Everything in Mackenzie’s life is in order. Her future is as smooth as the stone on her finger. She has spent her life going to Avalon in the summer. The “townies” have a name for these too rich to both kids and an incident she is not aware of that involves her fiancée sets the stage for this lively, funny romance. Cooper Hartley only see dollar signs when the rich kids come to play, so when he finally has enough and sets one on his ear, little knowing that moment may upend his life,the plot is set. Happy reading

3.5 stars - My heart hurt over this one. While I loved the characters and the concept of the storyline, one of my biggest pet peeves is when a secret is blatantly held throughout most of the book. It almost makes the entire story based on a lie and that hurts to read. If you can get past that, then this one was enjoyable otherwise.

This one took a little bit for me to get into, but once I did I was hooked. Despite it's whirlwind nature I can see what drove Mackenzie and Cooper together. Mackenzie needed someone in her life that supported what she wanted to do, and her parents and boyfriend clearly weren't in. They were beyond infuriating. Cooper was wonderful (despite one very bad decision) and I appreciated that he supported Mackenzie in what she wanted to do.

Avalon Bay was a cute little coastal town and I can't wait to revisit and get Evan's story!

Overall, I really enjoyed this quick read. I listened to it on audio, and it was well done. My main hangups were with Mac. She is supposed to be this business woman who has made millions of dollars, so why then is she so dumb? She doesn’t know her boyfriend is cheating on her. She lets her parents dictate that she goes to college at 20. She can’t find a place to live when she is kicked out of the dorms. She drops out of school. She climbs on a roof during a severe thunderstorm. If you can get over all of this, then you can enjoy the love story between Mac and Cooper. I had a hard time with it.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for my ARC.

This was not a bad book whatsoever, I just wasn't as invested in the story.

The writing style is still great as I really love Elle Kennedy's writing! I just found myself only reading till the end because I did not want to DNF and EK book.

I really enjoyed this one. This is actually the first book I've read by Elle Kennedy as well.

This one follows Mac who is starting college after a gap year where she started her own business. She made a deal with her parents that she would attend a nearby college, to give her a good foundation for her future. Mac is dating her long term boyfriend Preston. So everything seems like it should be perfect, but she's feeling that something is missing.

She meets Cooper on a night out with her roommate Bonnie. They have an instant connection and form an unlikely friendship. I loved seeing their chemistry and their friendship develop.

However, Cooper has ulterior motives for starting their friendship in the first place. That unfolds throughout the book and impacts the relationship that he's started with Mac.

The one trope that I didn't like in this book was cheating. So be aware that cheating is in this book.

Otherwise, I loved the romance between Cooper and Mac. I also loved the friendships that are shown in this book and the personal struggles both Mac and Cooper are working through.

I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future and checking out the follow up book Bad Girl Reputation.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This wasn’t my favorite by Elle Kennedy. I didn’t like the main character, Mac. She annoyed me for most of the book. The characters were all pretty immature and toxic and the whole revenge dating a girl to get back at her boyfriend trope was like a bad teen movie. Unfortunately, there was nothing really memorable about this one for me which was a bummer because I was really looking forward to it.

Review ⭐️⭐️ Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy

Mackenzie is and always has been a people pleaser, especially to her parents and her long-time boyfriend. Her future is already planned out for her, and the first step is moving to the beachside town of Avalon Bay for college. She's always had practice supressing her true wilder self. When she meets local bad boy Cooper, the raw chemistry between them, might lead them to take decision they never thought they would take.

CW: Toxic family, cheating, lying, alcohol consumption (drunk).

So… this one is a little hard to rate. Elle Kennedy fans will love it, and others probably won't. By the end I was rooting for the couple. I like how Mackenzie reached out to her parents by the end of the book, let them try and be in her life, it felt really mature, but also more healthy than their relationship at the beginning of the book. However, there was nothing really remarkable about it. There was so many red flags, however, Cooper's general sense of superiority, not only with the "clones" but over Mac too was disconcerting. I understand their animosity towards Preston, he's an asshole. But, a plan this complicated and let's say it completely immoral to get back at him. They didn't go attack his job prospects, they went with a plan to toy with a very real human ( a third party that didn't have anything to do with the initial conflict). Let's say it fell icky all around. There's an overall lack in her books that doesn't seem to be evolving. When I started reading romance, I found her books delightful, but with a bit more books under my belt now, I can see all of what it's lacking: diversity. Other than that, the dare trope, the cheating (on both Mac's boyfriend side and on hers too.), the disrespect and the lying it brought to the story makes me uncomfortable for their relationship.

Thank you SMP romance for gifting me an advanced reader's copy through Netgalley. As always all thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

DNF—I have learned from various BIPOC individuals and creators on tiktok that the other uses stereotypical devices to portray their limited BIPOC representation.

This one I had a hard time following , the characters and storyline were not for me. Gorgeous cover but didn't love the book as much as I had hoped.

I will never be disappointed by an Elle Kennedy! This book is such a perfect summer read, and although it is a bit different from her past work, there are those amazing qualities that you love about Elle Kennedy in this book!

It didn't feel like Elle Kennedy. It felt more like a teenager with minimal writing experience wrote this. The characters fell flat for me. I wasn't interested in who they were, or what was going on in their lives. I wasn't a fan of the environment either. Just wasn't for me.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really struggled with this one. I just don’t think the characters were compelling. They were very immature and it made it a slog to get through. I did love the setting and think that that was written really well.

SUCH a cute book! I was so prepared to hate both characters because of the way their relationship started, but by the end I wanted to move to this small little beach town and hang out with them all the time. Perfect summer read even though I read it during winter. Cannot wait for the sequel. SO different from the Off Campus/Briar U books, but the characters were just as great. I'm already telling customers to buy this book.

This book has total Outerbanks sprinkled with the After series vibes! If you enjoyed any of those as much as me - you'll definitely enjoy Good Girl Complex.

Rich girl Mackenzie meets and falls for bad boy Cooper - give me all the good girl/bad boy, rich girl/blue collar boy tropes! This book reads like a movie I'd totally watch - the townies and Cooper resent the rich college student Clones that take over their town with their sense of entitlement. When an altercation with one leads to Cooper getting fired, his friends have revenge in their sights. What better way to get back at the guy then by stealing his perfect little girlfriend right out from under him.

I actually really liked Cooper and Mackenzie together but I felt like more time was spent on their social economic differences than on the fact that their relationship started as a revenge plot. The arc of that part of the story fell flat for me and the big reveal felt underwhelming and rushed. Maybe I expected, or I guess wanted, more drama? Too many high drama tv shows on the brain!

Still, I enjoyed Good Girl Complex. The extended friend group which was more of a found family was a lot of fun and all the underlying familial issues allowed for some emotional moments and of course baggage that I'm sure we will be seeing more of in the future. I'm excited to follow on with the series as we get more out of the other characters. Twin bad boys is a great foundation for a romance series in my book, especially when they are such big hearted softies under that sexy, bad boy exterior.

such a cute summer read !! i will be recommending this to those who who want a book that will give them all the summer vibes !!

I really enjoyed the setting of this book. I liked the MC Mac but did not care for Cooper. I feel like Mac was greatly misunderstood for majority of the book and I appreciated that. I really didn’t care for the friend group and felt like they were a bit too immature for their age, but maybe that’s my old age talking. Overall I enjoyed this one and would recommend for a summer read!

I have enjoyed other Elle Kennedy books but this book took me nearly 3 weeks to read. Not much to draw you in. The good girl lMac get mixed with a townie and the typical ups and downs with one jealous friend that blows everything. up. Everything comes back around of course in the end but nothing really did it for me.

Good Girl Complex was a refreshing read from Elle Kennedy.

Though I was initially a fan of the author after reading her Off-Campus series, Good Girl Complex made me a fan for life!

I plan to reread this later on in the year, just in time for summer!

Unfortunately this book was not my favorite and I DNF. I won't be sharing a review on goodreads or supporting on my instagram due to insensitive comments Elle Kennedy has made in the past regarding LGBTQIA+ characters and her continued mistreatment (or disappearance) of Black characters.