I really wanted to love this book but the glorification of the cheating trope and the rushed ending made it a less than enjoyable read.

a middle road romance for me. My first Elle Kennedy novel. Her writing style does appeal to me and I thought her characters were fleshed out.

While I’m a big Fan of Elle Kennedy this book just wasn’t it for me. The story line was predictable and I didn’t connect with the characters.

I truly struggled to get into this book. It was boring at times and just jot captivating. I will give it a try later on this year but for now it’s a no for me. I’m sorry.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Good Girl Complex was a really cute romcom book. In this, you will meet Mackenzie and Cooper. She comes a rich family where no one really understands what she wants. She's also dating a total tool who doesn't deserve her. As for him, well, he comes from the opposite but works really hard to do what he loves every day. They were complete opposites and basically born for one another.

I mean, once she drops the douche canoe that is. Which luckily happens pretty quickly because Cooper and her had some real chemistry. Of course, there friendship starts off with a bet. One that was made between Cooper and his friends. At first, he thinks things will be easy since he assumes she will be like all the other rich clones. Then after getting to know her, he quickly realizes how wrong he was about her. Soon after, he starts to really develop feelings for her.

The romance between these two was on fire from the very beginning. He was just the complete opposite of her last boyfriend and definitely helped make her feel seen and heard. He never once thought her ideas for the hotel or being a creator of two apps ridiculous. Heck, he was pretty impressed that she went out and made her own money instead of just taking her families.

She was equally impressed with what he did with his life. They completely understood one another and were just plain happy. Well, until a secret comes out one night and the truth has finally been revealed. That dumb ass bet. Of course, there's a little drama but they eventually talk to one another and move on.

In the end, this was just really cute. I'm glad that I got the chance to jump into this book and can't wait for the next book Elle writes.

In the town of Avalon Bay, there is a mix of preppy rich kids and locals. Mac, the daughter of a demanding politician and his wife, moves to Avalon Bay to start college and be with her long-time boyfriend, Preston. But, when she meets Cooper, the local bad boy, sparks immediately fly between the two. Mac is a free spirit and soon grows tired of the pressure that her parents and Preston put on her, so when the opportunity presents itself, she breaks free and runs into Cooper's waiting arms.

I had heard rumors that this book felt very similar to the After series, and while I agree with that, I still really enjoyed it! Cooper was a fantastic male lead, and Mac was a sweetheart. I was a little bit frustrated by how long it took Mac to break up with Preston because I just wanted to see her finally get together with Cooper, but overall, it was worth the wait. Elle Kennedy is one of my favorite authors, and I'm so glad to have gotten the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. Good Girl Complex was a quick and fun read that had me falling in love with the characters!

CW for cheating, absent parents, sexual content.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy.

I've seen a lot of mixed feelings in this book and I fall right in the middle. It was fine, but I didn't love it. The characters felt too immature for the way they were acting and I really wish they were just a few years older. Overall, ⭐⭐⭐💫 I would get this from the library if you read it.

Loved this book! I loved the characters. I loved the location. I loved the plot. This book was exactly what I wanted when I picked it up and got me right out of a reading slump. I look forward to reading the rest of the series as it is released.

I love a good girl/bad boy trope but unfortunately not this one. It wasn’t terrible but felt like something I’ve read before and then I realized it was actually like watching outer banks but a tad more boring. I’m sad this one wasn’t what I thought it would be… I’ve enjoyed Elle Kennedy’s other works but this was just not it.

This was a fast, easy read! I enjoyed the chemistry between Mackenzie and Cooper and how they were both strong- willed. This small beach town setting was a great mental escape as well. I overall enjoyed the storyline and of course the great banter that kept me entertained.

Thank you St. Martin's Griffin for sending me an advanced copy of Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Now I've heard a lot about Elle Kennedy so the bar for me was higher than normal. I'm happy to say this book didn't disappoint. When you start the first line of the synopsis with "Mackenzie Cabot is a people pleaser", you better believe I'm going to want to read more (pshh, me, a people pleaser?? no.....). Trying to find yourself isn't easy, even worse when everyone around you is trying to find yourself for you. I consider myself a logical thinking gal, but bring around Cooper Hartley and all logic flies out the window. Their growing relationship is right out of a movie in the best way possible (like cmon, where's the movie for this?). I can't wait to read more of Kennedy's work and need more from Avalon Bay ASAP!! Witty, clever and a movie waiting to happen, a definite beach read when you're at your own Avalon Bay.

Okay, I finally had to DNF this after being about 2/3 through. I just REALLY dislike it. The entire premise is so outdated with the weird date a girl for revenge/as a game trope that was running the romance industry in the 90s/early 2000s. Also, I absolutely hate anytime authors try to make cheating sound okay. Mac can cheat on her bf because he's awful but gets mad when her bf cheats on her? Nope. Not buying it.

This was the biggest disappointment of 2022 so far.

Mac, rich good girl. Cooper, bad boy townie. What happens when two words collide? They happen. What happens when a lie could destroy it all?

Fantastic story with compelling characters set in a small beach town. Grab your sunscreen, hit the beach and ignore the world.for a while as you quickly devour this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you St Martin's Press and #NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

2 stars.

The small beachside town of Avalon Bay is home to Garnet College, the playground of students from wealthy background, and the hardworking locals who are fed up with the elitist attitudes and rude treatment they receive from the "clones" - aka the students at Garnet. When Mac moves to Avalon Bay for college at her parents insistence, she feels as if it is a means to an ends to appease them and be able to focus on growing her already wildly successful internet business in the future. It helps that her long time boyfriend, Preston Kincaid, is a junior at Garnet. Mac's prim and proper life is upended when Cooper Hartley, Avalon Bay local, protects his friend from Preston's unwanted sexual advances and ends up losing his gig as a bartender. Cooper vows to get revenge against Preston, who has come to represent everything horrible that the clones bring to their community - how will he get revenge? By getting Mac to fall for Cooper and break up with Preston to humiliate him. What could go wrong?

*SPOILERS*

I found this book to be pretty lackluster. I am not a fan of the cheating trope, which this book HEAVILY relied upon. I also wasn't a fan of the revenge plot that drove the main storyline, it feels too immature for these characters and it made me dislike Cooper for stooping down to someone else's level and being willing to hurt someone else in the process.
The side characters were not well developed and there were too many side plots that were not resolved or fully fleshed out / explained in the story (like the storyline about Evan's ex-girlfriend... she never made an appearance and their relationship was never explained?... the hotel plot was just weird and not fleshed out enough?) making me question why they were included at all, instead they seemed like filler to delay the third act breakup a bit longer. I also found the relationship between Preston and Mac reallllllly unbelievable - that the two would be dating in the first place, since they had no chemistry and no intimacy, only having wealthy backgrounds in common. I understand that people grow apart or can come to see someone for who they are over time but Mac being so willing to date and potentially marry someone and enter into a life just like her parents, something she said was her worst nightmare, just made NO sense to me.

This books saving grace was the spark between Cooper and Mac, their banter was really well written and they had a lot of cute moments. I genuinely enjoyed reading about their relationship and seeing it develop, but it had so much more potential to be fleshed out and not to be so rushed in places. I wish that the ending of the book wasn't so abrupt, but I was also kind of glad it was just over! All in all it was okay- not something I would recommend to everyone but if someone is in the market for an easy "bad boy" romance this could work.

1.5, at best

This book was what would happen if After had a baby with a couple parts of the Netflix show Outer Banks, in the worst way possible. The writing was mostly serviceable, but I was not invested in the characters or overall story at all. Watching Mac and Coop “fall in love” felt like watching paint dry. It was an aggressively mediocre, lifeless story, and to that’s a worse offense than just being horrifically terrible. Also incredibly ironic that one of the leads has sites called Boyfriend Fails/Girlfriend Fails, when she's cheating on her SO (but he cheated on her first and longer so it's okay.)

I’ve heard a lot of hype about this author before on book Twitter, but if this is any indication of what her work is like, I’ll stay clear of the rest of it.

I enjoyed the idea of the story and the potential for conflict between the rich ‘clones’ and the townies. I didn’t care for the characters or my feelings about each one changed from good to bad and back again. It was almost a ‘mean girls/guys’ type of story at times. I understood why Cooper, Evan and others had issues with the rich kids but that got old after a while..

Mac’s boyfriend Preston and new friend Cooper are both keeping secrets from her and you know things won’t turn out well.

Mac and Cooper come from different families and ways of life but they’ve both had to live with pretty neglectful parents and it goes to show you that money isn’t the answer to everything.

As Cooper begins to know more about Mac, he’s becoming hesitant to think of her as the rich ‘clone’ and has feelings for her, but he still thinks about his pesky lie/secret.

I love epilogues and this story didn’t have one so it felt like the ending was abrupt. It may have just been an inconvenient time for me to read this story as I’ve seen reviews where others have loved this, but it felt a little flat to me. The one good thing about the story was Mac making a decision on how to live her life and determine her work no matter what her parents thought.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this new work.

I was so excited to get to read Elle Kennedy’s newest release - Good Girl Complex. I have absolutely loved her Briar University hockey series, and love her unputdownable romances. Good Girl Complex was a good book, but it didn’t hit the same mark for me as the Off-Campus and Briar U series. This book reminded me a lot of After by Anna Todd, and once that seed got planted in my head, it was really hard to get out. I did really enjoy the characters and the experiences and arc they have to go through. It was easy to read, a good slow burn romance with opposites attract. The end left me feeling a bit unresolved, but overall, it was a fun and enjoyable read. Perfect to throw in your beach bag for a summer afternoon.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.


3 1/2 /5 stars - @lucywrazor

#bookstagram #instabook #bookreviewer #bookreview #ellekennedy #goodgirlcomplex #netgalley #stmartinspress

4.5 out of 5!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have read previous books by Kennedy, most of her self-published work, and so I went into this book thinking it might not have the same amount of steam because it was traditionally published but BOY was I wrong. Listening to this on audio, I had to skip over some of the scenes as they were very steamy, and listening to them came across differently than if I was to read them on the page.

I enjoyed the incredible plot points there was more to the book than just the romance. A big component of this book was family dynamics and how to balance living your own life and family expectations. I enjoyed the twists and the pacing. I really like how so much happened before the midpoint of the book was even reached. It was not the kinda book where you have to wait for the last chapter for them to live happily ever after which made this relationship resonant with me and feel real.

The only thing keeping this from 5 stars for me is the ending. It felt so abrupt, I was just like "that's it?" It left me wanting more. and I really hope we get Evan's story next.

My Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐/ 5 stars (1 🌶) 16+
This is a contemporary romance about rich girl, Mackenzie “Mac” who leaves her tech startup that she built after high school, to get her college education at Garrett College in Avalon Bay. She always usually does exactly what her parents and boyfriend Preston tells her, even if she doesn’t agree. She’s basically portrayed as a pushover, who is supposed to finish school, marry Preston, and quit her job after kids to chair charities just like her mom. However, this all changes after she meets Cooper, the bad boy (he also has a twin brother) in town. After Preston gets Cooper fired at his bartending job, Cooper and his friends vow to seek revenge by humiliating Preston: stealing his gf and then dumping her afterwards.

So, some parts of this are truly cute. I love a bad boy meets nice girl trope - but Mac may be a pushover, but she is not that “good” in my opinion. SPOILER: She cheats on her boyfriend of 4 years with someone she barely knows, despite yes, we know that Preston is a complete knob. And Cooper, wow, sure his character kind of redeems himself a little, but he lies to her face at a pivotal part in the story, and his friends kind of suck too. I would have rather she ran off with his brother instead, at least they would have had a fresh start. I wanted to like this more, but this couple had a lot of red flags.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Sadly, Good Girl Complex is just a 3-star read for me. It was entertaining and very readable. I never wanted to put it down, but the hero was questionable from page one and made some bad choices. Cooper had a huge chip on his shoulder, but that wasn't what bothered me. He makes a decision to use an innocent to get back at someone and it only became a bad thing, from his perspective, when she ends up being nice and he develops feelings for her. Not a good look for a romance hero.

I did like Mac even though she was a little too good girl. She and Cooper had amazing chemistry, which jumped off the page. Their relationship felt real as we see them enjoying each other’s company on more than one occasion. So often authors rely on sex scenes to move the romance forward, but that wasn’t the case in Good Girl Complex. I also enjoyed Cooper's journey from an angry townie to a full-grown man with clear ambition. In addition, the secondary characters play a big role in Good Girl Complex and Cooper’s friends are reminiscent of the friend group from the After series, though not all that bad.