Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Beautiful Disaster:
1. Readers and reviewers have talked about the addictive quality of Beautiful Disaster. Do you find the book addictive—was it hard to tear yourself away from its pages? Why or why not?
2. What do you think of Travis Maddox? One reviewer (Shiirelyy's Bookshelf) says, "he's hot. He's sweet. He's loyal." Do you agree? What other qualities in him are not so positive?
3. How has Travis earned the nickname "Mad Dog"? Is it an epithet his classmates consider "cool" and something Travis can be proud of? Or is "Mad Dog" used as a pejorative, a nickname reflecting Travis's troubled personality?
4. (Follow-up to Questions 2 & 3): Despite his flaws, do you find yourself liking Travis? If so, how does the author manage to make a character likable who has so many dysfunctionalities?
5. Would you ever—or have you ever—become involved with a "Travis"? Or if you have a daughter, how would you feel if she brought him home?
6. Talk about Abby Abernathy as a character. Is she, as the publisher's summary refers to her, a "good girl"? Has Travis met his match in Abby? If so, in what way? Or do you see Abby as soft and submissive when it comes to Travis?
7. Why does Abby become involved with Travis in the first place? What drew her to him? In what way does Abby's past influence her decision to become involved? What in her history is she trying to outrun?
8. How would you describe Abby and Travis's relationship? Many readers describe it as abusive or unhealthy. Do you agree? Or do you view it as a passionate love story with characters destined to be together? What do you think makes Abby stay with Travis and, in the end, marry him?
9. (Follow-up to Question 8): Is Travis and Abby's relationship, as the title suggests, a "beautiful disaster"? In what way is it beautiful and in what way a disaster?
10. Both characters are young (between 19 and 22). Do their ages make the story less or more believable? Is their behavior as young adults credible?
11. Talk about Abby's friend, America. Do you consider her a true friend to Abby...or is she overly consumed with her relationship with Shepley? If you had a friend in a situation similar to Abby's, what would you advise her to do?
12. What about the gift of the diamond bracelet? Why is it given? Is it appropriate to give such an expensive gift...and is it right of Abby to accept it? Are there obligations that follow from accepting such a gift?
13. Do you find the ending to the novel satisfying? Is it believable? Would you have preferred a different ending?
14. Did you find any inconsistencies in the story?
15. Beautiful Disaster has been compared to Fifty Shades of Grey but, unlike Fifty Shades, this novel is categorized as a Young Adult novel. If you've read Fifty Shades, is there a similarity? How would you classify Beautiful Disaster—as Young Adult or Adult fiction?
16. Jamie McGuire announced that Walking Disaster, a follow-up based on Travis's perspective, will be released in 2013. Does Travis deserve a chance to tell his story? Will you be reading it?
(Questions by Katherine O'Conner at LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)