Tag Archives: Elle Kennedy

ARC — Bad Girl Reputation — Elle Kennedy — Avalon Bay #2

Author: Elle Kennedy
Narrated by: Lee Samuels and Summer Morton

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 4 stars
Narration: 5 mikes
Content Warnings: Discusses parent death, parent neglect, abandonment, alcohol and drug abuse, police/authority abuse, and includes sexual content.

“Bad Girl Reputation” follows Genevieve (Gen) West, a rebel who escaped the small town of Avalon Bay, running away from her past and her reputation—but then, after being a year away, her mother dies unexpectedly, and she is forced to come back and help her father with their family business. So in comes Evan Hartley, Gen’s on-again-off-again high school ex-boyfriend and personal bad boy. As soon as they see each other, they know there’s still something there, and so Gen has no option but to run away from him, constantly. If she wants to break out from old cycles, then she needs to start with Evan. She can’t be dating him if she’s planning on not being her past, irresponsible self. But what if she isn’t the only on that has changed? What if this time apart has also been good for Evan? What if she does have another shot at love after all.

“Bad Girl Reputation” is worth the hype. This second chance romance is both fast-paced and, well, romantic. I was lucky to get my hands on the audiobook ARC of this book, with Summer Morton narrating as Gen and Lee Samuels narrating as Evan. In my opinion, Summer was the perfect cast. Her voice was all I imagined Gen’s voice to be. Evan, on the other hand, took me a few chapters to get used to. I wasn’t feeling his voice, even if the narrator was doing a great job—and even by the end I wasn’t 100% sold on it.

I am happy to say, tho, that I liked “Bad Girl Reputation” so much more than the first book in this series, “Good Girl Complex”. The first book in the Avalon Bay series felt one-dimensional at times and perhaps even a bit bland. “Bad Girl Reputation”, on the other hand, has so many layers and parallel situations that all show their relevance by the end of the book, even if at times they felt like unnecessary filling. Everything from problematic friendships to awkward dating to strained parental relationships being mended to volunteering were discussed and it was precious.

I would highly recommend grabbing this audiobook, even if you haven’t read the first book on this series, as it serves as a standalone novel mostly. Gen are Evan are the sweetest couple and the narration is clear—so clear, actually, that I was able to listen it at 3 times the speed with no problem whatsoever.

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ARC provided by NetGalley and Macmillan Audio and published by St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: October 4, 2022

Good Girl Complex — Elle Kennedy — Avalon Bay #1

“I lived my whole life without Cooper Hartley. Then, six months together and I’ve forgotten what it was not to know him. Six months, and only minutes to shred it to hell.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 4 stars
Spicy Meter: 3 fire emojis (spicy, but not my cup of tea)
Content Warnings: Discusses cheating, parent death, sexual harassment, and addiction. Has quite a bit of sexual content.

Full disclaimer: I only grabbed this book because I was approved to read an advanced reader copy of “Bad Girl Reputation”, the second book in this series… but I am so happy I did.

“Good Girl Complex”, the first book in the Avalon Bay series, follows Mackenzie (Mac) Cabot, a trust-fund kid who moves to Avalon Bay to get her undergrad degree at Garnet College. In this small town, she meets Cooper Hartley, a local bad boy. Due to her people-pleasing nature, Mac hasn’t lived much—until Cooper came along. But secrets are being kept. Secrets that could tear their friendship and relationship apart.

Here’s the thing. I am surprised this book has so many mixed reviews. Being a people pleaser myself, I couldn’t have loved this book more. There wasn’t that much character development, and the ending feels a bit rushed if you ask me, but this book was still such a fun read.

This was my first Elle Kennedy book and I can already tell I will like everything she writes. Her narrative and alternating timelines kept me hooked the whole time. I literally read this book in a day.

I would highly recommend this book if you like the good girl-bad boy trope. You know the Rory Gilmore-Jess Mariano dynamics in “Gilmore Girls” and the Kat Startford-Patrick Verona dynamics in “Ten Things I Hate About You”? Well, mesh that into a book and you get “Good Girl Complex”.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.