2.5 stars

This New Adult novel features expected characters and an expected storyline, and while this may sound comforting and appealing in these trying times, the complete package is a bit of a letdown overall.

The perspectives switch between the two central characters, and for me, they had little to offer. One character is a (recently fired) bartender and self-described "townie," and his ways of resolving conflict include physical altercations and revenge dating: a catch! The other is...a wealthy person who isn't like every other wealthy person (she is, though). This one, Mac, is young, but that's no excuse for how weirdly clueless she is. There are flashing warnings all around her, but she sees none of them. She's too busy being offended by her mean, boring professors (*sighs forever*) and making heinous financial and life decisions. Don't worry, though. She and the guy with no coping mechanisms are going to save each other (still sighing). Be sure to join her in noticing how cool it is that a sexual partner doesn't even hesitate when she asks him to use a condom. Does he...get an award for this?

I really enjoy women's fiction and romance, and this is just a basic version of both. There are a lot of missed opportunities here. Perhaps others find this appealing (!!!), but when a male partner in an adult hetero relationship refers to a female partner as "Princess" without the slightest hint of irony, I'm finding that gross, not romantic or anything close. Readers who find this charming may be a better audience than I am.

After over a month of trying to read the electronic version and getting only two chapters in, the audio arc helped a lot; I flew through the remainder in one day. Readers drawn to this book because of its related genres, cover, or even title should consider scrolling further in the queue. Sadly, you've already read this one in many other iterations.

"Good Girl Complex" is the new Elle Kennedy book/audiobook coming out February 1, 2022.

Mackenzie Cobot dreams of becoming a entrepreneur. She already has a successful online business, but her parents and boyfriend Preston want her to get a college degree. She enrolls in classes in Avalon Bay where she meets Cooper Hartley.

Cooper and his twin brother Evan have reputations as the "bad boys". Cooper is the polar opposite of Mackenzie. She is a "rich kid" still trying to please her mom and dad. He was raised in a difficult parental situation and has had to fight for everythng he has ever had. As a romance develops between Cooper and Mackenzie can the put thier differences aside for true love?

That is my second Elle Kennedy audiobook. The first one was fantastic, but this one was disappointing. I am a older reader, so I feel the book definitely has an audience that is younger and more "hip" than I am. While reading I'm hoping for depth of character, not protagonist that solve everything with a fist fight. I have a hard time promoting unnecessary violent behaviour as the answer, even for the sake of a good story.

Warning: Strong sexual content, Mild Violence

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the honor of reviewing this audiobook. I appreciate it very much.

I went into this book with high hopes and those hopes fell flat. I wanted to like this book and I did at parts and then other parts, not so much. There was also a lot, and I mean a lot, of curse words in this book and while I don’t mind a word here and there, the amount here threw me. Overall, I liked the concept, I just wish it was executed differently.

Thank you NetGalley & McMillan Audio for an eARC of the audiobook for Good Girl Complex, by Elle Kennedy.

Mac is new to Avalon Bay. When she meets one of the beautiful Hartley twins, Cooper, she knows he’s trouble. But little does she know that Cooper has placed her into his sights, as part of a revenge plot against Mac’s boyfriend.

Honestly, I love me anything by Elle Kennedy, and while this book wasn’t my forte, I still enjoyed it and don’t have any outright negative comments! The plot was a bit generic, and I agree with other reviews that it’s highly similar to Anna Todd’s After Series. The revenge plot with the good girl, bad boy, and early college angst just wasn’t that original. The plot was rather predictable, and I thought it felt a bit too dragged out with the additional sub-plot lines later in the story. It took til about the last 30% of the book to be different and more interesting, but at that point, the romance was just getting dragged on.

In terms of the audiobook, I LOVED the narrators! cooper was edgy and the emotion Joe Arden portrayed had me actually choking up at time! Ava Erickson has such a sweet, light voice, that is so innocent to fit Mac’s ‘Good Girl’ character.

Overall, while this wasn’t my cup of tea, I’d give it a 3.5/5 review. My opinion fell very halfway on the book, but the narrators gave it a bump up. So audiobook? 4. Actual book/plot? 3.

This has been my honest review

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy. I love this authors books! This is a relationship between Mac and Cooper and it all starts on a lie.

Mackenzie Cabot is a trust fund baby who used her gap year to startup a multimillion-dollar website and app. But her billionaire parents and trust fund boyfriend Preston (is it Preston or Prescott? Who can keep these pretentious clones straight?) seem to think it's just a fun little side project and now she needs to go to college to learn to be the trophy wife she is destined to be.

Cooper Hartley is a rough and tumble local bad boy who moonlights as a bartender. When Preston (Prescott?) saunters into Cooper's bar and forces himself on Cooper's waitress friend, Cooper kicks his ass....for which he is promptly fired, because of course the Preston/Prescotts of the world insist upon it and don't care whose lives they have to destroy to get it. Cooper and his friends quickly hatch a scheme to get even with the pretentious twit - steal his trust fund girlfriend.

Highly enjoyable. Full of class warfare, smashing the patriarchy, giving it to the man, plus romance, guilt and recriminations.