This is my first time reading a book by this author. I found that I couldn’t relate to the characters and it was hard to root for them when so much of their bond seemed predicated on toxic behaviors and unhealthy patterns. The supporting characters didn’t seem to have much depth or offer much in the way of advice.

I did feel for the characters and their broken relationships with their parents. I understood that to play a role in their actions but still found them hard to enjoy.

Genevieve returns home after a year away where she focused on improving herself. She returns home after her mom passes and finds herself surrounded by the things she had fled from the previous year. One of those things is Evan, her on/off again boyfriend who helped fuel her reckless ways.

I am glad that we got to know more about Evan as we learned a little about him in the first book. I like how Gen stood her ground and wanted to be a better person while not giving into Evan's reckless ways. The book tackles dealing with past demons that make trying to move forward in the same area difficult. I enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend!

The second book in the Avalon Bay series blew me away just as Good Girl Complex did. These are the first books I’ve read by Elle Kennedy, and she is immediately an auto-buy author.

Bad Girl Reputation brings us Gen who returns to Avalon Bay, the town she grew up in and left suddenly, after her mother passes. Gen is running from her past in Avalon Bay, including her on-again/off-again boyfriend Evan. The two together can be downright toxic but have a pull that is too tempting to completely cutoff. While Gen is set on changing her life for the better (getting her shit together, if you will), Evan is committed to winning her back.

I was unsure where this book was going to go at first. It was refreshing to not know exactly where our girl would end up, but I had a sense that it would be a great story. I got a little Sandy and Danny (Grease) vibes from Gen and Evan as well (love).

For sure you can read this book as a standalone, but Good Girl Complex is so good, why would you only read one?!

Do I recommend it? Yes, yes, YES. It has spice, it has drama, it has those warm fuzzy feelings.

ARC provided by Netgally for an honest review.

After reading the first book of this series I wasn't sure about this one. But this book was much better than the first one. It's about Evan (Cooper's twin brother) and Genevieve. It's still doesn't have the wow factor that her Off Campus books did, but overall a good read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc. This review is wholly my own.

Exes to Lovers (again) storyline. Has the makings of a Hallmark Movie (or maybe Lifetime).

Likeable, fun characters who are just messy enough to seem relatable.

Kennedy's writing is impeccable as always. She is one of those authors I seek out when I need something easy to relax my brain from all the thrillers and she never fails.

Let's be real - this type of story has been told before, multiple times so don't expect anything earth-shatteringly different, but it is a good book that you won't regret, especially if your brain needs a little bit of a break.

I definitely recommend.

Thanks to St. Martins Press and netgalley for the eArc for an honest review. Unfortunately I was very underwhelmed by the Bad Girl Reputation, it started out promising but I didn’t like how the Hero and his brother blamed a grown man’s actions on a woman. Especially since said woman was trying to clean up her act. The story didn’t have very much depth and was an easy read which I’m sure some readers will enjoy.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to review this ARC!

Bad Girl Reputation is a second chance romance following Gen and Evan's as they attempt to stay away from each other even though they are pulled together. I love a "return to where I grew up" type of book, and this book did not disappoint there. Gen left, and everything is basically the same as she left it.

While I enjoyed Gen and Evan's (toxic) relationship, the timeline was a bit short for them to figure everything out. Evan's personality was a bit irksome although when I remind myself that they are only 22, it makes a lot of sense (LOL).

Overall, I enjoyed the book and gave it 3.5 (rounded to 4 for GR) stars! I will definitely read future works of Elle Kennedy, and have a few on my TBR to catch up on.

I really enjoyed Good Girl Complex (book 1). Evan and Gen were alot more toxic than Cooper and Mac. I think I preferred Cooper and Mac's story over Evan and Gen, but I still enjoyed the read.

Their character development was very admirable and sweet. They both put in the work to be better for themselves and each other, which gave so much more depth to their relationship. Very much so the bad boy being good for the girl.

The ending? I was blushing over fictional characters so hard. Such a good story, and I would recommend.

3.5 stars rounded down.

I was a nervous picking this book up since I did not enjoy Good Girl Complex, the first in the Avalon Bay series. Despite my reservations, I ended up liking Bad Girl Reputation so much more than I was expecting and found it a very fun summery read.

Genevieve West was my favourite part of the story. I loved learning about her and seeing her make an effort to improve herself and her life after a troubled and toxic past. She was funny and smart and I was happy to see her be given a second chance at love and at a life in her home town.

I liked Evan, however I did not love him. It felt more like we were just expected to believe he was this great guy and that he deserved a second chance with Gen without being shown what exactly made him so great. I wanted more from their relationship to truly be able to root for them as a couple. This being said, I still enjoyed parts of their relationship and some of the sweeter moments between the two.

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

This story is so outrageously hilarious and entertaining. Evan and Gen are returning characters from the first story in the series. Evan is the twin brother who was always up for a fight and some drunken fun. Gen has been his partner in crime since they were teenagers. The author has given the characters rapier wit with which to communicate. Evan and Gen are on a discovery to change their lives and fall in love all over again. The reader will be entranced by their journey through self discovery, service to others (leading to mishaps) and the moments they lose the battles. They will learn to poke fun at themselves, laugh a lot and love really well.

These books! I love them.

The brothers! I love them.

The friends who are family! I love them.

I loved being back in Avalon Bay and hearing Evan and Genevieve’s story. These two have had a lot of life thrown at them early in life. Gen leaves town and Evan devastated.

One year later after her mother dies she returns to town and tries to avoid him at all costs. She is doing her best to turn her life around and she doesn’t know how to do that with him around.

Losing Gen and having her return has Evan doing everything he can to be better for her and show her he’s changed.

Fall in love with characters and their journey!!

Firstly, Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for providing me the ARC. Secondly, I loved Elle Kennedy’s Off Campus series so I was Excited to read this.
Now is the not so great part. This book just didn’t do it for me. For some reason, in my mind I pictured the couple to be older (mothers funeral, second chance romance) Dunno, I just Assumed they were in their 30s? But I guess They were much younger. Highschool sweetheart on again- off again couple who used to get into drunken trouble. Our FMC decides to leave town and get her act together but is now back after a year because her mom died and she’s helping out her dads business. MC for some reason isn’t mad at her that she ditched him and is trying to get back with her. I cant Concentrate well when there’s too many side stories and side characters and this book had plenty. It felt like fluff just to fill in the lack of plot. Couple seemed very toxic for eachother and the romance was way lacking. Hoping there aren’t many more book in the Avalon Bay Series but I’ll still check them out!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC. I was so excited to read this after the first book in the series. By the time I got to it, however, I couldn’t remember a think about the first book. There are few (if any) likeable characters in this novel, including those that were in the first one. Too many friends, too many entanglements to keep up with, too many flip flopping emotions. I struggled to get through this and while I’m typically a completist, likely won’t read any further books in this series (if there are any more to come - feels like an Alana/Tate/Wyatt story is inevitable).

This is the second book in the Avalon Bay series, and while reading Good Girl Complex before this isn't absolutely necessary, I would definitely recommend it to get a better backstory for Evan.

This book follows Evan and Genevieve. Two ex's with an extremely rocky past who are forced back into each others lives when Gen returns home for her mother's funeral. While Gen intends to keep her distance, Evan has other plans to change her mind and show her how he's changed.

I would love to say I really enjoyed this book, but something just didn't work for me. I found myself having a hard time connecting to either character and felt that their actions were so toxic and childish at times. While I read this book really quickly, I found myself constantly stressed with the immaturity of the characters and frustrated with their miscommunications. The relationship felt extremely motivated by lust, which was fun, but I wasn't able to buy into their true feelings for each other.

I can see readers truly enjoying this book, even though it wasn't personally for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Elle Kennedy for the ARC and opportunity to read this book.

Thank you Elle Kennedy, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Can I just say how excited I was to receive an arc for an Elle Kennedy book? I sincerely love her writing and it was truly an honor.

Gen and Evan were on and off high school sweethearts that had all the chemistry but could never seem to get the relationship part right. Gen up and leaves seemingly out of nowhere and Evan is left lost and confused. When Gen returns in the wake of her mothers passing, the chemistry is still there and Evan can’t stay away. Unfortunately Gen seems to want nothing to do with him.

Gen was such an awesome character to learn about. She has for sure been through it, but is trying to come out on the other side a better and more mature person. She’s just not sure she can do that with Evan around.

Evan has always loved Gen and it feels impossible to stay away from her. He’s always been known as the bad boy and that doesn’t fit with Gen’s style plans to rid herself of her bad girl reputation. How can these two possibly stay away from each other though?

I did really love this book and Evan and Gen’s relationship really blossomed into something great. I would definitely recommend this book and it was a joy to be able to read another one or Elle Kennedy’s pieces.

I thought that the first book in the series was a little problematic, but I didn’t hate it and I have loved Elle Kennedy books in the past, so I wanted to give this a try.

While I didn’t find this book problematic, I did find it a bit boring and one dimensional. The main characters felt flat, and nothing really happened in the plot. I think I may have just outgrown Elle Kennedy books, or this series just isn’t for me.

3.5/5
This was my first Elle Kennedy book and I have to say, I was not impressed. It may just be that I don't connect with her writing style, which made me reminisce on my Wattpad days. I've never loved when authors feel the need to impose explicit adult activities onto high schoolers. Though Genevieve and Evan are now in their mid-20s, they continuously speak of the "good old days" when they were getting blackout drunk, high on drugs, and having copious amounts of sex at age 14-15. I get that the premise of the book is about "bad" kids maturing and ending their old ways, but it just feels so unrealistic and out of touch with reality.

Given all of this, you'd think that Genevieve and Evan had major character development and truly grew as individuals, right? Wrong. The character growth consisted of Evan no longer having random hookups or getting into fights every night, and Gen staying away from hard drugs and alcohol. There was no development of their relationship as a couple. It was so focused on the physical and lacked the emotional component that's needed for readers to feel invested in the plot. I cannot see this couple staying together much longer than the epilogue.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the advanced e-copy and audio copy of Bad Girl Reputation!
I was so happy to hear about this book’s release because I read (and enjoyed) Good Girl Complex last year. These books are apart of a series. They could be read separate, but there are some minor spoilers throughput Bad Girl Reputation that relate to Good Girl Complex – so proceed at your own risk!
Overall, I thought this book was pretty good. It was a fun read and I think I even liked it more than the first one. The audio was so fun to listen too because of the different characters and voices. It made it really easy to decipher who was speaking which can sometimes be challenging with audio books.
In relation to the story though, I felt like the middle was a little slow for my liking. It felt like there was a lot of back and forth and situations that just made the book longer than it could have been, but overall the story was pretty fun. This book was the perfect end-of-summer romance with lots of great character development and growth!

Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy
I listened to the audio version of the book narrated by Lee Samuels and Summer Morton. I really enjoyed both narrators. They were very emotive, and had distinctive yet pleasant voices that made it very easy to follow along. I didn’t realize when I requested the book that it was the second book in the Avalon Bay Series. I thought this book could be read as a standalone just fine. There were definitely references to the main characters from the first book, but it didn’t bother or confuse me. I thought enough information about them was provided and made it easy to understand the story and what was going on. I’m a sucker for second chance romance, and throw in a little spice, made for a very enjoyable book.
Many thanks to Elle Kennedy, NetGalley, and Macmillian Audio for the advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this one!

I was really looking forward to the second book in the series after loving the first. This is such a great second chance romance story. I loved “Fred” / Gen’s character and they way her character developed in the story as well as Evans.

There was some really great buildup and steam in this one. I can’t wait to read more from this author and this series.