*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review*

I was excited to read it, I was even more excited when I received the ARC, but this book didn’t work for me. I tried to push through and finish it, but I honestly couldn’t do it. I ended DNFing at 72%.

This book had everything I thought I loved, but I couldn’t connect with the characters. One of the main reasons was because of the cheating. For me it isn't a trigger, I don’t like reading about it. I also couldn’t feel the connection between the characters. Even at 72%, I didn’t get the feeling either of them had deep feelings for the other.

I love this author, and I have read many of her books and I have loved them. This one was a miss. Just because this book didn’t work out for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you either. Maybe, and hopefully, you’ll enjoy it way better than I did.

Cooper is the resident bad boy townie. Mackenzie is the good girl “clone”. When their paths cross because of a bet, sparks inevitably fly. There’s only one problem: Mackenzie has a boyfriend and Cooper is out for revenge with Mackenzie as the target.
•
𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒: I’m a big fan of the Netflix series Outer Banks and I loved the vibes I was seeing in this book! I loved the townies vs. the rich kids theme. The back forth banter between Mackenzie and Cooper was fun and entertaining. They grew on me a lot by the end of the book! Unfortunately, I think my biggest problem with this book was how unlikeable a majority of the characters were. I was not a fan of Mackenzie or Cooper’s family/friends. And I really never felt myself get “hooked” on the plot either, it just fell flat for me and it took me longer than I expected to finish the book. Overall, it was just okay for me. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and St. Martin’s Press for my E-ARC.

•Mackenzie Cabot, or Mac, just finished her gap year and is now starting college. Even though her heart isn’t in it. All she wants is to pursue her passions that lie outside of the college world. She built two successful apps, and is now having to study biology? No thank you. But her life is mapped out. High school boyfriend whom her family insists is her future. A life filled with charities and being a trophy more than a woman. But all that changes one night when the fire of passion is ignited by a tattooed bad boy local… enter, Cooper Hartley.

•Coop just got fired after fighting with a very high profile customer at the bar he worked at. Turns out, the guy he hit has a girlfriend. And Cooper wants nothing more than revenge. Until he meets Mac and she turns his world upside down.

✨I loved everything about this book so much.. we have twin brothers who are the local bad boys, a group of friends who are family to each other, a heroine who is finding herself and stepping away from everything she has ever known to take a chance on herself.

🧡If you loved movies like The Notebook or A Walk to Remember.. pick this up ASAP! It is filled with angsty young love, coming of age decisions, and a small town college romance you will swoon for!

**3.5 Stars**

Good Girl Complex is an opposites attract romance about Mackenzie (Mac) who has made a small fortune off of a couple of apps she developed but is now trudging her way through college, which she absolutely hates, and Cooper a local who does construction for his uncle's business.

Cooper and Mac's relationship starts off more as a friendship though Cooper isn't as honest with Mac as he should be. I did enjoy how they got to know each other and felt like their relationship was easy and they had great chemistry. I am not a fan of story lines that involve games or manipulation so this story line wasn't up my alley, but I do think the book was well written and it was an easy read.

I wanted to love this book. But it involves cheating and that is an automatic no for me. I love Elle Kennedy and will read her next book still.

This is a brand new series and I am here for it. Do NOT mistake this cover for a light romance. Cooper Hartley is HOT! A regular town bad boy who is a twin. <insert drooling face emoji>

The scene in the first chapter drew me in and set the stage for the whole book. It's opposites attract... poor/wealthy. good girl/wild boy. If you like a little revenge, you'll see that here to.
Despite their differences, they really could relate to each other in a lot of ways.
Cooper's comebacks and banter was perfection. He really knew how to push Mac's buttons and she really deserved it sometimes.
Part of this story is like a car crash waiting to happen and my heart was racing through a lot of it with all the suspense. There were characters that drove me nuts too. I can't wait for more!

Tropes: rich and poor pairing, wrong side of the tracks, bet ratings, identical twins/switching, new girl in town.

Star rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice rating: 🌶🌶🌶
Recommend: Yes!

Overall, I liked this one! I normally go for dark romance but this one kept me entertained. I would say this book would have been a great transitional book for people who like romance but aren’t into the full darkness of some other books. I wish it had pushed the envelope a little more in that aspect. I mean, you have the phrase “good girl” right there begging to be used.
I was able to read it in one sitting. I liked the complexity of Cooper, his life, and his inner circle. Mack could seem a bit 1 dimensional, but I appreciated that instead of just being a rich girl, she earned herself that title. Was that easier because of her parents money? Yes. Did it give her a little more like ability? Also yes.

Coop and Mack’s chemistry is what made them work. They are two sides of the same coin so there was a good amount of tension.

When I finished reading, my first thought was where is Evans books?

I absolutely love Elle Kennedy's writing and the new adult stories she creates. I was feeling a little eh about the cheating storyline, but those situations happen in real life and the way she had the two characters handling it as the story went on definitely made me feel better about it. I loved the opposites attract trope and the respect they both had for each other. They supported each other even though they both had life situations that were completely opposite. Can't wait for more in this series.

I love a good girl/bad boy, opposites attract romance, so I was excited to dig into this one, but the blurb left out some very important information. As in, the hero makes a bet that he can get the heroine to cheat on her cheating boyfriend with him. That's a lot of cheating, which is a MAJOR theme in the book - as are lies and unhealthy relationships. None of it paints the hero, the heroine, OR the hero's friends (who are the stars of future books in the series) in a good light, and it just made me dislike every single character we encounter. I couldn't root for this couple when it would mean rooting for cheating, and I definitely cringed over how fast this heroine starts swooning over a crash, cajoling guy - who really doesn't care that she has a boyfriend. It was SO not what I was hoping for based on the blurb, and even Kennedy's devourable writing style couldn't keep me interested. And that's a shame.

The story follows Cooper, a local who is fed up with all of the rich, entitled "clones" who frequent his small town. Their selfishness can make life toxic, and the differences between the townies and the clones has never been more obvious. So when a guy gets Cooper fired from his job, Cooper's friends encourage him to get revenge by taking the man's girlfriend and discarding her. Though Cooper initially assumes that Mackenzie is just like the other clones, he soon realizes that she's actually pretty great. It's not long before Cooper's attempts to get Mackenzie into bed turn into something more, and Mackenzie finds herself falling for someone other than her boyfriend of four years.

Let's talk about the good for a minute. Kennedy's bingeable, banter-filled writing and the excellent audio narration kept me going in the first half. I was definitely intrigued by the premise, and the promise of a good guy underneath Cooper's sex-obsessed exterior had me curious. I also liked the small town vibes, and the cast of characters held some hope for future books. Hope that was quickly dashed. The supporting cast ended up being AWFUL, and I really don't see myself wanting to read any of their stories. The manhoe's book is up next, a cliché second chance romance that extinguished any desire I have to continue the series, since he sleeps with everything that moves in this. And that's part of the problem. So much of this felt cliché, tired, and overdone - we've moved past some of these tropes in recent years, but Kennedy has not. The cheating was a definite turnoff, but I probably could've overlooked it if other elements of the story had been more successful or there were characters to root for. There just weren't. Ultimately, I'm left with a writing style I loved and a storyline that I hated, which makes this a very disappointing read.

Audio note: The audio was excellent! It likely kept this from being a DNF for me, because both narrators did such a great job holding my interest. I'm always a big fan of Joe Arden, and Ava Erickson is quickly becoming one of my favorite female narrators. They both have easy voices to listen to, and their performances enhanced the story in a big way. It remains pretty light and easygoing, so the audio version works well for the office - and the romance is a slow enough burn that you won't be overwhelmed by steam. There are a few open door scenes, but they're brief and not until later on. The runtime of 10-11 hours was a little longer than I'd like for a workday listen, but if you speed up the narration a little, you'll have no trouble finishing in a day. Overall, I wish the narrators had a better plot to work with, because it's a well done audiobook that works great with the author's style. I received an early copy and am voluntarily leaving a review of this new adult romance.

Hmm … where to begin. This book is not at all what I was expecting. That is a nice change of pace. I really enjoyed seeing the rich girl trope fall for the bad boy. When it comes to the revenge part of the story it was a little unnerving. I felt bad for Mac. I liked cooper. He was a guy who was trying to make it and prove something to himself. The author painted the coastal college town perfectly. I seriously want to go to this town!! Overall, Cooper and Mac were a good pairing. What i was not fond of was the lying in the book. It was really hard to get past and that type of behavior bothered me. Overall, I liked the book. I liked how they came together in the end. Seriously cute story!

Good Girl Complex by @ellekennedy33

It’s here. It’s finally here!!! I was lucky enough to listen to this one on audio. And when I say I devoured… I mean devoured. The narrators were so so so amazing.

I would describe the vibe of this book as Outer Banks meets Walk to Remember (don’t worry HEA).
I am just going to do it. I am going to declare Elle Kennedy Queen of College Romance.
I love how Elle writes a character. Flawed and relatable. A character I want to get to know more. And these two… these two I want more. Actually that’s my only complaint Elle, why did you end the story? (If your reading this I better be getting a certain twin brothers story… or Tate, or… I could keep going)

“Time to wipe up my smudged mascara and be a bad bitch. Fuck Love. Build the Empire.”

Thank you @netgalley and @smpromance for the advanced audio.

I actually loved this romance. Younger adults along with low key drama. Rich kids versus the townies, but Mac (rich kid) and Cooper (townie) find out they are more alike than they know. What starts out as revenge turns quickly into a soul mate/love relationship.
Enjoyed reading from the start to the end. Would've loved a more complete or definitive ending, but they're young and in love, so it was a happy ending.

If I were ten years younger, I would have been ALL over this book. But as a full adult now, I can tell some of these tropes have their limits. I do want to say though, that this was extremely entertaining and I read it in one sitting. I also found so many similarities to the book After by Anna Todd - but this was well-written and better in my opinion. I enjoyed the romance aspect, but honestly, I hope she writes another book about the brother Evan, he stole the show.

The Good Girl Complex is an excellent read. I loved the setup for all that was to evolve between Mackenzie and Cooper. Their chemistry is palpable from the first time they meet, and of course, their relationship isn't all rainbows and butterflies. They have some real-life struggles, some hilarious ones that had me cackling, and some heavy ones, all of it making them relatable. Mackenzie is feisty and holds her own, and I was rooting for her from the beginning. I was highly invested from the get-go, the pacing is perfect, the writing and humor and exceptional, and I'm hoping *fingers crossed* this becomes a series or some of the side characters are in other Elle Kennedy books. Definitely recommend.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review. There was some things that I did not care for in this book such as the cheating trope but I do think Kennedy writes well developed characters and a good story. I would say this is more of a slow burn but pretty well done!

Good Girl Complex was a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed this book and connected to it in many ways (being from a coastal town myself). At times it felt like Elle Kennedy had actually based the story on my hometown! The beginning of the story hooked me. I loved the tension between the main characters and felt like Kennedy did a great job building that up during the first third of the book. Where the book lacked for me was in the conflict. At times the middle of the book felt like filler getting towards the main conflict of the story, only for it to be resolved relatively quickly. That being said, I did really enjoy the characters and their growth over the course of the story.

When this book landed on my kindle, it was (in my mind) most likely going to be a guaranteed five star read. Elle Kennedy is a master at light-hearted new adult books. She has lots of experience under her belt at writing characters that you should probably hate on paper but still end up loving with every fiber of your being. She's a master at flirty banter that flies back and forth so fast, your laughter can barely keep up. Her groups of characters are detailed from book one in a series, making you root for each individual secondary character to have their own HEA. That's the magic of Elle Kennedy. On top of that? One of my favorite tropes in books just happens to be revenge. Which is very strongly in the forefront of this particular book. So why, oh why, did this book fall short? The details surrounding the revenge plot soured everything for me in the first half. So much so, that I even wondered if I was going to have to DNF. Thankfully, the book did improve in the second half so that wasn't necessary. But my feelings were a far cry from love. They landed right underneath the borderline of like.

This story has a rich girl/poor guy theme that could have worked if not for the over-exaggerated characterization of the "clones" vs. the townies. On one hand, there were the "townie" locals who basically put up with constant abuse from the spoiled, entitled, kids who attend Garnet College. The "clones" or rich kids are portrayed as trust fund babies with more money than human decency. They are all one, snobby unit that think and act alike-as if the townies who serve them are dirt beneath their feet.

I'm not particularly fond of painting one group as a mustache twirling, caricature to be hated and scorned. The hero's prejudice towards the rich kids (as well as all of his friends) led to the revenge plot that sets out to intentionally and maliciously humiliate Mackenzie. A girl whom they know did nothing to deserve it and would simply be a pawn played with in their game. His female friends were actually gathered around gleefully rubbing their hands together and joking about humiliating her publicly and "dumping pig's blood" on her Carrie style. In real life, every single wealthy person who comes to a coastal town to attend college would not behave in the same exact abusive way. And yet, this is used as a plot device to explain away Coop and his friends' abhorrent behavior.

All it took for Coop's guilty conscience to kick in was one night getting to know Mac. He started to see her as an individual, a human being. Not an inanimate object to be used and abused. Unfortunately, having an inside perspective of his true intent to harm her soured the first half for me completely. The flirting that went on between the two of them should have been fun and entertaining, but that underbelly of dishonesty was very apparent in every exchange. Her ignorance of the truth only served to make matters worse.

Mac had her issues as well. She was dating a complete douchebag and seemed to have not the first clue about his true character. He's a serial cheater and a hateful snob of the worst kind, yet we are led to believe that she has never had even the slightest clue about any of it? They grew up together and she still thinks of him as a "nice" guy who is compatible with her in all the right ways? There is a difference between explaining away uncomfortable truths and being totally clueless. It just wasn't realistic that she could be utterly duped into thinking she's with a prince of a guy. She knows there is a culture of cheating and looking the other way in her social group...but trusts HIM irrevocably and absolutely. Mac (rightfully so) judges those around her who allow their boyfriends to cheat on them in order to get an engagement ring on their fingers. This ends up being hypocritical because she was emotionally cheating on her own boyfriend while spending time with Cooper. She knows she's physically attracted to Cooper and developing feelings. Yet she continues to play with fire and push the boundaries of what's acceptable. Mac knows what she feels isn't just platonic or else she wouldn't lie to her boyfriend about her activities.

I didn't care for Mac's total subservience to her parents' wishes. It didn't add up to me that she is a strong-willed person who likes to argue and speak her mind with Coop, and at the same time she's willing to marry the man of her parents' choosing simply because of his good social standing. It would be one thing if she felt financially trapped by them and feared being cut off of their support. That wasn't the case. She created her own websites in high school and became a financially independent millionaire. I just didn't get why she would let them manipulate her life to suit them when it clearly made her unhappy. She was going to a college that she didn't even want to go to and dating a guy that was nothing more than comfortable just to make two people happy who only cared about themselves. At any time she could have spoken up and told them her true feelings because she had a nice, cushy nest egg to protect her. I get that she was scared to break status quo, but her personality was a bit inconsistent for all of this to be plausible.

All of that being said, the second half did get better. The revenge scheme fizzled fast, and true feelings developed. Cooper's friends and twin brother accepted her into the fold as part of the group and everything was moving along well. Then came the "moment of truth." With a romantic relationship built on deception, you can expect a big bomb to have to eventually drop. Only the "moment of truth"
was covered up with more lies by the entire group which only added to the betrayal. When THAT bomb dropped...boy was it a doozy. She moved out, and moved into the home of her newfound friends who were part of the scheme all along? She hated him, but ran to them for shelter. Hmm. Now that was yet another thing that didn't add up for me. How was she so easily able to let their part in everything go? I couldn't see it.

Unfortunately, the deception running through the book was too pervasive. Cooper and his group of friends' prejudice ran deep and it was not a good look. The plot was not cohesive enough, and if there were to be a full series with the secondary characters here, I wouldn't be excited because I can't say that I loved any of them. I will say, this was a very fast read just like all of Elle Kennedy's past books despite all of my issues. I think that's why I was able to power through quickly and finish it all. If Cooper hadn't seen the error of his ways so quickly, I doubt I would have had the ability to continue. And there was groveling-necessary groveling. I wish I could have felt that old Elle Kennedy magic that I've gotten used to, but for me, this was for the most part, a loss.

This one was all I was hoping for and more. If Elle wrote the the dictionary I’d read it. This is an angsty and compulsively readable college romance about the small town bad boy falling for the privileged rich girl, think a reverse Pretty in Pink mixed with Outerbanks and you’ve got “Good Girl Complex.” I flew through this one and fell absolutely in love with everyone from Avalon Bay. I need more of this friend group, of this small town setting, and most of all I need more of Evan Hartley!

Mackenzie is starting college with her boyfriend after a much needed gap year and she has her life all figured out, that is until bad boy Cooper Hartley enters the picture. Cooper is from the wrong side of the tracks and the opposite of Mac in every way. Even though Cooper and Mac don’t make sense, these two have an undeniable chemistry that can’t be contained.

Honestly, Elle Kennedy can do no wrong for me. The way she writes sucks me in almost immediately and holds my attention the entire time. Some people might not like the cheating in this one, but it didn’t bother me as much because marriage wasn’t a factor. I loved the chemistry between Cooper and Mac and Elle’s ability to make every character lovable. She always tells a good back story and the drama never ends. I can’t wait to read Evan’s book! He might be my favorite!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for access to this arc.


Review was written by Kaetrin

I was so excited to read this book. It was one of my most anticipated books of the early part of the year. (I usually enjoy your books; something about your writing style just works for me.)

I did enjoy Good Girl Complex but it was not my favourite of your books, mainly because I struggled with the premise.

Mackenzie Cabot is a wealthy 20-year-old who moved to Avalon Bay in the Carolinas to attend Garnet College. She had agreed to attend after pressure from her family who had resisted her having a gap year after high school. Mackenzie used her gap year to work on her app and websites – “BoyfriendFails” and “GirlfriendFails” – both sites where people report their relationship disasters for clicks and comments. Mackenzie has already made more than a million dollars from these endeavours and has no interest in college but a deal’s a deal.

Cooper Hartley is a “townie”. A local from Avalon Bay, who, along with his twin brother Evan, works with his uncle Levi in his construction business. When the book begins, Cooper also has a night job as a bartender. He gets into an altercation with a “clone” (the derogatory name the locals give to the wealthy students and summer visitors who have a lot of history of treating the locals very poorly) who gropes waitress and friend, Steph. That particular clone is Preston – Mackenzie’s boyfriend. He’s a cheating piece of dirt but Mackenzie is oblivious to it.

Cooper is fired at Preston’s insistence and Cooper and his friends hatch a revenge plan: Cooper will romance Preston’s girlfriend away from him and then rub it in his face.

It is a truly mean and juvenile plan and it’s far from my favourite trope. Revenge, especially in contemporaries rarely works for me. I went into the book knowing that it was about a rich girl who falls for a boy from the “wrong side of the tracks” but I wasn’t expecting the “make her fall for me to hurt her boyfriend” part of the book and when I realised that’s what it was my heart dropped. It’s not only not my favourite, it feels kind of old and tired to me. I hoped for a twist on the trope to make it feel a bit fresher but it did not eventuate.

Still, I do enjoy your writing and I liked Mackenzie and even Cooper (when he wasn’t being an ass to someone who had done him no harm) so I kept going. To his credit, Cooper very quickly falls for Mackenzie and abandons the plan but it is nonetheless the central conflict of the book so I spent the last bit kind of peering through my fingers as I read, waiting for it all to go horribly wrong.

There is a HEA of course – this is a romance after all but the ending felt very abrupt and I would have really liked more.

I enjoyed the snap and sizzle of the chemistry between Mac and Cooper. I liked that the group of friends were not perfect and that one in particular was presented with more nuance than initially appeared would be the case.

Cooper, once he sees Mac as a person and not a clone (which, as I said, doesn’t take him long) is supportive of her in a way she’s never experienced from her tosser of a boyfriend and from her controlling parents. Unlike Preston, Cooper doesn’t think of Mac’s business ventures as her “little tech thing”. He’s impressed and not threatened by it (which, to be honest, could have used a little more exploration).

Cooper and Mackenzie have more in common than they don’t, no matter what the surface of things may look like.

It’s clear that Good Girl Complex is the first in a series. Cooper has a big group of friends and a reasonable amount of time is spent on setting up their various dynamics so I have a sense of where the series may be going and who might be next to be in the spotlight. I’m here for it. I liked the way the friends bantered together and for the most part I liked them all. Even the “villain” of the group had more to her than met the eye and I appreciated, mostly, the way that ended up playing out. I especially adored Bonnie May Beauchamp and sincerely hope she will bob up again in the series because she was a hoot. Wyatt and his girlfriend trouble and a ludicrous thought experiment was also a lot of fun.

There were some side stories about Cooper’s family, his career plans and about Mackenzie’s next venture that I would have liked more detail about – I wonder if they will feature in Evan’s book perhaps? There was definitely a fair bit of sequel bait with some things being mentioned or set up with no real resolution here, others a little glossed over.

Ultimately, what saved the book for me and made it an overall win was that writing style I like so much and the characters which went a long way to overcoming the barrier I had about the revenge storyline. For readers who don’t have that same barrier, I think the book will work much better.

Grade: B-

Mac always does what is expected of her. She never strays from her good girl image but now she finally wants to do what she wants to do in life. Instead, she decides to put her dreams on hold to go to college back home to please her parents. She runs into the guy from the wrong side of the track, Cooper. He pushes her every step of the way. It is a feeling that is both scary and thrilling to her. She can’t fall for a guy like that, or can she?

I could have liked the couple more but there are several things that makes it a bit hard. Cooper’s treatment of Mac is just a bit hard to digest. He does really mean things and somehow as a reader I’m suppose to move on from it quickly just because he falls in love. Mac good girl routine wears a bit thin. She needs to get a back bone. Eventually she gives in to her inner wild child but I almost didn’t want her to waste it on him.

The story is a bit cliché but it ticks off the boxes for opposites attract romance. The ending is a bit rush. As readers we are waiting for the fall out that’s going to occur to give that bit of angst. Mac gives in way to easily for my taste so the whole build-up fails.

Yet, with all that I disliked of the book, I read the story in one sitting. I love how Ms. Kennedy does new adult stories. I’m always rooting for someone in the book (Mac). She definitely comes into her own by the end of the book. I liked her relationship with Cooper’s brother. He is a good supporting character. I think the whole small-town vibe and secondary characters help balance out the story.

Overall, while it might not be the Off-Campus series, Good Girl Complex is still an enjoyable and light read.

~ Samantha