Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy
Publication Date: February 1, 2022
Plot: Mackenzie "Mac" Cabot is a people pleaser. Her demanding parents. Her prep school friends. Her long-time boyfriend. It's exhausting, really, always following the rules. Unlike most twenty-year-olds, all she really wants to do is focus on growing her internet business, but first she must get a college degree at her parents' insistence. That means moving to the beachside town of Avalon Bay, a community made up of locals and the wealthy students of Garnet College.
Mac's had plenty of practice suppressing her wilder impulses, but when she meets local bad boy Cooper Hartley, that ability is suddenly tested. Cooper is rough around the edges. Raw. Candid. A threat to her ordered existence. Their friendship soon becomes the realest thing in her life.
Despite his disdain for the trust-fund kids he sees coming and going from his town, Cooper soon realizes Mac isn't just another rich clone and falls for her. Hard. But as Mac finally starts feeling accepted by Cooper and his friends, the secret he's been keeping from her threatens the only place she's ever felt at home.
☆ Rating: 4.75/5 stars
Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy
Publication Date: October 4, 2022
Plot: When former bad girl Genevieve West returns home for her mother’s funeral, she’s prepared to keep her distance from her ex-boyfriend, Evan Hartley. Their history is rife with turbulence. And passion. A heck of a lot of passion... which she’s trying desperately to forget.
But it’s impossible not to run into Evan in the small coastal town where they once ran wild. And the moment she sees her gorgeous ex again, it’s clear to Gen that Evan is still as unruly, sexy, and irresistible as ever. This time around, however, she’s resolved to walk a new path. No more partying. No more foolish mistakes. Her plan is to temporarily remain in town to help her father run his business, but the second he finds somebody else, she’s out of there.
Evan has other ideas. He knows they can be good together, but he just has to convince Genevieve of that, even if it means turning over a new leaf himself. But can a bad reputation ever truly be shed? Do second chances really work? Genevieve and Evan are about to find out.
☆ Rating: 5/5 stars
MY THOUGHTS:
Good Girl Complex was my very first Elle Kennedy book and OH MY GOSH how in the world did I wait this long to read her books?! I've had tons of friends rave over how much they love the Off-Campus & Briar U series, but I decided to hop in and read her newest series first. And I am SO glad I did. I finally get the hype.
Good Girl Complex was your typical good girl meets the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks love story, BUT—the way Elle Kennedy writes is immaculate. It had me hanging on to every single word. It's very Outer Banks meets Gilmore Girls (Jess Mariano era). And believe it or not, Bad Girl Reputation was even better!
The second chance trope? COME ON. Bad Girl Reputation had me obsessed from the minute I opened the first page of the book. I've seen some less-than-stellar reviews on this series, and I honestly don't quite understand that. If you're a romance fan in the first place, this is a great read. to just sit back and soak in another world. I had a good idea that I would love Genevieve and Evan’s push-pull, angsty, in-out relationship more than Evan’s twin Cooper and Mackenzie’s story from Good Girl Complex, and I was so right. Their attraction is explosive and magnetic and kept me on the edge of my seat.
I honestly cannot wait until the third book of the series, The Summer Girl, comes out in July 2023!
