"Walking Disaster" by Jamie McGuire

I’ve been reading books and watching movies long enough to know that the happy ending is inevitable. And yet, despite the predictability, I keep on reading or watching because it’s not IF the happy ending happens, it’s HOW. Such is the case with “Walking Disaster” by Jamie McGuire. As you read the beginning of the book, you start to wonder how exactly an underground fighter with a hair-trigger temper like Travis Maddox ever falls in love with the ultra-beautiful Abby Abernathy. It is easy to understand where Travis gets his anger from: in the beginning, his mother dies and he’s raised by his testosterone-pumped brothers and father. Ever since then, Travis made his money by beating the shit out of people and finds yet another outlet for his anger by bringing random chicks to his apartment and having emotionless sex with them before kicking them out. When he meets Abby Abernathy, Travis has to find a way to keep his anger under control so that he doesn’t drive away his one last chance at true romance. Abby isn’t a saint either since she too has a “doesn’t take shit from anybody” attitude. I hate to break it to you hopeless romantics out there, but when you combine a dynamite shack with a bomb vest, you’re not getting new age music. How exactly do these two styles mesh and make for a happy ending? Let’s just say that it’s a long and hellish road like most relationships are. If you’re not in love with the language Travis uses to narrate his story, then at least give Mrs. McGuire credit for making the story realistic and making her characters earn their respective endings. It takes 430 pages in change to get to that happy point, but it’s worth every page. With the way Travis narrates his own story, you can expect a quick reading pace, so the 400 plus pages go by rather fast. Before I put a rubber stamp on this favorable review and call it a day, I should tell you all that Jamie McGuire, before being published under the Simon & Schuster banner, started out as an independent author. It turns out her book landed in the lap of the right people and ever since then she’s been a New York Times bestseller. I bought this book because I support independent authors, since I am one myself. If McGuire continues to write wonderful books like this one, then I’ll keep on tossing money her way. It’s that simple.

　

***LYRICS OF THE DAY***

“The sweetest kiss I’ve ever got is the one I’ve never tasted.”

-Rodriguez singing “Cause”-