Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for giving me an Arc of this book. Just like the first book in the series I enjoyed this book. I loved the background and the backstory and the development of the new characters.

Content Warning: sexual harassment, drug use, death of a parent

This is the second book in the Avalon Bay series, and I enjoyed the first one, Good Girl Complex, a lot so was definitely going to read this one. Sadly, I wasn’t into Evan and Gen’s story like I was with Cooper and Mac. Here’s what did and didn’t work for me:

+ The beginning of the story is good – we get to know Gen and Evan and their history. Obviously these two cannot stay away from one another as much as they try. The physical attraction is undeniable but then the feelings part is when the trouble begins. They both have issues.

+ Gen has a lot going on and I do see growth. Evan also has some things to work on when it comes to Gen and his mom, Shelley.

+ Cooper and Mac make cameos in the story. Cooper doesn’t like Evan and Gen together but the heart wants what it wants!

~ I think I got bored with the story. It’s repetitive. It’s a constant back and forth between Evan and Gen, and the sexual attraction is easy for them. Everything else is hard. I think it felt flat on the emotional side of their relationship. They are also a bit toxic for one another. So I wasn’t invested with the second chance romance. Gen tries to date someone else, but we all know who is end game, so it felt like a waste of time.

~ I didn’t connect to any of the characters.

Tropes: second chance romance

Spice Level: 🌶🌶🌶

Why you should read it:
*you might like this better than the first one if you like second chance romances

Why you might not want to read it:
*it hit a lull in the middle and never managed to suck me back into the story

My Thoughts:

This one was just okay. I did like Good Girl Complex more because it was the rich girl/poor boy trope. If you like second chance romances with a lot of spice, you will enjoy this one, because one thing is for sure and that is Gen and Evan can’t keep their hands off one another.

This book is AMAZING! I loved the first one and my love for sure carried over to the 2nd! Everyone PLEASE preorder this asap!

When former bad girl Genevieve West returns home for her mother’s funeral, she’s prepared to keep her distance from her ex-boyfriend, Evan Hartley. Their history is rife with turbulence. And passion.. which she’s trying desperately to forget.

I've read Elle Kennedys "the deal" series so i was interested in something a little different from her. I did like this one slightly better than good girl complex. I enjoyed the chemistry between Gen and Evan. My main problem was, there were too many people to keep track of. There was Harrison, the man Genevieve was seeing alongside Evan; Riley, Evan's Little Brother, Riley's Aunt, all of Genevieve's siblings, etc. I kept having to think, wait who is this? It was distracting.

"Do you want me to leave?" I asked hoarsely. "I want you to kiss me." "You know what'll happen if i do, Gen." Heat flares in her eyes, those vivid blue depths that never fail to draw me in. "Yeah? What'll happen?" she asked, the slight curve of her lips telling me she already knows knows the answer but wants to hear me say it."

When former bad girl Genevieve West returns home for her mother’s funeral, she’s prepared to keep her distance from her ex-boyfriend, Evan Hartley. Their history is rife with turbulence. And passion. A heck of a lot of passion... which she’s trying desperately to forget.

i enjoyed Genevieve & Evan's relationship, the growth, the angst, spicy heat, second chance romance. two individuals who are both trying to better their lives. I enjoyed the dual POV, we get to understand the characters and where they are coming from. This was a cute read from Elle Kennedy. I enjoy receiving this arc to read, and this is my voluntary review. i love this book, looking to read more.

This read more as women’s fiction than romance. The romance didn’t actually start happening until 80 percent into the book and even at that didn’t last long. Most of the characters were real world toxic and played games that is more for a high school setting. I would have preferred more focus on the couple and their relationship in the book. For most of the book I was not rooting for The MMC. The end seemed like a quick wrap up that didn’t mix well with the more seriousness of the majority of the book. The writing is good and while I couldn’t relate much to the FMC I was rooting for her from the beginning. Perhaps if I went into this knowing this would less a romance and more about this particular woman’s growth and journey I may have connected. I enjoyed the last quarter of this book the most.

This was legitimately painful to read the characters were so immature I just couldn’t get on board. They were horrible to eachother and ended up together?? They should have run screaming away from eachother

Bad Girl Reputation is the second book in the Avalon Bay world. Gen returns to the area and quickly runs into her on and off again ex, Evan. While Gen tries to show her old world she's changed, will her and bad boy Evan be able to make the new versions of themselves work?
I enjoyed the Off Campus series by Elle Kennedy so I was interested in a new group of friends to follow. After reading the first book, Good Girl Complex, Evan was the character I was most interested in reading more about, as most of the remaining characters didn't really click with me. While following Evan's efforts to show Gen they should get back together, I found bits of the story fell flat. Both characters showed growth and potential, but it felt like as a relationship, the growth was minor compared to their personal changes. Another thing I struggled with was the constant need to bring up how horrible their reputations and actions of the past were, as it was mostly telling them how terrible they acted vs showing us in flashbacks. On the other hand, the physical and emotional chemistry between the two characters was solid and I was interested in seeing how they found each other in the end. Overall it was a decent read, and depending on who the next book (if there is one) follows, I may be interested in continuing on.

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for honest review.

Imagine my excitement when one of my favourite authors announced a follow up to one of my favourite novels by her (who am i kidding, I love all of her books). Now imagine my excitement when I get approved for an ARC of this book. You bet I did a deep dive into the book within hours and swallowed it up whole.

Bad Girl Reputation is a second chance romance novel between Evan (the other twin) and Genevieve, the resident bad girl turned good. It's angsty, it's push-pull, and it's so so good. I honestly have to say that I loved the dynamic between these two even more than the first couple. They're explosive, intense and the angst pulls at your heartstrings a little.

A good read if you want to feel some emotions in that ice block you call a heart (because I'm pretty sure that's what mine is)

Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC.

Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy was amazing. There were a few parts where I got a little lost and confused but that’s just me as a person. It was just a nice easy read and It’s hilarious.

I love Genevieve and Evan‘s relationship and how they just bring the worst out of each other in like the best possible way. I wouldn’t even say the worse it’s more like they bring out the most chaotic versions of each other, and I love it. I enjoyed seeing them going through life after she came back from being gone for a year, and just seeing where things picked up and how life changed for both of them.

Thank you to NetGalleyShelf and St. Martin's Griffin for letting me read this early. I truly appreciate it and I can’t wait to see everyone else’s reactions and thoughts towards this book when it comes out.

I really enjoy the direction that Kennedy is taking with the Avalon Bay series, as it is much different than her previous novels. I enjoyed this second novel more than the first novel in the series because I found the characters Evan and Gen to be more relatable and I found both their history and their current relationship to be very interesting. I enjoyed reading both novels, and would recommend them and would be interested in more installments to this series.

3.25 stars, 1.75 spice

Gen returns home to Avalon Bay for her mother's funeral, she doesn't plan to stick around because she left to start fresh without her bad girl reputation. She quickly runs into her on again off again ex, Evan (A bad boy himself). They had tons of passion, jealousy and angst, and were constantly encouraging each other's bad behavior.

In an effort to reestablish herself as a good girl, Gen wants nothing to do with Evan, but their chemistry is hard to fight, and she starts to find reasons to stay at home. Will Evan drag her down? Or will he mature and grow? Can a volatile young love turn to something strong and forever?

I received this book as as E-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Overall an okay read. Triggers for substance abuse and death of a parent. I had trouble relating to the characters. I also struggle a bit with Evan trying to change himself for Gen. Gen made changes for herself. Given the premise of the book I knew the characters were going to be immature, I wish they had had a bit more growth by the end, there was some improvement, but as a reader I didn't feel that enough had changed.
I did like the added complexity that their individual family issues/backgrounds brought to the story.
The main characters definitely had great chemistry and I was pulled into their passion.

Note - I did not read the first book in this series, so I found Cooper big brothering his identical twin a bit strange.

So I recently read Good Girl Complex and started this ARC. Might I just say that this is way better than the first book! I still enjoyed Good Girl Complex, but this book I just couldn’t put down.

I really loved the chemistry between Genevieve and Evan. I don’t think their relationship was toxic like Mackenzie and Coopers. I really liked the story and I love how Elle Kennedy has written Avalon So I recently read Good Girl Complex and started this ARC. Might I just say that this is way better than the first book! I still enjoyed Good Girl Complex, but this book I just couldn’t put down.

I really loved Genevieve and Evans story. I don’t think their relationship was toxic like Mackenzie and Coopers. I love how Elle Kennedy has written Avalon Bay.

This is a great summer read, and if you are like me and didn’t love the first one… I think you’ll like this one better.

Huge thanks to St Martins Press for providing the ARC to me!

I really enjoyed this second chance romance by Ellie Kennedy. I was eager to find out more about Genevieve and Evan’s story after reading Good Girl Complex. As much as they were always there for each other, they also were a bad influence on each other. Gen wants to change her ways but knows she can’t say no to Evan so she leaves town. She ends up coming back for her moms funeral and ends ups sticking around to help with her family‘s business. We see Gen struggling to move forward and Evan trying to figure out how he can be a part of Gen’s life again. I loved seeing how they both worked on themselves and came to terms with what their relationship was. Hoping we will get to hear more from this group from Avalon Bay!!

This book was great, it had the second chance romance and childhood/friends to lovers trope with lots of spice! I gave this book 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bad Girl Reputation details the story of Gen and Evan - they’ve known each other since they were young and developed a very intense and passion filled relationship, however, it was also a bit toxic and definitely reckless. Although they loved each other greatly, they didn’t bring out the best parts of on another. After something happens to Gen, she leaves town for over a year and doesn’t return until the passing of her mom - that’s where the story begins.

I loved the growth that was shown in Evan and I LOVED the big brother/little brother storyline. I feel like throughout the story we got to see all the steps that Evan took to become a better version of himself so that he could win back Gen. I wish that I got to see more of Gen’s growth. Yes, they briefly discussed that she was doing well helping her dad run his business but I would have to loved to dive a bit deeper into that and get a bit more of an insight to how she, too, was becoming a better person. I feel like the book gave glimpses but never fully got there.

Overall, I did enjoy the book very much!

I looked forward to reading this after the 1st book in the series. There was angst, drama, chemistry, and heat in it and I loved it! Can't wait to see what comes next.

READ THROUGH NETGALLEY. I was pretty excited about this book because I enjoyed Good Girl Summer and I genuinely wanted Evan to get a happy ending. I just had a hard time liking both Evan and Genevieve. In the wake of her mother’s death, Genevieve returns to Avalon Bay. She ends up staying longer than planned to help her dad out, and then realizes she does not want to leave. She never planned on coming back to the place where she was constantly making bad decisions, but she realizes that she can continue to not make bad decisions here. Like I said, I did enjoy this book and I did want them to get a happy ending, even if at first I did not like the two main characters.

This was a fun read with a great main character. I loved how Gen had to confront her past and make decisions for her future. Steamy and a great book for the beach!

I’ve never read an Elle Kennedy novel until now and I’m glad I did! The storyline was great and some of the scenes had me laughing out loud.

The story is about Evan and Genevieve who have known each other since childhood. After an incident back home scares her, Genevieve decided that it was time for a fresh start & in an attempt to leave some of her old toxic habits behind, she up and leaves for Charleston. The thing is she left so abruptly and cuts ties with her old life, which left hurt in her wake, particularly Evan. She returns home after year away for her mothers funeral at which her dad begs her to stay and help get the family business tidied up. So she’s back at home in her old room, old town with her ex, but she’s trying to stay on “track”. Evan’s always been her kryptonite. Gen’s hard press to think that Evan can make the changes that she needs and still be the man she wants, so she decides to try dating again. Evan’s determined to prove her otherwise.

Great story about having a bad rap and history, but being able to start again with one better choice at a time.

#indigoemployee

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Bad Girl Reputation is my first Elle Kennedy book after seeing her all over BookTok. I have to be honest, I don’t get the appeal. The story was okay, but not especially memorable. Genevieve and Evan were toxic at the start, being childhood sweethearts/hellions. There wasn’t a lot of character growth, aside from her leaving town for a year to restart her her life with a clean break. Then, there’s a slimy cop that won’t leave Gen alone. The whole story was just meh for me.