First review: 2/1/22
Updated review: 12/8/22
Publication date: 2/1/22

When I saw that Elle Kennedy is going to be releasing another book I got excited and I knew that I needed to get my hands on it. I really liked the cover it was discrete and fun. The description was also nice as well and it doesn’t reveal much about the book.

This book follows Mackenzie “Mac” Cabot who moves to Avalon Bay and befriends Cooper Hartley who lives in Avalon Bay. There’s more to their friendship than Mac knows. However, with the good girl who’s rich and bad boy who’s not plot it might have been a little bit predictable. Mac and Cooper’s relationship might have started out as a bet, but they were so cute. Most of the characters seemed to annoy me, but Evan means the world to me, I loved him.

I was kind of hooked in the beginning and although it felt a bit slow it does pick up the pace. The pacing after the beginning was nice and I sped through it. However, the way it ended was kind of rushed. I had very high expectations for this book but after finishing it I was hit with a wave of disappointment (not saying this book disappointed me) I just wished it wasn't rushed and had an epilogue. I wanted an epilogue for this book so bad. I love reading epilogues in books like these because we get to see the characters in a different light compared to how they were throughout the book.

Overall, I rated the book a 4 because some parts were a bit predictable but it was an entertaining read read nonetheless and it had me hooked.

Thank you to the Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an arc.

Good girl gone a teensy bit bad...When a revenge bet goes awry, we all know how it ends. But it was still entertaining getting there.

This is the first book I've read of Elle Kennedy's! It was such a great read! Definitely recommend it! 10/10

This is the first book in the Avalon Bay series. I have read a multitude of books by Elle Kennedy. This book was well written and enjoyable. It featured good girl/college girl Mac Cabot and townie/bad boy Cooper Hartley. It stayed pretty true to the trope, but I enjoyed the romance between Man and Cooper. The story was well written, with good dialogue. Unfortunately, I do not feel it was up to par with Off-Campus or Briar U series.

I would recommend that people read it, if they do not expect it to be the same as Off-Campus or the Briar U series.

I was provided an ARC through NetGalley for an honest review.

Loved this romance about good girl, Mackenzie, and townie Cooper, who feels destined to be a failure and hates all of the rich college kids he calls clones.

Great forbidden love, HEA romance. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Oh Elle Kennedy, how I’ve missed your writing. This book just hit all of the right spots for me, and I really do mean all of the right spots. I sincerely hope this is the start of an incredible new series because I’m seriously in love with the setting of Avalon Bay and all of the secondary characters introduced here. But I digress. Let’s chat Good Girl Complex. Because, man I loved this book.

This is your opposites attract, rich girl meets boy from the wrong side of the tracks but with a twist. Cooper and his twin brothers are guys with a definite rep in their town. Oh and icing, they’re twins. Yep. You read that right. TWINS. But I digress again. Coop is sick and tired of the rich trust fund kids that flood their college town with their entitlement and egos. So when particularly vapid one causes trouble at the bar Coop bartends end, and it results with the kid throwing his weight around and Coop getting fired, he’s pissed. He’s beyond pissed. So what’s a guy to do to get revenge? Why target the douchebag’s equally rich and gorgeous girlfriend, get her to fall for him, so he can dump her and get to rub it in the rich a-holes face of course. DUH. But you know what they say about the best laid plans…

Mac is the furthest thing from the stereotypical rich girl. She’s only in college after a gap year to appease her parents who don’t exactly support her entrepreneurial ways. It doesn’t matter that Mac is the mastermind behind a website that made her a millionaire. All her parents want is for her to marry the right man like her equally rich boyfriend, and be the good little wife. Ah stereotypes.

Coop and Mac meet and become fast friends. Mac is yearning for something more, and her life is slowly suffocating her. Coop allows her the freedom she’s been unknowingly yearning for. And the chemistry between them? DELICIOUS.

This is very much a slow burn, and as we slowly get to know each layer of these characters, we see the connection between them grow into something neither of them expected. Mac as she slowly acknowledges her attraction to Coop and grows into her own beyond the chains of her responsibilities. Coop as he realizes that what started as a bet is so much more. And this girl? Devoured every page of it.

This is the New Adult gold in a way that only Elle Kennedy can write. It was opposites attract deliciousness that I devoured from cover to cover and left desperate for more. And while I would have loved an epilogue, I simply adored this book and these characters. There’s so many secondary characters that I’m hoping get their own books in this town, including Coop’s twin. If you’re looking for an incredibly written New Adult romance, you seriously cannot miss this one.

Elle Kennedy is one of my all time favorite writers ever. I was so excited for her to explore another college NA series. This was super different from her hockey books but I still really enjoyed it. It was just as addicting as all of her books. I’m a big OBX fan so I really liked how it had that same kind of vibe. Mac took some getting used too but I ended up really liking her, especially her development. Cooper was just SWOON WORTHY, and they did really have a lot of chemistry. I’m excited to read the next book in this series

I’m a big Elle Kennedy fan and she didn’t let me down. I really loved Mac, forever striving to play the part expected of her until she can’t anymore. She and Cooper appear to be opposites, but work so well together. Add this to your next beach read list!

In “Good Girl Complex” (Avalon Bay #1) by Elle Kennedy we meet Mackenzie Cabot (Mac). Her life has been planned for her – from her friends to her boyfriend to her future. But when she “unexpectedly” runs into the local bad boy, Cooper, her guards start to come down and the real Mac starts to emerge. But Cooper has never liked outsiders and has an agenda of his own when it comes to Mac. So, can a townie and a clone actually work or are they just too different?

I received an advanced copy of this book, and this is my honest review.

If you absolutely adore the New Adult genre, be sure to add Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy to your list! This book has all the makings of a great contemporary read, and I enjoyed the setting of Avalon Bay!

This was a quick, fun read by Elle Kennedy. I do love the "she was a bet" trope in romance, so this was right up my alley.
Mac has just started college at her parents' insistence when she really just wants to run her internet company. It's not long before she meets Cooper who lives up to his bad boy reputation. Despite the two being from different worlds, they are soon spending a lot of time together. However, Mac's trust fund boyfriend is still in the way.
T

I wanted to love this book. I struggled to like this book instead. The relationship this book centered on just didn’t work for me and made the book feel like a bit of a slog. It pains me to say that! My favorite part was the setting - I love a good beach read. Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t the one for me.

All good stories start with a bet made to get revenge, so you know this one is going to be good!

Cooper is the definition of someone proud of where he lives and is willing to do anything to protect those he considers family. When he chooses to get revenge after losing his job to keep one of the rich clones happy, he is more than ready to get the clone back. But he never could’ve planned for Mac…

Beach town, clones vs. townies, and a girl who’s just trying to live her life make this a perfect summer read!

I swear, that college age drama is Elle Kennedy's forte.

As I'm sure the reader is meant to, I absolutely hated the pretentious a$$ that sealed Cooper's fate. However it was also a great way to be introduced to ALL the residents of Avalon Bay, whether student or resident.

I liked Cooper, Evan and their circle of friends but thought that overall, the story was fairly predictable. You could, I suppose, argue all college drama is the same lol.

Not a bad start to a new series.

Mackenzie, or Mac, grew up wealthy, the daughter of a senator. However, she has money of her own after starting a popular website and app. She convinced her parents to let her take a year off before college, but ultimately wants to please them, so now she is starting her freshman year later than most. Mac has been in a long term relationship with Preston, the son of family friends. It’s assumed by everyone that they’ll marry after college. Though Mac has a head for business, everyone expects her to live a life like her mom and dedicate her time to charities and galas once she marries.

Cooper, or Coop, is a townie in Avalon Bay, the town where Mac and Preston’s college is. Towards the start of term, Preston, who is serially cheating on Mac without her knowledge, gets in a fight with Cooper after sexually harassing Cooper’s friend at the bar they work at. Cooper and his friends plot revenge after Preston has him fired. They find Mac on social media, and Cooper plans to seduce her into leaving her boyfriend and then rub it in Preston’s face. However, the seduction ends up being genuine when Cooper falls for Mac. The two form a friendship before Mac realizes how awful Preston is and leaves him for Cooper. But what would happen if Mac found out the truth about why Cooper pursued her in the first place?

This was a really fun read, full of college small town drama. It takes a while for Cooper’s band of friends to accept Mac, someone they view as an enemy from the get-go. But Mackenzie’s kind nature wins them over eventually. The romance between Cooper and Mac is steamy and dramatic, just like all romances between people of that age should be – if a little problematic, but it also feels appropriate for that age group. Overall, I enjoyed this fun read that transported me back to one of my favorite periods of my life.

As usual, Elle Kennedy gives me all the feels. I really loved the world she created at Avalon Bay and I want to read about all of the people. Well, mostly all of Cooper's friends. Their "found family" relationships were my favorite.
I will say, the cheating trope is my least favorite of all and I have a hard time with it in general. But Elle Kennedy created such compelling characters, I wanted to know how the story turned out. Overall, I enjoy the revenge/bet setup and I thought this one played out well. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book and more Avalon Bay shenanigans!

I received this Advanced Reader copy from Netgalley, in exchange for my honest review. I loved the characters in Elle Kennedy’s book. I felt that they where very real and the chemistry between them was amazing. The pace of the story wasn’t as fast as some i have read but the banter was enough to keep the pace moving. I did feel that the plot reminded me of ‘After’ by Anna Todd. Over all I liked this book and plan to read the next one. I have became a huge fan of Elle Kennedy.

Good Girl Complex is a spring romcom that intrigued me based on the synopsis. Elle Kennedy fan’s, especially those of her hit Off Campus series, will enjoy reading this new series!

Mackenzie believes that she has love with Preston, destined to be with her due to parental connections, and trusts her choices when she moves to Avalon Bay to start college. When not attending college, she is busy running her business about dating. On the one hand, she loves her life but on the other she hates her disapproving parents and their high standards for her.

In walks “bad boy” Cooper Hartley, local bar worker who enjoys having fun in the bay and living life to his fullest. He’s a grumpy character who has no plans to officially flip Mackenzie’s life upside down. But her good girl complex is going to make him want more from her.

As Mackenzie starts to find her inner voice, she sets life on its edge. Will she be able to stay true to herself or will she fall to everyone else’s whims?

Elle Kennedy’s latest had small town city vibes and characters that reminded me of her off campus series ones. However; I was unable to relate to any of the “charmy” characters placed on the page and was turned off with all the cheating references.

Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review :)

Calling all After readers! If you like the " revenge from one man to another man at the expense of an innocent woman" trope, this one is for you! ( Personally, I don't like this trope in After or in Good girl complex or ever). So yes, I really dislike this trope BUT I ended up with a 4 star review, how?

* Spoiler warning on rambled thoughts ahead*

The friend group was pretty interesting and a few characters had interesting character arcs that made me go from disliking them to tolerating them. I did think that the difference in societal class between the main characters was really interesting, as it actually touched on some issues ( mans called out Mackenzie a few times LOL).

This book did seem kind of long for such a basic storyline and plot that has been told on a certain story writing platform millions of times, but it was a pretty well written for what it was.

The way that Mackenzie found out about the whole bet really turned me off, I thought a couple of times that Cooper was going to come clean ( Which would have given this basic storyline a nice twist) but of course she found out through someone else. Why can readers never get an honest man in these type of storylines? That being said I do love Cooper and Evan and it was interesting to read about their twin dynamic!

I was pleasantly surprised with Good Girl Complex. This book doesn't invent anything new with the NA romance category but the characters are enjoyable and I was happy to see there would be more books about side characters.

We have your typical good girl who is looking to break free from her awful boyfriend and parents and a local bad boy who isn't interested in settling down. There is a bet involved and of course things go south but the journey to the end is worth it. Sexy twins, lots of laughs, off the charts chemistry, and of course I'm a sucker for a dog in books.

All in all, I recommend this for anyone who enjoys the NA genre.