Let me just start by stating that I had high hopes for this book. Beautiful Disaster was one of the first New Adult books I ever read, the book that got me hooked on the genre as a whole. And yeah, it has its cheesy and dumb moments, but I loved it. It holds a special place in my heart. So I was expecting a lot from Beautiful Oblivion. And it was good, it just wasn't as good as I hoped it would be.

Beautiful Oblivion follows Cami Camlin, a girl who had a rough childhood, but who is used to standing up for herself and what she believes in. She escaped her abusive household as soon as she was able, and now lives in an apartment with her best friend Raegan and works at the Red Door--the bar mentioned and visited often in Beautiful Disaster. She has a pleasant boyfriend, T.J., who has a mysterious, secretive job that keeps him in California and away from Cami. But after T.J. cancels on her again, she goes out and tries to have fun. Enter Tenton Maddox, one of the infamous Maddox Brothers. He zeroes in on Cami, fighting dirty (using an adorable five year old girl that he babysits!) to get Cami into his arms.

I love Jamie McGuire's writing style, and most of the time I really loved Cami. Like most characters, there were moments when I wanted to scream at her to make up her mind or act, but overall I really liked her. And Trent was pretty magnificent. He doesn't play a huge part in Beautiful Disaster, so it was interesting to see him as the focal point of the story.

The biggest problem I had with this story was the feeling of dread I felt so often. About halfway through the book, it's mentioned that Cami has a secret that will ruin her relationship with Trent--friendship or otherwise--if he finds out. So I was constantly waiting for the ball to drop, and it wasn't a good anticipation. It was nerve-racking as hell. I was immensely frustrated whenever Trent and Cami fought because I kept on thinking "is it gonna happen now?" and it never did. So I wasn't a fan of that.

But when the secret was revealed at literally the last possible second...DAMN! I would have never guessed.

Also, I both liked and didn't like that the author inserted snippets of Beautiful Disaster in the story; moments that were happening at the same time as scenes in Beautiful Disaster, but obviously from a different person's point of view. It was fun, but a lot of the time I just wanted to skip the retelling and get back to Cami's story.

In the end, I did enjoy it. It was fun and kept my interest--I read it in basically one sitting. There was only one sex scene, which was different from Beautiful Disaster and most New Adult novels, but it was a pretty good one. And the novel is relatively short. But I was definitely satisfied with the book; it just wasn't as good as it could have been.

My Rating: ★ ★ ★