This one hooked me from the beginning, and I couldn't put it down until it was finished. With that said, I did enjoy it and would recommend it overall.

I really enjoyed the story and the way we arrived at our unlikely romance. Mac and Cooper were an unlikely match that crossed both "class" standards and personality types. There was a little bit of steam (not too much), and a whole lot of anticipation to get there. Also, I am always happy when the comedy is brought to a romance novel. There are a couple of hilarious parts.

Dislikes, it felt like someone was apologizing the entire story. It started to get a bit annoying to me that the situations just kept happening where someone was needing to do so. Great things to be sorry for but seemed a bit extreme throughout the novel.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this early via E-ARC.

“She tastes like sugar and endless summer nights.”

another swoon worthy read by Elle Kennedy!

Good Girl Complex follows Mac (a rich girl who craves adventure and wants to break out of her families traditionally wealthy tendencies) and Cooper (a townie who enjoys adventures and taking risks but is also a hard worker at heart). If you are a fan of Outer Banks (aside from the mystery) you will LOVE this book!

It is set in a small town called Avalon Bay which I am already in love with. The characters in this are very lovable. My fav side characters were def Evan and Steph.

This is a such a cute new adult read. I love the arcs of both main characters but in particular Mac. Seeing her trust her instincts and take leaps to things she truly wanted was soo rewarding.

“Mac, you are a force to be reckoned with. You don’t take shit, you take names. Don’t forget that.”

I will admit, I didn’t LOVE the cheating trope in this. (It’s not a huge part of the book but it’s there.) and i felt like the ending was missing an epilogue (but let’s be honest, i always want an epilogue)

This was overall such a cute story! I enjoyed it and finished it in about a day and a half. I can’t wait to see what else Elle has in store for the characters of Avalon Bay!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you enjoyed and read Elle Kennedy’s Off-Campus and Briar U series, you’ll like this too!

Good Girl Complex has a mix of light, fun moments, and tender emotions regarding social factors and difficult upbringing and family relationships. Elle Kennedy’s writing style is still similar to her previous works, which I find to my liking. The first half of the book sets us up to how Mac and Cooper met and see themselves becoming attracted to each other. It also introduces us to Cooper’s twin, Evan, and his friends that he considers family that I’m assuming will get their books too! I like the latter half of the book when Mac and Cooper’s relationship deepens and becomes more complicated as they work out their differences. You can’t help but root for them to succeed in their dreams, especially the Hartley twins. I’m happy I picked this up!

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, for the eARC.

It’s a super sweet story. You have the classic rich girl/bad boy trope in a small town. Mac was a like-able heroine and I liked the friend group they had (Tate was probably my favorite! Hope to see him and Alana maybe!)
I do feel like the story could have been a bit less predictable. You were able to guess what would happen/how it would end.
Overall though, good book if you like cute reads and the rich girl/bad boy trope!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an Advanced Reading Copy of this novel. I really liked this romance. I think if Avalon Bay is a series, I might even like it more than Kennedy's hockey novels. My one qualm was that Mackenzie was a little irritating because of how ridiculously naive she was throughout the novel. However, I would definitely recommend this book to a romance fan.

My overall take on this book is that I just felt really old reading it?? Mackenzie is what? 19? And Cooper is probably a couple of years older. At the best of times they act their age, at the worst of times they act like they're in high school. So a lot of the time I would get frustrated with the choices they made but then I'd be like "well they are so young and these are mistakes young people would make." Long story short, I felt like a grandma reading this lol.

My major pros for this book were I loved how easy it reads and I loved the couple's chemistry. It was pretty clear to me Mackenzie and Cooper suited each other. Also, the banter was great!

Thank you to NetGalley and SMP for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: cheating, toxic relationship with parents, death of parent due to drunk driving (past, off-page), parental abandonment, misogyny, sexism

While I enjoyed the small town beach setting and hope that there is a trend of NA being a category fully, I couldn't connect with this one. I struggle with red herring trope books as well as cheating and that is unfortunately the main crux of this book with some deception thrown in. It made it difficult to buy into the relationship. This book really centered on heteronormative gender stereotypes and in 2022 I would want more from a book.

Steam: 3

3.5 Stars (I received an e-arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

My first time reading Elle Kennedy which I enjoyed and was easy enough to read in a couple sittings. I realized that I really like the name Mackenzie as a girls name and Preston will always be associated with a rich entitled douchebag. This gave me slightly early 2000's - 2010 with a small town vibe with the division between the locals and tourists/university students. I like Mac but I did get frustrated with her back and forth of fitting into her family's mold and being her own person. Like she has her own businesses and has made her own money. Cooper is a bit of an macho meat head but not horrible. Their chemistry is great but both their friends/family are kind of assholes, there is a dog involved that is adorable. This review is all over the place but you kind of have to read it to understand. Hopefully we get another book with Mac's college roommate

This is a wonderful classic of the rich kids who feel money buys them everything and the town people who they walk all over. Cooper Hartley was having a bad day and he paid for it. Fired from a part-time job for defending a waitress. He is itching for revenge and so the group of them set their plan in motion. Mackenzie (Mac) Cabot has reported into college. In her gap year she started a business and has people in place to run it. She is bored but her roommate is a hoot. Off they go for some fun and meet the Hartley twins. Mac for the first time feels like herself. Not trying to please anyone. It seems Coop thinks she is playing a game. The back and forth between them is hilarious and sexy. The plan they hatched, no one wants to exact revenge. Mac is a down to earth person. The truth always comes out. She told her parents off. Now she is settling in to her next project. Can she live in the same town with Coop? The whole group wants them back together. Only Mac can decide.

Wonderful book!

This was a light and fluffy read with minimal smut. It also had a fairly predictable plot (if that’s something you enjoy). I enjoyed parts of this book, but had mixed feelings overall.

I liked Cooper, as he was more well-developed and empathetic than Mackenzie, but hated the infidelity plot. Mackenzie had potential, but was simply annoying. I also felt as though there were subplots that were started, but never finished.

This is a simple read and there is nothing majorly wrong with it, but will personally not be a reread.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s, and Ms. Kennedy for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

<i>The Deal</i> by Elle Kennedy is one of my top 3 comfort re-reads. Despite it’s main character’s OTT asshattery, Garrett and Hannah’s relationship never fails to put me in a warm fuzzy headspace.

Unfortunately <i>Good Girl Complex,</i> while exhibiting all Ms. Kennedy’s compulsively readable prose, dialogue and characterization, was no <i>Deal</i>. (It’s a high bar, I know.)

I had a lot of difficulty accepting the basic premise. I just don’t think I can fully get on board with a character who wants to get revenge on person A by destroying person B. This is oblique, I get it, so let me be clear: I’m not sure how wrecking Mackenzie (an innocent person)’s life, is going to truly get revenge on Preston, whom it was obvious from the beginning probably wouldn’t particularly care. I just don’t think that Cooper or ANY of his friends could fully recover from that, for me. Hot body or no, that’s just something I couldn’t really forgive.

Frankly, I really admired Mackenzie, and the way she pursued her goals and dreams and built her business, and I thought she deserved better.

I also thought the ending felt a little rushed and unfulfilled. There wasn’t enough followup with Mac’s parents, or with her hotel project, or even with Cooper. Definitely a HFN ending.

As compelling as the chemistry between Mac and Cooper was, and it SURE WAS, don’t get me wrong, the bad beginning left a bitter taste in my mouth that I just couldn’t shake.

Let’s start with this, Would I recommend? Probably, only if you are looking for something light and fluffy with minimal smut. It’s also good if you like to know what happens, nothing unpredictable happens. Will I read the next book? Yes. It’s cute and sweet but nothing about it stood out, in fact, everything I read in this book, I’ve read before. For started you get the bad boy who is a cinnamon roll, and you get the rich girl who is “not like other girls” and BAM! They fall in love. This book includes the trope where the guy makes a bet, this case, to get the girl to break up with her longtime boyfriend. Of course, the girl finds out and leaves but then get back together because the guy made a “grand gesture”. (more about this below) We’ve all seen this before!

Cooper, the main guy, has a twin brother named Evan and I absolutely enjoyed every second of them together. They always stand up for each other and have each other’s backs and just UGH, I love them both so much! I would love to see more of them in future books.

Cooper as a character was your basic bad boy who is actually very sweet, like stated above. Did I still like him? Very very much. He pushed Mackenzie out of her comfort zone and helped her so much. Actually, they both helped each other.

Let’s talk about Mackenzie, her whole life was planned out for her so when she ends up in Avalon Bay for college, she breaks out of that. Again, we’ve seen that before. I think the thing I liked most about her is her ambition. She literally buys an old, broken hotel to renovate it and get it back to its former glory. She also runs a business that’s seriously making some good money. She also all started this without anyone’s help. You go girl!

I would have liked to see the start of renovating actual hotel because nothing ever happened. She bought the hotel, got it looked at by a bunch of people and like that was it. Maybe in the next book?

I didn’t like how the book bordered the line on cheating because Cooper kept pushing himself on Mackenzie when she clearly has a boyfriend. Also, how Mackenzie was confused about her feelings but kept playing with him when she clearly has a boyfriend! But also, the longtime boyfriend kept cheating on her so like what!? That doesn’t sit right with me.

I wasn’t sure what this was about going but I enjoyed the writing style. I’m intrigued to check out future books from this author.

Goody goody Mackenzie aka Mac Cabot has done the right thing her whole life. She isn’t interested in drinking or partying like the rest of the twenty somethings her age. Her focus is completely on growing her internet business. There’s one catch. As per her parents decree she must first get a college degree.

She relocates to Avalon Bay, a place where the rich students of Garnet College call home. Enter bad boy Cooper Hartley. He is the antithesis of who Mac should be interacting with. A friendship ensues. Will they be able to put aside their differences and accept each other for who they are? Or will Cooper’s secret threaten to destroy it all?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

DNF 46%. 1.5 Stars. This book brings no joy. It's about miserable people treating each other like garbage. Literally the only likable character is the dog. I have not read any of Elle Kennedy's other books and no I don't think I want to. It starts with a revenge plot for Cooper to steal Mackenzie from her boyfriend and goes downhill from there. There were moments where it had Cruel Intentions vibes, but never leaned into them hard enough for the story to become fun. My mom also read it and she gave me a summary of the second half of the book, and yeah, I really don't want to spend another 2 hours of my life on this. Mackenzie's character and her decisions didn't make any sense, especially where she had her own money separate from her parent's she had no need to fear their threats to cut her off of feel the need financially to agree to the grand plan to marry her crappy boyfriend. Cooper was so flat, like his only personality trait is that he's a bad boy. All the side characters were insufferable and there was literally no one I was rooting for. I feel like I've read this story so many times in such better books.

GOOD GIRL COMPLEX – Elle Kennedy
St. Martin’s Griffin
ISBN: 978-1250796738
February 1, 2022
New Adult Romance

Avalon Bay, South Carolina – Present Day

Mackenzie “Mac” Cabot has gone with the flow most of her life. Her parents are ultra-wealthy, and her dad is a politician. They have paired her with Preston, the son of family friends and a student at Garnet College, which is where Mac has just enrolled. Everyone expects Mac and Preston to marry, but she isn’t so sure she wants to end up in a marriage like her parents. Besides, Mac waited two years after high school to enroll in college, and during that time, she started her own online business that has done well. She rarely sees Preston even though they are both on campus but that is perfectly fine with her. One night in a bar with friends, a gorgeous guy starts flirting with Mac. She lets him know that she’s taken, but it doesn’t seem to dissuade him. Mac can’t stop thinking about the guy, Cooper.

Cooper Hartley isn’t a college kid in Avalon Bay. He and his twin brother, Evan, are one of the “townies,” those who were born and raised in the town. Most of the young adults who attend Garnet College are trust fund babies, and he has already pegged Mac as being one. However, his initial interest in her is because he’s zeroed in on using her in a plan to embarrass her boyfriend, Preston. A few nights ago, Cooper was fired from his job at a local bar after getting into a tussle with Preston. Rich kids have all the power over the townies. Cooper wants to get Mac to fall for him and then he plans to parade their relationship in front of Preston. Problem is, Cooper is beginning to like Mac…a lot.

Cooper starts out with a plan of revenge but soon finds himself falling for his prey in GOOD GIRL COMPLEX. Mac isn’t a mindless society bimbo. She’s smart and sassy, and knows exactly what she wants, even if her parents continue to pressure her to fall in with their plans for her. She built a successful online company from the ground up, but this hasn’t impressed Preston or her parents. Why hasn’t she just told her parents to just stuff it when they push her to do this or that? Probably because at her young age she still wants to please her family. But now she’s out on her own, so to speak, living in a dorm with Bonnie, which gives her a chance to spread her wings. Mac hardly sees Preston, who apparently is too busy to make time for her. But Cooper knows better. He’s heard the rumors that Preston is cheating on Mac. Will he tell her eventually? What about the brewing attraction between Mac and Cooper? Both Cooper and Mac are likable characters and get along despite coming from different backgrounds.

GOOD GIRL COMPLEX is full of fun and vitality as readers get a glimpse into the lives of college students living in a coastal beach town. There is a distinct line between the filthy rich kids and the on the brink of poverty townies in Avalon Beach. Mac has no qualms about hanging out with Cooper and his friends. Will she fall in love with him? How will she react upon learning she is a pawn in his game of revenge? Discover the answer and the fun in GOOD GIRL COMPLEX.

Patti Fischer

I picked up this book on NetGalley as a way to lighten my reading and find some new romance authors. I didn’t know anything about the book or the author, but I was intrigued by the title. The idea of a “good girl complex” seemed like something I could understand, and I’m drawn to stories about small towns, and feeling out of place.

Mackenzie is starting college after a gap year where she made a fortune developing an app where people tell dating horror stories. Garnet College is in a small beach town where the uber rich clash with the lower class “townies”. Cooper, who works local construction jobs with his uncle and brother, has a run-in with Mackenzie’s rich boyfriend Preston, and vows to get revenge by seducing Preston’s girl.

I enjoyed this book but had mixed feelings about it. I liked the two main characters, though I thought Cooper was more well-developed and sympathetic than Mackenzie (despite the rather ugly plot set-up). Mackenzie had potential but was also annoying at times. There were some plot points didn’t seem like they were explored enough. I can’t tell if this is the start of a series, as Kennedy seemed to be starting a number of storylines but not finishing them. Usually a romance will clearly indicate there’s more coming, and this one does not, so my assumption is it’s a standalone.

This book has a very strong 80s vibe, making me realize just how many 80s movies were about class warfare, romance between the (entirely white) haves and the have nots — think Outsiders, Dirty Dancing, Pretty in Pink. Think nasty blond bad guys wearing chino shorts and pink polos. And like those movies, even though Mackenzie is of course more than she seems on the surface, her rich friends and parents were mostly awful. I wish Preston’s character had been more nuanced, though that would have made the plot set-up more difficult.

Which is the major flaw in this story, at least for me. I really liked the way Mac and Cooper’s relationship developed, and I appreciated that Mac had to struggle to fit in with his friends and gain their trust. I liked that Cooper and Mac have a hard time talking about money. I also thought the relationship between Cooper and brother Evan was interesting, though there seemed to be serious issues left unaddressed. But a romance where one character keeps an ugly secret from the other character is always problematic, because I spend the entire story knowing exactly where things are going and internally yelling, “just tell her already.” Yes, the romance formula requires a big blow up at the end, but Cooper’s secret about how he used Mackenzie could have been easily addressed early in the story.

There were also a number of plot points that didn’t work for me, like Mac impulsively buying a hotel (because if you’re trying to show the locals you’re one of them, this is not the way to do it). And the fact that Preston and Cooper don’t run into each other more in this tiny town. I didn’t buy that Mac would know how to fix a roof in a storm. Also the “good girl complex” theme was a little misleading. Sure, Mac is used to doing what’s expected of her, but she’s clearly never tried too hard to fit that mold.

I gather from the reviews in Goodreads that many of Kennedy’s fans are disappointed in this book. Having never read this author, I can’t speak to any of her work and I went into this with no expectations. I found it an enjoyable story in an interesting setting, and I thought some of the side characters would make interesting spinoff stories. But I’m not sure I found this relationship terribly realistic in the long term.

Note: I received a complimentary review copy of this novel from NetGalley and publisher St. Martin’s Press. This book publishes February 1, 2022.

I’d never read a book by Elle Kennedy before but this surely did it for me…I will be reading more books from her for sure!

This book gave me outerbanks vibes mixed with some After vibes minus the whole toxic thing😅

It’s a really nice book, keeps you engaged in. I loved the story, super cute, has some drama but overall a happy book. I loved the characters. Wish some of them where more developed tho. I loved that the story was in dual POV, makes the book so much better!

This book is about Mackenzie, who comes from the wealthy side (known as the clones) and Cooper who’s a local at this small town where Mac goes to for college. Cooper first meets Mac with ulterior motives, but ends up being charmed by this girl that is nothing like everyone expected her to be.

Im so excited for this book to release.

Mackenzie “the clone” has no idea what her rich college boyfriend has really been up to while away at college…however, bartender Cooper does.

I have mixed feelings on this one. I thought it was pretty good, but parts drug on a little…but then it picked up and redeemed itself a little. There was a lot of stereotyping (which I am not a fan of). I thought Mac was a solid and strong heroine in parts…but “dumb” in other parts. Cooper was quite the playboy, and really played Mac. There were a lot of characters in this book, but it is written as a 2 person POV. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t absolutely love it (as I do with most of author Elle Kennedy’s books!). There was borderline “cheating” in this as well (IMO).

I also listened to the audio, which was well done. The narrators did a really good job and I liked it better after listening to it as well. 3.75 stars for this “forbidden romance”/opposites attract romance from me.

Cooper and Mackenzie believe what direction their lives are going until they met. This connection and their chemistry turns both of their lives upside down. Mackenzie questions her life path and Copper finds clarity in his purpose together they are an explosive couple in and out of the bedroom. Elle Kennedy takes you on a wild ride while they fans their happily ever after. Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARF.

Classic good girl and bad boy romance! They come from totally different backgrounds. He’s a townie in a college town set near the beach and she’s the college freshman that’s new in town.
Lots of boyfriend and friend group drama. It starts out in revenge and ends with love. It’s a fun ride and I enjoyed it! I love a little angst and banter with romances.
Thank you to Elle Kennedy and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.