4.5 rounded up
I have absolutely LOVED this trip back to Avalon Bay. In The Summer Girl we get the story of Tate, the notorious ladies man who no one has a bad thing to say about, and honestly after this book, I don’t either! Watching Cassie and Tate’s love bloom was so heartwarming, but they were also so much FUN!

Cassie was so sweet, and so relatable to me. Although my mom is not a narcissist like Cassie’s is, I was in a relationship with one for almost a decade and the way this book describes a narcissist is SPOT ON. The way she felt about herself hit so close to home, and her growth from it was such an incredible thing to be a part of. Tate is an absolute sweetheart; my favourite love interest from this series by far. Just the most genuine guy, ugh. And the communication?! We love to see it. There were soooo many great conversations had here, but within Cassie and Tate’s relationship but also outside of them and with each of their parents as well.
It's always fun in stand alone series like this to catch those little easter egg moments from the previous books, but I absolutely melted to have that full circle moment with Mac’s successful opening with her hotel. Girl worked hard to restore that beauty and it brought tears to my eyes when she was giving Cassie’s grandma the tour.

By far my most favourite of the series, and I really hope this isn’t the last time we take a trip to Avalon Bay!

Oooo this story and Elle Kennedy's writing are so good! The character development is on point and the dialogue is engaging. I love reading her books and I'm so glad I got to read this one. Definitely recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Elle Kennedy!

Wow! Wow! Wow! I'm so in love with these characters and this story. Cassie and Tate have such a funny banter, strong chemistry and a friendship that turns into so much more. Cassie was the good girl virgin looking for a summer fling while visiting her Grandmother in Avalon Bay and Tate is the hot "player" good guy that doesn't want a relationship. They meet, sparks fly and even though Tate tried to remain just friends with Cassie because he didn't want her catching feelings and hurting her, it just wasn't possible. He couldn't stay away from her. There's a major twist in the story towards the end but you still get that happily ever after. Definitely a steamy book and one I highly recommend. Love all of Elle Kennedy's books!

Thank you Elle Kennedy, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for this ARC!

Poor Cassie lost so much when her parents divorced. She left Avalon Bay and only visited when she had school breaks. She continues to be close to her grandmother, but her dad also lives on the bay. She feels replaced by her dads new family and she doesn't want to be around her mother at all, so her grandma is her safe space. Now, her grandmother has decided to sell the family hotel and move closer to her family in the Boston area. As the days get closer to her grandmothers move, Cassie is falling in love with and AT Avalon Bay. She will have decisions to make and amends to make with her family. This is a feel good, fun book to read. I've read others by the same other and this book ties together well with the previous books in this series! Highly recommend them all.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced e-copy of The Summer Girl by Elle Kennedy! Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. There were too many little things at the beginning that are not my cup of tea, so I didn't continue. But don't let that stop you! If you're a fan of Tessa Bailey, this might be the perfect summer read for you!

I absolutely devoured this book and stayed up until 5am reading it. I liked every other book in this series, but I absolutely loved this book. I loved Cassie and Tate, even though I was hesitant to read about Tate. He seemed like such a player in the previous books, but dang he was so cute. I liked reading about Cassie and her family, and I related because my mother and her mom are very similar. It was such a heartwarming book. I highly recommend anyone read this!

I love this series and I have to say this was one if not my favorite of the series so far.

I loved the characters and the storyline plus it’s always great when we get to see previous characters and what’s been going on with them later in a series.

I loved how Cassie was connected through her grandmother to the Beacon hotel.

Tate and Cassie were so cute and I loved their relationship. However Cassie and her toxic relationship with her mom was horrible to listen to. I hated her Mom! I think Cassie could have and should have handled the relationship with her Mom differently but had she, it would have changed the story so….

4.5 stars rounded up. It’s been a while since I’ve read an Elle Kennedy book, and this made me remember why I love her so much. She crafts the perfect blend of banter and heart into her stories. And she makes you connect with her young twenty-something characters without reaching too far to make them seem unrealistically mature. Tate was such a great hero, and I loved seeing his relationship with Cassie develop. I took off half a star because the ending was very high drama for me, but honestly that’s just a personal preference. I think she crafted it well. And the book is part of a series but I had no problem reading it as a standalone.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Publishing for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely love this series. As soon as I got a chance, I literally jumped right in. Let me tell you I was hooked. This whole book kept me on the edge of my seat. i was completely eating this story up and in loving every minute of it, I don’t wanna give too much away. All I can say is, if you need a good laugh in this book is for you . I highly recommend book. You will not be disappointed. Actually, this whole series you will not be disappointed. !!!!

Thanks so much for the arc!

I feel like I keep starting my summers with an Avalon Bay read! There’s something so charming and light about this Elle Kennedy series. I love that we run into characters from the first two books but they don’t take over. It’s not necessary to read these in order (but why not!)

Cassie is home for a bit and wants a summer fling. Avalon Bay is just the place for it. She propositions Tate- who turns her down. He’s her next door neighbor and first person she meets when she comes back.

After offering to be her wingman, Tate changes his mind. He can’t let her hook up with a random guy. The two try to keep it light but can they? They are also greeted with a huge bomb towards the end of the book!

I struggled a little with the speed of the book & the “youth” of the characters. It is a fun beach read with a twist!

I always love going back to Avalon Bay. Elle Kennedy just writes the best towns. The Summer Girl didn't disappoint. Cass is spending the summer in the bay with her grandmother and meets Tate, token player. They hit it off with friendship first but sparks fly and the spice hits.

As usual there's family drama, definitely less of the rest of the friend crew in this one than previous ones but you still get a hint of the crew (Mac and Cooper, Evan and Gem) from previous books. I was trying to guess whose story is next!

This is part of a series but could definitely be read as a stand alone. The perfect beach read with spice and drama that will have you escaping to an oceanside town in the summer.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Elle Kennedy cannot write a bad book. I’m convinced. And Summer Girl is one of her best yet. It’s friends to lovers romance, a touch of friends with benefits. It’s also a small town (Avalon Bay is the place to be in the summer apparently) with some family drama thrown into the mix.

This book made me feel so many emotions. Parts of the dialogue made me laugh out loud while others made me feel so sad for these characters. Cassie is such a complex character and she is so well developed. Tate is the King golden retriever of book boyfriends and his character arc was *chef’s kiss.*

I loved Cassie and Tate’s friendship (that then evolves into a relationship). They are so well balanced and truly were better versions of themselves when they're together. It felt more like “I’ll help you solve these problems,” not “Let me save you and solve these problems for you.” I would happily read 500 more pages of them.

There is a ZINGER of a plot twist and my jaw dropped. The chaos! The drama! OMG.

This book was sitting at a 5 star rating for me, but then the 3rd act breakup hit and it made me so mad. It felt a little unnecessary and out of character to me. But that is my one, singular complaint about this book.

Summer Girl is everything you want for a summer read: it’s fun, features well developed and interesting characters, chemistry as steamy as a day at the beach, and a cozy beach town. A few of our fave characters from the previous books also make an appearance to establish a tight-knit community. If you haven’t read the Avalon Bay series, now is the perfect time! Download them for your next beach vacay! You can thank me later.

This book will soon be on every reader's summer book list. It gives off the same vibes as a driving with the windows down and stereo playing full blast on a starry summer night. The characters were beautiful and had depth that flowed beyond the page. Even from the very first chapter they were extremely relatable and just felt real. They didn't feel like perfect story characters who never show the reality of their life. The plot was awesome and the romance was immaculate. I will forever be recommending this book all through out summer!

Elle Kennedy can always be counted on for a reliably entertaining, fast-paced read! Every single one of her books delivers, and THE SUMMER GIRL is no exception. Highly recommended!

This is one of those great summer, beach reads! It's low angst, feel good story that will leave you with a smile. Cassie and Tate are a great couple that I felt connected to while reading. Definitely a must read this summer!

Something about the Avalon Bay series that makes me picture myself on a coastal beach town wearing a bathing suit and beach sweater and nothing else, with Taylor Swift playing softly in the background while I smell the salt water air.

Who doesn't love the old switcheroo - the guy says "just make sure you don't fall in love with me, I can't give you what you need" to practically begging for the girl to commit to him and basically becoming obsessed. Tate Bartlett, you are that man, sir.

Cute, summer, warm, passionate, family, grief - this has it all. Definitely my favorite so far of Kennedy's AB series and please excuse me while I play 'august' by Taylor Swift on repeat until I die

3/5. 7/18/23.

For when you're vibing with... small town college romance, truly beachy reads, and very classic New Adult ish.

Cassie is in Avalon Bay for the first time in years, with her grandmother selling the family hotel. On the lookout of a summer fling, she quickly settles on golden boy (and perhaps local fuckboy) Tate Bartlett. But Tate doesn't view Cassie as fling material--their connection is deeper than that. He'll offer friendship... until he can't resist the pull between them.

I wanted to try Elle Kennedy, and I did here. While I can't say I disliked this book, I also feel that it veered too closely towards YA versus New Adult for me, and there just wasn't enough to set it apart and keep my interest. I can definitely see the audience here, I'm just not a part of it.

Quick Takes:

--So here's the thing for me. Tate is meant to be kind of a town bicycle type guy. He sleeps with a lot of women, he's good natured about it, and he's nice for a quick lay. But he also drinks his respect women juice--which I'm fine with! A guy being promiscuous and upfront about it does not equal a guy not respecting women.

Buuuuut, I think he drank a bit too much for me to buy him as a character. I needed more flaws. The thing is that he's not just a fun, slutty guy. He's a YOUNG fun, slutty guy. He just seemed way too mature about everything, and far too evolved. I'm not saying I needed him to be an asshole, but it felt like this book was striving for a level of realism that was undermined by his general perfection. Also, perfection is boring (to me). Tate felt written for readers who don't want to worry about liking problematic men, while also wanting to read about men who get around. And while you can get around as a man without being problematic... I think it takes some growing before you really know how to live that life without hurting feelings (and even then, it's always a risk). I just didn't buy that this young guy would be there.

--The writing style and Cassie's POV in general definitely read younger than college senior for me. This book has an issue that you do often come across in New Adult--the explicit sex of a book about adults and a less mature quality than you expect more from YA. While I would never say that most college students (having been one) are in the mental place adults who've been out and truly independent in the world are in, there's also a big gap between the mentality of a typical college senior versus a high school junior or senior. Years of big life experiences, you know? I didn't see that gap here.

That younger quality takes away from the romance for me. I read romance because, even if something is more on the Happy For Now side, I want to read about a love story I can see potentially lasting forever. There's a reason why I don't read YA romance--at my age now, it's hard for me to buy any high schooler finding their forever love, though obviously it isn't impossible. While it's theoretically pretty plausible for someone to meet their forever partner as a senior in college, it's less easy for me to believe it when the characters read younger.

--This is an easy read. If you want to just sort of vibe for a bit on the beach and you're down for a college romance, then you will probably enjoy it. It's not hard to follow, the pacing is good (though it would have benefited from a parring down of side characters, in favor of a tighter focus on the romance). There's nothing super unlikable about it, if that makes sense. You do get a bit of NLOG syndrome when Tate sees Cassie as like... too Real and Serious to have a fling with. But it's not intense.

For me, I just think that in general I want MORE intensity with romance novels. Not just in terms of heat, but in terms of story and passion.

The Sex Stuff:

One thing I did like here is that these two worked up to penetrative sex, and while it was treated with care (because Cassie is a virgin, of course) it was not treated as the only thing that *mattered*. It's well done, it's very tender "her first time". Honestly, I think that a lot of the book, including this scene, would work better as a somewhat cliche summer movie for me.

I see a lot of reviews indicating that this book is "super spicy", and my issues with spice levels~ aside... It's not. If you've read a lot of romance, especially a lot of self-published romance, especially a lot of like... erotic romance/mafia romance/paranormal romance, so on, this will not shock you. If it is shocking to a lot of people, I tend to wonder if marketing of this one is confusing? I knew Elle Kennedy didn't fuck around going in, but there seems to be a lot of "I thought this was YA" in the reviews.

A lot of what didn't work for me here, I think, was a mismatch in reader and book, so I can't complain too much. But I do think this is an example of some confusion regarding the YA/New Adult/Romance intersection here, both in terms of execution and marketing.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Cassie Soul is back in Avalon Bay for the summer before graduating from college. Her grandma is selling the family’s hotel that has been in their family forever. What better way to spend the last summer at the beach! Cassie is in search for THE GUY to be her fun summer fling: enters Tate Bartlett.

This is the third book in the series and I wish I had started at the beginning but I did not know it was a series! It can be read as a standalone .. I just love starting a series off with Book 1!

This book was fun and perfect for summer loving!

I was very excited to once again visit Avalon Bay. As usual, Elle Kennedy captures the perfect essence of summer. I loved the additional look into The Beacon, the mentions of Evan and Cooper, and the Beach Games. However, Cassie and Tate felt like one dimensional characters. I was extremely put off by the amount of times Cassie’s chest size was mentioned and really wish Elle Kennedy would do a better job with the representation of bodies in her books. A skinny girl with big boobs as body conscious is absolutely absurd and honestly that aspect of the book completely threw me off the story. I rounded up from 2.5 to 3 stars.

I love everything I’ve ever read by Elle Kennedy and this was such a fun read. I love the storytelling and the characters.