Book Review: Walking Disaster

Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire
April 2, 2013
448 pages
Atria Books
Source: NetGalley copy
(but I also preordered and purchased a personal paperback to sit beautifully on my shelf next to my multiple copies of Beautiful Disaster)

Goodreads Summary:

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.

My Review:

First, I'd like to say that I loved Beautiful Disaster. I've read it several times, and each time I get a little something more out of it. I also own multiple copies (ebook, self-published paperback, professionally published paperback, & signed hardcover). I find myself glued to the crazy dynamic between Abby and Travis, and can't seem to get enough of them. I jumped at the opportunity to read Walking Disaster and add the paperback to my collection.

I wish I had NOT re-read Beautiful Disaster right before reading Walking Disaster. The scenes and dialogue were so fresh in my head, so while I was reading WD I noticed the 'cut & paste' portions of the book right away. Now, Jamie did add little bits here and there in those scenes, but the repetition was still obvious. If you are debating re-reading BD before WD, my advice is DON'T. You'll be just fine following along in the story without the re-read, and might even appreciate it more.

What I loved were the scenes with Travis and other people besides Abby. These behind-the-scenes moments are what I wanted from WD. I wanted to know more about Travis away from Abby, more about his thoughts, and more about his other relationships. I particularly enjoyed his scenes with Shepley and Trenton. But I would have loved even more of those scenes because they rounded out Travis' character. And I would have loved more from the time period during the break-up. The scenes with Abby were nice, not as new and fresh as I'd been hoping for, but still enjoyable.

The extra stuff at the end and epilogue were really great, though. Jamie did a great job in giving her readers what we wanted at the end there. We wanted to see more of Travis and Abby beyond what we already knew, and she gave me the warm-fuzzies I'd been hoping for. Plus, we got some extra hints on Trenton and Thomas, who are supposed to eventually get their own books according to Jamie's website, so that was much appreciated.

Overall, I enjoyed WD, loved the extra scenes of Travis with the other guys, could have used something more with the scenes between Travis and Abby instead of mostly repeating BD, but loved the end. I'd like to re-read this in the future without the freshness of just reading BD and see if that gives me a little different perspective.

4 STARS