All good stories start with a bet made to get revenge, so you know this one is going to be good!

Cooper is the definition of someone proud of where he lives and is willing to do anything to protect those he considers family. When he chooses to get revenge after losing his job to keep one of the rich clones happy, he is more than ready to get the clone back. But he never could’ve planned for Mac…

Beach town, clones vs. townies, and a girl who’s just trying to live her life make this a perfect summer read!

I swear, that college age drama is Elle Kennedy's forte.

As I'm sure the reader is meant to, I absolutely hated the pretentious a$$ that sealed Cooper's fate. However it was also a great way to be introduced to ALL the residents of Avalon Bay, whether student or resident.

I liked Cooper, Evan and their circle of friends but thought that overall, the story was fairly predictable. You could, I suppose, argue all college drama is the same lol.

Not a bad start to a new series.

Mackenzie, or Mac, grew up wealthy, the daughter of a senator. However, she has money of her own after starting a popular website and app. She convinced her parents to let her take a year off before college, but ultimately wants to please them, so now she is starting her freshman year later than most. Mac has been in a long term relationship with Preston, the son of family friends. It’s assumed by everyone that they’ll marry after college. Though Mac has a head for business, everyone expects her to live a life like her mom and dedicate her time to charities and galas once she marries.

Cooper, or Coop, is a townie in Avalon Bay, the town where Mac and Preston’s college is. Towards the start of term, Preston, who is serially cheating on Mac without her knowledge, gets in a fight with Cooper after sexually harassing Cooper’s friend at the bar they work at. Cooper and his friends plot revenge after Preston has him fired. They find Mac on social media, and Cooper plans to seduce her into leaving her boyfriend and then rub it in Preston’s face. However, the seduction ends up being genuine when Cooper falls for Mac. The two form a friendship before Mac realizes how awful Preston is and leaves him for Cooper. But what would happen if Mac found out the truth about why Cooper pursued her in the first place?

This was a really fun read, full of college small town drama. It takes a while for Cooper’s band of friends to accept Mac, someone they view as an enemy from the get-go. But Mackenzie’s kind nature wins them over eventually. The romance between Cooper and Mac is steamy and dramatic, just like all romances between people of that age should be – if a little problematic, but it also feels appropriate for that age group. Overall, I enjoyed this fun read that transported me back to one of my favorite periods of my life.

As usual, Elle Kennedy gives me all the feels. I really loved the world she created at Avalon Bay and I want to read about all of the people. Well, mostly all of Cooper's friends. Their "found family" relationships were my favorite.
I will say, the cheating trope is my least favorite of all and I have a hard time with it in general. But Elle Kennedy created such compelling characters, I wanted to know how the story turned out. Overall, I enjoy the revenge/bet setup and I thought this one played out well. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book and more Avalon Bay shenanigans!

I received this Advanced Reader copy from Netgalley, in exchange for my honest review. I loved the characters in Elle Kennedy’s book. I felt that they where very real and the chemistry between them was amazing. The pace of the story wasn’t as fast as some i have read but the banter was enough to keep the pace moving. I did feel that the plot reminded me of ‘After’ by Anna Todd. Over all I liked this book and plan to read the next one. I have became a huge fan of Elle Kennedy.

Good Girl Complex is a spring romcom that intrigued me based on the synopsis. Elle Kennedy fan’s, especially those of her hit Off Campus series, will enjoy reading this new series!

Mackenzie believes that she has love with Preston, destined to be with her due to parental connections, and trusts her choices when she moves to Avalon Bay to start college. When not attending college, she is busy running her business about dating. On the one hand, she loves her life but on the other she hates her disapproving parents and their high standards for her.

In walks “bad boy” Cooper Hartley, local bar worker who enjoys having fun in the bay and living life to his fullest. He’s a grumpy character who has no plans to officially flip Mackenzie’s life upside down. But her good girl complex is going to make him want more from her.

As Mackenzie starts to find her inner voice, she sets life on its edge. Will she be able to stay true to herself or will she fall to everyone else’s whims?

Elle Kennedy’s latest had small town city vibes and characters that reminded me of her off campus series ones. However; I was unable to relate to any of the “charmy” characters placed on the page and was turned off with all the cheating references.

Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review :)

Calling all After readers! If you like the " revenge from one man to another man at the expense of an innocent woman" trope, this one is for you! ( Personally, I don't like this trope in After or in Good girl complex or ever). So yes, I really dislike this trope BUT I ended up with a 4 star review, how?

* Spoiler warning on rambled thoughts ahead*

The friend group was pretty interesting and a few characters had interesting character arcs that made me go from disliking them to tolerating them. I did think that the difference in societal class between the main characters was really interesting, as it actually touched on some issues ( mans called out Mackenzie a few times LOL).

This book did seem kind of long for such a basic storyline and plot that has been told on a certain story writing platform millions of times, but it was a pretty well written for what it was.

The way that Mackenzie found out about the whole bet really turned me off, I thought a couple of times that Cooper was going to come clean ( Which would have given this basic storyline a nice twist) but of course she found out through someone else. Why can readers never get an honest man in these type of storylines? That being said I do love Cooper and Evan and it was interesting to read about their twin dynamic!

I was pleasantly surprised with Good Girl Complex. This book doesn't invent anything new with the NA romance category but the characters are enjoyable and I was happy to see there would be more books about side characters.

We have your typical good girl who is looking to break free from her awful boyfriend and parents and a local bad boy who isn't interested in settling down. There is a bet involved and of course things go south but the journey to the end is worth it. Sexy twins, lots of laughs, off the charts chemistry, and of course I'm a sucker for a dog in books.

All in all, I recommend this for anyone who enjoys the NA genre.

I feel like I’m the last person on earth to just now be reading my first Elle Kennedy book! However, I’m sooo excited to now have her backlist to binge because this was sooo fun. The small town beach setting was EXACTLY what I needed during this cold February. This would make a perfect beach read, but if anyone is craving those warm summer months, I highly recommend reading this one immediately! You’ll feel instantly transported to a sunny and warm location 🥰 This book had me swooning from beginning to end. I will say, though, that I was not a fan of the main character. She killed me lol. Overall, 3.5 stars rounded to 4 from me! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

Maybe Elle Kennedy should just stick to writing about college hockey players. This book lacks everything that made her hockey books fun. Of course it shows that she tried her best to get something romantic and fun on the page but it truly missed the mark. Mac and Cooper have the same chemistry that a mop and a box of chocolates has. While that sucked the rest of the book gave major Outer Banks scenary vibes and that I was definitely here for that. Of course this book will sell beacuse it's a tiktok other but hopefully her next one will be better.

Perfect for fans of contemporary romances that feature characters in their 20s. It is a little different than her previous books but still a great read!

This was a mix of Outer Banks meets After. It was an entertaining read, but I felt it to be very cringey. I don't love the cheating trope and it made how the story was going to play out very obvious.

I liked the passions of our main character, though!

This was my first Elle Kennedy novel, but I really enjoyed it! It was fun and a super fast read! I really liked the characters and the chemistry between them. I can definitely find myself picking up more of Kennedy's books in the future!!

Oh, Elle Kennedy is just not the author for me. I felt the writing itself was weak and the whole setup for the novel was pretty bleak and has been done before. Haven't we all seen "She's All That?"

The premise of this romance novel seemed like it would be right up my alley, but I didn't feel anything for the main characters. Their connection didn't seem realistic and was more based on their attraction for each other's appearance. This may appeal to someone in their early 20s, but I found it to be pleasant, but just okay.

Kaetrin reviewed this back at the beginning of February and gave it a B-. I liked it a bit better; I mentioned in the comments on her review that it was a B verging on a B+ for me, but I recorded a B+ in my book log, so a B+ it is.

When I saw that Kennedy had a new series, I somehow got the impression that it was more women’s fiction-y than her previous work. I was happy enough to find out that it’s similar to the other books of hers that I’ve read – a New Adult romance set in a college town.

I didn’t have a huge problem with the set-up, in which townie Cooper tries to seduce rich girl Mackenzie to get revenge on her boyfriend, who got him fired from his bartending gig. I felt that it was handled with a light enough touch; Mackenzie wasn’t some vulnerable poor little rich girl, and Cooper wasn’t a moustache-twirling villain about it. Soon enough his feelings are real and then it’s just waiting for him to get his comeuppance when Mackenzie finds out the truth. Honestly, I felt like Kennedy left it for too late and by the time it happened I kind of wish she had chosen a different, more subversive route to resolve the conflict.

Other than that, my main complaint was one that I commonly have in NA romances – serious issues are introduced but because the characters are so young, and because of the limitations imposed by the HEA, it feels like the issues are never sufficiently addressed. In this case, both Cooper and Mackenzie have lousy parents. Both sets of parents are cliches – his are poor/druggie/criminal, while hers are rich/cold/appearances-above-all-else. I kind of wish we’d at least see the characters in therapy by the end of the story. Otherwise, the treatment feels shallow and vaguely “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”/nature over nurture, and that doesn’t sit well with me.

Niggles aside, the writing is good, the setting is appealing and the characters – especially Mackenzie – are likable. I am looking forward to future books in the series.

By and large I was underwhelmed by this one, it didn't capture me the way the Deal did and it is forgettable in an oversaturated market

I'm absolutely in love with this mind-blowing book. In this amazing book you will find a sweet, sassy, smart girl who meets a broody, sexy tattooed guy and thier explosive chemistry. Lots of fun banter and of course lots of dramas too. You won't be able to put this book down until you finish it one go. And I guess this always happens when you are reading Elle Kennedy's books.
Im really hoping this book continues to be a part of a series and we get more books!!

Revenge dating and second chance ... that's all you need to know about this book before picking it up. If that's not your thing then you probably wont like it. This is a new adult contemporary romance, and I do want to say though that yes the book has a very predictable trope and I knew what was going to happen before it did and (even though I hate comparing books) it is very similar to After which is why I took a star off. BUT I still think this version was written well enough that readers will want to finish the story, and it doesn't read like fanfiction so that was a plus for me. so what is this book about ? well like the title implies its about a Mackenzie the "good girl" aka a rich girl that just doesn't seem to be totally involved with her own world, she's almost like an outsider but not really. And then we have Cooper the local tattooed bad boy that came an disturbed her perfect life. The story is told from both pov which I actually enjoyed. I prefer being able to hear the thoughts of both character specially when it doesn't seem to focus more on one over the other. This really allowed me to be able to get more into the story and want to know what else would happen.
Mac's character was likable, it was different to see a girl being portrayed as someone who didn't need to be saved which usually happens when it comes to this type of story line. But she seemed dependent enough and realized what she needed to do on her own, well mostly since it decisions were little bit based of Cooper.
Cooper was the generally misunderstood guy that looks bad but really isn't, he was responsible except for the whole fake dating thing of course. There were times when he was a bigger ass than he needed to be. Those times when he would just randomly say how annoying she could be seemed a bit random to me since they came at times when she wasn't really doing anything to him I think that it would have been better to show those moments as well so that it would make more sense.
The secondary character were well written as well I enjoyed seeing their interaction with them, can Evan get his own book ? thank !
the main reason why I didn't give up on this book was because the author was able to add subplots to the story that gave it what we needed to make it stand out over the other books with a similar story line. Mac's crappy relationship with her long term bf and her parents and Cooper's relationship with his brother and mom really gave it the push I needed to like the story.
I would recommend reading this book because it’s amazingly well done with many different conflicts, character development plus the romance and spice is just good. Also I would say get the audiobook because Joe Arden is one of the narrators and if you've listen to any of the books that he has narrated before then you know why, you wont regret it !
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC

I enjoyed this romance story. I didn't finish it as fast as I would've liked but it had a great overall storyline with romance chemistry that I fell for.