Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

College freshman, Abby Abernathy decided to attend Eastern University in attempts to escape her past life in Wichita, Kansas.  Abby adopts a sophisticated, prim and proper look when she arrives at Eastern with the hope that the old Abby will not resurface.  Things are going great until Abby meets Travis Maddox, Eastern's   "bad boy".  Travis "Mad Dog" Maddox is a tattooed, fist fighting, motorcycle rider.  He earned his "Mad Dog" title as a bare knuckled fighter in an underground fighting ring held at different basement locations throughout campus.  Travis also has a reputation for one-night-stands and Abby initially wants nothing to do with him.  Despite her attempts to ward him off, Travis convinces Abby that he only wants to be friends.  They become best friends and rumors quickly begin to circulate about Abby being the first girl Travis hasn't had sex with and then ditched.  Travis and Abby's attraction for one another begins to increase and Abby is terrified that Travis will cause her to go back to being the person she once was.  

My Thoughts: 
I first learned about Beautiful Disaster when I saw it on the New York Times Best Seller List.  The synopsis seemed interesting, so I thought I would give it a try.  It was a quick read with a fast moving plot.  In a number of articles I read, Beautiful Disaster was likened to Fifty Shades of Grey.  While I see the similarities, I am a little hesitant to compare the two.  While Fifty Shades of Grey has a interesting plot, I feel that it was much more about the sex scenes than the actual story.  Beautiful Disaster is more about the relationship between Abby and Travis and how they both fight to overcome their difficult pasts.  They do have a sexual relationship, but this is by no means the focal point of the story. If you are a fan of  "bad boy" and innocent girl story lines, this book will definitely appeal to you.  

Note: Beautiful Disaster is told from Abby's perspective. Jamie McGuire has just released a another novel, Walking Disaster which tells the story from Travis' perspective.