Audio Review: Walking Disaster (Beautiful, #2) by Jamie McGuire

Title: Walking Disaster (Beautiful, #2)
Author: Jamie McGuire
Narrator: Dan Bittner
Published by: Simon and Schuster Audio
Length: 11 hrs. 26 min
Source: Publisher*
Format: Audio
Rating: 2.5 stars

Summary from Goodreads: 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.

 Explosive, sexy, and a bit unsettling.

The whole thought of reading the same story from two different points of views is quite interesting.  When you really like characters you want more of them, but the story itself may not lead to being part of a series, so instead Jamie McGuire took her story and gave us Travis's POV. 

Was Walking Disaster as good as Beautiful Disaster?  It is hard to say, because the essential story is the same we just hear it from Travis's head, which I have to say can be a scary place to be.  I enjoyed Beautiful Disaster, but I had an issue with Travis's and Abby's somewhat unhealthy relationship.  Walking Disaster only brings that out more for me.  Travis was very possessive and at times controlling.  Normally I love books from male POVs, but with Dan Bittner sounding exactly like I imagined Travis would (cockiness and all) Walking Disaster just made me too uncomfortable.

Besides their somewhat train-wreck of a relationship, the rest of the story was just as enjoyable as the original.  Jamie McGuire sure knows how to turn up the heat.  Listening to the audio at times almost felt a little uncomfortable with the scorching sex scenes.  I would at times look to the person next to me at the gym and think "if they only knew what I was listening to right now?"  

The one thing I really enjoyed about the book was the prologue and epilogue.  They were intriguing and wrapped up some loose ends.  I don't want to give too much away, but I love how they added to the story and enriched it.

Walking Disaster is sure to keep Jamie McGuire fans happy and satisfied.  However, for me Travis was just too intense, but if you enjoyed Beautiful Disaster I think you will enjoy Walking Disaster as well.   

*I did receive this audio for review, but I was not compensated for this post in anyway and all opinions are my own.

Review of Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Title: Beautiful Disaster
Author: Jamie McGuire
Published by: Atria Books
Pages: 276 pages
Source: Publisher/NetGalley
Format: ebook
Rating: 4 stars

Summary from Goodreads: 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.

Beautiful Disaster offers an explosive twist on the "good girl" meets "bad boy" story line.

Abby Abernathy is running from a sordid past.  She's changed her life around until the night she runs into Eastern University's bad boy.  I loved Abby.  She was spunky, bright and could put Travis in his place.  I love a main character with personality and who can dish it out with the best of them.  At times Abby makes some questionable decisions, but hey she's in college...give her a break.  Plus, I love the added intrigue of Abby's past.  She's not your typical preppy freshman, instead she's full of mystery you want to uncover. 

Now Travis on the other-hand, you just want to uncover in general.  He's smoking HOTT!  However, he's quite volatile inside the fighting ring and out.  While he tries to reform himself of his playboy tendencies, I'm not quite sure I'm convinced.  In fact, at times Travis and Abby's relationship was unhealthy and a little troublesome.  
  
The passion in this novel leapt off the pages.  I was so hooked by this story that I didn't want to set it down.  I read it in two days, and it easily would have been one but since I was on vacation with one of my besties I thought I shouldn't ignore her the whole time.  The story is intense and at times Abby and Travis were like a train wreck where you want to, but can't make yourself look away.   

This is a novel is a bit shocking at times, but overall an intriguing read.  Plus the author is releasing the story from Travis's point of view next year so  make sure you check out Beautiful Disaster first!