It said to be that “Love is Blind” but have you ever silently questioned to yourself if you were the person wearing the blindfold all along? This is an iconic quote that was popularized by a writer by the name of William Shakespeare. While society has the opportunity to choose whether they relate to the quote, some of us were living proof of its truth before we even knew what love was. After reading the book titled Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire I can now see how this quote can reflect on both the real world and the bigger picture in her writing.
Jamie McGuire is an author who chose romance to reach her audience. Mostly consisting of romance novels in the new adult fiction genre. Her stories expose emotional conflicts, toxic attractions, and happy endings that aren’t to be expected. In 2011, she published Beautiful Disaster. After seeing such success of her book, she later released the “Beautiful” series which includes Beautiful Oblivion, Beautiful Redemption, Beautiful Sacrifice, Beautiful Burn, and A Beautiful Funeral. And in 2023, the book was officially adapted into a feature film, starring Dylan Sprouse as Travis Maddox and Virginia Gardner as Abby Abernathy. With Beautiful Disaster being McGuire’s first romance novel, she was able to start her “Beautiful” journey beginning with hooking her audience with such a dramatic title. The title itself makes you question the irony within it. How is it that something beautiful can simultaneously be a disaster.
Following the title, she captivates the character of two people who unexpectedly fell into an entangled relationship over a simple bet. She describes the characters so vividly that you can almost predict who they are as the story unfolds. One character by the name of “Travis.” She describes him to be a fighter, with tattoos, and womanizer traits. Now, I won’t go spoiling it for you guys but let’s just say hearing that can make any woman cringe at getting to know him, even in a book. And with the character “Abby,” she paints an image of her as a woman who is well rounded, emotionally guarded, and highly passionate. Establishing that her character has a complete opposite persona than “Travis.” By highlighting these character traits, it forces you to believe they can never work as a couple, unless of course, you believe opposites attract.
The literature technique in this writing is well beyond what you can imagine. McGuire utilizes nonlinear narrative as a way to build suspense as you are reading. Instead of the chapters continuing where they left off, the story tends to jump timelines from chapter to chapter. Leaving you to guess what has happened in between chapters or question to yourself “what did I miss?” I did that several times throughout the story, but one thing I didn’t miss was this one specific quote that grasped my attention:
“I’ll just ruin you. I’ll ruin everything.”
It was that very quote that made me realize people will self-sabotage their relationship as a tool to protect their heart. We normalize the act of breaking things we love out of fear of being broken first. Sometimes, it takes such a deep and passionate story as Beautiful Disaster to hold up a mirror to your own flaws. The reflection I saw in my mirror was how guilty I am for having the same ignorant mindset. Taking risks on love but forcefully damaging it because I rather break a heart then have mine broken. So, as you turn each page, just ask yourself “what might be the reflection I see in the mirror?”
The story theme sneaks up on you, pulling you into moments where you see yourself in the wreckage, in the healing, and in the desperate hope that love, no matter how chaotic, is still worth it. You read about two characters who make you want to cheer them on through their good times, cry when they are hurt, or scream at the page when they are making such reckless choices.
If you’ve ever been in love with someone who made you question your sanity but also make you feel there is no other love outside of them, then the book Beautiful Disaster will resonate with you. And even if you haven’t, it will make you believe that love, in all its imperfections, is still worth it.
This book isn’t for everyone. It’s for the people who’ve made mistakes. Those of us who have loved hard but lost harder. But if you still believe in second chances and love is blinding then this book is just for you. Messy, raw, and a beautiful disaster.
Get the book Check out Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire at the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, or the Queens Public Library.
About the author This review is by Shyann Semprit, who writes, “A reader that is captivated by flawed characters and raw emotions, I see a bit of myself in every beautiful disaster.”
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
