BOOK SIGNING, RECAP & PICTURES - Jamie McGuire in Chicago

Jamie in Chicago, IL at Round Lake Beach Cultural & Civic Center, April 14, 2013

Can you love someone too much?

Travis Maddox learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder.

In Walking Disaster, the life of Travis is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. But just when he thinks he is invincible, Abby Abernathy brings him to his knees.

Every story has two sides. In Beautiful Disaster, Abby had her say. Now it’s time to see the story through Travis’s eyes.

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So…what can I say about Jamie McGuire? Jamie FREAKING McGuire!!!! We all know Travis and Abby and the amazing stories that are Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster but what I think people need to know is how unbelievably awesome Jamie is as a person! She completely blew me away with how smart and funny and witty and personable and kind she is in person! Could I use any more adjectives? Yes, the answer is definitely YES!!! Where do I begin?!? Unfortunately, I didn’t record her speech (which I’m now kicking myself for not doing!) but I can give you the highlights!

Jamie showed up looking stunning as ever in some killer Jessica Simpson heels! She arrived with her cowboy and her little baby boy. Can we talk for a moment about how stunning she is as a general rule but how stunning she is so soon after having her sweet baby boy? Stunning!!! So…she takes the stage and immediately wants to know what we, the fans want to know so she starts it out with questions. My very first question was regarding the epilogue…borrowing a term from a very wise girl and I’m calling ‘author interference’ regarding Travis and his job. I like his job. I think Travis would be a kickass FBI agent. What I don’t buy is that Travis would keep that from Abby and that Abby would let Travis keep that from her. Am I right or am I right here, people?!?!? Jamie’s response (in her very sweet accent…and I’m paraphrasing): ‘I’m sorry, but he did. It was necessary and it’s okay.’ She also indicated that we would see more of this as we see the Maddox brothers’ books—specifically Thomas’s book. Okay, I’ll suck it up and move on! 

Something I don’t think I’ve heard Jamie explain before was the cover of Beautiful and then Walking Disaster. We all know what the initial Beautiful Disaster cover looked like—it was stunning and nothing like the cover we know and love now. Well, she couldn’t find the artist who made the initial cover so she really didn’t have a choice but to find a different cover. So when she sent it in, the artist took a very literal interpretation. Beautiful=butterfly and the most disastrous thing that could happen to that butterfly would be for it to be trapped in a jar. Thus, the Beautiful Disaster cover we now know and love.  So with the Walking Disaster cover, she wanted it to tie in with Beautiful Disaster but for it to be a bit edgier than Beautiful Disaster since after all, Walking Disaster is Travis’s story. Thus the Walking Disaster cover we now know and love! Oh and per Jamie: ‘Does Travis have a butterfly tattoo? Meh…No, probably not.’ Tying in with the covers, she briefly touched on the titles. Funny enough, both came from Kelly Clarkson. Beautiful Disaster is from Kelly’s Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster from a line in one of Kelly’s other songs. Oh! And she found both of these titles while in her car. 

Another big question I had was regarding Abby’s fake ID. The name on the ID was ultimately the names chosen for Travis and Abby’s twins. She said that there was no real deep meaning for that but she thinks the idea of Travis and Abby having twins names Jesse James is ‘badass’. She did know when writing that they would have twins b/c Jamie loves twins and her best friends were twins growing up! She also knew from the beginning that they would have twins—always a boy and a girl and each one of the twins taking a specific trait of one of their parents (James the poker player and Jes the fighter). Oh! When she initially finished Walking Disaster, there was no epilogue. She then felt that it was seemingly unfinished, thus the epilogue was born! Thank goodness!!!

Jamie also addressed why Walking Disaster didn’t start at the same point as Beautiful Disaster and she said it’s because Walking Disaster is from Travis’s point of view. Per Jamie: ‘Did Travis think it was love at first sight? No. Did he think Abby would look good on his couch? Yes!’

Jamie also said that after Beautiful Disaster she was asked for a sequel and thought about it but then a reader asked if we could have BD from Travis’s POV and she thought: “Hmm, that would be fun! Let’s do that!’ She said that she also had to ask her husband a lot of embarrassing questions since she was writing from a male POV.

What was Jamie’s inspiration for Beautiful Disaster? Fight Club mixed with Someone Like You! 

I’ve heard her partially answer where she came up with the nickname pigeon…from the movie Lady and the Tramp…she said: ‘Because Travis is a tramp.’ :)

Something else very cool I’ve never heard her talk about is her love and defense of Abby. She said that she’s heard the complaints: OMG, Abby is so stupid. Abby is such a bitch. What is wrong with Abby? What is she thinking playing w/Travis’s heart? How dare she date Parker! I hate Abby! But then there’s Travis…he is a tramp! He is sleeping with these random tramps and we are all: It’s okay, it’s Travis! Awww, his mom died! OMG, it’s not his fault he’s this way. He just needs to be loved. And again, stupid Abby! Yay Travis, boo Abby!’ She calls out her readers on this which I think is completely brilliant! I heart her so friggin much!!!

Okay…so those are some of my favorite highlights from her presentation! Can we talk about how cool she was when it came to the actual signing? I had emailed her after I went to a Stephenie Meyer signing weeks ago and told her that I had chatted with Steph about her. We had been tweeting back and forth for weeks leading up to the signing and she had promised me big, ‘squishy hugs’ so when it was my turn to have my books signed, I said, “Hi Jamie! You promised me big squishy hugs!’ to which she responded, ‘Oh my God, you’re Dana!’ How cool is that?!?!? She then came around the table to give me big, squishy hugs!!! I heart her!!! Oh, and as my friend went to take to pictures with my iPhone, it said that my camera space was full so we immediately deleted all pictures of my kids (sorry kiddos!) to take some good pictures! She loved her gifts that I brought her and she LOVED the signed copy of Stephenie Meyer’s book b/c she loves Steph. She said, ‘OMG, I’m fangirling at my own signing. This is so cool!’ She then proceeded to tell everyone the story of me meeting Steph and she was holding up all of her fun gifts to show everyone. It was so very cool. I absolutely love her!!! Can you tell?!!?

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