If you are anything like me, you probably have an affinity for cheesy romantic books. Today’s book is one of those cheesy romantic books and is a book that I think will be a big hit after it’s release next year!

"Good Girl Complex" is a New Adult romance novel written by, Elle Kennedy. It is expected to be released on February 1, 2022.
If you would like to pre-order "Good Girl Complex" you can find it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can follow the author, Elle Kennedy, on Instagram and Goodreads! You can also check out her website!

Before I get into this review, I would like to thank St. Martins Griffin Publishers, Netgalley, and Elle Kennedy for sending me this advanced copy for review. As always, all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

She does everything right. So what could go wrong?
Mackenzie "Mac" Cabot is a people pleaser. Her demanding parents. Her prep school friends. Her long-time boyfriend. It's exhausting, really, always following the rules. Unlike most twenty-year-olds, all she really wants to do is focus on growing her internet business, but first she must get a college degree at her parents' insistence. That means moving to the beachside town of Avalon Bay, a community made up of locals and the wealthy students of Garnet College.
Mac's had plenty of practice suppressing her wilder impulses, but when she meets local bad boy Cooper Hartley, that ability is suddenly tested. Cooper is rough around the edges. A threat to her ordered existence. Their friendship soon becomes the realest thing in her life.
Despite his disdain for the trust-fund kids he sees coming and going from his town, Cooper soon realizes Mac isn't just another rich clone and falls for her. Hard. But as Mac finally starts feeling accepted by Cooper and his friends, the secret he's been keeping from her threatens the only place she's ever felt at home.

I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads. I have read some of Elle Kennedy's Off Campus book series and I really enjoyed that as well. "Good Girl Complex" encapsulates everything that I love about that series and her personal writing style. I really connected with the characters and got attached to them easily!

My only complaint is that I wish this book contained an epilogue. This book was great, but I think it would have been perfect if there was an epilogue! Add an epilogue and this is a 5 star read for me!

This book gave me some serious ‘Outer Banks but make it more romantic’ vibes and I loved it. If you like Outer Banks and enjoy romance novels, I think that you will enjoy this book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! Because there is some adult language, scenarios, and dialogue I would recommend it for readers 18+. This one exceeded my expectations. I think it is a fantastic addition to Elle Kennedy's repertoire, I am anxiously awaiting her next release (and I am silently hoping that it is a book which follows Evan)! After all, she is known for creating a “universe” full of characters and gifting each them their own book. Fingers crossed!

Elle Kennedy outdid herself again. The Good Girl Complex is a perfect representation of friends to lovers featuring a college good girl and a townie bad boy. I loved following Mac and Cooper's relationship. The ups and downs, plot twists and suspense pulled at my heart strings. Not to mention the spice was just the perfect amount!

This book for me was After but if After wasn’t toxic and cringey. Elle Kennedy is a must read for me always and this one certainly delivered.

Freaking fantastic fun! I loved every minute of this and didn’t put it down until I read the very last word. This is the epitome of a new adult romance sprinkled with the right amount of angst, heart, and life lessons.

Cooper is book boyfriend perfection with his looks, his flaws, and the way he falls in love. Oh! And he’s loyal to his friends. Mac is smart and honest and just such a great strong female character that despite her background is so relatable. And she keeps everyone on their toes in all the right ways!

Kennedy seamlessly wove together a story of opposites attract, finding yourself, and falling in love.

I can’t wait to recommend this to all of my romance-loving friends.

Thank you netgalley for the advance copy.

I love this world so much!!! Made me realized I totally miss reading a book by Elle Kennedy. Cooper and Mac is EVERYTHING!!!

A Rich Heroine. A Poor Hero.
One of my favorite tropes.

Mac was pretty much a do gooder, always stay in the lane and listens to her parents and boyfriend. But as she spends more time with Cooper, she was herself. She doesn't need to hide. She then found out her boyfriend was cheating on her so she dumped him. She was getting really close with Cooper and his friends, but Cooper was hiding a secret from Mac.

I really hope Elle Kennedy would continue this world because I am so intrigued by almost every single side characters!!! If you love her books, you'll definitely enjoy this one also.

Mac Cabot always tries hard to please everyone. She tries to please her demanding parents, her prep school friends and her long time boyfriend. At her early age she actually has a successful internet business but her parents insist that she get a college degree. When she moves to the college town, she meet bad boy Cooper. He is very different than her trust fund friends but she develops a close relationship with him, Cooper Cooper doesn't like the trust fund kids at the college but he soon realizes that Mac is very different from them. This books explores the relationships between the young adults.

I am officially an Elle Kennedy fan! This book was a lot of fun. Romance, witty banter, the right amount of spice, I loved it! It was easy to read and I never got bored. I loved the main characters and was rooting for them to work it out.

3.5 stars

I, like most everyone, loved Off Campus so I was excited to read my first book from her that wasn’t from that universe. While I overall enjoyed this book as it was a light read and a real pallet cleanser, it didn’t live up or my high expectations from the teaser explanation of the book. Around 55% in, I started to get bored which made the last half of the book feel about 80 pages too long. I really bought Cooper and Mac’s dynamic but there were a lot of sub-points that made the book as a whole a little all over the place. The ending was really strong and the book as a whole is good. I did find myself hoping some of the side characters might get their own books on the future.

I’ve been a fan of Elle Kennedy’s work for a while now. Her Off Campus series and Briar U series are ones I consider guilty pleasures and find myself rereading them, constantly. Because of that, I absolutely jumped at the opportunity to be able to read this book early. After reading so many of her books, I hate to say that this one didn’t live upto my expectations. The whole premise of it sounded really interesting but the execution just felt a little too mediocre. All of the main plot points that were established at the beginning of the book took a backseat as the story progressed. The romance just felt like it happened too quickly and I would’ve preferred if it had been prolonged for a little while longer to build up more angst. Mostly, I did just feel a little bored while reading it. In the end, I think this book just wasn’t for me.

A wonderful new adult romance that focuses a women coming of age as she goes away to college and realizing her worth. This book was a really enjoyable and light read. I love the main character and the hero in this book and could feel their connection as I was reading. I wanted so badly for them to get there happily ever after - not just with each other but in life. A must read in 2021. Trigger warning for cheating.

Steam Rating: 🌶🌶🌶

Favorite quote: "Don't waste this moment. If your heart's telling you to follow something - go for it. Don't let anyone hold you back, because life is too damn sort. Build your empire. Slay dragons."

I was all in from the start on this one and devoured the first half quickly. Cooper, the bad boy, has a run-in with a cocky college kid who flaunts his wealth and ability to get Cooper fired. Cooper decides to seek revenge by finding and stealing the rich kid's girlfriend, Mackenzie (Mac), to publicly make a mockery of him.

The premise reeled me in - Cooper and Mac's dynamic seemed like a quick setup but flirty, passionate, and fun. Admittedly, I got a little lost in what felt like many minor subplots to build character backstories and help trigger interest in what appears to be a book series. Why did Cooper's twin brother, Evan, break up with his girlfriend? It was obviously a bad breakup, but why?

I'm sure some people are into this writing style, but it's not typically my cup of tea. While I may not venture through the upcoming series, I felt like the storyline was well written and wrapped up nicely at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of Good Girl Complex in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this novel by Elle Kennedy. I believe this to be the first I’ve read from her and appreciated the story, though some of the characterizations were a bit slow and unrealistic at times. Overall, a fairly typical yet nice romance.

3.5 Stars
Readers will find that Kennedy’s edgy and fast paced writing puts a fresh spin on a classic romance trope. While Good Girl Complex may follow the predictable story arc of bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks meets down-to-earth rich girl, Kennedy manages to make it feel new with a cast of wild characters (closely resembling crew from The Outer Banks) and a female protagonist that is one badass burgeoning CEO. Despite the story taking place in the fall-winter, Kennedy’s commitment to developing the setting of a small college town nestled on the coast makes this feel like a summer read.

While I completely appreciated Kennedy’s writing style and enjoyed the characters, I did find the story arc started to bore me around the 40-60% mark. The predictability of the plot line wouldn’t have been an issue had this book been about 100 pages shorter (that likely would’ve bumped it to 4 stars for me). That being said, it was a great light read and I would definitely recommend this if you’re heading on vacation, or just want a guilty pleasure book.

This was my first Elle Kennedy book and I’m intrigued enough by the characters and the setting to want to read the next Avalon Bay novel that comes out!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Griffin for the free electronic copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was an entertaining book in a guilty pleasure kind of way. Mackenzie reminds of those sisters with K names that are super proud of themselves for being self made when really the've had everything handed to them. She thinks going to college is a waste of time because she's already a successful businesswoman running an app where people share mean stories about their boyfriends. Cooper starts out a bit better, he's a local in a town that gets overrun by entitled college kids and then makes a morally questionable decision that left me wondering who I could root for in this story if I didn't much like the main characters. Yet, I something kept me reading. It's a bit predictable and some scenes feel too convenient, and the research is iffy (i.e., you can't inherit credit card debt, yet Cooper and his brother struggle for this reason). In spite of all this, I still wanted to know what would happen next. It's a fun read, like eating cotton candy: you'll enjoy it in the moment but won't feel satisfied when you're done.

While this is a 3.5 - I'm rounding up to 4 stars.

I've got to admit, the first 15-20% of this story was slow and full of mostly unredeemable characters (i.e all the rich, college assholes) BUT once that part of the story starts to be overshadowed by Mac and Cooper's growing relationship, I started to get a lot more invested and enjoyed where the story went.

Elle Kennedy's writing is classic, quick-read NA fun, and seeing that she was going from self-published to being under a publisher had me nervous - would it be her same style? Would it be changed? Luckily, it was mostly her same style with mostly the same pacing to her other stories, which worked for me.

Overall, a good read and all of the loose ends were tied up - now I'm just left to wonder who (if anyone else) will also get a book. Evan? Steph? Alana? Tate? We shall see.

I hate to give negative reviews because I know how hard authors work. That being said, this book was really not for me. This is my first Elle Kennedy book so I have nothing to compare it to, but I just found it to be very predictable and kind of plotless. Good Girl Complex felt like the plot of After but the setting of Outer Banks.

The only other book I read with basically no plot was Ugly Love and I loved it because Miles and Tate have such chemistry. The main characters in this book have chemistry but not *that* much. I wish I’d read Elle Kennedy’s other books so I could tell you guys how this one compares. I’d say if you like Elle Kennedy, go for it!

I’ve always been a fan of Kennedy, but lately her releases have been lacking. Good Girl Complex was one of my most anticipated reads for 2022 but sadly after reading it, I’m disappointed. This book brought nothing new to the table and embodied a basic romance novel with no creativity. At first, I was really engaged and interested in the story but after the halfway point I felt like the pacing was off. The romance evolved very quickly and the fight that took place at the end of the novel did nothing to further the plot. It was completely unnecessary and could’ve been corrected or adjusted. Overall, this novel lacked creativity and engagement.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a good New Adult romance that made me want to read more as the story progressed. I wanted to know these characters and to see just how complicated things were going to get because if you know Elle Kennedy, she definitely brings it.


Most young adults are still swimming their way through a College degree and having to deal with what comes next for a career and Mackenzie is no different. Much to her wealthy parents' urging and a deal that she made with them to attend school, Mackenzie is now a full time student. Determined to stay focused and stick to the future plans her and longtime boyfriend have, nothing is going to get in the way of that. That all changes when she crosses paths with the town’s resident bad boy.



I really liked the chemistry between the two main characters and you instantly felt the passion between them. Although I was not a fan of the initial plot and I was disappointed that there was no epilogue, I still enjoyed Mac and Cooper’s journey. If you're a new adult romance fan that loves a little bit of drama, then this one's for you.

If you love a great story, set in a beach town, as much as I do, I’m sure you’ll love Elle Kennedy’s Good Girl Complex! This story features McKenzie (Mac) and Cooper and I fell in love with them from the beginning. The character development is outstanding throughout the book. Although this book features the often used trope of one character being on the lower socioeconomic scale (Cooper) versus Mac, a girl from a really rich family, the plot contains some unusual twists and turns making this an excellent read. Although the ending was predictable, it was quite satisfying. A great read!

A good example of why I shouldn't judge books by their adorable covers.

Upon first glance, this book has the ideal college/bad boy trope going for it. Mackenzie "Mac" is one half of our protagonists who breaks the stereotypical rich kid description by being a self-made woman with the creation of a popular app. During her college experience, she begins to feel the distance between her then-boyfriend, Preston, thanks to the temptation that local bad-boy/hottie Cooper presents.

The thing is, Cooper and Mac meeting isn't exactly fate.

Cooper and Preston have history and Cooper sets out to retaliate against the serial abuser by stealing his girlfriend. However, when the nature of his and Mac's relationship begins to blur, the looming truth poses a threat itself.

Synopsis sounds great, right? Well what I couldn't get over is that Cooper seems scarily possessive over Mac and the cuteness of their cross-socioeconomic status relationship just becomes uncomfortable. Also, the dialogue seems very juvenile and generic in how it's developed and I found myself rolling my eyes quite often.