Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Author: Jamie McGuire
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd (2 April 2013)
Status: Bought










Obviously, like BD this is an NA contemporary romance and I've actually copied and tweaked this review from where I posted it on Amazon to share it with you all :)

Here's the blurb from the book:

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.   

(http://www.jamiemcguire.com/walking-disaster/)

Review

Ok, where to start....

....love, love and gallons more love for Mr Maddox? Yeah, that sounds about right.

Obviously, I'll have to start by profusely stating my love for BD. Forever ingrained in my epic books list, it's safe to assume I, along with everyone else, fell madly in love with Bad Ass Maddox. The prose and characters were beautiful and I loved every second of living in one very steamy apartment ;). I read tons of books and BD was the first book I read where I was enthralled, enraptured, shocked, amused and every other emotion under the sun, all in the very best ways possible. Each scene was essential to the plot, with no unnecessary babble to (unnecessarily) chunk it out, and not once did I find myself bored and wishing the plot would hurry itself up! It was perfectly written and now forever seared into my brain.

That said, exactly the same stands for WD! I loved every second, and reading Travis' POV was both a new insight and beautiful retelling of BD. The male POV is handled brilliantly and the relationship between Shep and Travis written to perfection. It's a gift in itself to be given the opportunity to delve into the mind of the best loved and lusted Travis Maddox and I loved every millisecond. Fast paced, action packed and with plenty of steamy bits, it definitely deserves it's five stars.

I have been known on the whole to read books from a female POV and for this reason WD is probably one of the first books I've ever read from a male POV, and some male POV it is! Never once did I feel let down or disappointed, regardless of the sky high expectations I had from BD.

Contrary to some of the negative reviews I've read, I'd like to add some of my own points. Evidently everyone is entitled to their own opinion and diverse opinions and expectations are what make reading a book so enthralling, sometimes you love it, sometimes you hate it but ALL WAYS you'll remember it. And so, some negative points I've read...
1. Abby does not come across as 'worthy' in WD.
I'd have to disagree. I must admit my own perception of Abby from BD was different from Travis' perception of her. Where I pictured a quietly guarded, witty and strong minded Abby, Travis saw a mysterious, guarded and altogether 'no crap' Abby. However, rather than be at odds with my expectations, such a different perception was warmly welcomed, the main characteristic of Abby I loved was her strong willed personality and this was only reinforced in WD.
2. There's not much new stuff.
Well, it was all new to me, even the repeated scenes were from Travis' POV and with that comes, colourful words, colourful thoughts and a whole lot of colourful insight into our favourite BB's mind. Not to mention some new and very unexpected scenes, which will blow your mind! And even regardless of this, WD is essentially BD from Travis' POV - that's the whole point, right? I expected, and desperately anticipated, re-reading BD's scenes from his perspective and finally knowing the reasons and thoughts behind his actions! To me, a companion novel from an alternate POV, is 'supposed' to be the same time frame, if not with some flawless additions!

So, overall - yes, everyone in the world should definitely read this book. The perfect companion to BD and second chance to re-read BD for the first time. I can't praise it enough and I think all that's left to say is....

Thank You Jamie! - thank you for BD and WD which have disastrously and beautifully walked all over my heart, up the stairs and onto my bookcase where they will stay on proud display to remind me to 'Love hard. Fight harder'.