"Meeting him finally revealed the possibilities I'd been missing. The exhiaration of uncertainty. Passion and curiosity. I was half asleep until I met him." ⚓

The actual blurb of the book doesn't reveal much about the plot but despite that, the book was honestly predictable and nothing new. It had the typical good girl x bad boy storyline where Cooper, the townie from Avalon Bay takes a bet from his friends to get Mackenzie to develop feelings for him in order to get back at her boyfriend but unknowingly falls for her along the process. This book was decent enough but I didn't feel the same magical spark that erupted while reading the Off Campus series by Elle Kennedy. I enjoyed reading the book and truthfully, Mac's "good girl persona" did win me over towards the end but I didn't like the fact that she had to make efforts to get to know Cooper's friends when they didn't deserve her warmth. I liked the fact that she had a mind of her own and had set up her self-made buisness without her parents money. Connor was surprisingly nice to her, he was described as a pric* but he wasn't that bad because he encouraged her to be her own person and stood up for her. In short, I was all hyped up about this new book but unfortunately it didn't meet my expectations owing to the foreseeable storyline.

Thankyou St. Martin's Press & Netgalley for the ARC

Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy
A special thanks to St. Martin Press and NetGalley for this ARC.
I voluntarily read and reviewed this book all thoughts and opinions are my own.
McKenzie Cabot Has been a good girl her whole life. She’s a people pleaser always trying to make everyone around her happy. From her demanding parents to her overbearing long time boyfriend. Even though she has several successful websites her parents are insisting she goes to college which means a move to the beach town Avalon Bay.
Cooper is a twin who has grown up in this tiny college town his whole life. His life has been hard. His dad has passed and his mom breezes in when she feels like it.
When a freak accident with a puppy puts them on the same path sparks fly. But Mac has a boyfriend so she works hard to keep it platonic. Everyone can see these 2 are meant to be but can they get there? You’ll have a to read Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy to find out. This book releases on 2/1/22.

Gosh, I wanted this to be a lot better than it was. I love Elle Kennedy normally and the premise of this sounded right up my alley. But I felt like it was a book I've read a hundred times and not in a good, comforting way. It was misogynistic and stereotypical and I couldn't wait for it to end. I can't say that I recommend this one but definitely recommend this author, in general. Hope you have better luck!!

Good Girl Complex comes out next week on February 1, 2022, and you can purchase HERE.

She grabs me, finding fistfuls of my hair, kissing me wildly. She tastes like sugar and endless summer nights. I'm hungry for both as my tongue slicks over hers and we soar so high it feels like we might never come down.

I listened to the audio version of this book and felt like the narrators brought it to life! I thought it was cute and would make a nice beach read. I had never read anything by this author before but I enjoyed her writing style and would definitely look for more by her to read in between thrillers.

This wasn't the book for me, I DNF around 20%. After a few chapters, I didn't like or care about any of the characters. The book starts out with a bar fight, and then a bet to get the rich guy's girlfriend as payback. Not a setup I am interested in reading as a romance.
The writing was fine, I am just not the right audience for this book.

Thank you so much @StMartinsPress & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 01 February 2022)

SYNOPSIS | Cooper is tired of the trust fund kids that flood his college town, especially when an altercation with one causes him to lose his bar job. He decides to seek revenge on him by 'stealing' his girlfriend & making her fall in love with him.

WHAT I LIKED:
- this story has got heat, chemistry & character development that I devoured
- realistically flawed protagonists
- I don't know what is going on with me right now but I am vibing with the good girl / bad boy trope
- I enjoyed this one so much that I am going to give the Off-Campus series a try (seriously where has Elle Kennedy been hiding all of my life)

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- oh I need an epilogue (or more books in the series I'm not picky!)
- I don't really like romances that start out dishonestly (this one starts as a bet)

I am so thankful I got to read this book early. I have heard nothing by good things about books by Elle Kennedy, but this is the first book I pick up by her.
This book is a multi-POV book, and it follows our main character, Mackenzie who is a people pleaser who has a successful internet business and is rich. She has a long-term boyfriend and tends to try and live up to everyone’s expectations of her. In contrast, the other perspective is that of Cooper who is the opposite of Mackenzie. He is a bit of a wild card, has a temper, and has grown up in this town. One night Mackenzie meets Cooper and their friendship blooms. Cooper brings out a wild side in Mackenzie that she is used to suppressing. While Cooper realizes he doesn’t hate this particular trust fund kid and starts to fall for her. Mackenzie finally feels accepted for who she really is by Cooper and his friends. Is the secret he keeping from her threatening her happy place?
This college romance was everything I was looking for. I loved the contrast between Cooper and Mackenzie. The POVs made it clear how differently they perceived different situations and how their thought processes were. I also liked how Elle Kennedy showed how their very different and difficult past allowed them to empathize with one another. Elle Kennedy brought the characters to life, I felt very connected to Mackenzie and Cooper and was able to relate to them. I loved how they each had their own flaws, but it was what made them loveable. My favourite romance trope was included in this book, but I won’t be mentioning what it was as I don’t want to spoil the book. I enjoyed how fast-paced the book was. The only thing is I wished the conflict was fleshed out a little more, but the book is a faced paced romance.
I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. I highly recommend this book. . I can’t wait to continue reading this Avalon Bay series in the future and to pick up more books from Elle Kennedy.

I stopped reading this about a quarter of the way through. it wasn’t bad per se, I just got bored with it. it felt somewhat messy and kind of like fan fiction, like it wasn’t all the way finished.

***ARC Provided by the Publisher via NetGalley***

DNF at 26%

I wanted to like this one, I really did. And I have it longer than usual before throwing in the towel... But it just didn't work for me.

I didn't particularly like any of the characters. I get it, they are all young and have some growing up to do, I just didn't care enough about any of them to really be all that invested in where they ended up.

This is my first title by this author and while it didn't work for me, the writing wasn't the issue so I'd likely give her another shot.

I'm unable to recommend this title.

This is a hard book to review for me. I listened to the audiobook, and thought the writing was amazing, as well as the narrators. The book brought me in from page one and I loved the idea of the story (wealthy “good girl” meets “bad boy” local). I thought the side characters and relationships were well written, antagonists fantastic, but what I mainly struggled with was the relationship between Mac and Cooper themselves. I basically just wanted more from them the entire book. More angst and swoon… it’s like she started to give it, then it fizzled out. This is also single POV, and I thought to myself multiple times “gah this would be so much better with dual POVs!” I also think it’s worth a mention that this book has infidelity (even though one guy is a jerk). Overall I was entertained enough to finish it, but not one I absolutely loved.

CW: cheating, alcoholism, parental abuse/abandonment

You can check out Good Girl Complex on 2/1!

Thank you @smpromance for the gifted eARC and audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy is a standalone contemporary romance novel. The story in Good Girl Complex is one that does have a changing point of view and is a take on the old wrong side of the tracks romance trope with a slight love triangle involved.

At twenty Mackenzie “Mac” Cabot has still not grown out of the need to please everyone and do as others think she should. Growing up in a rich family Mac’s parents dismissed her accomplishment of creating an app that generated a seven figure bank account and only wanted Mac to get a college degree.

Mac enrolls in Garnet College located in the beachside town of Avalon Bay where she meets Cooper Hartley. Cooper is so obviously a bad boy but Mac just can’t seem to get him out of her mind even though she has been in a long time relationship with her parent approved boyfriend. Mac keeps telling herself it’s just a friendship with Cooper, until it’s not.

I’ll have to admit starting off Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy I was a little hesitant on rooting for the main characters knowing there was the “perfect” boyfriend in the background. However, the author did a great job making the bad boy good and the good guy cringy where I did end up rooting for the old switcharoo. Of course there was conflict and obstacles along the way but the spicy romance kept the pages turning waiting to see how it would all turn out in the end.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Sadly, this book did not work for me. I'm a huge fan of Elle Kennedy's The Deal, so when I saw she was coming out with a new novel, I knew I had to request the arc. I think my main problem with it is that it reminded me so much of the After series by Anna Todd, which I did NOT like. I found those characters toxic and wanted to tell all the students I talk to in school to stay away from that book and those kinds of characters in real life.

It was full of tropes, and though there's nothing wrong with tropes in general, I was looking for something new to this book. A bit more depth to the characters, which I didn't get. I almost DNF'd it at 40% but wanted to finish it, hoping there'd be something more.

Again, this is a personal review, and there will probably be other readers who will enjoy the heck out of this book and that's always a good thing!

given i'm familiar with elle kennedy's work and loved the off-campus series, i went in with a certain hope and expectation that it would paint the same type of feeling across the board that made you empathize with the characters created. while i can't say that i had that same feeling between mac and cooper, nor with the group of friends and the circumstances around them, there were still so many elements within that i enjoyed!

i liked the small town feelings and the camaraderie that grew between them all, where the supposed bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks helps the girl with money and a pedigree to protect to find her voice and what she really wants out of life — in spite of the ulterior motives that first led to the pair meeting in the first place. it's a secret that can't remain that way, one that eventually does get revealed in the worst of ways and at the worst of times, but forces both to grow up.

i feel where it fell a bit was in building up to the pair getting together. with as much as they didn't know about one another until after they were already enmeshed in a relationship, things that likely would have been addressed prior to a relationship together, it feels like it would have made for a better narrative overall had there been more moments between them before they came together rather than after.

Let the games begin! It's a battle between the upper and lower class' and it's a fight that may just leave a few hearts in disrepair.

So grab your sunscreen, a beach chair, and buckle up, because this is one fun summer read.

As Always, Happy Reading!

"4/5 Beaming Brains!" - Lit-Up My Mind

I am finding this year that a lot of the books I'm reading fall into the good/ok category. This was not a bad read but I just felt it had so much more potential than what we actually got. Overall a pretty easy read and while I wasn't over thrilled by it I also didn't have a hard time getting through it.

I will say while I haven't read After by Anna Todd I am quite disappointed to read so many reviews that state this is pretty much a replica. For those who have read both I can understand the disappointment that the author chose to have a book so closely resemble another's work.

I think there are many readers who are going to love this book and that's pretty awesome!

**Received ARC through NetGalley. Voluntarily reviewed **

I really wanted to like this book, because I've liked Elle Kennedy's other works. However, I was disappointed in this book.

In this book, we follow Mackenzie, a rich girl who moves to Avalon Bay. We also meet Cooper, who is the bad boy of the Bay. One night, while working at the local bar, he finds this rich guy named Preston cheating on his girlfriend. Therefore, Preston, being the entitled man he is, ends up getting Cooper fired. Cooper and his friends decide to get revenge on this guy by making a bet to seduce his girlfriend and make her aware of his cheating. That girlfriend is none other than Mackenzie.

I think this book fell flat for me because the plot seemed familiar to the book, After. A bad boy with tattoos, a good girl with familial issues, they make a bet and he ends up falling for the girl. Sound familiar? Also, I didn't really connect with the characters a whole lot. I didn't really like Cooper's character and Mackenzie annoyed me at certain times. Finally, I hated the double standard for cheating in this book. Preston was a bad guy who cheated throughout their entire relationship, but Mackenzie was allowed to cheat with Cooper. That didn't sit well with me.

I enjoyed the atmosphere of this book, it gave me all the small-town vibes. Overall, I think that fans of the show Outer Banks and the book After will enjoy this book. 2/5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and St-Martin's press for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review

This book follows rich girl Mackenzie who is attending college with her rich boy boyfriend after a gap year. During this gap year she meets poor boy Cooper, a local “bad” boy who was born and raised in the town. Every single character in this book reads like a charicature of character you think you would be in a romance novel. Mackenzie is a “not like other girls” girl who is a super hard worker despite her family being millionaires. Cooper is a bad boy who would NEVER go for one of the uppity college girls….until he does. Preston (Mackenzies rich boy boyfriend) is a douchebag frat boy. And not one of has any personality traits beyond that.

I don’t want to spoil too much of the plot because once you know the general outline of the plot there is literally no point in reading this book because you will be able to guess every single that happens BUT I will say this book is stocked full of tropes and none of them are executed in an original way.

There is spice and it’s….fine. It’s truly nothing to write home about and doesn’t make up for the lack of original plot or characters.

The only reason I’m giving this book 3 ⭐️ is because I finished it even though I could have easily dnfd and I don’t give books I finished below a 3.

This book was given to me via Netgalley from St. Martins Press in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars

I want to give a non spoilery review but the synopsis gives away so little that I don't think I'll be able to fully explain my thoughts without giving spoilers. However, if I had to summarize my issues into one, non spoilery sentence, this is what it would be. I felt no chemistry between the characters and felt no emotional attachment to either of them because I feel like the characters had no depth.

The rest of my review will contain spoilers. Readers be warned.

What in the After did I just read? If I wasn't writing a review for this, I would probably DNF it. Right off the bat, the main characters have an interaction that didn't feel believable. I like to get to know the characters a bit more before I can believe that initial "spark" needed between characters to feel the sexual tension. Within the first couple pages, Mackenzie is painted to be a loyal, no nonsense girlfriend who is adamant cheating is dumb and the couple should "break up instead". But Cooper's and Mackenzie's FIRST interaction has her all googly eyes over Cooper. Then later has her thinking about him, checking him out, texting him despite knowing his intentions. At this point we don't know much about either character, but when one of the main points about her personality is she isn't a cheater and she is that easily swayed to another guy,,, I'm going to have a hard time believing her character for the rest of the book. And she continues to be with Cooper throughout the book, even though she is still in a relationship with her boyfriend, Preston.
Now, i don't mind "cheating" or blurred lines in books, but they have to be well done. They have to make me want to kill the other guy so that the main characters can just FINALLY be together. I'd rather rip my heart out then let these two be apart. I have to believe in their love.
Considering Mackenzie and Cooper have as much sexual tension as the Sahara Dessert, I didn't believer in their love. I felt no chemistry or sexual tension between the characters at all. The sex scenes did not have me hot and bothered. By 80% I still wasn't convinced they were made for each other.
Then at 88% their relationship seems to get...dull. They are temporarily living together and constantly getting annoyed and picking fights with each other. This never really seems to get resolved or talked about? Mackenzie says she will move out and he says he doesn't want her to and that's kind of... that. But I feel like a new 6 month old relationship shouldn't be an issue. It gave me "we should just be friends" vibes.

Now onto the "plot twist" of the book. Cooper knowing Preston, lying about it, and then making a bet he would sleep with her and then break her heart. I feel like this is basically an exact replica of After story line, even down to the way she found out. Now, because I am not convinced by their love, zero part of me wanted her to forgive Cooper and get back with him. Especially because it went on for 6 months, which is so long. I didn't love the way they got back together. It felt very anticlimactic and like she gave in to easily.

I didn't feel connected to or really cared about any of the side characters or plots. I don't really feel as if they had any depth to them either. Evan and Mackenzie's relationship was really weird to me. Going from him hating her, them having a come to jesus moment, and then all of the sudden he's a little too friendly.
I didn't feel like the characters had depth or really evolved throughout the book.

I’m a huge fan of Elle Kennedy and the Briar U series, so I was so excited to get an advance copy of Good Girl Complex, coming out on February 1. Unfortunately, this one didn’t live up to my (admittedly high) expectations.

I don’t like cheating–not even a little bit; it’s a major “ugh” inducer–and while our leading lady doesn’t cheat–she only kisses another guy before she breaks it off with her douche-canoe boyfriend,—cheating is a major part of the story (see aforementioned douche-canoe boyfriend and his penchant for philandering). The hero of the story is also actually a bit of a jerk (ok, a lot of a jerk), and honestly, I think Mac could have done a lot better. Their relationship starts out as part of a revenge plot–Cooper loses his job at the bar because of Mac’s wealthy and entitled boyfriend, Preston, so Cooper determines to seduce Mac to get back at him. The best way to start a relationship, to be sure. Of course he really falls for her, and she falls for him, but then the truth bites Cooper in the booty.

The writing is typical Kennedy–well written new adult romance, with dual perspectives, and yeah, I even found myself rooting for Mac and Cooper a couple of times, but unfortunately the transparent plot and the inevitable trainwreck I saw coming from chapter one made me want to DNF half-way through. I didn’t, and I give it a solid 2.5 stars. Because it’s not terrible, but it’s not good either.

3.5 stars

“I have a way of spiraling with anticipation of catastrophe. But that’s always been the rhythm of my life. Things start looking too good and a house falls out of the sky.”

Good Girl Complex is written in the first person narrative through the perspectives of Cooper and Mackenzie. Avalon Bay is a beachside community made up of locals trying to get by and the wealthy students of Garnet College. Mac is a wealthy and reluctant college student with a long-time boyfriend named Preston and a politician father. Cooper is the local bad boy with a huge disdain for the trust fund kids. After Cooper has a run in with Preston that gets him fired from his bartender gig, he decides to swoop Preston’s girlfriend off her feet to humiliate him. But what happens when Cooper realizes Mac isn’t like the other rich kids and the feelings start to become real?

Thoughts: Elle Kennedy is a new-to-me author but I know her Off Campus series is really popular. I’ve since read The Deal and I prefer this one. It’s better written, less problematic, and felt more mature. Definitely not as steamy as that book but there are some detailed love scenes in this one. Not a lot of surprises but it was a decent read. I mean you always know how making a bet to sweep someone off their feet is going to play out in a romance novel. Rich good girl/local bad boy, friends to lovers, with lots of pining. I wouldn’t consider Mac to be your typical goodie two-shoes. Cooper and Mac had decent chemistry but don’t see this relationship lasting very long. Bonus points for a great setting. This is the first book in the Avalon Bay series and we’re introduced to a lot of local characters. Overall, a decent small-town college romance novel but nothing very original or unique about it. If you’re a fan of her other books, you’ll likely enjoy this one.

Thank you St Martin’s Press, Netgalley, and Elle Kennedy for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.