This book was everything I was looking for. The tension, amazing banter, and some spice.. What’s not to love? This is a dual POV second chance romance. We follow Gen and Evan as she tries to turn over a new leaf and leave the bad girl she was in the past. Her and Evan are perpetually drawn to each other, and trouble. This book took me on an emotional rollercoaster and I loved every minute of it. Thanks so much for the arc! I can’t wait for the release.

3.5 The second book was much better than first book. Evan and Gen are destined to couple but unfortunately their trouble past has caused them to grow off course. Gen is trying her best to become better person. While Evan is learning to grow into man he wants to become not the one marked by his past. This book was quick read. I am not sure if loved it or not. Thank you St Martin and Net Galley for the arc.

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4 stars

The sequel to Good Girl Complex! Really enjoyed this one, but I dare to say I think I liked Good Girl more (which is an unpopular opinion!). I loved the angsty dynamic between Gen and Evan. Gen returns home for her mother's funeral after she abruptly left several years earlier. She comes back to town trying to shake her bad girl reputation but is sucked back into her passionate affair with childhood best friend/lover, Evan.

-Dual pov
-Best friends to lovers
-Second chance love
-Angsty and passionate type of love

Side note: EK loves cargo pants and it makes me uncomfy.

Thanks to Net Galley, St. Martin's Press, & the author for an ARC!

This was a fun, beachy read. Elle Kennedy's work is always has everything you need to vacate your life for a minute. Like the other books surrounding these characters, you get a better look at some fresh faces while continuing on with the story and overarching dynamics that were established previously. It was nice to read a bit more about Evan and Genevieve, which rounded out the storylines from previous books. Has some spice, some family drama, set on the beach. Fun read!

Gen returns back to Avalon Bay after leaving without such as a word to Evan. They have been childhood sweethearts: correction sweet may be a bit of a stretch, because they chemistry explosive, attraction palpable, jealousy and make up sex has been their thing with their on and off relationship status for years. They’re even bad for each other, but with their chemistry and attraction how can they help it.

When Gen realizes she has hit rock bottom, she knows she has to leave. And so she does. She finds an appropriate job and place to live in Charleston, starts and keeps her sobriety. But her mother’s sudden death brings her back home, helping her dad with his business, and spending time in town until he can find a new manager.

Evan soon learns the real reason for Gen skipping town and why she is determined to stay away from him. Even his twin brother, Cooper, thinks that Gen and him are no good for each other. But Evan knows he’s wrong. Gen is trying her hardest to leave behind her bad girl reputation and turn a new leaf.

Can Evan and Gen leave behind their reputations and make amends? Will Evan get his act together and win back his girl? Will both Evan and Gen learn to mature and grow?

I really enjoyed the angsty push and pull that both Evan and Gen had. It was a bit slow at the start but once it picks up, it’s so good. The story was also beautifully written and very enjoyed.

This was really cute! I liked “Good Girl Complex,” but wow Bad Girl Reputation really hit it out of the park. The chemistry between Evan and Gen was BURNING off the page. I liked the plot and character development, plus its always nice to follow up with past characters and see sneak peeks on how Mac and Cooper are doing. This book was about growth. The family bonding and growing toxic behavior were entertaining to follow. Such a fun read!

Bad Girl Reputation is a romance novel that follows an on again off again relationship between Even and Genevieve. They are a bad influence for eachother but through time and personal development, they come to form a happy and somewhat healthy relationship. I’ll be honest, the first half of this book I did not like. I was not supportive of their toxic relationship and just wanted better for Genevieve, and I also get bad that she was leading on poor Harrison. However, Evan started to work on himself (albeit for the wrong reasons), and they both found themselves in the end in a position where they could be good for eachother.
While predictable, I did enjoy this romance and appreciated that they were able to go through some personal development and other things in life; the book wasn’t all about getting them back together.

Good Girl Complex was so-so. Bad Girl Reputation is far superior with a far more likeable plot and characters that I was able to connect with. Genevieve and Evan are great and I love the tension. This reminded me a bit of One Tree Hill. Gen and Evan have had an on and off-again relationship over the years so this book is a second-chance romance. It was good and very angsty.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC of Bad Girl Reputation!

Review:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Elle Kennedy novels are definitely my guilty pleasure.

I’m not always a fan of second chance romances but did enjoy this one. I appreciated that the MC’s were apart because they both needed to grow and better themselves before finding their way back to each other.

My biggest pet peeve with so many second chance romances is that so often, it’s some stupid miscommunication that keeps the couple apart. That wasn’t the case here and the circumstances and ups and downs of their relationship felt genuine and realistic.

The only real critique I have is that the ending was a bit rushed and the “conflict” at the end was just random and unnecessary.

Final note: I know Elle Kennedy is Canadian and I have definitely caught some “Canadian English” in a few of her books, despite them all being set in the US. It would be cool to see her write a book that’s set here!

This was my first ever Elle Kennedy book and I have heard nothing but good things about her books! With that being said, I went in having high hopes for this book.

Genevieve returns home after a year to attend her mothers funeral where she runs into her ex, Evan. This is a childhood friends to lovers and second chance romance book. The two spend their summer trying to stay apart from one another but always being drawn back in.

Some things I liked, dual pov, the spice🌶 and the character development! I love when I am able to hear what both of the main characters are thinking throughout the story and a little bit of spice is always fun to sprinkle in to a story! I appreciated the character development of Genevieve and Evan. This book was also a quick and easy to start off summer!

Some things I didn’t like.. there were too many characters to keep track of. Genevieve has 5 brothers in itself who’s names are mentioned frequently throughout. They each have their own group of friends that are also mentioned throughout the story. To me, I couldn’t remember anything about any of the side characters which took me away from connecting with any of them. I wasn’t rooting for the couple throughout any part of the story. They are EXTREMELY immature and toxic for one another. I feel like they are better apart then together. I got the vibe that they were more invested in the sex and how attractive the other is rather than actually being in love.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Bad Girl Reputation is the second Avalon Bay series. This time it follows Evan (the twin of Cooper from the first book) and Genevieve. They were volatile together, constantly partying and getting into trouble. They had a flirt/fight relationship. A year ago, after a particularly bad night for Gen, she decides to leave town and try to escape her bad girl tendencies. After her mother dies, she comes back home for the funeral and stays to help her father with the family business. She is determined to shed her bad girl identity and is convinced she will fall back into old habits if she doesn't stay away from Evan. As when they were younger, they can't stay away from each other.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed and Gen and Evan's relationship was super cute. I really liked Riley and hope he makes more appearances in the future. I was very excited about this when I got the notification from NetGalley that it was available! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was looking forward to this book since reading Good Girl Complex and it did not let me down! It's the second in the series but you don't NEED to read the first to understand what's going on. Reading he first book does adds more details and dimension to the story though.

We first met Evan in GGC where we also heard about his ex Genevieve. Gen ghosted Evan by leaving town a year ago without a word after having a bad night, to put it mildly. Gen comes back to town after her mom dies unexpectedly and Cooper is determined that their relationship isn't over.

Evan and Gen had been on-again, off-again for years. Their relationship was very volatile and explosive with a lot of alcohol and jealously mixed in but at the core was a deep friendship and passionate connection. Evan knows what he wants from the jump. Always a plus for me!

We get to witness a lot of growth from both Gen and Evan throughout the book. There was a good balance of together and separate scenes. One thing I didn't love about this book was Cooper! He was such a drag in this book. Evan definitely got on my nerves after awhile in GGC and it was like they completely switched roles for BGR.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I'm hoping we get to go back to Avalon Bay!

I love a series! So glad I got this one early. I did not love Good Girl Complex so I was hesitant about this one, I ended up enjoying it far more!

I loved Elle Kennedy's Off-Campus and Briar U series and was excited to give Avalon bay a shot! Sadly, this one just didn't work for me. I think second chance romances can be great, but Gen and Evan seemed toxic and I couldn't find it in me to root for them. There are also a lot of side characters that made the plot a bit chaotic and confusing.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book; all opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader.

***Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s Griffin and Elle Kennedy. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own.***

One of the most interesting things about this book was the fact that, despite initial mixed feelings about Genevieve, Evan and Cooper, I could not resist the push and pull. It went beyond chemistry and passion; it was this lock-and-key or puzzle-piece feeling, only the pieces had to be flipped and turned in every way imaginable until they lined up.

I was resistant to Gen at first. I remembered her actions from ‘Good Girl Complex’ and when this story began, she seemed like she was mostly talk. When she stopped just saying things and started acting differently, when I understood why she left and read about her rock bottom, I fell in love with her. Evan also had some growing up to do. His attitude when the book begins was very keep-the-status-quo, relying on his attraction to Gen as though he had some right to her. The changes he made may have started out as a way to prove to Gen that he could change, but the changes in him showed. I really liked watching both of them discover themselves and figure out some of the problems in their personal lives as well as with each other. I liked that there were missteps but also a lot of honesty. There was a very real sense to this book, not a fairy tale or a romcom, but 2 people with a whole whack of problems that are just trying to figure out their futures. I found it very refreshing.

Elle Kennedy is an auto-buy author for me, and I was so excited to dig into the next book in her Avalon Bay series! I really enjoyed the Avalon Bay setting, dual POV, second chance romance, and the personal growth that both Evan and Genevieve went through, but overall they just seemed too immature, and their relationship felt a little toxic. I wanted to love this book, but it just didn’t quite get there for me.

Even though I didn’t connect with this particular book, I will definitely keep reading any book written by Elle Kennedy!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the digital arc!

Genevieve West comes home after just recently finding out her mom was dying. She never had a good relationship with her mom and now she's here st her funeral and stays behind to help dad and brothers get family business back and running. The only thing she's trying to avoid is her ex. Evan Hartley. This bad boy who rides a motorcycle whom she's had a relationship with since they were kids. They grew up together and dated And had enough fireworks to set off the small coastal town. Evan also didn't have a good relationship with his mother. Now both are trying to change, her from her party ways and Evan to be good enough to woo her and Court her and win her heart the old fashioned way. Will they succeed and give their love a second chance? This book was different from the authors books I've read in the past. I loved the characters friendship and banter and angst. I recommend this for a summer reading.

A year ago, Gen left her life in Avalon Bay behind (including her on again/off again boyfriend, Evan). When her mother's death brings her back to town, Gen must figure out if Evan has a place in her new life. This is a dual POV, second chance romance with Outer Banks vibes.

Starting with the positives. In this book as well as Good Girl Complex, the author does an excellent job creating and exploring complex family dynamics and weaving them into the love story. I also think the setting of Avalon Bay is very interesting and lends itself to a lot of different storylines.

Here's what didn't work for me. It's clear from the beginning that Evan and Gen's relationship has been very toxic, and it was hard to believe that that had changed by the end. The character development felt like it was being forced on the reader, rather than the reader actually getting to see that development through the plot. I think this story would have worked better had it been set a few years later to give the characters a little more separation and more opportunity to mature. I just found it very difficult to root for the couple when it was clear they had still issues to sort through.

My other issue was the number of side characters. Between the main friend group and Gen's 5 brothers, there were a lot of smaller characters that didn't get enough attention for me to fully understand who any of them were or how they fit into the story. On top of that, there was a very intricate web of who was dating who that I couldn't possibly keep straight.

3.4 star
This book wasn't the best of Elle book but it wasn't the worse either I usually don't like second chance romance but this one was fine and probably because it was a second chance romance I didn't enjoy it I'm probably going to be rereading again this book and probably I will change my mind about it

Love the return to Avalon Bay. I loved that this book is about second chance loves. And Genevieve and Evan deserved it! The banter, the angst and of course the heat between these two kept me reading!