Review ~ Beautiful Oblivion by Jamie McGuire

Title: Beautiful Oblivion
Author: Jamie McGuire
Series: The Maddox Brothers #1
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
Published: July 1st 2014

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.

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I enjoyed the original Beautiful series – featuring Travis Maddox! – so I have been keen to read more books from that world. Let’s face it, Travis Maddox was so fun to read about, and the small glimpses of the brothers were fun, so I needed to read more! I actually had Beautiful Oblivion sitting on my shelf for so long, that I decided to put everything else aside and just get to it!!

Cami was an easy character to read about. She is just a normal girl, going to school and has a boyfriend. The long distance relationship is hard for both of them, but they are both trying. When Trenton comes into her life, she starts to question her feelings. Her friendship with him is easy and they are comfortable in each other’s presence.

Trenton is just as fun as Travis… just not as feisty! He wears his heart on his sleeve, like Travis does, so it is easy to see what he is feeling and how attracted he is to Cami. I liked seeing him open up to her, and pushing her to open up, even though he was a bit hesitant himself. 

I did enjoy Beautiful Oblivion, but it frustrated me too. There were a few things that were held back from the reader, which I put together within the first few chapters. The amount of people that actually knew part of it astounded me, and really, who could keep that kind of secret? I just didn’t find that part realistic… however; I still really enjoyed the story. I liked how Beautiful Oblivion ran on the same timeline as Beautiful Disaster; the books overlapped in a few places and I loved seeing glimpses of the original characters as their story was unfolding. I am keen to get my hands on the next book, to see what happens with Thomas… Sigh!!

Other reviews featuring Jamie McGuire 
Beautiful series
Beautiful Disaster #1
Walking Disaster #2