Let me start by saying that I am a big fan of Beautiful Disaster. I read that book multiple times and consider it one of my favorite junkfood comfort Let me start by saying that I am a big fan of Beautiful Disaster. I read that book multiple times and consider it one of my favorite junkfood comfort reads or listens (audiobook).
So, I was very excited to read A Beautiful Wedding.
The novella tacks itself onto the end of Beautiful Disaster following the fire where lots of students were killed and Travis thought Abby and his brother might have died.
Although the novella doesn't change the plot line of BD, it does magnify the many details by expanding upon Abby and Travis' decision to immediately fly to Vegas and have a quicky wedding. This extreme scrutiny is why the novella didn't work for me.
Essentially there was no romance to the reason behind the wedding. Abby is worried about the aftermath of the fire and this worry underlies all her actions and thoughts. While it makes the characters seem a bit more human (how could this not be on their minds given the magnitude of the fire's destruction), it made the wedding seem superficial and not loving and romantic.
Beautiful Disaster was crazy and intense and I loved that. Beautiful Wedding is plodding and tedious and lacks the reckless unrealistic energy that I loved in BD.
Additionally, I think that seeing into Travis's POV detracts from what I liked so much about Beautiful Disaster. I don't want to know all his insecurities and I don't want to see him undergo a complete personality transplantation now that he's settled into life with Abby.
While I'm sure that the description of the wedding dress and shoes and limo and tattoo script will appeal to some readers, I found it tedious.
Still it was readable and I think Jamie McGuire is a very skilled story teller. Beautiful Disaster is an awesome book and a particular scene in this novella really peeked my excitement to read Trent's book. Hopefully it will be published soon because it's on my auto buy list!...more