Series: Maddox Brothers #1
About Jamie McGuire
New York Times best selling author Jamie McGuire has penned the Providence series and contemporary romance Beautiful Disaster. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three children. She is an RT(R), a graduate of Autry and Oklahoma Northern College, and a full time writer.
Welcome to my stop on the Beautiful Oblivion blog tour! Visit the Beautiful Oblivion page for all the tour stops, as well as giveaway details. Thanks for stopping by!
Genre: Contemp Romance
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: 7/1/14
Format: eARC
Pages: 336
Source: Publisher
Rating: 5 stars
The Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster phenomenon continues in the first heart-pounding new adult romance in The Maddox Brothers series.
Fiercely independent Camille "Cami" Camlin gladly moved on from her childhood before it was over. She has held down a job since before she could drive, and moved into her own apartment after her freshman year of college. Now tending bar at The Red Door, Cami doesn’t have time for much else besides work and classes, until a trip to see her boyfriend is cancelled, leaving her with a first weekend off in almost a year.
Trenton Maddox was the king of Eastern State University, dating co-eds before he even graduated high school. His friends wanted to be him, and women wanted to tame him, but after a tragic accident turned his world upside down, Trenton leaves campus to come to grips with the crushing guilt.
Eighteen months later, Trenton is living at home with his widower father, and works full-time at a local tattoo parlor to help with the bills. Just when he thinks his life is returning to normal, he notices Cami sitting alone at a table at The Red.
As the baby sister of four rowdy brothers, Cami believes she’ll have no problem keeping her new friendship with Trenton Maddox strictly platonic. But when a Maddox boy falls in love, he loves forever—even if she is the only reason their already broken family could fall apart.
In the first installment of the Maddox Brothers books, readers can experience the rush of reading Beautiful Disaster for the first time, all over again.
My Review
I sometimes write my reviews as I'm reading, adding little tidbits or thoughts as I go, so I won't leave out important details. I did this with Beautiful Oblivion, I had lots of little notes. But then... I got to the end and pretty much wanted to scrap it all because really, this book was so good. I loved Trenton so hard and I loved Cami despite her persistent evasiveness. BUT for me, the clincher, what truly seals the deal and made Beautiful Oblivion a knock-out read, is a part of the story I can't even discuss: the epic twist, the moment that makes every single one of Cami's vague thoughts and words make sense. For that moment alone, Beautiful Oblivion is worth your time. And honestly, it made me want to pick that book right back up and start over from the beginning, comb my way through to pick up the hints. That moment makes the rest of this review pretty much irrelevant in my mind. Yes, it was that good.
If anyone is a perfect match for a Maddox brother, it's Camille Camlin. She's a tough, hard-working, smart girl from a dysfunctional family that's neck-deep in drama. She has a boyfriend she never sees and barely gets to speak to on the phone. There was something that appeared to be verrrry shady going on, so of course I wanted to know what was up with that. She has an awesome friend in Raegan, who has guy drama of her own (great side-story, there!) Cami alson has Trenton Maddox, who quickly becomes her best friend, protector, and confidant. Cami also has a secret. Something that she believes makes her not good enough for Trent, will make him hate her. WHAT IS THIS SECRET, CAMI? Seriously, what could possibly be that hard to get past, right? That's what I thought, and dude, I was so wrong. I love being so wrong about something so good.
Trent was just...yeah. He's a Maddox boy. And I just want to make a quick aside here, about this family. Yes, these boys are hotheads, quick to fight each other and anyone who pisses them off, threatens them and theirs, etc. They are overprotective, and assuming, and yes, a bit possessive. And yes, don't always deal with situations in an ideal manner. BUT. There is an always underlying sense of devotion and responsibility with these boys. A sense of love. I happen to be from a family not unlike the Maddox family. In fact, I would bet, back in the day, my dad and his brothers made the Maddox brothers seem very sweet and charming. And you know what, they all grew up to be good men. So, there's that.
Back to Trenton, he was pretty fantastic. Nice, but could get his snark on in a hurry. Thoughtful and generous in ways that might surprise some readers. He's a big handsome teddy bear, really. Trent is persistent towards Cami in a way that can only be described as playful and genuine. Not about bagging the hottest girl around, but about getting the girl of his dreams to pick him. So endearing, and honestly, I can't think of one bad thing to say about Trenton.
Beautiful Oblivion's timeline runs concurrent to Beautiful Disaster, which was a fantastic touch, in my opinion.. I had no idea Trenton had this going on while Travis was losing his mind, and his heart, to Abby. Actually, from an outsider's perspective, namely Cami's the "Travis Moments", in which you see this poor boy so confused and upset by the fact he's falling in love with Abby, who's making him work for it so hard, were so much fun. That was brilliant!
So now that I've discussed all the important (to me) details, I really need to re-emphasize that while I loved Beautiful Oblivion, what really punched me in the heart was that ending. That moment when every.single.thing comes together and I was left sitting on my couch saying "What. The. F---? Did I just read that? How did I miss this? Holy crap this is awesome!"
Beautiful Oblivion just may be my favorite Jamie McGuire book yet. Wait, no, it is definitely my favorite yet.
Favorite Quotes
I was pretty damn smart. Smart enough to have kept my distance from Trenton all these years. I'd seen him flirt, seduce and evade since we were kids. There was absolutely no trick Trenton Maddox could play that I wouldn't be ready for.
He walked away, and I huffed in frustration.
"Yes," I called out to him. He turned, watching me expectantly. "We're friends."
A small smile touched his lips, and then it spread into a full-blown grin. "I know."
He shoved his hands into his pockets as he strolled across the parking lot like he owned the world. Once he hopped inside Kody's truck, my stomach sank. I was in trouble. Big, disastrous, Maddox trouble.
[...] Just a few weeks with Trenton had changed all of that. Suddenly it was okay to want messy, and flaws, and uncertainly, so much of what Trenton embodied...everything I saw in myself that I thought I didn't like. Because even if we were struggling, we had goals. It didn't matter that we weren't there yet. What mattered is that we both experienced setbacks, and full-blown failures, but we got up, brushed ourselves off, and kept going-and were making the best of it. Trenton didn't just make all those things acceptable; he made getting there fun. Instead of feeling ashamed of where we weren't, we could be proud of where we were going, and what we would overcome to get there.
Purchase Links
About Jamie McGuire
New York Times best selling author Jamie McGuire has penned the Providence series and contemporary romance Beautiful Disaster. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three children. She is an RT(R), a graduate of Autry and Oklahoma Northern College, and a full time writer.
