BEAUTIFUL DISASTER

Author: Jamie McGuire
Series: Beautiful #1
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: May 26, 2011
Rating: 5/5 stars

Summary:
The new 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 needs—and wants—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.
Let’s start with the novel’s cover. The simple but mesmerizing cover image, displays a beautiful blue butterfly trapped inside a plain mason jar. Right off the bat, my head spins with symbolic conspiracy theories that connects well with the story. Traditionally, the butterfly symbolizes transformation. Transforming from this small always hungry caterpillar who then takes about a month’s worth of sleep, only to pop out a pair of big beautiful wings and fly off to their new chapter in life. Many of us relate to the butterfly’s journey of transformation, (especially with the whole always hungry and gets a month’s worth of sleep) but this butterfly here is trapped. The way I see is that the butterfly is trapped or stuck in the past; it has trapped itself in this protected but lidless jar because its scared to let go and fly off. This is such a relatable experience for all of us at one point in our lives. Being your slightly above average high school teen, who is living off the smell of caffeine I can totally relate to the butterfly protagonist is in this novel by purposely locking myself in this jar secured from the harsh reality of life.