. I do believe in monogamy and won't even read a cheating book but prior to marriage , both girls;s and boys should be allowed to take an objective view of the options.
Rant over- the end was beautiful and made up for the weird bits. A solid 4 stars
“One of these days you're going to fall in love, son. Don't settle for just anyone. Choose the girl that doesn't come easy; the one you have to fight for, and then never stop fighting. Never”
If you haven't read Beautiful Disaster (and really if you haven't, what exactly are you waiting for?) I don't think this book would make much sense. This is not a stand alone novel...it's a gift to all of us readers who fell in love with Travis the first time he called Abby "pigeon". Jamie could have simply written a few Travis POVs and posted them on her website and most of us would have been happy. Instead she was wise enough to see our adoration and gave us the entire story from his POV. She let us crawl inside his head and his heart and live it all again while giving more interaction with Shep and Mare. Even knowing how the story ended she managed to break my heart all over again. That night scene outside the cafeteria after after the breakup was even more gut wrenching than the original. I also have to say I was happy with how she handled the "threesome scene"....I was worried we'd get too much detail and it'd make me hate Travis. No hate here. I've had a lot of "book-boyfriends" over the years (I'm a bit of a book whore :p) but after reading this I think she's managed to cement Travis in for a very long time. And although I find parts of the epilogue hard to believe (Travis lying to Abby that long? Not gonna happen.) I was thrilled we got the peek that far into the future. So a big THANK YOU to Jamie for giving her readers exactly what they wanted and I can't wait to see more of the Maddox brothers in the future.
From reading quite a number of young adult contemporary novels with main characters having dark sides and secrets, this one is not extraordinary at all. Travis and Abby were fuck-ups, that's for sure. If there is one thing the author succeeded doing, it is making her characters effectively fucked up that they ruin every goddamn romantic moment.
I'm getting so tired with all these bad boy protagonists who suddenly fall hard for girls who are not so innocent after all... And then they get scared of committing or worry that they're not deserving of dealing with their fucked-up lives and yada yada, you get the picture.
I need to get my hands on more interesting story lines which will not fuck with me, seriously.
I'm getting so tired with all these bad boy protagonists who suddenly fall hard for girls who are not so innocent after all... And then they get scared of committing or worry that they're not deserving of dealing with their fucked-up lives and yada yada, you get the picture.
I need to get my hands on more interesting story lines which will not fuck with me, seriously.
Um. I was bored by the book, maybe because i read it right after reading Beautiful Disaster. It felt like i was rereading the story again. Too young adult for my taste.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Hey look, it's the sequel no one wanted!
Actually no, the word 'sequel' is far too kind. It's more like 'Hey look, it's the rehashing of the first story no one wanted which is basically identical in every way!'. I read this book mostly out of curiosity, prepared to give it the same meh review I gave the first one. But this book has made me angry.
Walking Disaster is essentially Beautiful Disaster told from Travis's point of view. At first I was sort of hopeful. Maybe he won't seem so crazy and abusive if it's told from his POV. But dear god, I actually think it manages to do the impossible and make it worse.
In my review of the first one I didn't really go into detail about what exactly made their relationship so dysfunctional. Now though I am far too angry to let things slide.
This relationship is so messed up. This book begins with a scene of Travis's mother dying in which her last words are basically 'Find someone you love and fight for them'. These words then cause Travis to lose his sh** completely whilst pursuing Abby, convinced that 'fighting' translates to being an utter douchebag. One paragraph at the end of the book describes how he feels at peace once him and Abby are married since he has finally done exactly what his mother wanted him to. That is not wanting to follow good advice from a dying parent, that's a terrifying obsession. There is also some very uncomfortable Freudian-esque subtext here which is followed up later. The way Travis and his family talk about Abby, it's pretty clear they consider her a replacement mother. If that doesn't make your skin crawl then don't worry, there's plenty of other stuff which will.
Travis falls into that classic Madonna-Whore complex thing. Every girl in the world is a slut (or as he calls them, 'vultures') because she sleeps with him, with the exception of Abby of course. This brings us to the origin of Abby's nickname 'Pigeon' which believe me, is frigging hilarious.
'I decided a long time ago I would feed on vultures until a dove came along. A pigeon.'
Dear god, this whole thing is nonsensical. It's painfully obvious this was just shoehorned in to try and explain the nickname and it doesn't make a lick of sense. I could maybe swallow it if he called her 'dove' but he just jumps from dove to pigeon with zero logic. Better yet, he uses this weird comment with his dad later on who instantly understands despite no explanation.
Travis is a hypocrite. Of course he's allowed to ogle Abby and constantly talk about how beautiful/sexy/desirable she is. Heaven forbid any other guy who does it though because clearly they just want to get into her pants whereas his feelings are TRUE LOVE!
'I imagined Parker noticing her soft, shiny skin as I had, but with less appreciation and more salaciousness.'
Guess what else? Abby and Travis don't practice safe sex. It's okay though because if you do it a certain time after your period then you totally can't get pregnant, no siree!
All this book succeeds in doing is making Travis look even more insane than he did in the first one. Essentially every thought he has is about Abby. He's constantly jealous and aggressive, and every time she isn't with him the man can barely function enough to put on clothes. He brings her to a fight because he can't stand the thought of her being away from him for two seconds and yet then spends the whole time worried she's going to get hit on by some other guy. THIS IS NOT ROMANTIC, THIS IS A SIGN OF SERIOUS EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS.
Overall, the story is exactly the same as the first time round. The fire which was the 'big ending' of the first book gets completely brushed over, almost as though the author realised how stupid it was but was already too heavily invested to stop. There's a godawful prologue tacked on where Travis is a secret service agent and they have twins and dear god, I couldn't care less. There is one more novella which I may power through out of sheer curiosity but trust me when I say this series is better left alone. Anyone who thinks Travis is a perfect love interest needs professional help.
Overall Score: 1
What Everyone Else is Reading
Hey look, it's the sequel no one wanted!
Actually no, the word 'sequel' is far too kind. It's more like 'Hey look, it's the rehashing of the first story no one wanted which is basically identical in every way!'. I read this book mostly out of curiosity, prepared to give it the same meh review I gave the first one. But this book has made me angry.
Walking Disaster is essentially Beautiful Disaster told from Travis's point of view. At first I was sort of hopeful. Maybe he won't seem so crazy and abusive if it's told from his POV. But dear god, I actually think it manages to do the impossible and make it worse.
In my review of the first one I didn't really go into detail about what exactly made their relationship so dysfunctional. Now though I am far too angry to let things slide.
This relationship is so messed up. This book begins with a scene of Travis's mother dying in which her last words are basically 'Find someone you love and fight for them'. These words then cause Travis to lose his sh** completely whilst pursuing Abby, convinced that 'fighting' translates to being an utter douchebag. One paragraph at the end of the book describes how he feels at peace once him and Abby are married since he has finally done exactly what his mother wanted him to. That is not wanting to follow good advice from a dying parent, that's a terrifying obsession. There is also some very uncomfortable Freudian-esque subtext here which is followed up later. The way Travis and his family talk about Abby, it's pretty clear they consider her a replacement mother. If that doesn't make your skin crawl then don't worry, there's plenty of other stuff which will.
Travis falls into that classic Madonna-Whore complex thing. Every girl in the world is a slut (or as he calls them, 'vultures') because she sleeps with him, with the exception of Abby of course. This brings us to the origin of Abby's nickname 'Pigeon' which believe me, is frigging hilarious.
'I decided a long time ago I would feed on vultures until a dove came along. A pigeon.'
Dear god, this whole thing is nonsensical. It's painfully obvious this was just shoehorned in to try and explain the nickname and it doesn't make a lick of sense. I could maybe swallow it if he called her 'dove' but he just jumps from dove to pigeon with zero logic. Better yet, he uses this weird comment with his dad later on who instantly understands despite no explanation.
Travis is a hypocrite. Of course he's allowed to ogle Abby and constantly talk about how beautiful/sexy/desirable she is. Heaven forbid any other guy who does it though because clearly they just want to get into her pants whereas his feelings are TRUE LOVE!
'I imagined Parker noticing her soft, shiny skin as I had, but with less appreciation and more salaciousness.'
Guess what else? Abby and Travis don't practice safe sex. It's okay though because if you do it a certain time after your period then you totally can't get pregnant, no siree!
All this book succeeds in doing is making Travis look even more insane than he did in the first one. Essentially every thought he has is about Abby. He's constantly jealous and aggressive, and every time she isn't with him the man can barely function enough to put on clothes. He brings her to a fight because he can't stand the thought of her being away from him for two seconds and yet then spends the whole time worried she's going to get hit on by some other guy. THIS IS NOT ROMANTIC, THIS IS A SIGN OF SERIOUS EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS.
Overall, the story is exactly the same as the first time round. The fire which was the 'big ending' of the first book gets completely brushed over, almost as though the author realised how stupid it was but was already too heavily invested to stop. There's a godawful prologue tacked on where Travis is a secret service agent and they have twins and dear god, I couldn't care less. There is one more novella which I may power through out of sheer curiosity but trust me when I say this series is better left alone. Anyone who thinks Travis is a perfect love interest needs professional help.
Overall Score: 1
What Everyone Else is Reading
Epic fail - This is the just same book. Twice.
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism