Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire Review, TRAVIS, Interview, & Giveaway

Walking Disaster (Beautiful 2) by Jamie McGuire-Adult Contemporary Romance

Paperback provided by Atria Books for review/ARC

Finally, the highly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Beautiful Disaster. 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.

Top Ten with TRAVIS!!!

1. Favorite movie/actor/actress? Karl Urban

2. Favorite song/singer? Johnny Cash

3. Favorite place you would love to visit? It’s a tie between Thailand and Australia

4. One item you can not live with out? Abby

5. Who would you like to meet?(dead or alive) My mom. I don’t really remember her. I’d give almost anything to see her again.

6. Abby…first thought when you hear her name? The way I felt the first time I saw her: Completely and permanently transformed.

7. Guilty pleasure? Tabloid magazines. What is Brangelina doing? I gotta know!

8. Favorite author and/book? The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Not because it’s enjoyable. Because it’s the opposite of enjoyable, and no matter how much time has gone by since you’ve read it, the experience never leaves you.

9. Snickers or Twix? Snickers

10. Favorite color? Black

Interview with Jamie

1. What did you do before you became an author? 

It seems like a lifetime ago! I was a waitress. I was a bank teller. I wrote Providence, Requiem and Beautiful Disaster while I was in X-Ray school, and I worked in a hospital as a radiographer until April 2012.

2. Who has inspired you as a writer? 

Without a doubt Stephenie Meyer. If I hadn’t read Twilight, I would have never thought my casual, conversational style of writing could be something readers would enjoy.

3. Other than your books of course, do you have a favorite series? 

The Twilight Saga. They are the only books I’ve read more than once.

4. Who is your favorite character to write? 

So far, Travis. Bex from Providence is second.

5. Which character of yours are you most like? 

All of them. Every character I’ve ever written is a little piece of me…and I have a lot more pieces that need a voice.

6. What is your most favorite scene in BD and WD? 

In BD, it’s at the Valentine party where Travis stands on top of the chair. I refer to it as “The Toast”. In WD, it’s the fight between Shepley and America after Abby’s birthday party. I still laugh every time I read it.

7. Did you base Travis and Abby off of people you know? 

Travis, yes.

8. I can’t wait for the Maddox Brothers spinoff. Do you plan to write a book about each brother and who is first? 

Every brother will get his story. I am SO excited about this! I already have the basic ideas for both, and I’m already anxious to get these books to the readers! Trent’s story will be first. Thomas’s will be second. There is a reason for this. J No, I can’t say why! Haha

9. What is one unknown fact about Travis? 

His post-college career. You’ll find out in Walking Disaster!

10. What are you working on now? 

Red Hill. It begins the day of the viral outbreak of the undead (aka zombie apocalypse). I’ve beta tested it on my agent, Amy Tannenbaum, who is in no way, shape, or form a zombie enthusiast. I can proudly say I have turned her to the dark side. She can’t get enough! Red Hill will appeal to zombie lovers and non-zombie lovers. It has all the great aspects of a good zombie apocalypse novel, but it’s so character driven, even non-zombie lovers will enjoy it! In all of my novels, it is very important to me that they’re believable. Red Hill is as much a love story and survival story as it is a zombie novel.

Walking Disaster in Six Words

Heartbreaking: Walking Disaster’s prologue begins with Travis’s memory of losing his mother.

Heartwarming: Get ready for a lot more Trent and Jim Maddox, and bro time between Shepley and Travis.

Scandalous: Travis is Travis, after all.

Entertaining: There are so many moments that I hope will have you laughing out loud.

Gritty: I pull no punches. I couldn’t in good conscience release Travis’s point of view if even a sentence of it was a watered down version of Travis Maddox. You get the honest experience of what it’s like to be inside the head of our favorite asshole.

Shocking: “I bet you didn’t see that coming,” said Jamie McGuire, on every page.


My Review:
Walking Disaster was one of my most anticipated reads of this year. Can you imagine why? If you said Travis Maddox, you would be correct! I could not wait to get into his head. The result: I fell in love with Travis even more!

While Walking Disaster is the same story, it felt like I was reading it for the first time again. Getting to know Travis more and how he thinks, why he acts the way he does, and simply...his perception on he and Abby's relationship was enlightening. I felt like Travis came across almost in a more sensitive way. I mean, let's face it...Abby and Travis has a very dramatic relationship at times, but I think he's a pretty deep guy. He was really affected by the issues they had in their relationship. I think those readers out there that aren't Travis fans, *gasp* would be swayed after reading this book.

Also, I loved reading more about his family and their relationships with each other. This is a family that has had to deal with major tragedy, but they pulled together. They rely on each other. My heart broke for Travis because, he was so young when his mom died. Being surrounded by men from such an early age, explains a lot about why he is the way he is. I really love the relationship he has with his dad. His dad has a talk with him near the end of the book that brought me to tears. Loved it.

There were a few new twists and surprises in Walking Disaster. Obviously, I can't say what they are though. I will tell you this, I absolutely ADORED the ending and squeed as soon as I had finished! It was definitely a fantastic lead in to the Maddox Brothers Series. And while we know Abby and Travis have their happy ending, I think we will still get to see glimpses of them in the Maddox Brothers Series. YAY!

Overall, Walking Disaster was everything I had hoped it would be. I can never get enough Travis! Not only did I love reading about one of my favorite book boyfriends, but I was happy to see Abby, Shep, and America again too. Whether you liked Beautiful Disaster or not, I can say with conviction that Walking Disaster is a book you won't want to miss!

Quotes:
~Once she kissed me, my heart slowed, and every muscle in my body relaxed. How much I needed her terrified me. -pg 252/ARC

~Maybe it was just me. Maybe it was just me and her. Maybe together we were this volatile entity that would either implode or meld together.-pg 252/ARC

~I pulled her arms around me without apology, tight enough that it was difficult to expand my chest enough to fully inhale but for the first time all night, I felt like I could breathe.-pg 232/ARC

~Watching Abby own my brothers--hand after hand was turning me on. I'd never seen a woman so sexy in my life, and this one happened to be my girlfriend.-pg 257/ARC

~I was now in a situation where I didn't have to prove myself, because the one person that fully accepted me, my best friend, was now a permanent fixture in my life.-pg 420/ARC

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About the Author 

Jamie McGuire lives in Oklahoma with her children and her husband Jeff, who is a real, live cowboy. They share their 10 acres with four horses, four dogs, and Rooster the cat.
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