I enjoyed Good Girl Complex enough to pick up the second book. Yes, it took forever to read it (well after pub date, oops) but I wanted to give it a chance.

Umm, this one wasn't on par with the first. The writing was choppy, a tad confusing (maybe because I stopped paying attention) and I cannot stand miscommunication. Like, that's my least favorite thing of all time. And this was holding onto that like the whole plot depended on it.

Overall, I will still give this author a chance but maybe not this series if there's a third one.

This book just felt heavy to me. I don't know if it was because it starts off at her mom's funeral or just the plot itself, but this wasn't for me. I tried to like the characters but they came off as caricatures.

This was an enjoyable read. Although I liked the first one better, this still had a good plot and I enjoyed reading about the characters.

I loved Gen and Evans story and watching these childhood sweethearts find each other again! Thank you for the early release. It’s definitely a book I will be purchasing for my bookshelf.

This one was fun! I loved how Kennedy wrote the history and build-up for the two main characters. I really enjoyed the banter and shenanigans. This was a quick, easy read!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an e-galley of Bad Girl Reputation.

Elle Kennedy is an auto read/buy for me at this point. Her characters are so personable and flawed. While I loved Coop and Mac's story in Good Girl Complex, I was thrilled to find out we would get Evan and Gen's story in book 2.

Evan and Gen have history and most of it is not good. However, when Gen returns to town a year after leaving in the middle of the night, Evan is hopeful they can pick up where they left off. Cause he's been waiting 12 months for her return. His hopes are crushed when Gen rebuffs Evan from the start. She has turned over a new leaf and is determined that Evan will not drag her back. Will the two be able to fight their attraction to each other or will they crash and burn?

4 stars for Gen and Evan’s story in Elle Kennedy’s Avalon Bay series. A second chance for love and redemption, Gen is the bad girl coming home after leaving town and everyone behind. If you read book one in this series, you know Evan is angry and more than a little reckless since Gen left. For her part you learn Gen was trying to reinvent herself and not continue to be the wild, party girl everyone saw. This one was a bit of a slow burn read with Evan wanting his girl back, Gen fighting not to fall and both confronting demons and heartbreak from the past. In the end this was a story that tugged at me and I truly enjoyed, but I admit it drug a bit in the beginning to get me all in.

This book took me forever to finish. I should have DNF-ed it early on - I don’t know why I didn’t. Evan and Gen probably would have bullied me in high school. They are so obnoxious and act like literal children!!! You can tell that they peaked in highschool. I’m glad that this book had them sort of come in terms with their flaws and work towards fixing those.

Elle Kennedy books are usually hit or miss for me and this one was definitely a miss.

This author does not miss. I loved every second of this book and I am so grateful for the opportunity to read it early.

Usually I love Elle's books, but I could NOT get into this one. It's a wonderful beach read, so maybe my trying to read it in the Fall/Winter hindered me.

I love everything Elle Kennedy and was super excited about Bad Girl Reputation! The vibe, plot, characters, everything was great. Second Chance, Beach, her writing just gets me and I love it. I felt like there could’ve been more builds up for the main characters. There was so much going on with the side characters that I felt like it wasnt just their story. Overall, would definitely recommend and would read again.

A great second chance romance! As the plot is slowly set up by learning the backstory of Gen and Evan’s relationship from both perspectives, we can easily see that these flawed characters deserve a second chance at love.
Gen is a tough girl who doesn’t trust easily. She has been through a lot of traumas in her life and is very cautious about who she lets get close to her. Now that she returned to Avalon Bay, she is trying hard to shed the bad girl reputation that she earned when she was a teenager. But most of the people in town just see her as trouble and don’t want to give her a second chance. Evan knows she is special and much more than a bad girl, so he is determined to win her back. The chemistry between Gen and Evan is undeniable, there are sparks every time they are near each other.
I enjoyed revisiting Avalon Bay in this second book of the series. But if you haven’t yet read the first book, Good Girl Complex, this one can easily be read as a stand-alone book. I am looking forward to the next installment, The Summer Girl, coming in July 2023!
This is a fantastic book if you’re in the mood for a spicy second chance romance or just looking for the perfect beach read. I highly recommend both books in the Avalon Bay series. I am grateful to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a digital copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

This story is about the characters working on themselves and about second Chance relationships. You could read this book as a stand alone as it does provide some recap of the first book but obviously the first book provides more back story. I enjoyed the first book more because of the story line and felt more connected to the characters. I can’t wait for the next book in the series! Thank you Net Galley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4 stars

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Good Girl Complex. I'd classify these as New Adult - following the lives of young people just starting out on their own. I struggled a little getting into this one, but it won me over.

Genevieve and Evan both were pretty wild when they were younger - partying all night, barely staying on the right side of the law. Then, Gen realizes she can't continue on that path and heads out of town, destroying Evan in the process. When she returns for her mother's funeral, Evan sees it as a chance to reconnect, but Gen is keeping her distance. She's worked too hard to move past her wild past and doesn't want to get pulled back into Evan's wild shenanigans. But, true love conquers all, and together they find a happy medium - not too boring, not too wild.
Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the digital ARC in return for an honest review.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the first book in this series so I was happy to be able to read this one too. What's not to love about a good second chance romance. I wasn't a big Evan fan in the first book but this one I was totally won over. The way he never stopped loving Gen and how he changed to be with her was - I'm not sure of the word but rarely does the bad guy turn it around for the girl. I really admired Gen. She was so strong to leave everyone she loves and uproot herself to not only change her life around but to get away from those things that were bad for her. She carried a lot of guilt with her for something that wasn't her fault - like so many of us do but she was able to overcome that and be a stronger person for it.

Another great book by Elle Kennedy!

Thank you to NetGalley, publisher, and author for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

What a great book and story this was. It kept me engaged the whole time. Enjoyed it and will always recommend books by this author!

Who doesn’t love a redemption story? I feel like the set up was great for a second chance romance.
It was a quick read for me. I found the characters to be kind of childish but I think that’s just good writing. The characters were believable and flawed. I think the author did a good job making her characters feel like people.
I would recommend this series.

I wanted to like this book so much but it was so... messy. Not the writing style, but the actual characters. They were childish and immature, they didn't seem to be able to stop and think anything through. It dragged on my mind and just didn't end up being the book I thought it would be.

Quick read and great setup for second chance romance! Thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the storyline. Can’t go wrong with an Elle Kennedy read!

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first, and I loved the first one.

It was a fine story, but it didn't pull me in in the way that I expect with all of Elle Kennedy's books.