REVIEW – A Beautiful Wedding by Jamie McGuire

SYNOPSIS

You know that Abby Abernathy unexpectedly became Mrs. Maddox. But what do you really know?

Why did Abby pop the question?
What secrets were shared before the ceremony?
Where did they spend their wedding night?
Who else knew about it . . . and didn’t tell?

Everything about Abby and Travis’s elopement was top-secret . . . until now. Fans of Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster will get all of their questions answered in this whirlwind tale of the wedding day (and night!)—and as with all good stories, this one will definitely have been worth the wait.

REVIEW

This whole thing might play out to be a completely wonderful, beautiful disaster, but I want that if it’s with you.”

The third installment in Jamie McGuire’s wildly popular series, A BEAUTIFUL WEDDING fills in the timeline gaps between a tumultuous campus fire and the sudden marriage of Abby and Travis chronicled in BEAUTIFUL DISASTER and its companion, WALKING DISASTER.

Fans will not be disappointed in the least. I have been more pleased with each installment of this series because the more developed these characters become, the more you want to know about them. Travis’ POV is particularly enjoyable because he is deeply devoted to Abby and he’s not afraid to show it anymore. Gone is the hyper-agressive drunkard. Replaced by a man who has too much to lose, Travis is a grown-up now, and not a moment too soon.

Sensible or not, it felt good to be loved so much, and I decided right then and there I would stop apologizing for it. There were worse things than finding your soul mate too early in life, and what was too early, anyway?

Abby is learning a few things this time around, too. Ever the fixer, her scheme to protect Travis feels like an act of charity, but doesn’t play out that way in the end.

He sighed, and then pressed his lips against my hair. I didn’t think it was possible to feel so much for one person. He had protected me. It was my turn to protect him.

“This is it,” he said.

“What?”

“I knew the second I met you that there was something about you I needed. Turns out it wasn’t something about you at all. It was just you.”

My insides melted. I loved him. I loved him, and I had to do whatever I could to keep him safe. Whatever it took— no matter how crazy. All I had to do was talk him into it.

The wedding itself is perfectly imperfect, as all Vegas weddings tend to be. An attendant, Ms. Chantilly, clucks around the chapel, making sure every need is met. And, of course, Elvis is present. It IS Vegas, after all.

The officiant said, “I present to you, Ms. Chantilly and Mr. King, Mr. and Mrs. Travis Maddox.”

Elvis clapped, too, and Travis lifted me in his arms. I took each side of his face into my hands and leaned over to kiss him.

“I’m just trying not to have a Tom Cruise moment,” Travis said, beaming at everyone in the room. “I now understand the whole jumping on the couch and punching the floor thing. I don’t know how to express how I feel! Where’s Oprah?”

I let out an uncharacteristic cackle. He was grinning ear to ear, and I’m sure I looked just as annoyingly happy. Travis set me down, and then glanced around at everyone in the room. He seemed a little shocked. “Woo!” he yelled, his fists shaking in front of him. He was having a very Tom Cruise moment.

He laughed, and then he kissed me again. “We did it!” I laughed with him. He took me into his arms, and I noticed that his eyes were a little glossy. “She married me!” he said to Elvis. “I fucking love you, baby!” he yelled again, hugging and kissing me.

…and they lived happily ever after. But, we already knew that, didn’t we?

Extra points to Jamie McGuire for tying everything together so beautifully. Novellas can go a number of ways, but this one only enhanced previous material. A BEAUTIFUL WEDDING, gratefully, isn’t a rehashing of the first two novels. However, a great deal of backstory, particularly Travis’, comes out over the course of the novella. Abby’s story has mostly been told in the first books but there are enough extra pieces to her story to make me feel like I understand her better now.

I look forward to the Maddox Brothers installments coming in 2014. Surely we’ll find out even more about our dynamic duo then.

5 stars

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SERIES READING ORDER