Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

I haven't been this pissed off reading a book since Bad Romeo. Beautiful Disaster was a cluster eff of a read managing to throw everything I hate in a book into one novel.   
My first issue with this book are the characters. Our leading lady is Abby Abernathy. Then there's our leading man Travis Maddox. I can capture my feels for both of them at the same time. I HATE THEM!!! I CAN'T STAND THEM!!!! Actually that really undersells how I feel towards them but whatever. Abby is DUMB! there's is no other word I can use to describe her. I have never wanted to tear a characters hair out more than hers. She is such a plain character that turns out to be more boring than watching paint dry. It's clear that the writer wanted to make it out to be that Abby would be this special snowflake but it was the fail of fails. Her sub story is that she comes from this terrible up-bringing... Even though the premise behind her tale was set up to be a success it too failed! This brings me to Travis... Oh God I don't even know where to start with this this Patrick Bateman in training. This boy was two shakes of lambs tail away from cutting Abby up and making her into a skin suit. I would gladly let "Mr. Grey see me now" than let him touch me with a ten foot pole. He is creepy, abusive, controlling, scary, unattractive, cocky, and bizarre. This dude is beyond unstable. I also imagine him to be a  mouth breather so that just adds to the growing list of reason I hated him. McGuire writes it so that Travis is this womanizing-college frat-man whore. Girls vagina literately bust out of their pants every time they see him. This causing me to roll my eyes so hard that they almost dislodged from my head!

This leads me to problem two and three with this book. Maybe it's just me (doubtful but maybe) but if I was about to hook up with a dude and I opened his besides table and there was an endless amount of condoms and KY Jelly I would fly out of that room so fast that boy would think he was Dorthy... And if that didn't make up my mind then the fact that he brings home not one, but TWO girls and sleeps with them in the living room while I'M IN HIS BED! would of had me never ever speaking to him again. NO GIRL IN HER RIGHT MIND WOULD HAVE SWEPT THAT UNDER THE RUG! The scene made me want to vomit then drink the cleaning  products under my sink. Travis has major bipolar, drinking, jealousy, and personality issues. Travis also manages to keep Jesus abs the whole time without ever working out... HA NO! 

My fourth issue is the "love triangle"... It slightly reflected the same way the one from Twilight did, as in it was pointless. You never once think that Bella's not going to choose Edward. Never once did you think. "Wow Jacob might actually win the girl", No! that doesn't happen! Why this B would choose the travesty that is Travis over the handsome pre-doctor gentlemen is beyond me... Again Maybe that's just me. On to issue five, NO GUY NO GUY EVER!!!! WITH ANY AMOUNT OF PRIDE, STANDARDS, OR EVEN ONE WITH HALF A BRAIN WOULD LET THE GIRL THEY ARE COURTING SLEEP IN THE BED WITH ANOTHER MAN. You're telling me that you still want to take this girl on a date even though she is living with another man and laying in bed with him every night (no the pre-doc wasn't clueless to these acts)?!?!?! YOU STILL THOUGHT SHE'D END UP WITH YOU?!?! Please GTFOOH! No, there's no way I'm believing this. I also don't believe Abby could be dangling these two dudes by their balls when they both openly know she is bouncing between them like that white ball in a game of pong. Nope, again I just can't!  

My sixth issue is the plot. It's all over the place. It's one spotty scene after another of Travis trying to dick measure with any and every guy. Once I heard this dude had tribal tattoos and was in an underground fight club (did I fail to mention this, YEAH HE IS IN A POOR EXCUSE FOR A FIGHT CLUB!!!) I should have known to put this book down... HMMMM TRAVIS I HATE TO BREAK IT TOO YOU BUT YOU ARE NO BRAD PITT. I also struggled to remember if this was high school or college... They had a set freaking lunch time!!! Did no one else catch that?! Oh and the fact that Travis kept beating the snot out of people with NO repercussions! WHERE THE EFF WAS THE PRINCIPAL DEAN??? OH and don't get me started on the whole high-school musical sing along thing. (Seriously, what the hell did I just read?) No just No!  

My seventh and I think final issue (JK I could probably go on for days) with this book are the sub-characters. America is the worst best friend in history of friends. Shep is the worst family member in the history of the world. The only character that I thought made any sense was Kara!! She was the only character I liked. I kept screaming "THANK YOU!" every time she spoke!  

"Do you know what codependency is, Abby? Your boyfriend is a prime example, which is creepy considering he went from having no respect for women at all to thinking he needs you to breathe."

Why Abby kept blowing her off also blew my mind. There were just so many things I couldn't get behind. I know that the great part about books are that they can be anything. That they can go anywhere real or unrealistic. But this was just to far from either. I just can't really get over how much I disliked everything about this book. The characters, weak. The plot, weaker. The romance, the weakest.

Whatever Walking Deads on so I'm over this.

 2/10 Stars 
-Angela 

(Beautiful Disaster BookDepo) 

Angela's February Wrap-up

I'm writing this post super early (Feb. 21st), but by the time it reaches y'all it will be the end of the month. I know I wasn't too active on here this month, and that I saved most of my reviews till this last week and that's because I'm currently in the process of moving and sadly wont be able to be back on here till first week-ish of march. SO I preset everything to post while I'm off. I don't even know if I'll be able to read for the next week or so. (moment of silence for my time lost please.) Anyways, on to the good stuff. The whole month of February I dedicated too two things: doing some re-reads and focusing on books people recommended me. If you follow me on goodreads or have seen some of my latest reviews I explained that I went on and asked friends for their favorite books/books that brought them to tears and got tons of responses back. Then I did a big haul, did my re-reading while waiting on said haul, then went recommendation reading crazy. With February being such a short month I wanted to push really hard to read a bunch during it. Especially since I knew I wasn't going to have any time at the end of the month. So I was hoping to get to 30 books, but sadly fell a few short. Reading a total of 23 books... So close, yet so far away. Sigh.

As usual all you have to do is click the titles and it'll take you straight to the reviews.

Ten Tiny Breaths- K. A. Tucker
Let the Sky Fall- Shannon Messenger
This Song Will Save Your Life- Lelia Sales
Maybe Not- Colleen Hoover
Point of Retreat- Colleen Hoover 
Friend-Zoned- Belle Aurora 
Hexed- Michelle Krys
The 5th Wave- Rick Yancey (Re-Read)
The Infinite Sea- Rick Yancey (Re-Read)
Shatter Me- Tahereh Mafi (Re-Read)
Unravel Me- Tahereh Mafi (Re-Read)
Ignite Me- Tahereh Mafi (Re-Read)
I'll Give You the Sun- Jandy Nelson
Bad Romeo- Leisa Rayven
Snare- Clarissa Wild 
The Red Queen- Victoria Aveyard
Invaded- Melissa Landers
Me Before You- Jojo Moyes
Hardline- Michelle Wilds
Hardpressed- Michelle Wilds
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe- Benjamin Sáenz
Insurgent- Veronica Roth (Re-Read)
Royal Saga- Geneva Lee 

Of course as far as my favorites this month went, you should be able to tell that anything someone re-reads means that they probably love(d) it. I was so happy that I got to squeeze in both The Shatter Me series and The 5th Wave series. I loved them the first time around but re-reading them made me fall in love all over again (maybe even harder)... I'm basically begging for next year to get here so we can go see The 5th Wave movie already! I actually got to re-read The 5th Wave and The Infinite Sea with my husband and after he finished both of them he said he officially understands "fan-girling" because he loved them both so much. Oh, and with that being said did y'all see that we might finally have a name for book three!?!?! Rumor is it's going to be The Last Star, goosebumps right! (edit it was 100% confirmed this is going to be the name! Now please give us the cover already!) I also got to re -read Insurgent. I really want to right a full review for this book, but I'm going to wait until next month when Leah and I go and see the movie. I had a lot odd questions after seeing so many trailers for the upcoming film. I just knew I had to re-visit it... and I'm so glad I did. I didn't realize how much I had forgotten, and I don't think I'll be mad about what they are clearly already changing. (Well see for sure in March)

As far as my other favorites went that weren't re-reads, hands-down they had to be, Maybe Not, Point of Retreat, Me Before You, and The Red Queen. Of course my favorite list has to include at least one Hoover book, and Point of Retreat definitely didn't let me down. Then there's Me Before You which was the perfect love story, and The Red Queen which was a new release in February. One made me cry my eyes out while the other had me on the edge of my seat. Which one of the four would I pick as my Feb Fave..?? Easy, Maybe Not. Even as a novella it easily took the top spot! Having everything I loved in a book thrown into less that 150 pages. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard while reading a book before. Maybe Someday is one of my all time favorite books, but I still enjoyed Maybe Not just as much, if not more.

When it came to let downs February was full of them... Ten Tiny Breaths, Bad Romeo, Snare, and Invaded all made my list. Ten Tiny Breaths and Bad Romeo both had these amazing covers with story that didn't stand up. They both had the potential to be great but missed the mark and fell flat. Invaded wasn't a terrible book but as a follow up to Alienated it didn't come close to the same amazing-ness the first book had. Nothing happened till almost the very end, but at that point I was just to bored to really enjoy what was happening. My biggest let down however was Snare. IT MIGHT JUST BE THE WORST BOOK I'VE EVER READ!!! No, I think it is the worst book I've ever read. It was disgusting, weird, had one WTF thing after another, made no sense, and was just over-all terrible. I have no earthly clue how anyone could give this a five star rating, but tons of people have (to each their own... I guess). I'll more than likely post a ranting review on this book next month... Even though I'm trying to scrub it from my memory. Ugh, seriously though Snare was so... I don't know it really makes my skin hurt even thinking about it... Anyways.

There you have it my best and worst reads for this month. See y'all in March.

XOXO
-Angela

Bad Romeo by Leisa Rayven

When Cassie Taylor met Ethan Holt at acting school, sparks flew. She was the good girl actress. He was the bad boy about campus. But one fated casting choice for Romeo and Juliet changed it all. Cassie and Ethan's romance seemed destined. Until he broke her heart and betrayed her trust. Now the A-list heartthrobber is back in her life and turning her world around. 

The more I think about Bad Romeo the lower I want to rate it... I normally go into a review knowing what star rating I'm going to give it, but in Bad Romeo's case  I'm just going to wait till I'm completely done with the review before I decide anything.

With a cover like this I had high hopes for the book. I found Bad Romeo entertaining enough that I wanted to finish it, BUT there are also A LOT of things about it I hated.

The story follows two main characters Cassie Taylor and Ethan Holt. My main problem with the stories starts right there... With Cassie. At the start of this story she is a strong sassy leading lady, but as the novel continues, in both present and past tense, she became BEYOND annoying. When she is originally introduced I loved her. She seemed like she could hold her own against the leading tough guy Ethan. Cassie ending up spending 90% of the book begging (yes begging) for him to give her the D. 

She was so whiny and childish. Yes, some of her sexual commentary was funny and did give me a good LOL now and again but after 300 pages of her groveling for him to have sex with her I was just over it. I like up front ladies but it was just too much. Now on to Ethan. I liked present day Ethan a million times more than past Ethan. If you read this book you would probably think my reasoning for it is because present Ethan is swoon worthy and sweet... but you'd be wrong. It would be because he no longer went on and on about how much of an asshole he was. He spent WAY, WAY too much time talking about how he was a dick. WE GET IT YOU'RE SUCH A TOUGH GUY WITH A HORRIBLE PAST. (Just like every other Ya hottie.) Bad boy-don't want a girl friend-attitude was cute maybe the first 5 times you said it. Once again his character got really old fast! Present Ethan though; I'd take him any day of the week. I did really enjoy his characters verbiage and the way he brought about banter. The main and one of the only things I liked about the characters is that their relationship is more "realistic" because it's not rushed. They spent years building what they have (good or bad) as the book follows their 6 year journey.

"Think about it, Taylor," he says as he leans forward. "If Romeo thought he loved Rosaline and she broke his heart, why wouldn't he be terrified of Juliet, considering his connection to her is a hundred times stronger?" I raise my eyebrows. "Maybe he's brave enough to think it's worth the risk."

As far as the plot went, it was a little weak. The time-line does bounce between present day, six years earlier, and a few dairy entries. I found for the most part that the diaries entries were a little pointless. I got why they were there, I just didn't think they severed a real purpose. The back and forth between past and present never seemed to bother me however. The main point to the story is that Ethan apparently did Cassie wrong. Not just once, but twice. So in present time he is fighting to win her back. This is another issue I had with the book. It is only slightly suggested what the first thing he did to her was... the second item isn't even blinked at in this book. I like as much as the next book reader to use my imagination and draw my own conclusions now and again, but sometimes I just want you to flat out tell me what happened. I wouldn't of minded waiting for book two too get the second answer BUT for the love of mike just flat out tell me what he did too her, don't just blush at it then move on. The story was dragged out for way too long. This book is just over 400 pages and it could have been around 250-300.

As far as positive feedback, the things I did like about this book were: some of the phrases Leisa used to describe scenes and situations, the few actual romantic moments, the way the title was brought into play, and the steamy scenes were well written.

"When he looks at me with eyes full of agony and saltwater, I feel like I'm drowning" 

Like seriously, you can't just write short, sweet little phrases like that, but then give us very little of anything else. Other than the handful of nice items I liked, I overall wanted more out of this story. I was promised a romantic tale of star-crossed love lost, but what I got was a short stop ending with not even half answered questions.

Will I be continuing this series? Maybe. I mean I would like to know what happens in the long run... But then again I might just google it.

4/10 Stars 
-Angela 

(Bad Romeo Book Depo)