Our 4.5 star review
“It’s the vultures that are easy. Just when they think all they
have to do is be patient, to sit back and wait for you to expire, that’ s
when you hit them. That’s when you bring in the secret weapon: an utter lack
of respect for the status quo; a refusal to give in to the order
of things.”
I was skeptical about Walking Disaster. I didn’t think
it would be possible for me to love Travis Maddox any more than I did in
Beautiful Disaster. I was wrong. In WD Travis’ POV enables the reader to see
a different side to him than we had in BD. Travis is broken, and vulnerable
and exposed. His anger issues seem to make more sense, and seem to be
of less consequence. Because we are privy to his thoughts, his actions
seem less random, more justified. There is a natural flow, almost organic in
nature, to Travis and Abby’s relationship. While we knew Abby’s thoughts and
feelings in BD, trying to discern what motivated Travis and his actions
was almost impossible. Walking Disaster affords us the luxury of doing
so.
“I know,” I said, my voice breaking. “I never once convinced myself
that I was good enough for you.”
From the early death of his mother, Travis
learned to guard both his heart and his emotions. Feeling nothing is
better than feeling pain. While he loves to “bag” girls, he doesn’t do
relationships. He has a few frequent flyers, but he is more of a one and done
kind of guy. When he meets Abby, his “Pigeon”, he finds himself feeling and
wanting things he swore only fools should feel. Being able to get inside
his head (which is no easy feat) allows us to see how quickly and how deeply
he fell for Abby. Why he is so jealous, why he is so possessive, why he is
so insecure.
“I haven’t felt like this since Mom died. I don’t know what
to do,” I choked out. “I’m going to lose her.”
Abby’s reactions seemed to
exasperate me even more in WD, than in BD. Whenever she pushed Travis away
and we saw how each rejection left another scar on his heart, I
found myself wanting to knock some sense into her. She is far too flighty
and whimsical for him and yet underneath all that fluff she is the only
person for him. Seeing his pain after the break up after Vegas, and
Thanksgiving and the loneliness of the holidays fills in all those blanks of
how he managed to keep it together, when everything around him was falling
apart.
Reading again how they resolved the huge Grand Canyon
that separated them and their reunion and the fire at Keaton Hall and
Abby’s ring and their wedding, and …Travis oh Travis, how I fell in love with
you all again and how this love was even better the second time around. My
real guilty pleasure with this book was the epilogue. I had hoped for
a glimpse into a few weeks after their wedding, and if I was feeling
particularly greedy maybe I could get a few months. But never did I imagine
11 years, 11 freaking, fantastic years. No longer teenagers, they have both
blown out the over the hill dreaded 30th birthday candles and then
some.
For me, I would have bought the book just for the epilogue, being
someone who always has to know what happened after that last chapter, did
they stay together, did they get their happily ever after?Jamie McGuire has
written a hell of an epilogue, and one which left me satisfied.
“I
thought about my mother, and the words she said to me almost a lifetime ago.
That’s when it clicked: she had asked me not to settle, to fight for the
person I loved, and for the first time, I did what she expected of me. I
had finally lived up to who she wanted me to be.”
We received an advanced copy from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
No comments:
Post a Comment