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!

What do you do when the person who sets your soul on fire might be the worst thing for you?

Told in alternating POV's, the story follows Gen and Evan, a couple whose chemistry is so palpable it feels as though you can see it sizzling between them in the air. Their relationship is full of angst, passion, jealousy, and love. When a night of drunken antics leaves Gen reeling, she decides to shed her "party girl" persona and leave it all behind, including the love of her life Evan. Gen returns home to care for her dying mother, and has to confront the girl she was and the boy she left behind. Determined to leave her bad girl reputation in the past, Gen resolves to keep Evan at a distance. Struggling with his own demons, Evan is determined to not let Gen go without a fight. Will she be able to resist the pull between them? Does she even want to? Will the party girl and the bad boy finally be able to make this work?

Elle Kennedy had me invested in Gen and Evan from the first page. If you have ever had a person (relationship, family member, friendship) that brought out the absolute best and worst in you, then the magnetic push and pull between Gen and Evan will feel like you are reading about your own life. The cast of "fuck around and find out" characters were so well developed that it was hard to not feel invested in each of their stories as well (hoping we get to see more character stories from this world). Gen and Evan's story was angsty, suspenseful, and romantic in all of the best ways. This was easily a five star read for me and I can't wait to continue to read more by this author!

Did not finish. I tried multiple times to get through this, but the dialogue was so cringey. The characters spoke to each other the way the "cool kids" would talk in middle school or high school. It also felt like it was trying a little too hard to show that Gen was "just one of the guys" being the only girl out of her many many siblings.

I really wanted to like this. It just felt like it was trying too hard to make everyone "cool".

I usually like Elle Kennedy's books, but this fell flat for me. I was disinterested in the characters and their story line, there were too many characters and it seemed like none of them were fully fleshed out. I enjoyed Good Girl Complex and had high hopes for this sequel. I just did not care for Gen or Evan. They felt immature, and the relationship toxic for both of them.

Wow does Elle Kennedy know how to write a romance. I’m a huge fan of her Off Campus and Briar U books, and though I was a bit more lukewarm on Good Girl Complex, I absolutely loved Bad Girl Reputation. The chemistry between Gen and Evan is incredibly compelling, as is the central question here — as you change and grow, does the person you love do the same?

My favorite part of an Elle Kennedy romance (after the witty dialogue) is that her central couples always feel like friends as well as lovers. There’s plenty of heat to be found here but also a comradery that some romances wind up missing. Despite the obstacles separating them, I never doubted that Gen and Evan were soulmates.

Highly recommend to Off Campus fans and Elle Kennedy newbies alike. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy! I hope to return to Avalon Bay ❤️

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishing team for this ARC! I was also lucky enough to win a physical ARC from Goodreads for this book so I was very pumped to read this!

However, I was sadly not impressed. This book was a bigger letdown than book one.

Evan and Gen were so immature to follow and incredibly toxic to each other. I understand their story is about second chances and making better choices which is great! Except even when they were trying to make better choices, they went about it so annoyingly. I will admit, this was going to be a 1-start for me until they both started realizing how they needed to be better for themselves and the story improved just slightly so. This two had chemistry sure, but the two of them saw each other in such different ways it makes you wonder if they really knew each other at all. The lack of communication was so frustrating.

Overall, Evan was annoying. Genevieve was annoying. Cooper was annoying. Their "friend" group was a weird and shitty group of friends tbh. Everyone in this damn town was annoying as hell. Sure, Evan and Gen could end up together but honestly, these characters were hard to connect with and care about. Evan just does a 360 and becomes a "reformed" man while Gen just goes on dating both him and Harrison and telling barely anyone about her trying to turn over a new leaf.

I hate to compare series but I'm still so surprised that Elle Kennedy wrote this when Off-Campus/Briar U was so fun and so good. This gets a two-star because of the occasional funny lines that made me laugh.

They say that ex’s are ex’s for a reason. Genevieve and Evan have been on and off since the 7th grade. Gen leaves town because she feels it is the only way for her to make changes in her life and grow up. When she returns for her mother’s funeral she tries to stay away from her ex Evan, she can’t afford to go down that road of causing trouble and partying. Bad boy, Evan has a way with the ladies and will quickly knock a man’s face in for saying the wrong thing to him. Gen constantly wonders if he will change.

The plot of this book seemed interesting. It started slow and I kept reading, waiting for it to pick up but I feel like this one just fell flat. I feel like the book itself was uneventful. The one thing I did like was the forgiveness when it comes to the family aspect.