Title:  Beautiful Oblivion
Author: Jamie McGuire
Publisher/Year: Atria Book 7/1/14
Length: 336 pages
Series: The Maddox Brothers #1

Overview

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 they felt reading Beautiful Disaster for the first time, all over again.

My Thoughts

I’m a sucker for a happy ending and this is a series that i’m definitely finding myself invested in.  I loved Beautiful disaster which was Travis and Abby’s story and it’s nice that we get to see the other brothers get their own story.  In this one too, it’s not just about Trenton, one of the brothers but about Cami who’s got her own complication – which i figured out early on, yet it’s not until the final pages that it’s revealed in full.

Cami is our leading lady who’s in a position where she’s dating a guy named TJ who’s amazing and wonderful yet who has this job that keeps him out of state, and not uber available for her when she needs and wants him.  She’s surprisingly understanding about it all but the question is – is it enough?

Then there’s Trenton, one of the Maddox brothers who comes with a reputation to boot and while there’s an attraction there, it’s one of those things that’s so hard to choose to act on.  We learn early on that he’s been ‘in love’ with Cami for ages, even if neither knew it or admitted it.  What that means for them?  nothing, because there’s TJ and they are in the ‘friend zone’.

Where this story takes us though is one of compassion, a growing relationship that’s not based on sex (which is something that we’ve really come to appreciate from Ms Mcquire since Travis and Abby weren’t ALL about sex even if Travis has a reputation of his own).  Cami is the oldest of 4, her brothers really don’t make it any easier for her since they are often over protective and get in to their own trouble.  All of the Maddox brothers come with their share of touble as well, and 2 families that have trouble aren’t going to mix well.  We get to see that play out from time to time in this first installment of the series.

What i really appreciate here though is that we get to see a happier side for both of these leads.  We get to see that they know that things don’t come easy in life yet they are willing to put in the effort.  They fight like a real couple and they rekindle what they have as a real couple, yet they aren’t….cause there’s TJ.

How it all plays out – well that’s interesting.  I have yet another appreciation for the fact that this story is actually parallel to Beautiful Disaster – we get to see some of the unfurling of Travis and Abby in this one and that means that it’s not ahead or behind that other series.  It’s nice when you see things interwoven and that we get to see how things can actually happy in parallel for each of the characters.  That makes me more excited to see what happens for the rest of the Maddox brothers since there’s still 2 more i believe.  And on that note – i have another installment of this series in my library and i should get to reading it.  Happy Monday all!