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SharonL

Sharon L

"My imagination has always topped anything a movie could come up with" 

 

-Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

Currently reading

The Diviners
Libba Bray
The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles, #2)
Anne Rice
The Carnelian Legacy
Cheryl Koevoet
Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful, #1) - Jamie McGuire WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF DISASTER! (*clapping hands*)the fact that I gave both books 2 stars shows I didn't hate them entirely. so, let's stars this review, shall we? when reading the many reviews of one star before(!) reading the book you think you're going into a battlefield- good girl, bad violent boy and another completely abusive relationship. I'm sorry to say, THAT'S NOT ENTIRELY TRUE. Both Travis and Abby are seriously fucked up, more then someone their age should be. and even though one might claim they've been through alot, they're more fucked up then what they should be. yet, qfter you'll read both books you'll realize something- They are perfect for each other, because they are fucked up to the very same degree. I know many people thought that the end result would be that someday Travis would hit or kill Abby or someone else, because he's a violent bastard. But, after seeing many abusive relationship and marriage go wrong in the past year I can say that he won't, he loves her and he won't hurt her even though he tends to be violent. Now, that doesn't make him any less creepy with walking in on her while she showers, watching her while she sleeps or dress up, going through her stuff, being possesive, forcing her to sleep in the same bed as him, getting angry and drunk and then having a loud three-some and once done going to sleep next to her still stinky only because he heard her saying that she won't date him cause they're not good for each other, oh and crushing her date with someone. Also, though the writer probably didn't intend to do so, Travis comes across as a lousy lover. I have more problems with Travis- he inkes her name on his wrist (though it's only her nickname), and play pissing contest with some other guy just to prove to himself that he is still important to her. he loves her but he doesn't listen nor understand that taking someone's suggestion to make loads of money is gonna hurt her and cost him losing her, not until she leaves him. Basucally- he's so afraid of screwing up that he keeps on screwing up until Abby runs out of patience. he thinks that saying he's fucking damn sorry would get her back. when he realize that ain't gonna happen, that sorry doesn't fix everything he accept it and starts to change. he tries his best to let her go, and eventually he realize she's important to him- enough to consider her before his needs and desires, enough to finally speak to her and SPEAK of how he feels finally. of being true that he's insecure and would probably screw up but he'll try his damnest not to, that they should speak. suddenly he doesn't try to posses her as much as making her understand that she's his. and that's where it's finally good. Now, Mcguire took a violent guy made him physically attractive and mentally smart, thus, making sure the reader would be attracted to him just like Abby is, so when he does all those jerk things the reader would understand why Abby sticks around and why she's patient.now Abby, sometimes she acts like a grown up and sometimes like a child. she's supposed to be 19 but feels more like 15 most of the time. they all do, it's supposed to be college but most of tje time it came across as highschool. Abby is not afraid of Travis, she stands up to him when she sees fit, she screws up plenty on her own by trying to be someone she's not instead of accepting herself. thus trying to fight her attraction to Travis. Travis and Abby are really alike in their core.what did drive me crazy was how many times Travis screwed up people would tell Abby she needs to be patient and accept it, until that one time that's too much and then even her best friend understands that that's it.the things I loved: shepley and america- they were good side characters. I loved them, their interaction and relationship. Travis's family. they were fantastic. also, Mcguire is right with part of her messege- sometimes you meet a person and it's just it. What I'm afraid of- that young girls that would read this story wouldn't understand the differenc between Travis and abusive male and end up with some abusive guy thinking they tamed them some Maddox. that would be disastrous!!! Travis is a bad boy in many ways, and quite on the dangerous side. He won't be tamed unless he wanted to. the kind of girl that would tame such a guy is too rare, I think it's better that young girls won't try, so they won't end up with some abusive jerk that would hit them and abuse them emotionally and phisically. because, abusive males are charming, full of confidence and insecure deep down in them (just like Travis), but they'll try to isolate the girl from her supporting network of friends and familly, making her completely dependent on him, they'll try to hurt herself-confidence and merge her identity with his. until she'll think of how he would react to something she did before she did it, losing herself and her will. being completely affected by his moodswings, he'll blame her for most things that went wrong, and if he was successfull she'd blame herself. he'd hurt her and then apologise, then he'll try to make it up to her until next time- creating a destructive and neverending cycle. so yes, some points in the story were borderline to this kind of attitude, but in the end when you look closely you see it wasn't- Travis never tried to cut Abby from her support, he didn't blame her for every screwup, he apologised and tried his best to change (and did change), he accepted the fact that she's a person of her own- and she never let him forget that- and he tries to encourage her. so, just be careful, ok?