I haven't read an Elle Kennedy novel in a while, I took a personal break from romance novels for a bit, but I am so glad I picked up Good Girl Complex. It was angsty and fun, a wrong-side of the tracks romance with heat and quality character growth. Mackenzie "Mac" Cabot is the good girl, at least that's what she allows perceptions and her family to believe, but inside she's revolting against all the rules and expectations of a senator's daughter. After a gap year to work on her thriving business, her family is ready for her to go back to school and fall in line by staying with the well-to-do and well-known boyfriend, to get over her "hobby," and to join all the charities she can. Luckily, or rather unluckily, Cooper has his sights set on her to enact revenge against her boyfriend. What starts as revenge turns to more though, especially as Cooper unveils Mac's true self and he finds she's far more than the clone he thought she was.

Mac is a spunky, fiery gal with brains and I just loved her. She was, of course, your classic girl meets boy in terms of falling in love, but made better by her spark. Cooper was classic alpha-male with a heart, but even he I loved. I just enjoy books where the characters are both classic, in terms of the romance genre, but with all the true characteristics that real humans have. I like the reality, I like the growth, and I love the drama! Kennedy checked every box for me with Good Girl Complex and I truly enjoyed this fun adventure. It made me want to dive head on back into romance novels.

I'd call this one a spicy new-adult romance, as the age range of the characters and their interactions are definitely on par with the new-adult genre. That said, the spice is SPICY, and younger NA readers should keep that in mind. In my case, as a 32 year old, I totally loved the spice and felt it was accurate to the age group, the characters' experiences, and the setting of the story.

Romance fans will love this one, especially if they've got a soft spot for angst.

I enjoyed Good Girl Complex. I liked the relationship building between Mac and Cooper and watching the way it developed. I enjoyed how much of a #girlboss Mackenzie is, and how ambitious she is. I also really enjoyed watching her develop friendships with Cooper’s friends and brother.

The only thing I didn’t like is how obvious the third act breakup was from the start so I felt like I was waiting for it the whole book. But other than that this was a good time! I’m really interested in picking up Evan’s story.

A fun, cute and quick read. Think opposite side of the tracks, initial disdain and mistrust that turns the rich girl and bad boy into an item. But the way they get involved and the obstacles they must overcome made me cringe a bit.

The books starts out with your basic rough, poor guy falls in love with rich, seemingly bratty girl. If the narrative were to take some new, fresh perspectives on this trope, I would have found a way to enjoy this, unfortunately, that is not the case. Moreover, connecting to the characters was just about impossible due to the tired prose I wish would have been left on wattpad. Having the heroine caught up in the middle of a revenge plot did not sit right with me, as well as the glorification of cheating and the way their overall relationship was built on a lie. The book did very little in the way of making a fleshed out ending so everything seemed rushed in the last quarter. Overall, this is not a romance novel worth recommending.

Well, I've found a new series to let myself be totally obsessed with. I read this in a single sitting and then turned around and read the next book in the series in a single sitting the next day. I'm in love with Avalon Bay and positively obsessed with Mac and Cooper.

Mac comes from immense wealth and her parents are very controlling over her goals in life, her image, and her path; however she was more for herself than being someone’s trophy wife. In comes, Cooper, the rugged, bad boy in town. I’ll let you discover the rest.

I didn’t love the plot line of actively trying to breakup a relationship, or pursuing someone because of sheer physical attraction. But overall the story has some good lessons.

This story is very steamy, so be prepared for a lot of eggplant emoji.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I just want to preface this review by saying that I really like this author. I’ve read several of her books and I’ve enjoyed many of them, unfortunately this book wasn’t one of them.
I was excited to get an ARC of The Good Girl Complex but it took me forever to get this one read. I just wasn’t invested. I think mostly I didn’t love the plot, the whole lie/dare situation wasn’t for me.
The characters were a little over the top and I didn’t connect with any of them. I’m not sure if I’ll read on in this series or not.

Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this book!

Solid, fun, and easy read!

I enjoyed the water/college town setting a lot!

This book kept me hooked wanting to know the ending.

I found myself cheering on the characters!

I really enjoyed reading this book. I felt it was relatable. If you like to see characters meet and find love with different backgrounds this one is a good read for you. I love the plot and the characters,

I love this author's writing. Based on the synopsis and my experiences with her previous books I was set to fall in love with this cast of characters as well. Unfortunately for me, the pacing was simply too slow.

I chose to not share an in depth review of this title outside of NetGalley. Thank you for my early copy.

I was really excited to get into this one, but I think my mood really struck me with Good Girl Complex. I wasn't quite connecting with this one and I had to DNF with the possibility of picking up in the future. Thank you for the opportunity to read the book and I apologize for the inconvenience.

Love Elle Kennedy, but I only enjoyed the good girl/bad boy trope in The Deal. The Deal does what Good Girl complex can't: creates a "good girl" that is still a strong female lead. I was dissapointed in the portrayal of the lead in Good Girl Complex and didn't enjoy it as much as Kennedy's earlier works. Still a fun and easy read!

I've been a fan of other Elle Kennedy novels but this one did not grab me. Her writing is great but I didn't fall in love with the characters.

The premise of the book made it sound like it should be full of tension and hold-your-breath moments and conversations, but it fell so flat. It just was not for me even though there are others who might enjoy the premise enough to fall into the characters.

Mac is starting her freshman year at Garnet after taking a year off. Her boyfriend, Preston, is graduating at the end of the year and has their life planned out. Mac has made her own money with her “little online business”. Cooper is a townie who works at construction and other odd jobs. He and his twin, Evan, are living in their family home and fixing it up. Mac and Cooper’s paths cross when Cooper and his friends decide he needs to get back at Preston for getting Cooper fired. The plan, steal the girlfriend. But it doesn’t really go as planned. A good read where the main characters are a fit even if they don’t quite understand why. They both have family issues, Cooper’s mom took off on them when they were teens and Mac’s parents, though rich, only care about appearances and not what she wants to do with her life. As she gets bored with college and needs another project, the only one who supports her is Cooper. Mac finally stands up to her parents, literally, and quits school to work on her new project. A nice weekend read.

Cooper is a townie who works at a bar to supplement his income because he wants to open his own business. He gets into an altercation with Preston and it leads to him getting fired. He soon finds out through his friends that Preston has a girlfriend so they encourage him to steal his girlfriend as revenge. Wish that was all of the high school behavior in this book, but it was not. Enter Mackenzie who is a freshman at Garnet, even though she is 20 because she took a year off to get her web businesses off the ground. She is a bit pretentious and doesn't really have a clue about the real world. Her father is a congressman who uses her as a photo opportunity and her mother was a woman who had her own staff to manage her daily schedule. Mackenzie doesn't seem to realize that Preston and her parents are really controlling her like a child, until she meets Cooper. He brings out a wild side in her. That was fine. What wasn't was her childlike behavior and her incessant need to argue with him about everything. I don't know if I was supposed to find it cute, but it just grated on my nerves.
As what usually happens with you start a relationship based upon a lie, you always run the risk that the truth is going to come out. Heidi, Steph and Alana were all kind of juvenile and cliquish to the point that they were really likable. I had a hard time really relating to anyone in this book.
There were a lot of parental issues and it was kind of too much at points. Cooper and Evan had terrible parents. We get to meet their mom and it was horrible. She was a shallow user who really had no redeemable qualities. Mac's parents were controlling to the point of being abusive.
Although their story wasn't exactly my favorite by this author, I did find it to be somewhat entertaining. I liked Daisy and how she brought a nice touch to this story. I am always a sucker for a dog being rescued.
I was very disappointed there was no epilogue to this story. I felt like I worked really hard to get to the end and was left with nothing as their future goes.
I received a free ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for my honest review.

This was my first Elle Kennedy book and as whole I really enjoyed it. Sometimes you need a drama and angst filled romance. Mac and Cooper had an undeniable connection and a ton of chemistry. I felt that it finished a little too suddenly. I was expecting one more showdown with Mac's parents or her ex, Preston, but she had those interactions off page. I would have loved to have seen more of her working on the hotel. I'm excited to read the next book in the Avalon series.

This was an entertaining read that I enjoyed. It is not unique or particularly interesting, but was still an enjoyable read.

For me this felt like a book I have read before. Even though i finished, it took me longer than usual. I had a hard time connecting with the characters, and it just was flat. I was surprised as I usually like Elle's books. This was just flat.

A shockingly bad book from the usually reliable Elle Kennedy.

I've read a ton of Elle Kennedy's new adult college books, so I though I knew what to expect. Turns out, I didn't. Good Girl Complex didn't have a likable character to be found, a lack of chemistry between the two MCs (and morals...), and a plotline right out of a 80s/90s movie.

The male MC and his friends were judgey and horrible, and the female MC was just marginally better. Calling rich people "clones" and having the rich people all behave like 80s high school villains was eye-roll worthy. And a bet plot?? Come on, Elle Kennedy can do better.

I kept hoping that these characters would redeem themselves or that the book would become more entertaining, but nothing happened to improve my opinion of this story. It's worst offence was that it was boring, and that the characters just felt incredibly two-dimensional.

I was very disappointed by this story, and, frankly, I'm surprised Elle Kennedy even wrote it. I don't even know what else to say...

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*