To be honest, I began reading Beautiful Disaster with apprehension. The plot is typical, at worse, unexciting. Good girl Abby Abernathy is befriended by bad boy Travis Maddox, and the two of them began an unassuming friendship. Need I go on? We all know how the story will end – the good girl will fall for the bad boy, and the bad boy will become changed for the good girl. In this regard, I was right on all counts. I was mistaken, however, by assuming that the book will be boring, for it was anything but.
Beautiful Disaster opened on a high note: Abby found herself in an underground fight where Travis “Mad Dog” Maddox is plummeting his opponent, and in the process splattered Abby with his opponent’s blood. Abby, despite being the textbook good girl (pearls, cashmere cardigan, the whole enchilada) is drawn to the fight. Of course, Travis cannot help but be drawn to Abby, who is evidently sticking out like a sore thumb in the rough crowd.
Then an unlikely friendship takes place. Abby’s best friend America is dating Travis’ cousin, Shepley. Abby and America moved in with the two boys because their dorm’s broilers are malfunctioning and they need hot water (if you need a flimsy excuse to live with the opposite sex, this is probably one of the worse of them). Then Abby bet against Travis, with the latter winning their bet. The consequence: Abby will have to live with Travis for a whole month.
Of course with all the testosterone Travis is giving off (and a bowlful of condoms on his dresser, clamoring to be used), the two have a platonic relationship where they do not have sex or even kiss. They share the same bed and are used to seeing each other in various states of nudeness (not explicitly said, but implied as Abby and Travis often “stripped down” while the other is in the room, who may or may not be watching, or who may or may not be catatonic with sleep). They like each other, mind you, but they *respect* each other (*rolls eyes*) or are too chicken to actually begin a relationship.
Then one day, the two finally hook up, and Abby turns the story upside down when she leaves in the middle of the night instead of basking in the afterglow of her first (of course she’s a virgin, what did you expect?) sexual experience. For me this became the turning point of the story as finally something exciting is happening.
I’ll leave out the details, but the two work out their problems and find themselves married at the end of the novel. However, don’t throw the book away just yet, because once Abby left the premises of the Maddox house, the two are thrown into a world of conflict. There’s fighting (actual fistfights, not cutesy fight between the couple, although there are lots too), a big fire, a brush with gambling, mobsters, and Vegas. And an Elvis impersonator.
How did it do? For me, Beautiful Disaster is a good book if you want to take a break from reading serious literature. It’s a feel good story where despite what may happen in the middle, the ending is something you’re sure of happening. Its predictability makes it a good read.
3 stars
🙂 written by: Ellie Peaches Pants:)
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