Walking Disaster is one of the highly anticipated novel of 2013. It is the latest novel from contemporary romance author Jamie McGuire. Walking Disaster debuted at number one on the New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal best seller lists.
Walking Disaster is the retelling of her New York Times Bestseller Beautiful Disaster. We get a chance to tap into the mind of the infamous bad boy Travis ‘Mad Dog’ Maddox as he tells his side of the story. The book mirrors the story of Beautiful Disaster and adds Travis humorous thoughts.
Travis Maddox is a lean, cut, tattooed, fighting, charmer who doesn’t believe in relationships. Travis Maddox is know to be the “Easter University’s Walking One Night Stand.’ Abby Abernathy doesn’t swoon over Travis Maddox like every other girl on campus.
This presents the challenge to Travis Maddox since he is cocky and charismatic and used to getting what he wants. The book takes place in college as Abby Abernathy starts her freshmen year. In this book we get to see another side of Travis Maddox. We learn that before his mother passed away she taught him to “Love hard and to fight harder.”
Travis Maddox life is all about “fast women, underground gambling, and violence.” Once Travis has the chance to get to know Abby he realizes he has met his match. In the book we see that Travis is a carefree funny guy who lived life on his own terms. We also get to see the dynamics of his relationship with his cousin Shepley that was entertaining and funny to see their close bond.
Travis and Abby have challenges and set backs from the beginning with the lack of communication and trust. Both come from a trouble childhood and don’t know how to let anyone in. Travis is hot headed and temperamental and Abby is stubborn, prideful walks away from the arguments. We see how the breakups and fights got to Travis as much as they got to Abby. Despite Travis being the strong fierce bad boy he had a sensitive side and the poor guy just couldn’t catch a break.
In this book we see a glimpse of how Travis and Abby are in the future. They are married for elven years with twin and a baby on the way. Both are successful in their careers, as Abby became a math teacher and Travis a FBI agent. Despite all the drama and people trying to keep them apart their love lasted and remained strong.
Some thing that I think needed some work was that the “Greek Life” was not portrayed correctly. Another thing was some of the words and phrases Travis used to express himself, since it didn’t seem like it would be something a man would say. Such as the term “bagging” he used constantly in relation to his conquests. Also, McGuire skimmed or took out some parts that were in Beautiful Disaster in Walking Disaster that I would have wanted to know what Travis was thinking. Overall the book met my expectations and had me engaged the entire time.
Sadly this book is the end for Travis and Abby Maddox. McGuire is working on two books on Travis’ brothers Trent and Thomas. McGuire is a talented author that writes books that are relatable with realistic characters. Walking Disaster will have you laughing, crying, smiling and falling in love with the infamous Travis Maddox.