Review: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Title: Beautiful Disaster 
Author: Jamie McGuire 
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 14, 2012
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 432
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository

Read from August 9 - 10, 2012

My Rating: 

Summary: 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 needs—and wants—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.

There was only one reason I could ever feel that way with anyone. I belonged to him. It was then that I knew. Without a doubt in my mind, without worry of what others would think, and having no fear of mistakes or consequences, I smiled at the words I would say. 

Who would've thought that I would like Beautiful Disaster as much as I do? I'd read a lot of negative reviews; but then I'd also noticed even more positive reviews. Curious, I started reading, expecting the worst, expecting to turn a page and start hating it, but it never happened. Actually, I ended up liking it -- which totally caught me off guard. I finished this in three sittings with sore butts and a slight backache. I literally couldn't stop reading. This has to be one of the most addictive books I've ever had a chance to read!  

I blame it on my inner hopeless romantic. I am drawn to the ideas of love that is no good and can't work but can't be stopped. I don't even know where I got this from; it's like a chronic disease -- I can't seem to shake it. For some very strange reasons, I am in love with the idea of hopeless love, just as I am in love with heartbreaks. Though I'd hate to have to deal with this kind of love in real life, I love to read about them. And Beautiful Disaster offers me no less than that, and still a lot of fun. 

It's easy to see why some readers do not like this novel. It has some of the elements that I don't like at all. To illustrate this, I hate clingy boyfriends. The kind that has been fine all their lives until they meet you and suddenly they need you to breathe. The kind that is overly jealous and will take down anyone that lays their eyes on you. The kind that goes crazy when they don't know your whereabouts and won't stop calling you until you talk to them. The kind that has your name tattooed on their skin. This is Travis, and this is insane. Normally behaviors like this would have turned me off immediately, but for some unknown reasons, I became even more engrossed in the book. I think this may be because in other books, such demeanor is simply annoying and off-putting, but in this book, it is scary like hell! It made my heart race, fearing for Abby if Travis happens to lose it, which happens quite often too. Poor minor characters who get beaten senseless. Travis's violence made me wince every time. 

But I don't hate Travis. I don't know how exactly I feel about him, maybe just scared? And I definitely don't find him cute or attractive. I think he's an interesting human being who seriously needs anger management and needs to tone the over-protectiveness and jealousy down big-time. But I understand why he's like this, or at least I think I do. There's someone I know who had never been in a relationship before, and when he had his first girlfriend, he messed it all up by being -- just like Travis but without the violence -- clingy, jealous, and overprotective, because he really didn't know how to act. Could this be the case with Travis? Probably. He's never needed anyone before but when he needs Abby, it scares him, so he tries to keep her closer but it only pushes her away. 

Abby, the narrator of the story, is a likeable person. I think she's smart. She knows better than to be involved with someone like Travis. Basically, he is the human form of everything she runs away from in the past to be at Eastern. But even so, despite trying to be his friend, she can't help but be attracted to him too. For whatever reasons. I found myself agreeing with a lot of things Abby says and a lot of her decisions. Travis is stupid, and he doesn't always know what he's doing, but that doesn't mean it's okay. I respect Abby for standing up for herself and leaving him when she has to. I didn't think she's being difficult, I thought she's being right. The best way out is always through, as they say. 

Their on-and-off romance is more than interesting. It's many things together: heartbreaking, painful, scary, terrible, sweet, beautiful, and disastrous. I didn't always like it, but it's definitely entertaining to read. Travis is so hopelessly in love with Abby that he has his nickname for her (Pigeon, which I find a little stupid but it didn't bother me) tattooed on his wrist, which is a little extreme in my opinion, but he can be real sweet at times, too. And Abby, who's so determined not to fall for him, finds herself doing exactly that. Sometimes it seems like their relationship is doomed to fail, but the fact that it still keeps going because their love can't be stopped satisfied my inner romantic more than I can explain. It would send electricity through me (I'm not kidding. I really felt it.) and make my chest tighten, unable to breathe for a second. It was an awesome experience. Some of the words Abby says are spot-on, which I totally loved. For instance: 

If I gave in, either he would change his mind about Benny, or he would resent me every time money could have made his life easier. I imagined him in a blue-collar job, coming home with the same look in his eyes that Mick had when he returned after a night of bad luck. It would be my fault that his life wasn't what he wanted it to be, and I couldn't let my future be plagued with the bitterness and regret that I left behind. 

This broke my heart. It's so precise, and I could feel the bitterness dripping from these words already. She loves him against her better judgement, and she isn't afraid to make a decision she believes is right even if it's going to hurt them. Wow, Abby. I really like her. Even though this is not how the book ends, I think I would've liked it more if it had ended this way -- bittersweet. 

Having said all that, I don't think there's anything much to add. I really enjoyed Jamie McGuire's writing. It's true that I wouldn't have liked many things in this book, but because it is well-written and beyond  entertaining allowed me to overlook its imperfections. Expecting the worst, I surprised myself when I realized I liked this book a lot. I almost didn't pick it up as I hesitated, and now I'm glad that I read it. I recommend this for readers of contemporary romance. And maybe older audience, because it has sex and violence in it. I'm looking forward to reading book two, Walking Disaster, which isn't a sequel but only Beautiful Disaster told in Travis's point of view. It should be interesting.


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This review is also posted on Goodreads.
I received a digital copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review.

Review: Turquoise - A Love Story by Ayshe Talay-Ongan

Title: Turquoise - A Love Story
Author: Ayshe Talay-Ongan
Genre: Romance
Release date: January 31, 2012
Publisher: Sid Harta Publishers
Format: eBook
Pages: 456
Source: JKS Communications
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from June 14 - 18, 2012

My rating:  

Summary: Set against transcendent love, unrelenting hatred and loyalties to friends and family, Turquoise is the story of an enduring and passionate love affair between Yasmin and Renan, which spans two decades, two marriages and three continents. Yasmin and her Armenian classmate Ani were oblivious to ethnic differences during their school years in Istanbul. Years later they run into each other, and Ani introduces Renan, her husband, to Yasmin. At that moment under the blazing autumn skies, as Yasmin locks eyes with Renan, she knows that she has come upon her destiny. But political tensions in their land soon force Renan, her secret love, and his family to immigrate to Sydney. A few years on, Yasmin's diplomat father is appointed as the Turkish Consul General to Los Angeles where the family faces a devastating tragedy that will impact their lives in ways unfathomable. She is now forced to make a choice between passion that defines her and reason that guides her. When so much is stacked against Yasmin and Renan, how can love possibly triumph? 

Let me begin by just saying I did not like this book. I honestly don't know why I was interested in it, because reading the provided summary just now, I realized that it's not the kind of book that I would normally read. I have no one to blame but myself for this part. Lessen learned. Always make sure the book is something you really want to read before committing yourself to it.

In this review I'm going to be brutally honest. There are a lot of things I didn't like about this book, and sadly, none I liked. While this book neither enraged me nor bored me, reading it was a bad experience for me, and I didn't think the book was even well-written, so I had to give this book a lonely one star. It simply isn't my kind of book.

First of all the problems I had with Turquoise is this: the narration. I didn't like the way the book is narrated in the present tense when it really sounds more like a recount of the past. I found that maybe the past tense might be more fitting. This annoyed me a little bit.

The biggest problem is the undeniable fact that I didn't like the story. It touches on Turkish politics, which is always a sensitive subject. I normally don't enjoy books involving politics to begin with. It also didn't help that I have no background information about Turkish politics. It just failed to interest me. The love story isn't even interesting. Love at first sight? Alright. Constant obsession? Understandable. But that love is requited? I didn't buy it. And all these fusses about marriage and love affair? They exhausted me. This book did.

There was also a problem with the characters. Honestly, I didn't like any of the characters. I can't even try to tell you about them or even the main characters because I really had no idea what they're like. I didn't know them. Plus, there are simply too many characters to keep up with. I finished the book not remembering anyone but a few main characters. The other characters are just names without faces, who come in here and there to keep the story going, coming to visit, only to disappear and come back almost a hundred pages later or something like that. The way the author tells us about them doesn't make them at all memorable. They're flat and lifeless. And there are just too many characters. Much more than I find necessary in a novel. 

Not only did an excess of characters prevent me from enjoying the book, but also the constant switching of places. It seems the characters in this book are always going from somewhere to another. From this house to that, this city to that, this country to that. They move all the time and I found this very confusing. I didn't know where they are most of the time, and at one point, I decided I didn't care anymore. 

And the length. My God, the length! 456 pages is no joke. I think I wouldn't have picked it up had I known it is this long. (Lesson learned!) I had been reading this book thoroughly and attentively until I was around 64% of the book, then I just lost my patient and skimmed all the way through until the end. I have to say I saw the "resolution" coming. Waiting for your partner to screw up (when you've been secretly misbehaving all the time) and using it as an excuse to end your marriage and then flee. As if your misconducts have been justified. Classic. 

To sum it all up: I didn't like this book. I wish I hadn't read it at all. It's not for me.


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This review is also posted on Goodreads.

A digital copy of this book was provided by JKS Communications for review and blog tour.

Review: The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

Title: The Lover's Dictionary 
Author: David Levithan 
Genre: Romance
Release date: February 2, 2012
Publisher: Fourth State
Format: Paperback
Pages: 215
Literary award: ALA Alex Award (2012)
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read on May 19, 2012 

My rating:  + 

Summary: How does one talk about love? Is it even possible to describe something at once utterly mundane and wholly transcendent, that has the power to consume our lives completely, while making us feel part of something infinitely larger than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this age-old problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary constructs the story of a relationship as a dictionary. Through these sharp entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of coupledom, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time. 

I'll admit that it's quite difficult for me to find the right words to say about David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary, but I'll try.

This book is a dictionary that the narrator writes about his current relationship. I'm still reluctant to call this book a novel, because to me it didn't really feel like one. It's very short and took me only about an hour or two to finish. Its format is like a dictionary with 185 headwords running from A to Z and definitions. The most interesting thing here is that these definitions are not straight forward definitions you see in English dictionaries, but short entries telling short stories that the narrator associate with the words. It reads like a personal diary.

Here's my favorite one:

dumbfounded, adj.

And still, for all the jealousy, all the doubt, sometimes I will be struck with a kind of awe that we’re together. That someone like me could find someone like you - it renders me wordless. Because surely words would conspire against such luck, would protest the unlikelihood of such a turn of events.

I didn't tell any of my friends about our first date. I waited until after the second, because I wanted to make sure it was real. I wouldn't believe it had happened until it had happened again. Then, later on, I would be overwhelmed by the evidence, by all the lines connecting you to me, and us to love. 

It's the kind of book that can make you feel all kinds of emotions. I think it's pretty amazing how David Levithan uses so few words but the feelings and images come out so distinct. Loved that! His writing is simply beautiful. Wait, let me try again, HIS WRITING IS MAGNIFICENT. The emotions and problems and events in this story feel so real and are described like they really are. It can go from happy-in-love to heartbreaking to bitter to frustrated and then to happy-in-love again. I loved that something as intangible as feelings can be described so accurately and beautifully. The storytelling isn't linear and sometimes two words 20 entries apart tell the same story but with additional information. So charming! 

Another one of my favorite: 

livid, adj.

Fuck You for cheating on me. Fuck you for reducing it to the word cheating. As if this were a card game, and you sneaked a look at my hand. Who came up with the term cheating, anyway? A cheater, I imagine. Someone who thought liar was too harsh. Someone who thought devastator was too emotional. The same person who thought, oops, he’d gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Fuck you. This isn’t about slipping yourself an extra twenty dollars of Monopoly money. These are our lives. You went and broke our lives. You are so much worse than a cheater. You killed something. And you killed it when its back was turned.

Wow. Isn't that just awesome? 

Never before have I read any book like this one. I wish the book was longer. I don't feel this way often. I felt like I couldn't get enough. It is romantic, clever, and funny, just like what Sunday Times says on the cover. This book is a unique work of art. Definitely a favorite. I'm sure I'm going to pick this book up again to reread. 

punctuate, v.

The key to a successful relationship isn't just in the words, it's in the choice of punctuation. When you're in love with someone, a well-placed question mark can be the difference between bliss and disaster, and a deeply respected period or a cleverly inserted ellipsis can prevent all kinds of exclamations.

This book = ♥!


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This review is also posted on Goodreads.