Book Review: Something Beautiful (Beautiful #3) by Jamie McGuire

Something Beautiful by Jamie McGuire
Rating:/5 

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AMAZON | 

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Or with Jamie.
The graphic of me loving Jamie’s books slowly but steadily went downhill since Beautiful Redemption. Well, Trenton’s story, Beautiful Oblivion, was not exactly my best favorite as well but it was much more bearable than the following Maddox brothers’ books. So when Jamie announced that there would be a novella of Shepley and America, I was hoping that it would bring back a good time I had with Beautiful Disaster.

Something Beautiful started sweetly after such a long time we finally got a chance to see how Shepley first met America. Then it rolled down quickly as we were served with a series of Shepley and America’s moments from time to time. Reading about this couple did bring up good memories of how kind and patient Shepley was and how stubborn-in-head yet soft-in-heart America was. This couple actually completed each other much better than Travis and Abby who both were basically as hard-headed as each other. I loved every moment Shep and Mare had together. Even though Mare wasn’t my favorite type of heroine but I loved how Shep adored her so much from the very first time. During BD we knew that Shep and Mare fought several times and even broke up once but we never really knew that they actually had their own issues within their relationship. In this book, we got to see the truth from both Shep and Mare’s perspectives.

What’s sad was this novella that should’ve been all about Shepley and America (or so Jamie said) ended up losing its actual focus. We got to read about their first encounter, yes. We got to ride along the up and down of their relationship, yes. We got to know deeper about their feelings to each other, yes. But they all were in too little portions.

I know that Jamie always tried to draw a string between each book on both Beautiful series and Maddox Brothers series so the series could have this strong connection with each other. But it was overly done every time. She would always be too focused on threading the stories by putting too much detail from the previous books than focusing on the current storyline itself. Eventually, she would be repeating the threadbare issue―a.k.a. Travis’s drama―on each book, like she did on BO, BR, and BS. I think it’s enough to do it on Maddox Brothers series, but she had to do it again in Beautiful series novella. She had to steal a portion in an-already-short-story of Shep and Mare to be filled up with Travis’s drama and even his romance with Abby. I love Travis and Abby, really I do, but if Jamie kept slipping their story on literally EVERY book she writes then I think I have enough with this series.

Besides my issue with the shortness of Shep and Mare’s actual story on the book (and I’m not even talking about the length of the book), I pretty enjoyed the flow of Shep and Mare relationship shown in this book. How they went through a missed-communication issue where Shep was too patient/worried with things while Mare was too speculative, then there’s an involvement of a tragedy that made them realize sometimes you have to be quick in reading the sign of love coming to your way and grab it right away before it becomes too late. Even though it had similar vibes with BD’s ending I loved it anyway. I even cried a bit. Woman.

After that final twist, Shepley was jet-propelled to the top list of my favorite book-boyfriend from Jamie McGuire’s books. So imagined how disappointed I was when Jamie didn’t even provide a decent character wrap-up for him. Again, she had to focus more on Travis and Abby for the ending scene.

Something Beautiful might not come out as I expected it would be but I’m glad that at least there’s a book of Shepley and America after all. Hopefully Jamie would write another novella of them that is free from another miscellaneous detail (and couple). Hopefully she wouldn’t put too much story of The Couple on the last Maddox Brothers book as well ;)

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Beautiful Sacrifice (Maddox Brothers #3) by Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Sacrifice by Jamie McGuire

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

I’m really sad to say that this book had successfully disappointed me big time.

The first time I met one of Maddox family members, Travis, and I instantly fell in love with his characters. He used to have so much flaws but he knew alright how to fix things up and learned from the past mistakes. Paired up with Abby, they easily become everyone’s favorite book couple. I was so glad back then when I learned that Travis had four other brothers in which each of them would get their own stories on different books respectively. I was literally so giddy and wanted so damn bad to get to know each of them. Then Beautiful Oblivion came out with Trenton Maddox. While his story wasn’t as amazing as Travis’s, I liked it because of the mind-blowing part slipped in the end of the book. Which brought me to read Thomas’ story next on Beautiful Redemption. It was… well, it was okay and a little bit nerve-wracking even. I disliked how Jamie McGuire built Thomas characteristic into such a heartbroken and overly mellow guy who couldn’t move on from his previous relationship. I loved his protectiveness toward his brothers but the way he dealt with his own problems was really awful. And more, I hated how some scenes in this book could be easily interpreted for several characters of having ignorant and difficult personalities (such as Travis, Trenton, and Cami) while we all already knew their true personalities on their own books was nothing like that.

So, it seemed like my interest in Maddox brothers was slowly decreasing every time their books came out. And Beautiful Sacrifice managed to drop the final bomb that makes my love and adoration for Maddox brothers went down to very low level. It’s really sad, though, because Beautiful Disaster was the very first New Adult book that I’ve read that brought me to start reading this genre but apparently the sequels didn’t do the same deed.

It started with a girl named Falyn Fairchild who had been struggle with life throwing storm after storm into her path. When she had enough, Falyn decided to leave it all behind: her luxurious of life, her school, her parents, and her old self. She only attempted for one thing, forgiveness, to be able to go on with her new life. Eakins being that place. She worked hard to collect money to get a plane ticket there by waiting tables in a café where people there kind enough to give her new starter. Juggling with fair amount of money she got from work to pay the bills and to save up, Eakins seemed more and more far away day by day. With that, Falyn’s hope was slowly decreasing as well…

Until a Maddox boy came to her work place and gave her a kind of distraction from her tightness of life. Taylor Maddox saw her for the first time when he averted his eyes from the menu on his grips one afternoon. He saw a beautiful girl right in front of him but most importantly he saw a lost look in her eyes, making him wonder what kind of loss this girl had experienced. Falyn almost instantly took a step back the moment Taylor made his first move. But apparently Taylor wasn’t just simply a distraction for Falyn; he came with something that actually could help Falyn to reach her dream that lately seemed so far away. When Falyn decided it was okay to give in to the living distraction in order to get to her true intention behind it, something ignited between them, something undeniably strong charging between Falyn and Taylor. Falyn might want this as much as Taylor but her insecurities was flowing strongly from beneath her ribs making it hard to let Taylor came barreling in. But this was a Maddox boy we’re talking about here. A disinterested girl was the ultimate challenge. And most importantly, when a Maddox boy loved someone, he loved forever.

Falyn was a typical NA-heroine which basically strong-willed, a bit stubborn yet covered in insecurities due to past wound. I found her character rather boring actually because insecure girl is really getting old these days. I ached for her at some points for everything she’d been through and I even went a bit teary-eyed during that one certain scene. She seemed kind of mature there. But most of the time, her insecure feelings just kept coming back without any particular reason. It just made no sense as it was unclear why she felt like that after she actually succeeded in dealing much worse issues before calmly.

As for Taylor, I didn’t know him much in Maddox books before unless the little scene he was on in Beautiful Redemption. Turned out that scene was actually one of the twists in this book. Among Maddox brothers, Taylor was my least favorite Maddox boy.

I had so many reasons for this.

First, he acted less gentle than his brothers. As much as I disliked Thomas, he still showed some mature mannerism and he always tried to act gentle toward women. Meanwhile, Taylor was a bit of jerk. I didn’t like how he loved to play the I-suffered-the-most-for-us card on Falyn in every occasion. He didn’t literally force her to do as he wanted but his actions and words simply implied the same meaning. Moreover the way he handled the problem happening between them was really immature with all of his overreactions. And I don’t even mention that particular thing he did that makes me dislike him even more. This is so sad because it’s not what I expected at all from a Maddox boy.

The plot was a bit of a mess. Things that should’ve been the main big issues were brought up in such small portions and even left hanging without some clear closure in the end. Instead, things like unnecessary trust and insecure issues between Taylor and Falyn took a major part of twist in this book.

And the ending… well, what a cliché kind of HEA it got there.

I mean, I’m glad things turned out all happy for them, that miracle happened in the end for them. They, uh, Falyn deserved that I guess. But because it’s too good it looked unrealistic at some point. It made all the fights and arguments was just some nonsense fling because in the end POOF! Nothing else mattered ‘cause the answer of everything has come: miracle! I guess it’d be much better if things weren’t too pretty in the end because after all true love isn’t always about living a perfect life together but living a flawed life perfectly with love becomes the foundation that strengthen the ground where they stand.

Sad, sad, sad, really. I know Jamie McGuire could do better than this. She proved it with Travis story and I wished she could repeat the magic in another Maddox boy’s books.

Ah, it’s really hard to give a rating in this kind of situation. For some reasons I mentioned above, it’s obvious that I won’t give 4 or 5 stars. But as usual, Jamie’s writing style was so engaging and I always liked all of her side-characters. I guess, 3 stars are enough, simply as my respect for this series that used to be my best romance favorite (right until Beautiful Oblivion) and because I still have some faith for the next and last Maddox brothers book, Tyler’s. Hopefully, it’d make a sweet conclusion for the series and eased my all disappointments for the last two books. Hopefully.

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Beautiful Redemption (Maddox Brothers #2) by Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Redemption by Jamie McGuire

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

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AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

“I wasn’t the first, but I would be the last. 
That didn’t make me the second prize. It made me his forever”

FINALLY!

A story of Thomas James Maddox!

I became damn excited to read this third book of Maddox Brothers series after I read Beautiful Oblivion last month. In BO, we got a glimpse of the calm and mature Thomas. He was kind of become more appealing to me there (and with the mind-blowing ending I literally begged to get my eyes on Thomas’ story next). Added with the seducing snippets of Beautiful Redemption by Jamie through her media social accounts, my expectation for this book leveled up from 100 to 1000. But then once I finished, I am sorry to say that this book doesn’t get the love that I have for BO, moreover those I have for BD… *sigh*. Well, I’ll let you know why in a bit.

Usually I always write a brief synopsis of the story before I gave my review. But with this book I find that it’s actually hard to do the usual. There’s a big possibility that I’ll spoil a lot of things from Beautiful Disaster and Beautiful Oblivion. And I don’t like having spoilers in my review. So I guess I’ll just choose my words carefully to outline the story in general.

Thomas Maddox was a Special Agent of the FBI. All these years he’s been working undercover in the bureau without any of his family and friends known of the fact, well, except for someone from the past. Someone he’s been trying to forget and trying to move on from for months. People says that moving on is easy once you meet the right person to begin again. But not for him. Or never for him, as he thought so. Thomas felt miserable day by day. Working harder seemed to be the only escape he could run to. But surely it didn’t give him even the slightest of comfort feels inside him. Doing his job as a boss with ‘inhuman personality in the area made people around him chose to keep the distance from him instead of giving him a small touch of warm. Until someone came along, someone even ‘more inhuman’ than him. 

Liis Lindy was transferred to San Diego as secret language analyst of FBI. After separating with her seven-years-long-time-fiancé, Liis committed to marry her job. Reaching her dream job as top analyst in Quantico was her only focus that she kept in mind when she first stepped into the Squad-Five office in the bureau building. But it all crumbled down into total dust the second her name was called by her new boss where she was assigned to. Her new ‘inhuman’ boss. Also known as her last night stranger…

When two people with scars from previous relationship met in the same path, things tended to become more sensitive between them. Thomas whose heart was broken and Liis who broke someone’s heart didn’t sound like a perfect pair. But as things went on, they found themselves needing each other’s presents without realizing. Thomas used to think that he could never meet someone and fall in love again. But seeing Liis, the beautiful, smart, stubborn, brave, strong, loyal, ‘lack of finesse’ Liis has shifted the layer on his false perception all these time. He realized that his heart would not gone cold forever. He found his sun.

Liis could not not be attracted to Thomas. But as hard as she tried to deny it, the stronger the attraction pulled her in. Liis had several reasons for this. First, she never fancied commitment, the last time she was in one, she failed it miserably. Second, she was scared of hurting the only person she ever cared of. Third, even if she fought the first two reasons above and accept to be put second after their jobs, she could not risk herself to be crushed by uncertain future with someone who seemed could not move on from his past. 

“I wouldn’t even come second. I would be third.”

He shook his head, confused. “Third?”

“After the woman you’re in love with.”

Stumble and fall, Thomas and Liis were faced with a lot of internal fights to set the same pace. Whether Liis would be Thomas’ redemption or payback, the answer could only be found by them both.

Oh oh, guess I was succeed in writing the brief synopsis without any spoilers intact. Yay!

So okay, I truthfully don’t fall in love with this book, no offense. But I don’t dislike it either. This book is okay, the story is good, and the detail insights of FBI are pretty cool. Sometimes I thought this could be really cool to be made into movie. But I cannot not looking at Maddox brothers books as romance books. And as in romance book, I always find a hero with fierce but caring personality, a heroine with uneasy but loyal character, and a sweet romance with or without lots of barriers. In Beautiful Redemption, sadly I couldn’t find the last factor. The romance was not as sweet as in BO or BD. I suspected it because surprisingly Jamie made Thomas kind of weak in the beginning. Well, I’m just going to be a bit spoiling here to make my point: (just block this space between the brackets) [In BO, breaking up with his girlfriend didn’t seem like a big deal for Thomas. The ‘Thomas’ in BO was way calmer, mature, and also seemed just fine with the break up. That’s why it was kind of confusing and surprising that the ‘Thomas’ in BR seemed so heartbroken and could not move on at all in the beginning] It made my imagination of cold gentleman special agent Thomas who I’ve been drooling over for a month ruined by the appearance of his mellow side in this book… very unfortunate, though (but anyway he’s still blazingly hot, so I guess he’s a bit forgiven…). Liis character is tough and straightforward. Just like Abby, I loved her. Even though I was a bit not interested at her at first, but the more I read, the more I find her character interesting (confusing, eh?). 

“I always a firm believer that a person couldn’t love two people at the same time”

Way to go, girl! I am a 100% in line with Liis, even for a guy as hot as Thomas, this rule is firmly placed in my front door. But somehow I am in line with Thomas when he said this:

“You can love someone without wanting to be with them. Just like you can want to be with someone before you love them.”

Okay, boy, you got my attention! *wiggling eyebrows*

I found myself could not stop grinning like an idiot several times because of Thomas’ childish act. Seriously Thomas??? The dinner scene with Sawyer in the restaurant was the winner! It was damn hilarious. And also I almost shed some tears whenever Thomas ‘obliviously’ broke Liis’ heart. Oh and the ending was… well, it was okay, but it just didn’t kick hard. 

Altogether, I enjoyed reading this book but it’s just not my favorite romance this year. I liked Liis, I (still freaking) loved Thomas (because of his hotness and his strong love for his younger brothers), but I am just not okay with several parts I mentioned above. Oh, almost forget one thing, also in this book somehow Travis was shown a bit like a jerk for being selfish to his brother (AND I REALLY REALLY COULD NOT ACCEPT THIS!! TRAVIS IS THE LOVE OF MY BOOK-LIFE, YOU CAN’T JUST MAKE PEOPLE WHO NEVER READ BEAUTIFUL DISASTER BUT DECIDE TO READ THIS BOOK FIRST HATE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!). Oh, and again (God, just how many things I plan to forget…), I felt so so bad for Trenton here. He looked like bad little brother for Thomas and also (block the space again) [Cammile seemed like a bitch here]

My only advice though, you SHOULD read Beautiful Disaster and Beautiful Oblivion before reading this one. SHOULD, okay, once again, SHOULD! If you don’t want to ruin everyone’s loves for Travis and Trenton Maddox. 

And sadly, I have to settle with 3.5 stars :(

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