Beautiful Disaster

Beautiful Disaster
By Jamie McGuire

Somehow, this week became Teen Fiction review week! Beautiful Disaster is a teen book for the more mature young person (16 +). Abby Abernathy has a secret that she is hiding from the rest of her classmates at Eastern University. Only her best friend, America, knows about her past. Then Abby meets Travis Maddox at a secret fight at school. Not only does he win every basement battle but he is well known as a womanizer: he sleeps with them once then has no more to do with them. Yet, every woman wants to be the one to tame him. Abby tries to throw him off but Travis is relentless.

They settle for being friends. They become good, inseparable friends. This causes no end of gossip, speculation and lots of odd moments. Abby realizes she feels more for Travis but does not want to ruin their relationship so she tries hard to keep them as friends. Eventually, they become lovers. That begins the teen roller coaster of romance. I kept wondering when they would get off. Yet, Travis is such an interesting character that you really want Abby to get back with him and stop acting so childish. But Abby's past comes back to haunt her -- and you get a better understanding of why behaves the way she does.

What did Beautiful Disaster have to do with my faith? If there is a story out there that is like my own relationship with God, this has to be it. Abby is so incredibly immature that you wonder what Travis sees in her. He goes after her, even though she claims she is not interested in him at all. And when they finally become a couple, he says that she is the One. On the other hand, Abby picks out the wrong reasons to break it off with Travis again and again. Yet, she still loves him -- or claims to love him. When in my life have I shown disinterest in God? Gotten together with God, then broke it off for some insane reason? Gotten back with God, then separated again? When will I ever make a final commitment? How many of you can say the same?

I recommend this book.

Happy reading,

Amelia