Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy

This is book #2 of the Avalon Bay series. In this one we have Genevieve West who returns home to attend her mothers funeral and help her father with the family business. Genevieve had a reputation as being a bad girl when she was younger. Evan Hartley dated Genevieve in the past her never really go over her. Evan still has it bad for Genevieve and now that she is back in town Evan wants to make a move to rekindle the flames again.

This is a second chance romance between Genevieve and Evan will this time work out for them? Will they be able to shed their reputation from the past? What I saw in this book was that both characters where a hot mess and not really good for each other. Sometimes people just don't need to rekindle the past because their behavior dictates it. I understand that sometimes a little drama makes for a good read. In this instance I felt it lacked in the way the drama played out. It felt sort of toxic to me the relationship and that is ugly. I want to swoon about the two but when it is so messy it just hard to like the characters.

Angst is good but when it is not done in the right way it can make a book flop a bit. I think this is where I am at with this one. I wanted more swoon moments less toxic messy. Though things can work out in the end it just didn't feel good along the way. I want to feel good about the couple. This was a 2 star read for me. I hope the author does a little less messy and a lot more swoon in her next book.

Thank You to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a free copy of Bad Girl Reputation for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts in this review are my own.

I enjoyed this read! I loved Good Girl Complex and was excited to dig into this one as well. It did not disappoint. I love second chance romances, so this was the perfect read for me.

Gen returns home for her mom's funeral and to help her dad settle business matters.
So behind a push and pull with her and her ex Evan.
They always seem to have a way to get to eachother.

Evan decides to go clean to woe her back.

good book and really enjoyed the characters and their journey. I liked the romance.. I enjoyed how the characters grew in the book and what happened.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC of "Bad Girl Reputation", written by Elle Kennedy, This book is the 2nd in the Avalon Bay series.

This novel tells the story of Genevieve & Evan. Genevieve returns home for her mother's funeral in the hopes that she will not run into her ex Evan. They used to be high school sweethearts. It involves the second chance romance trope.

Overall, I rated this novel 4/5 stars!

3.75 stars

"Because nothing else matters when she’s mine.

Nothing.

She’s everything and all of it."

The story follows Genevieve - Gen - who left Avalon Bay when she hit rock bottom following an incident with booze, drugs, and drama. She left behind everyone on her journey to get clean but when her mother passes away, she returns.

Evan had his heart broken when Gen left town suddenly, but now she's back and he's determined to shape up and win her back.

*Cue Drama* 😂

“Believe me, there’s no version of this

— I gesture between us—

where we don’t get together, [Gen]. One way or another. I can tell you that for certain.”

This was a great follow-up to Good Girl Complex, where we got to see secondary characters in a new light and Coop and Mac from a different perspective.

Coop was a bit of a dick in this book - a bit more than a bit 😅

I love Evan's relationship with his "little brother" Riley and how they both helped each other.

I was a big fan of the back-and-forth Evan and Gen had!

"Me: I’m standing outside your place like some lovesick stalker. Debating whether to throw rocks at your window or just knock on the front door.

She responds almost instantly.

Her: Use the door, you heathen. We’re adults now, remember?"

I always love books where the main characters get clean or have a recovery of some sort - wishful thinking for my family, I guess 🥲

“You’ve been taking bullets for me my whole life. But I’m all grown up now, Evan. I don’t need a martyr.”

I did like book 1 better. There were parts I didn't like - such as Evan's 'reform' which he did overnight -unbelievable. There were a couple of things about mental illness in this book that I didn't like the way it was explained, at all. Basically saying because their mom had a mental illness, she could get away with what she did, taking no personal responsibility. When my mental illness turns me into a green lumpy monster, I still take responsibility for that. The drama also was not great either. Anyway...

If you like:

❤️‍🩹Second chance romance
❤️‍🩹Nothing else matters but her
❤️‍🩹Banter
❤️‍🩹Sobriety and Self-Recovery
❤️‍🩹Becoming your better self

This is the second installment in the Avalon Bay series and I was so excited to read this book. I will say I read the physical copy while listening to the audio book and the narrators really brought this book to life. In this book we have Genevieve (Gen or Fred, dependent on who you are), and Evan who have been each other’s best friends since a young age. I loved how this book was not just about their friendship but also talked about the lack of mother figures in the characters life and how they both had to process and find a way around the trauma in their own ways.

The growth that Evan showed in this book to show Gen that he was able to be the man that she needed him to be was so wonderful to see. Their chemistry was so fantastic but real. This book series has my heart and I can’t wait to read more from this series.

This one took me a while to read, but it was enjoyable. Genevieve and Evan grew up together and dated all through middle school, high school, and their early adulthood. They definitely had a toxic relationship, but it was full of fun and adventure as much as fights and arguments. But Genevieve skipped town about a year ago after an incident with a cop (content warning: he sexually harassed/assaulted her, and shows up throughout the novel to continue to give her trouble) who has had it out for her ever since. But now her mother has passed away and she’s returned for the funeral and to help out her dad with selling the house and getting his business in order. Evan is angry at Gen for leaving, but also sees it as a second chance to win her back. The only problem is, Genevieve has done a ton of growing up this past year. She wants to retire her bad girl reputation and live a more straight and narrow life. Evan is still up to his bad boy ways but realizes he can reform too in order to be with the woman he loves.

I really connected with both Gen and Evan. I’m a little jaded by my own second chance attempts so it took some suspension of disbelief to agree that these two could make it work, but I so wanted them to. Both grow so much over the course of the book, and it’s even more satisfying if you read Good Girl Complex first. Their spicy scenes are on fire, but the emotional connection is even more powerful. They are truly best friends, lovers, and family all wrapped into one – which makes their shockingly traditional HEA feel so right!

And the turn-around! In Book 1, I was totally Team Cooper – Evan’s twin brother who is the more responsible of the duo. But reading from Evan’s POV, I was so annoyed by Cooper’s judgy attitude, LOL. Kennedy clearly loves her characters if she can make me both love and hate them and show them through different lenses so seemlessly.

This is a push and pull second chance romance with two characters who can’t keep away from one another. It’s great for fans of new adult romance. I will say, I find the characters in this series and the decisions they make a little worrisome. They are so young and behave that way, making rash decisions, exhibiting toxic behavior in their relationships, and letting their emotions drive them. This makes for compelling and exciting reading, and fits for their ages – the early twenties. However, the characters all make BIG decisions that seem to work out for them despite clearly not having a fully developed frontal cortex. Buying and managing a run down hotel? Getting engaged? How can the kids of Avalon Bay manage these big decisions but not realize the short-sightedness of their romantic decisions? Nonetheless, if you like romances about those in their early twenties navigating the first steps of adulthood while falling in love, this book and series are for you!

I love this series. Gen and Evan and a cute couple meant to be together, but life and bad habits get in the way. I liked the characters and I'm excited to read more from this series.

This was a solid second chance, messy romance that I would recommend to fans of the trope and Elle Kennedy!

I did like Ethan and Gen and it was great to see them growth individual and get their Happily Ever After 🫶

But there wasn’t something that is making me want convince everyone and their mother to read this asap 🤷🏼‍♀️ It did entertain me during flights for a business trip.

CW: the book starts off at the funeral for Gen’s mother who she had a complicated relationship with

Read if you like:
❤️‍🩹 Second chance romances
💥 Messy MC’s
🏘️ Small towns
🪢 Complicated families
🤭 Your ex crashing your dates

Bad Girl Reputation is the second novel in the Avalon Bay series by Elle Kennedy. It follows Evan and Genevieve who grew up together and had an on and off relationship before Genevieve unexpectedly left town. When she has to return to town, she plans to lead a better life than before and find a nice guy who is not Evan Hartley. But can she resist Evan’s new outlook while achieving her own goals? This second chance romance novel shows two old friends pushing out of their stereotypes and finding each other in the process. I thought the character growth and the characters realizing their own self-worth were the best aspects of this book. I found the book easy to read and I would recommend reading Good Girl Complex prior to this one because it will improve your reading experience as it follows all the same characters.

This was a quick read for me and kept me somewhat interested but didn’t stick out as one of my favorites from the author. I didn’t love the characters so I had a hard time connecting to the book. I did enjoy the small town vibes and it had some fun supporting characters that I enjoyed.

Welp, I’m at it again. I read this book without knowing it was a sequel. How I didn’t realize it was connected to Good Girl Complex actually blows my mind a little bit considering how similar the covers are, but oh well. At least it’s a series that involves different main characters love story and not a continuation 🤪

I will be going back to read GGC though because I adored this book (by the end) and writing style! I absolutely did not want Genevieve and Evan together. I was getting Tessa and Hardin from After vibes, and I didn’t want them together either. I’m in the minority on that, I know 🫣 please don’t come at me Hessa fans.

BUT…by the end, I was pulling for them and loving their relationship and the growth that was taking place. Evan’s relationship with Riley made my heart happy. He treated Riley like an equal even though he was a teenager…it was really endearing. Their conversations and time spent together were my favorite parts. And Evan’s short visit to the retirement/assisted living facility had me cackling.

Evan was by far my favorite character, and my heart went out to Gen with all of the crap she went through with the horrible cop in town, but I didn’t love her as much. It felt like she was hurting Evan even though he didn’t do anything wrong.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and will be reading more of Kennedy’s books.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the arc in exchange for my honest review!

Elle Kennedy is one of those authors who could write anything and it would be an absolute masterpiece. This book is no different. I had so much fun being immersed back into Avalon Bay and getting to see the second chance romance between Gen and Evan form. These two have a wild, fiery chemistry from the very first chapter and I was obsessed. If you are looking for a small town, second chance, spicy book rec then I highly recommend this!!!

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio, St Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

So Bad Girl Reputation is book two in a series. A fact I didn't know, and I wish I would have read book one (Good Girl Complex) first. I do think it works as a stand-alone though. Genevieve returns home for her mom's funeral and wants to avoid her ex, Evan, at all costs. But being a small town, there's no way she's not going to run into him. On the other side, Evan WANTS to run into Genevieve and knows they can bee good together. This is a book about second chances. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the first book!

I listened to this book on audio and the narration was very good.
The story was pretty interesting and definitely hit a different direction than I was expecting.
I don't know what it was but I didn't love it as much as Good Girl Complex but it was definitely enjoyable and I am glad I listened in audio because I think it really helped to keep my attention.
I think Evan and Gen were alike but different the first time they were together and I feel like their separation helped them to grow into two people that could eventually reconcile. It was nice to see a continuation of all the characters from the first book.

3.5 stars. Former bad girl Genevieve has returned to Avalon Bay to help her father and her brothers with the family business. When she left a year ago, she also left behind bad boy Evan. She’s determined to keep moving forward with her life and continuing to grow, but can she do that with Evan and their past around every corner, in a town that only remembers her bad girl ways?

It was nice to revisit this cast of characters and Avalon Bay. I loved how strong Gen is, while also being relatable. Coming back to a place where she knows she may struggle, and being vulnerable enough to acknowledge these thoughts, but still sticking to her convictions and continuously working towards her goals. I found Evan’s sudden change to be a little less believable, but still sweet overall. He knew Gen was it for him and he was prepared to work on making the changes he needed to make to show her that he could stick to it and that they would work together.

And as always with Elle, it’s got the perfect amount of spice to accompany the story.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC!

“Bad Girl Reputation” is worth the hype. This second chance romance is both fast-paced and, well, romantic. It's also about trying to be a better person and all the difficulties that go along with It. Both Gen and Evan had their own personal issues to work through to be able to be together.

*Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review*

I am usually a big fan of second chance romance, but this one fell flat for me. Second chance romance reads well when it isn't a toxic relationship, which this very much was between Gen and Evan.

I picked this one up and put it down a couple of times before finishing it. I'd call it a rom com but I didn't think much was funny about it. If you enjoy Elle Kennedy's writing I recommend this book, but I think I'll steer clear of this series going forward.

Bad Girl Reputation features the second Hartley twin and his electric chemistry with ex-girlfriend Gen. Readers will love their tension and seeing the town of Avalon expand. The pacing is similar to Good Girl Complex, with a conclusion that feels rushed.