Review- Beautiful Sacrifice by Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Sacrifice on Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Falyn Fairchild can walk away from anything. Having already left her car, her education, and even her parents, the daughter of the next governor of Colorado is back in her hometown, broke and waiting tables for the Bucksaw Café. After every shift, Falyn adds to her shoebox of cash, hoping to one day save enough to buy her a plane ticket to the only place she can find forgiveness: Eakins, Illinois.

The moment Taylor Maddox is seated in Falyn’s section at the Bucksaw, she knows he’s trouble. Taylor is charming, breaks promises, and gorgeous even when covered in filth—making him everything Falyn believes a hotshot firefighter to be. Falyn isn’t interested in becoming another statistic, and for a Maddox boy, a disinterested girl is the ultimate challenge.

Once Falyn learns where Taylor calls home, everything changes. In the end, Maddox persistence is met with Falyn’s talent for leaving, and for the first time, Taylor may be the one to get burned.

Release date: May 31st 2015

Published by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Page numbers: 284

REVIEW:

Normally, I do not read, nor do I like to read romances. There are, however, a few authors who stand as my exceptions when it comes to cheesy stories. On a daily basis, I prefer dark and serious reads. So the rare times when I do pick up a romance, all I hope for is an escape and a distraction, and that is exactly what Beautiful Sacrifice ended up doing for me. While I have come across many negatives reviews for the book, I honestly cannot pinpoint to anything specific that I liked or didn't like about the book that neither made it a must-read, nor a stay miles away from this book read. If anything, it was an average but fun book. Having said that, what has to be made clear here itself is that the more the book is on my mind, the more dumb it seems, which it was. But taken as a light, one-time read, which is far better, it was quite okay really. 

Plot-wise, Beautiful Sacrifice lacked depth and strength. It was the most dullest and predictable plot ever. From the beginning, I had my suspicions about the female protagonist, Falyn's past, and I ended up being right which frustrates me to no end because I want stories to surprise me, to give me the unexpected. Even the so called "twists" didn't pose as twists in the literal sense, but just added to the boring, irritating and highly unnecessary drama that was going on. Honestly, sometimes the plot took such ridiculous turns that the book could be classified as comedy rather than romance. 

Coming to the protagonist, while Falyn's past wasn't anything fresh or new, I genuinely liked reading about her present life where she worked at The Bucksaw Café. The environment there was so welcoming and friendly and instantly added to some nice warmth, in terms of the café owners and Falyn's co-workers who were very kind and fun. Falyn herself was very insecure and kept questioning herself which was frustrating at times. Taylor Maddox was really nice though. The main problem is that, from the very start until the end of the book, Flayn and Taylor's relationship didn't see any development or progress. It was exactly the same, and that was a major disappointment. What was admirable was that for the first time, a Maddox brother lived up to the expectation of a Maddox boy. 

Talking about the Maddox clan, as usual, it was lovely to meet them all, but Jamie McGuire, please! Enough with the same old, same old stuff. I am so fed up of the Abby and Travis wedding plot. It is too much of a coincidence that all these Maddox brothers find the perfect one at the same time. Seriously? I don't need to say every time that I love Abby and Travis. That is no surprise. But even for me, it is getting too much now. Move on, people. And speaking of coincidences, Beautiful Sacrifice had way too many to count. Like I said in the very beginning, I would neither bash nor buy this book. It served its purpose of a book by giving me a distraction for the time during which I read it. Nothing special or extraordinary in it, Beautiful Sacrifice is just another cheesy romance. 

Buy the book: AMAZON

Review- Beautiful Redemption by Jamie McGuire

Goodreads Summary:

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.

REVIEW:

I went into Beautiful Redemption without any expectations whatsoever as I was highly disappointed by the first book in the Maddox Brothers series, Beautiful Oblivion. While it is no secret that I love love love the Beautiful series (and by that I mean Travis Maddox), I was hoping that Beautiful Redemption wouldn't be another Abby and Travis retelling from another perspective. I'm not saying that it wasn't. But this story had an actual fixed plot and really strong characters that made it a very good read or maybe it's just that I hadn't read a thorough Jamie McGuire romance or any romance in a long time, so I found this to be cute. 

There are only two negatives that I could come up with when it comes to Beautiful Redemption and unfortunately, those two points end up playing a major role. I did not like the way the story started and neither did I like the way it ended. Major turnoff, I know. And it has me confused about my final rating of the book. But trust me, what happened in between the start and the end was just too good. The story of two FBI agents, I didn't really care or even understand the mystery/ thriller aspect as I'm not the biggest fan of the genre. The characters, however, were well developed and most importantly, they were adults. For me, Beautiful Redemption is more of an adult romance. 

Speaking of the characters, Thomas Maddox was just too cute to be true. We didn't ever really get to know him before or even meet him for that matter. So he was always a mystery, and from the little that we saw of him in Beautiful Oblivion, I wasn't the biggest fan. But in his own book, he was awesome. I love how protective he was of his family. His love interest Liis was perfect for him. A career-oriented woman, I enjoyed how real she was as a person and her kick-ass attitude in a contemporary novel was a fresh and much needed change. But it was irritating when she tried denying her feelings all the damn time. Together, Liis and Thomas made for a cute couple who acted immature sometimes and took way too long to make things work. 

As always, it was great to meet the Maddox family who I didn't even realise I missed so much. Obviously we have Abby and Travis who we all know always sell. But thankfully Beautiful Redemption didn't revolve around them. Their part in the story was an amazing surprise that I enjoyed reading. But this book for me, is Liis and Thomas all the way. Beautiful Redemption was a fantastic read with fabulous characters and even though it had negatives, it was an enjoyable and funny read overall. 

RATING:

Review- Beautiful Oblivion by Jamie McGuire

Goodreads Summary:

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.

REVIEW:

Okay, first and foremost, let me make one thing absolutely clear. The first book in Jamie McGuire's Maddox Brothers series and one of the most anticipated releases of 2014, is not the story of one single couple, Cami and Trenton. It is the story of three couples and I mean that in a negative way. With the #Trentislikewoah hashtag going around like wildfire, I was expecting Trent, Trent, Trent and more Trent. Unfortunately, this is not just about Trent, but T.J, Brazil, Kody and Travis.

I wouldn't say I absolutely disliked Beautiful Oblivion because I didn't. If anything, I was just disappointed. For me, it seemed like Abby and Travis- and I admit that they're one of the greatest couples out there and I heart them both large- seemed like sugar. You put it in anything and it'll sell. And in this case, it doesn't have to be a dessert, savoury will do too. I see nothing wrong in it. In fact, I was delighted to meet my most favourite book boyfriend. But honestly? We read Beautiful Disaster. We read Walking Disaster. And now we read. The. Exact. Same. Stuff. In Beautiful Oblivion. Besides, Beautiful Oblivion is essentially Cami and Trenton's book. This brings me to another part. I was so disappointed to see- and I keep the hashtag in mind here- that Trent didn't get a point of view. Maybe we'll read. The. Exact. Same. Story. From Trent's point of view in Walking Oblivion (totally made up) perhaps?

Now onto the better stuff. I must admit that I had fun reading his book. It was a nice change for me from a lot of intellectually heavy stuff I've been reading these days. So in that way, it was a nice read. But as I contemplate over it, I realise that there are many aspects to Beautiful Oblivion that seriously make me question it. I didn't appreciate how Cami was hiding such a major aspect of her life from Trenton. I got the why of it, but how? You say you love someone and then you don't tell them the truth. How is that going to work? And the same goes for Trenton. I mean, come on. You are a Maddox. Aren't you boys supposed to be walking sex? Why did you have to wait so long to tell the girl you love, that you love her? And why, someone please tell me why do you need a child- any and whom so ever's child- to make stuff pleasant?

I feel so bad to have said the stuff I have said, but it is what it is. Like I said, I did have some fun here and there when reading Beautiful Oblivion, but once I shut the book and started gathering my thoughts, I realised it wasn't all that worth it, and there's plenty of stuff to be discussed in there. Overall, Beautiful Oblivion wasn't as promising as it promised to be. And New Adult and I have gone- for the nth time this year- on an off relationship again. 

RATING: