Walking Disaster

Yes, finally I can get a review online. As I already said in my TBR of December, I'm in the middle of my exams. I did manage to do some reading in between! Which brings me to the topic of this review: Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire. As you might know it's the sequel of Beautiful Disaster but this time in Travis's POV. I was so eager to read this book! 
Which also means the story isn't different at all, of course there'll be new scenes. This because Travis and Abby weren't always together and I liked that already before I started the book. The fact that we'd be in Bad Boy Travis's head and there'd be new things about him to explore.

It’s about a boy, Travis and a girl, Abby who meet in a very awkward moment. There’s blood, a smile, a stunned expression and it all begins. She's his pigeon! They meet again and it’s pretty obvious Abby has something there for Travis. He sees it, he feels it and he won’t take no for an answer but Abby only  wants him to leave her alone.
 He promised his mother that he'd fight for the one he'd fall in love with. He swore though that he'd never just settle with some girl. Travis wanted a pigeon, someone that speaks to him without needing words. Someone one-of-a-kind. Both keep denying it until Travis finally opens up his heart. One thing is for sure, he won't go down without a battle. One he's not sure he'll ever win. But he promised... So he'll try. Will Abby be his?

After I read this book, in his POV, I did change my mind a little. Not that it was bad or anything! On the contrary, this book was even better in my point of view. The way I see it, this might be all because of Travis.

In Beautiful Disaster I was just not feeling him. I felt the same as Abby. He was a jerk to her some times and he wasn't always as nice as I wanted him to be. Yes, I got mad at him so many times for being mean. Although that didn't stop me from loving him, but I see now that he actually isn't such a bad boy. He's just a softy inside! He just falls for Abby and that's weird for him, it's new. 

He never really cared about girls and just let them out the morning after, without settling down but Abby is his weak spot. She's the one that tames him and I kind of am fan because of that. I felt like you could see and feel that a lot more in his POV. I also felt a lot more of romance and after all the hatred that I send flying to Travis while reading Beautiful Disaster... I know for sure that that actually wasn't supposed to be meant for him.

Which brings me to Abby. Now I realize that actually, she's kind of the one with a temper. As you read along in Travis' head you see that he really tries hard. When he tries, Abby kind of blows him off which obviously leads to a little crack in his heart. He isn't that bad at all, he's just... soft on the inside but hard on the outside. So I kind of changed my mind on Abby, I liked her but she kind of caused most the trouble. I still find both characters very realistic though and very intriguing! 

Because we read in Travis' POV we also get new scenes and a lot of those scenes involve his family. I can't tell you how happy that made me! Travis grew up without a mother and with 4 brothers and his dad. He had a hard time which he explains in this book. 

We met his brothers and father in Beautiful Disaster but I felt like it wasn't enough. It was a little superficial. I needed more, I craved more and my prayers were answered by the Book Gods. The author gave us a better view on the family affairs! And even more details about his mother! As a reader you get to see how his father is after being bereaved of his beloved wife. How it changed him but also how his relationship is with Travis was in the past and is now.

Also the brothers are around a lot. Some more than others which brings us to going back in time, getting more details of their childhood. Who took care for who after their mother passed away and what's left of that "hierarchy". 

Other than that the book was quite the same, with new feelings that came from Travis. I was really happy that I read this book because it just gave me more perspective. The best part in the book was the epilogue though! I can't say anything but I'll tell you I was very surprised. And happy but sad after that because then it was the end! Like really the end!

Of course I also read this book because of Travis. I kind of fell hard for that guy while I read and I fell even more in love with him during Walking Disaster. I don't find him a disaster though, maybe a very handsome mess but I don't mind that at all! If you read Beautiful Disaster, I really recommend reading this beauty because it really completes the story more.

And now I've got your attention, I just want to tell you guys that subscribing is possible! It took me a while to understand why it didn't work and finally, it does! So on your right side underneath my picture you can subscribe by mail. If you were already subscribed and don't get any mails, I'd just try again. That's how I had to do it! Thanks guys!

"Every story has two sides."

December TBR

I know I've been kind of absent for a very long time but I have a good reason: the exams. They've been taking a lot of time and when I had some spare time after studying, I tried to catch up with some reading. This brings me to my To Be Read-list of the last month of 2015! 

Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

As you might or might not know, I read Beautiful Disaster some months ago. I also did a review on it which you can find here. Back then I said how much I loved the book and I couldn't wait to read it in Travis POV. 
I've got my hands on the book! So basically it's the same story but then in Travis's point of view. There are new scenes obviously because Abby and Travis weren't always together so I'm very interested in those. Mainly because I want to know what Travis did in his spare time other than going out and fight. So I'm really excited to read this book! I'm sure it will be as good as Beautiful Disaster since I adored that book and really was a big fan of Travis!

"Every story has two sides."

Flight by Alyssa Rose Ivy

My next book that I want to read this December is Flight. I find it in the recommendations when I was on a online shop for books and I also want to mention that it isn't really known. I loved the cover immediately, though now I have it in my hands I did wish the cover wasn't that dark. If there isn't a lot of light surrounding you, you can't stare at it as much as I'd like to... Now the story! It's basically about a girl that goes to live with her dad in New Orleans. It's what she needs, just a break from it all. Her parents have been divorced since she was born and their relationship after that wasn't as great. 
She meet someone. Of course! As in all the books I'm drawn to the girl always meet someone. She had sworn she wouldn't be hanging out with any guy for the summer after her breakup. But things don't always go the way you plan it. The boy is just mysterious, he grabs her attention, he's handsome, has an ego (which guy in a book doesn't?). Let's just stick with the fact that he's definitely something. 
I couldn't buy the books in Belgium or the Netherlands so I had to let them come from Book Depository, not that I minded! 

"Sometimes you just have to take flight."

Focus by Alyssa Rose Ivy

But if I decide to check in with Book Depository, I make sure to buy a few books. This due to that it just takes so long for them to arrive. And since I only can get the series from there, I decided to (why not?) just let the second book in the series come with it. It's also a book I'll be reading in the month of December! I think the cover isn't as appealing to me as the cover of the first book but that won't stop me. The story obviously builds further on Allie and her summer in New Orleans but I don't think I should tell any details now. It would only ruin the story, wouldn't it? 

"It’s just a game we’re playing.”

My True Love Gave Me by Stephanie Perkins (Editor)

It's December which means the holidays aren't that far away. That's basically why I decided to grab a book that brings me in the mood of Christmas. This books doesn't handle 1 story, it handles 12 stories. Short stories basically but I don't mind that! I'd love to try and read one story a day and start the 12th... That way I really read towards Christmas! 
As I said this story is divided in 12 stories which means 12 different authors... These writers are the ones that came up with the brilliant idea of combining their passion for writing: Holly Black, Ally Carter, Matt de la Pena, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Rainbow Rowell, Laini Taylor and Kiersten White. 

My titel says Stephanie Perkins because she's the editor of the book so she kinds of needs the credit of being mentioned to in my opinion! She puts in as much work as the others. I haven't read books by all of the writers mentioned, but I am really curious. I haven't found any information about what the stories are about since I haven't even read a review. I just looked at the score it was giving and the rather short description on Goodreads.
The book should've been arrived today but unfortunately it got delayed... Damn Christmas shoppers! Ah well, they promised it would arrived the 11th so it'll be in time. 

"So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love."

World After by Susan EE

Last month I read the first one in this (beautiful) series: Angelfall. My friend Fien from mybookishrambles.wordpress.com , recommended the series to me. If you might not know it or you forgot, I'm a huge fan of books with anything that flies. ANYTHING. Angels, Fallen Angels, even books with ravens in it (and then I'm talking about a very good book series by Pt Michelle!) and this book just had my craving in it. And I was very fond of it! The book went by so fast and I was so sad that it was over because I didn't have the second book! Well... I kind of do now... Oh and I might also have bought the third and last one in the series. Whoops! 
As every second book it builds onto the first one. There's an Apocalypse and Penryn loses someone she really loves during it. Determinate to find her bereaved loved one back, she'd do anything. Even work with the enemy. Things went down in the first book, I'm telling you it's GOOD. 
I'm very curious on what the second book has for me. A quick look at the back tells me that Penryn and the enemy might get eye to eye again. If it'll be like the first book and therefore for a good cause is unknown to me. Who knows maybe the world will be fine? Maybe it's worse? Maybe, just maybe, I fall in love with the enemy... Who knows?

"The survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world."

So these are the books I really want to read this month but that doesn't mean there might not be any others on their way already. And I might start reading in those too! What is your TBR for this last month full of Christmas Joy? 

Beautiful Disaster

It’s been waiting on my reading list for half a year and I finally dared to buy it. I heard positive things about it but the most comments were negative which is why I waited so long. I have no idea why I waited so long because it was such a good and addictive book: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire.

It’s about a girl, Abby and a boy, Travis who meet in a very awkward moment. There’s blood, a smile, a stunned expression and it all begins. They meet again and it’s pretty obvious Travis likes Abby. He won’t take no for an answer but Abby only  wants him to leave her alone. He’s a bad boy and she can’t fall in love with him. Everything in her head tries to keep the defenses up while her heart is only growing closer to Travis. Who can resist a bad boy whose so good looking, has tattoos and a motorcycle? He’s the only person she thinks about. It only leads to frustration, anger, despair, love, broken hearts. Especially when the past comes knocking on Abby’s door. The only question is will it bring them even closer or only rip them further apart?

The feels in this book are just huge. I never felt the same emotions through this book, I felt everything the main character felt and above that more emotions. One emotion that kept coming back were frustrations. I’m so team Travis! I guess I have the feels for bad boys ha! I just love books where I can pull my hair out one moment but totally melt inside the other, only to be angry 20 pages later. It just makes sure the book isn’t boring. 

A word about the characters? God, where to begin. I could totally relate with Abby! She wants to be good, pay attention in class. She dresses as she pleases, is ugly when she wants to be. (With that I just mean that she doesn’t care about how she walks in her own room. If it’s with sweatpants and a messy bun or a dress that’s too short, she does as she pleases.). She does care when there are rumors about her which only makes her vulnerable and would keep her from doing what her heart really wants. She’s not only vulnerable at times where rumors spread but also when it comes to her past. She ran away from it, started fresh but her past decides to come visit and get her in trouble. 

Travis on the other hand, would do everything to get what his heart wants. He got a hard past with his family but now they’re pretty close. He doesn’t care what others think about him. But if it comes tho his pigeon, which is his nickname for Abby, it's different. If a boy even looks at her, he’s in a protective mode. You’d say he’s a bad boy because he’s covered in tattoos and does things that are irresponsible but when it comes to Abby he’s such a nice boy. Protective, sweet, concerned. I’m in team Travis, especially when we meet other boys in the book. Like Parker, he’s a Parker. Rich, sweet, predictable and he doesn’t make Abby feel like Travis can, in my opinion. 

Another boy I did like in the book was Shepley. He’s a cousin of Travis and into a relationship. He’s responsible, the good boy if we compare him with his cousin. He has a relationship with Abby’s best friend: America, Mare for short. And yes, I also liked her in the story. Why? Because she’s protective. She wants her best friend safe but sometimes knows better than Abby. Another positive thing about her is that she’s funny at times and says certain things that can only make you laugh out loud. I enjoyed her presence in the book. 

I liked the story because as I already said it gave me a lot of feels but also because of the theme. A bad boy, a good girl. Will they fall for each other? Will they not? You could say it’s such a cliche but it’s not. In cliche stories you can predict the things that come but I couldn’t predict what happened throughout the book. The good girl with a past catching up? The bad boy not being that bad after all but has a soft side for this girl. There are so many aspects that you can’t predict and which caused the many, many feels I got. 

I do have a negative aspect but it’s nothing major. At some point in the book it went a little fast. Too fast in my opinion because we didn’t have any background about what just happened. It just walked into the story without any warning or a little context that leads to it which I found a little disturbing. Especially if it ends as fast as it came, and that was that. It felt like it wasn’t anything important while it was. So in my opinion, the writer could’ve written a little more about that aspect to make a more smooth transition. Though the good aspects outweighs the bad one. I recommend the book and if it has been on your reading list for quite a while now, I’d say just go get it. It’s totally worth it, I promise! I’m even going to get the second book soon. (It’s the story but in Travis POV. I’m a sucker for the books with the POV of the boy. It just gives the story two sides and I like that.) 

“Good girl, bad boy. Imminent disaster? Or the start of something beautiful?”