Beautiful Oblivion (The Maddox Brothers, #1) by Jamie McGuire

Source:  Purchased audiobook & hardback
Beautiful Oblivion (The Maddox Brothers, #1) by Jamie McGuire

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.

  

Review...

So many romance books blend together.  Few stand out with something original.  This one is one of those few.  Why?  Because it dares to add something more to the mix besides the relationship.  This one adds a secret.  A secret that's being kept from the reader, the guy and most of the characters in the book.  That secret brought a certain about of frustration as reasons for behavior weren't always completely clear but I loved the daring.  I loved the hunt to find every clue and place it carefully in the right place as the pieces fell together.  

In my journey to figure it out, I called my co-blogger Jess, and talked through clues.  She hasn't read the book and didn't have an answer for me but as I sorted through them aloud with her, it hit me.  I was about 2/3 of the way through the book.  I knew the secret.  And I smiled.  Every frustrating decision and strange behavior from Cami fell into place.  And I was content to read on and see how Trent would react when he inevitably learned the secret too.  I wasn't disappointed one bit.

I was so thrilled when I realized that this book takes place parallel to Beautiful Disaster.  Travis Maddox is the player before Abby at the beginning of the book.  We see glimpses of him throughout the book as he talks to Cami at The Red, goes to get his "Abby" tat at Skin Deep and other important points.  I loved seeing him outside of Abby's POV and their storyline.  So much fun to see how others saw him as he fell for Abby.  When I realized we would also experience the ending of Beautiful Disaster with Trenton's part in it, I whimpered.  But at least I knew what would happen to him, unlike poor Cami.

Cami was hard for me.  At first, I wanted to slap her.  Then I understood her and I wanted to hug her.  When she tried to protect Trent, I cried with her.  She's so real to me.  I think that has a lot to do with that daring secret the author used.  A risk that paid off in character depth.

I adored Trent.  He's loved Cami since they were young but he was scared to have her and lose her so he kept his distance.  A Maddox brother trait.  All the Maddox brothers have lost the first moment they loved, their mother.  When they love, they love strongly and it can hurt.  He definitely loves strongly just like his brother, Travis.  He doesn't give up.  He doesn't take "I've got a boyfriend" as an excuse.  But don't worry about any cheating.  It's handled in the "Jamie McGuire" way and I was cool with it.

If you loved Beautiful Disaster and haven't read this one yet, you need to.   Don't let the mixed reviews scare you.  This one is a strong, daring romance that satisfies. 

About the Series...

 Click covers for GR links

Beautiful Sacrifice (The Maddox Brothers, #3)

Untitled (The Maddox Brothers, #4)

About the Series this one spun off from...

Click covers for GR links

About the Author...

Jamie McGuire was born in Tulsa, OK. She attended the Northern Oklahoma College, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Autry Technology Center where she graduated with a degree in Radiography.

Her most recent novel, Walking Disaster debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. She has also written bestselling contemporary romance Beautiful Disaster, and the Providence series.


Jamie now lives in Enid, OK with her three children and husband Jeff, who is a real, live cowboy. They share their 30 acres with six horses, three dogs, and Rooster the cat.

Beauttiful Redemption by Jamie McGuire

Title: Beautiful Redemption

Author: Jamie McGuire

Release date: January 26, 2014

Goodreads

Amazon | iTunes | Kobo | BN

If A Maddox boy falls in love, he loves forever. But what if he didn't love you, first?

No-nonsense Liis Lindy is an agent of the FBI. Deciding she is married only to her job, she breaks off her engagement and transfers from Chicago to the field office in San Diego. She loves her desk. She is committed to her laptop. She dreams of promotions and shaking hands with the director after cracking an impossible case.

Special Agent in Charge Thomas Maddox is arrogant, unforgiving, and ruthless. He is tasked with putting away some of the world’s toughest criminals, and he is one of the best the Bureau has to offer. Though, as many lives as he’s saved, there is one that is beyond his reach. Younger brother Travis is faced with prison time for his involvement in a basement fire that killed dozens of college students, and the media want a conviction. Travis’s only savior is his unusual tie to the mob. In a deal that will spare his brother, Thomas has agreed to recruit Travis into the FBI.

Liis is stubborn, defiant, and yet somehow softens Thomas’s rough edges, making her the perfect agent to accompany him to the ceremony. Posing as a couple, they must travel to Travis & Abby’s beach vow renewal and give him the news, but when the pretending ends, she finds herself wondering if they were pretending at all.

In the second installment of the Maddox Brothers books, experience firsthand the mysterious world of the elusive Thomas Maddox, and how good love can be when you’re not the first, but the last.

About the Author:
Jamie McGuire was born in Tulsa, OK. She attended the Northern Oklahoma College, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Autry Technology Center where she graduated with a degree in Radiography.

Jamie paved the way for the New Adult genre with international bestseller, Beautiful Disaster. Her follow-up novel Walking Disaster debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. She has also written apocalyptic thriller Red Hill, a novella titled A Beautiful Wedding, and the Providence series, a young adult paranormal romance trilogy.

Jamie lives on a ranch just outside Enid, OK with husband Jeff and their three children. They share their 30 acres with cattle, six horses, three dogs, and Rooster the cat.

Find Jamie at www.jamiemcguire.com or on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Website: http://www.jamiemcguire.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jamie.McGuire.Author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamieMcGuire

~Now Available ~

We're celebrating the release of BEAUTIFUL REDEMPTION by Jamie McGuire!

Title: Beautiful Redemption

Author: Jamie McGuire

Release date: January 26, 2014

Goodreads

Amazon | iTunes | Kobo | BN

If A Maddox boy falls in love, he loves forever. But what if he didn't love you, first?

No-nonsense Liis Lindy is an agent of the FBI. Deciding she is married only to her job, she breaks off her engagement and transfers from Chicago to the field office in San Diego. She loves her desk. She is committed to her laptop. She dreams of promotions and shaking hands with the director after cracking an impossible case.

Special Agent in Charge Thomas Maddox is arrogant, unforgiving, and ruthless. He is tasked with putting away some of the world’s toughest criminals, and he is one of the best the Bureau has to offer. Though, as many lives as he’s saved, there is one that is beyond his reach. Younger brother Travis is faced with prison time for his involvement in a basement fire that killed dozens of college students, and the media want a conviction. Travis’s only savior is his unusual tie to the mob. In a deal that will spare his brother, Thomas has agreed to recruit Travis into the FBI.

Liis is stubborn, defiant, and yet somehow softens Thomas’s rough edges, making her the perfect agent to accompany him to the ceremony. Posing as a couple, they must travel to Travis & Abby’s beach vow renewal and give him the news, but when the pretending ends, she finds herself wondering if they were pretending at all.

In the second installment of the Maddox Brothers books, experience firsthand the mysterious world of the elusive Thomas Maddox, and how good love can be when you’re not the first, but the last.

TEASERS

“Me, too. I’m … Thomas, by the way,” he said softly. He rolled over and relaxed beside me, his head propped by his hand. Instead of getting dressed, he looked as if he were ready for conversation.

I pressed my lips together. “I’m,” Do it. Do it or you’ll just be kicking yourself later. “…emotionally unavailable.”


***

“I live in Midtown,” I said, wondering if I would see my neighbor again.

She grinned. “Me, too. A lot of us do. We can drown your sorrows together.”

“I don’t have sorrows. Just memories. They’ll go away on their own.”

***

He narrowed his eyes. “Are you insubordinate, Agent Lindy? Is that why you were sent here, to be under my command?”

“You requested me, remember?”

“I didn’t request you. I requested the best language expert we had.”

“That would be me, sir.”

About the Author:
Jamie McGuire was born in Tulsa, OK. She attended the Northern Oklahoma College, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Autry Technology Center where she graduated with a degree in Radiography.

Jamie paved the way for the New Adult genre with international bestseller, Beautiful Disaster. Her follow-up novel Walking Disaster debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. She has also written apocalyptic thriller Red Hill, a novella titled A Beautiful Wedding, and the Providence series, a young adult paranormal romance trilogy.

Jamie lives on a ranch just outside Enid, OK with husband Jeff and their three children. They share their 30 acres with cattle, six horses, three dogs, and Rooster the cat.

Find Jamie at www.jamiemcguire.com or on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Website: http://www.jamiemcguire.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jamie.McGuire.Author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamieMcGuire

Special Teaser ~ Beautiful Redemption by Jamie McGuire

Coming January 27th

Beautiful Redemption by Jamie McGuire

#ThomasTuesday

#BeautifulRedemption

#ItsClassified

@jamiemcquire

@wordsmithpublic

Happy Book Birthday!

HAPPENSTANCE is finally here! Help us celebrate and spread the word! Be sure to check out the giveaway!

Title: Happenstance

Author: Jamie McGuire

Publisher: Jamie McGuire LLC (May 9, 2014)

Print Length: 100 pages

ASIN: B00JOPR0ZK

PURCHASE LINKS:
B&N | Amazon | iTunes | Smashwords 

#1 New York Times Bestseller Jamie McGuire returns to self-publishing with this page-turning YA account of Erin Easter, one of three Erins in the small senior class of rural Blackwell High School who not only share a first name, but also their birthday. Easter, raised by a neglectful single mom, keeps to herself and admires Weston Gates from afar. The other Erins, Erin "Alder" Alderman and Erin "Sonny" Masterson are the darlings of the community: daughters of the two wealthiest families in town, best friends, cheerleaders, and everything Easter isn't--and they never let her forget it. Alder has even claimed Weston since the 8th grade.

Weston is a well-liked star athlete, and the son of two prominent attorneys. He struggles daily with the pressures of living up to his family name and secretly empathizes with Easter's feeling that she belongs somewhere else; in a different life. Not until he begins sneaking nights out with Easter does he gain the courage to buck expectations and acknowledge his feelings ... both for his future, and for her.

A shocking tragedy rocks the tiny town, and Easter's life is turned upside down in the best way possible. But when the truth is revealed and everything she thinks she wanted falls into her lap, life only becomes more complicated.

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About the Author:

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.

Website: http://www.jamiemcguire.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jamie.McGuire.Author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamieMcGuire

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

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Source:  Received an eBook through Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Book Description:

INTENSE. DANGEROUS. ADDICTIVE.

Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

My Thoughts:

 

4 stars - Addictive and emotional, this roller coaster ride will have you standing in line for more.

416 pages.  I remember looking at that when I started this book and thought it was on the long side for new adult romance.  I now know why this book is 416 pages.  The first 200 pages sailed by and I was totally in love with both Travis and Abby.  There was even a resolution of a kind.  Then the whirlwind started.  I was angry at Stacey.  Then I was angry at Travis.  Then I was pissed at both of them.  I took a break.  I was emotional.  I was stressed.  A roller coaster is the ONLY way I can describe it, truly.  Then I figured it out.  This wasn't one story but several.  This one book feels like enough emotions and story to fill a whole series.  When I realized that, I breathed again.

I really did experience too much for this one book.  So what does that say about the book, the characters?  To me is says that Jamie McGuire is a master storyteller.  I was so invested with these characters that I would have done better if I'd had a break such as a series gives you.  Don't get me wrong here, I would have been crazy waiting through a break, but I might have calmed down too.

Travis.  This boy is a player.  He doesn't do girlfriends or dates.  But that doesn't stop the girls from trying to get his gorgeous attention.   Oh and this bad boy has more than a few issues.  He drinks, a lot.  He's covered in tats (so not an issue on him).  He's with a different girl every night - sometimes two at a time.  He fights for a living in an illegal fight group called the circle.  He comes from a family of 5 brothers, mostly like him.  His mother died when he was very young.  He has anger issues - and I do mean anger issues.  Do not piss the boy off.  But when he meets Abby and she doesn't giggle, running her fingers through her hair trying to get his attention, she gets his attention.  I equally loved him and wanted to strangle him.  And THAT is a huge compliment to the author.

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Abby.  She's got secrets.  She's got skills (so not telling what those are).  She's running from her past.  She wants to be normal, go to college, get good grades and date the likes of Parker.  Parker, who is a little too perfect and perhaps even a little boring, can't hold Abby's attention when Travis decides they should be friends.  He insists actually.   At first, I was totally on her side but as the book went along, I also went from loving her to wanting to strange her then back again.

Something that's different about this book is it's messy realness.  This relationship is the very definition of dysfunctional and yet the messy realness of it screams different.  It was so not a mess that gets figured out and then they are all smiles and puppies.  No this one has periods of goodness only to be messed up again.  Real.

I'm super excited to read Walking Disaster, the story from Travis' point of view.  I can't wait to get inside his head and understand him better.  His charm and his temper are such a volatile ride and I really want to know what he's thinking.

So this one has lots of violence, harsh language, sex, drinking and such in it.  It's clearly new adult and well worth the read.   You, too, can love and strangle Travis with me.

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