Absolutely LOVED IT! Once I started reading I just had to finish! The banter was on point, the steam was, well... steamy! Second chance books are amazing when written well and this one most definitely was written VERY well! Will be recommending this book to basically everyone I know!

Thank you Elle Kennedy, NetGalley and Avalon Bay Novel for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

In the second book in this series, you would never know it was and makes for a great stand alone. There are some crossovers from the previous book but nothing that isn't explained in the second. If you want a book that you can wind down with, makes you turn your brain "off", and has an easy writing style, this is your book! I really enjoyed it. There are some steamy parts but overall, a quick, and fun RomCom!

I haven't read Good Girl Complex, so I wasn't sure what to expect in Bad Girl Reputation, but it was pretty good. Gen and Evan had a disastrous on-and-off romance until Gen abruptly left. When sad circumstances force Gen to return to Avalon Bay, their chemistry runs as hot as ever, but can they get past their history?
I loved how strong Gen was. She made hard decisions that put her well-being first and took an honest look at herself and changed for the better. Evan is impulsive and immature, yet he understood what Gen needed and became better to be worthy of her.
This story had sizzling chemistry, great character development, and made me laugh, but mostly it was a very romantic second chance that put a huge smile on my face.

As a fan of Elle Kennedy's other books and writing, I was quite excited to read this book. It is decent if you don't think too hard about it but unfortunately, it wasn't anything special. I did feel like the characters were a bit too immature considering that they were supposed to be college-age. I also felt like I couldn't connect well with the romantic relationship that was formed throughout this book which is a shame considering the potential this book had

The story follows Genevieve West as she returns to her hometown following the death of her mother. Her reputation for being a troublemaker isn’t doing her any good, and she’s looking to reform. But escaping her past isn’t easy, and letting go of her troublemaking on-and-off-again ex Evan Hartley is even more difficult. Genevieve decides to give him an ultimatum: clean up his act or let her go.

I went into this book thinking I wouldn’t like it as much as Good Girl Complex. As a self-proclaimed “goody two-shoes” myself, I didn’t think I’d be able to relate to Genevieve OR Evan on their journey back to each other. But, of course, this is Elle Kennedy we’re talking about, and the woman knows how to pull at your heartstrings and make you relate to all of her characters, even when they’re your exact opposite.

Bad Girl Reputation is book 2 of the Avalon Bay series by Elle Kennedy. It's told from POV with a HEA

Tropes:
✔️ second chance
✔️ small town
✔️ childhood friends to lovers
✔️ tortured hero and heroine

A year ago, Genevieve ran away from Avalon Bay without a backward glance because she felt her bad girl tendencies had led her to rock bottom and needed a clean break in order to get her act together.

After her mother passes away she returns home to help her father and 5 brothers, and finds herself face to face with her most impossible to break addiction: Evan Hartley. Her ex-boyfriend. Her best friend since childhood and the person who stoked the flames of mischief and trouble.

Their relationship had been explosive at best, but toxic at its worst. But the bond between them was intense, deep and undeniable. Now that they’ve grown a bit and matured a lot, can they find a happy medium and embrace moderation as a responsible young adults and as a couple?

Since Elle Kennedy is a fairly new to me author I went to check out the book’s details and saw that it’s categorized as NA rom-com. So I was expecting a lighthearted and humorous plot, but got angst, drama and dare I saw some dark and gritty themes. Which are perfectly ok, they just caught me off guard.

There was also the fact that Gen and Evan’s relationship was unconventional and hence unromantic. I understood their connection and deep seated love though and was absolutely rooting for them to figure out a way to work.

This is an interesting story. I don’t often read about bad girls. Usually it’s “boy” attached to the “bad” adjective, so Gen’s character was refreshing. I really liked both her and Evan trying to be better versions of themselves after all their history and drama.

By the numbers quick review:
★ Hero: 👤👤👤👤
★ Heroine: 👤👤👤👤
★ Plot: 📚📚📚📚
★ Romance: 💕💕
★ Sexiness: 🔥🔥🔥
★ Performance: 👤👤👤👤
★ Overall Rating: 3.5

I honestly don’t know how I feel about this book. I’m always torn on #SecondChanceRomances. I’m a person that loves the journey of falling in love with someone, so I don’t have that chance when we’re constantly going down memory lane.

This story felt like that to me. I appreciate the work Evan did with becoming a Big Brother, and the commitment to sobriety by Gen. However, I felt cheated on the journey of self-discovery and rekindling of love. We kinda just got there after a few memories and conversations. I totally enjoyed the first installment, but this one felt very immature and half-baked.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is my FIRST Elle Kennedy book! I was nervous to read this because it's a little wishy washy if you should read the first book in the series, even though this classifies as a standalone. I really enjoyed this and I think it read just as good as a standalone.

Sometimes all I want is a book that doesn't make me think to hard and makes my heart swoon for the characters. This was that book. It's like a palette cleanser. The second chance romance was phenomenal, the chemistry was off the charts. I just really enjoyed both characters and side characters!

Honestly just by this one book I can tell I'm going to become a huge fan of Elle Kennedy! Now I'm off to read her back list books.

4 Stars!
Genevieve West packed up everything a year ago and left the small town she grew up in to work on herself and make some changes. She has a new life in Charleston that is abruptly uprooted when she has to return home to Avalon Bay for her mother's funeral. She soon realizes she will be temporarily stuck there for the summer helping out with the family business. Her biggest challenge will be keeping her distance from her ex-boyfriend. It's long overdue that she found some restraint when it comes to Evan Hartley. They grew up best friends, and then became high school sweethearts. She could never forget him, or the way he made her feel, but they share a complicated, intense, messy history. They were explosive together, but a toxic situation. These days she's learned not to give in to her destructive instincts. She's done a lot of growing up and wants to stay on a good path. Will she be able to avoid Evan, or will she give in to the inescapable pull that's always been between them?

Evan Hartley is known for being a reckless bad boy, but lately he's been a bit lost and struggling. He worked hard trying to get over his ex who broke his heart when she was suddenly gone without a word. Just as he's almost got her out of his system, she's back. She's just as confident, beautiful, fearless and unapoligetically herself as he remembers. They always made each other crazy, and when she's near he feels like he's losing his mind with how addicted he is to her. They were always pushing the limits, and chasing the next rush or adventure, but she's different now. He's tired of pretending he can stay away from her, and he wants her back. Can he be what she needs, and convince her to give them another chance?

Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy is the second book in the Avalon Bay series. It's a small town, friends to lovers, second chance romance packed with angst, emotion and fabulous chemistry. I love this series so much, and can't wait for more!!! <333

• review •
bad girl reputation | elle kennedy

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

this book was so good!
I spent literal MONTHS going back and forth on whether or not I should pick up good girl complex to read before reading my arc of this one, and then eventually waited too long and the time crunch decided for me 😂
so, I didn’t read the first book. however, I think I’m going to circle back to it.

I love evan. so much.
he’s hilarious, and adorable, and so damn loveable. and the most amazing big brother. obsessed.
officer f*ckface? the worst. yes, I finished this book and then immediately forced myself to forget his name. he is trash. I think his name started with an r? don’t quote me on it though. anyway. 🤢
gen was great. however, I didn’t find her to be ‘bad’. idk. it just sounded like she was yolo-ing the sh!t out of life. same goes for evan. they weren’t bad. they just weren’t angels.

also, this book touches on some sensitive topics, like addiction, abuse of power, and sexual assault.

all in all,
this book was good, dude.
idk why I’m surprised, bc I’ve actually really enjoyed the other elle kennedy books I’ve read so far.

I feel like this review is super rough around the edges, but I’m a little rusty. ok? but I’m finally feeling a bit better, so I figured I’d knock out some reviews while I can.

have you read this one? what did you think?

thank you to st. martin’s press and netgalley for my advanced copy. 🤍

Bad Girl Reputation
4
Am I toxic? I loved that their relationship has been on and off for years and pretty chaotic.
Evan Evan Evan..
Where do I begin. I really got such a rush of excitement from this book. I was laughing out loud and smiling for most of the book. It was so good and had a great ending!
Spoilers
I really loved that Evan became a Big Brother it was funny and sweet and I’m glad we got to see that side of him.
I also loved the little battle between Harrison and Evan and how sure of himself Evan was about him and Genevieve.
I really enjoyed when they decided to go against all of their initial instincts during their date. It really had me laughing out loud and smiling.
Im so happy that the twins got a second chance with their mom! the ending was so sweet.

fav quotes
“How can anyone grow if we only let them be who they were yesterday, right?”

“‘Hold on to your knickers.’”

“‘When are you going to accept that I’d be happy watching paint dry with you?’ His voice is low, earnest.”

“‘Remind me to not leave you alone with our kids.’”

“Sometimes, a girl just needs her dad.”

“I bow to meet her eyes. ‘I mean it, it’s cool. you need me, i’m here. No problem.’”

“‘Chill, baby,’ he whispers back. ‘Just think of me as the love fairy. Spreading the love all around.’”

spoiler quotes
“‘I told him I was in love with Evan Hartley.’”

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St. Martins press for the ARC!

I want to start by saying I liked this story better than the first one because I think we can all agree the first one was basically the plot of "After" by Anna Todd. I really liked getting to see the characters grow, especially Evan. I loved that he joined the Big Brother program and became really good friends with his Little Brother Riley. I think that relationship benefited both parties immensely. Now onto Gen. I was not a huge fan of hers and it wasn't until the last few chapters that I actually started to like her. She treated Evan so bad when she first came home without really taking into account how he felt when she up and disappeared the year prior. She definitely had a lot of growing up to do and I think Elle Kennedy did a good job writing that growth. Did it need to take like 300 pages? No, but at least it eventually happened.

My only real complaint is the background characters. They are so hard to tell apart because they are all kind of dating each other. I think it would've been better to just leave them out of the book entirely because I spent way too much time trying to figure out who was with who. And who was who in general.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an eARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I enjoyed this second installation of the Avalon Bay series as much as I enjoyed the first book!

This book follows MC Genevieve, who comes home for her mother's funeral. Genevieve has many demons to face in her past relationship with her mother and so she struggles with the decision to stay for longer then she planned. Her dad has asked for her help with the business until he has the opportunity to hire someone. No only does Genevieve have to deal with thoughts of the past with her family, she meets up with her ex, Evan Hartley.

Readers of the first book will remember Evan's twin brother from that story line. :-)

Things start to heat up again between Genevieve and Evan (against their better judgment) in this steamy second book in the series.

3.5 stars for me.

Thanks you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

This is the second book in the Avalon Bay series. I did not read the first book, but saw the description of this one, and it looked interesting. I love a second chance romance.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Themes:
* second chance romance
* Childhood friends to lovers
* Spice
* Small town
* parent-child relationships
* Addiction, grief, PPD

My first impression was that this is an easy read. I finished it in a couple days, compared to the last book I read which took several weeks. 🤪

Gen and Evan have off the charts chemistry. Their push-pull is *chef’s kiss*. I was hooked from the start, juxtaposed with themes of grief, addiction, complicated parent-adult relationships - made it hard to put down.

The one thing that I did not like were a couple of misogynistic comments. It’s 2022 and that shit needs to stop.

I would give other Elle Kennedy’s books a try. I heard her Off Campus series is good.

Thank you to Net Galley for a copy of this book; all opinions are my own.

I DNF'd I was so bored. Was there a plot? I looked for it. Couldn't find it. She's just a "bad girl" who "partied too much" and now she's trying to "fix her reputation." She just keeps working at her job and telling the love interest they can't be together. There's no driving towards anything, nothing to culminate in that I could identify. I couldn't tell where the book was going on that she kept rejecting Evan which, that's fine, your choice boo, just not sure I want to read that happening 20x in a row.

Elle Kennedy did it again with this amazing new romance. Her characters are always interesting and easy to love and every time I pick one of her books up I can’t put it down until I finish it.

If you weren't a huge fan of this book, there is a very good chance you won't love this one either.

Gen is back in Avalon Bay to attend her mother's funeral & ends up staying on to help her father run his business when he asks for help. Evan is ecstatic to find out that his on and off again girlfriend is back in town, but when Gen tells Evan that is trying to be a better person & doesn't want to get back together with him because she is afraid that she will go back to her bad girl ways, Evan will do anything he can to get Gen back.

I love a good second chance romance book, but this was not it. Genevieve is supposed to be this bad ass character but honestly she was just a horrible person in my opinion. Her whole storyline in this novel is fighting her addictions and trying to be a better person without losing herself, but she never actually does anything to be 'nice' in the whole book, she leads on a very nice guy that wants to date her, she talks shit about her friends and judges how they party and she can't.
I liked Evan's storyline a bit more, he is still the same Evan we meet in the first book for the first 20% of this book, then he decides that he will do anything to win Gen back & actually tries to be a good person by volunteering and later on taking on a little brother through Big Brothers Big Sisters. The only reason I gave this book 2 stars was because I loved the relationship Evan had with his little bother Riley, they were super cute & I think he made a good mentor for the kid.

I could not get into the romance at all in this book. Gen and Evan have such a toxic history, and throughout the story they have some great smut but they are absolutely horrible for each other. I think realistically they would have been much happier going their separate ways & I just could not ship their relationship at all.

Other than my issues with the characters and the romance, the plot was just as predictable as the first book & I found myself skimming huge chunks of the book at a time. Overall it was not great & to be honest I think I am done reading books from this author. Its just not for me.

You know the one. That Ex. The one you couldn’t stay away from, even when you knew you should. The one that brought out the best and worst in you and knows the truest version of yourself. The one who exerted a magnetic pull on your heart so overwhelmingly powerful, you had to flee to hold onto some sense of self-preservation. Only to come running back to fall into it all over again.

That’s Evan and Genevieve. After a year away to get her life together, Gen ends up back in Avalon Bay. It’s no surprise to anyone when she and Evan can’t stay apart. Old habits die hard, after all. But Gen is determined to figure out who she is without the alcohol-fueled questionable decisions, and that means parting ways with all remnants of the girl she used to be. Including the bad-boy love interest. So what happens when the bad boy decides to clean up his act? Can people really change?

If you liked Good Girl Complex, you’ll enjoy seeing some familiar faces again. AKA the “F*ck Around and Find Out Society.” 🤭 Keep an eye out for Avalon Bay # 3 next year!

CW: Sexual assault, domestic violence

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the complimentary advance copy of this work! Opinions expressed here are my own.

I really like Evan and Gen!! This story is about a second chance romance between Genevieve and Evan. Genevieve returns back to her small hometown for her mother’s funeral unfortunately she also runs into Evan. These two have so much passion for each other. They just seem to be destined to be together. I really love the character development both went through throughout the story. Each one realized themselves they needed to change from the “bad” type to more mature growing up. In turns their relationship seems to blossom but of course there are some bumpy road and a lot of passion! This is the second book in the Avalon series. This book can be read as a stand-alone or as a follow up to The Good Girl Complex.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts!

I absolutely loved Good Girl Complex so I was so excited to head back to Avalon Bay and hang out with my favorite group of mischievous townies again. This book follows Evan and Gen, high school sweethearts who were on again off again until Gen one day disappeared without any explanation. Now she’s back and trying to turn a new page, but will Evan bring her down or change with her?

I loved that we got more a look into Evan and what he’s been through. He was a hard character to like in the first book and you just really find yourself rooting for him. I love a good character/healing arc and we got TWO in this one! Both Evan and Gen do a lot of soul searching, and following Evan as he googles and Carrie’s out “how to be a model citizen” is really the best. It was so interesting to hear both of their perspectives on their past and the,m navigate responsibility for the younger versions of themselves.

While I loved Evan and Gen, I was a little disappointed about how Cooper was written. I get that it’s all from Evan’s perspective so it’s already a different light than how we saw Cooper in book 1, but man Coop kinda sucked big time in this. Felt very much like a SJM/Rhys/ACOSF situation. He was built up as his great guy and then immediately taken down SO many notches.

I was really glad the conflict Gen ran away from was resolved in the way it was. It wasn’t too drawn out or dramatic, nor was it downplayed. It didn’t feel manufactured but felt like a real conflict.

Lastly, the CHEMISTRY. Woooweee. ‘‘Twas great. I could not get ENOUGH. 2-3 chili peppers I’d say. Also I read this in a day. It was so fast and easy to read and I didn’t want to put it down!!

I really enjoyed this one and am excited to read more Elle Kennedy!