I have to start by saying I'm not a huge fan of revenge romances in general, but I've read most of Elle Kennedy's backlist, so I was excited to read this anyway. Because I've read her previous books, I know that she's an amazing writer. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to my expectations.

Between the completely unnecessary revenge plotline (I didn't understand why so many people were okay with the dude randomly screwing over a helpless stranger), the heroine already having a boyfriend (which dragged on way too long), and the introduction of way too many characters (so many names and most of them weren't relevant), I think the author tried to do too much with the story in too short of a time period. The secret between the protagonists just left a pall over the narrative and led to me disliking the hero. I didn't think he earned the heroine's forgiveness, and the whole situation was just frustrating.

I think if I hadn't read anything by Elle Kennedy, I might have enjoyed this more. But I know her books can be so much better, and this just wasn't as good in comparison. It's just an okay read that had potential, but with the setup, the execution just wasn't what I hoped for.

This book was very captivating! I found myself listening to it every chance I could get! It felt like The Notebook meets Outer Banks (sans mystery). I liked both of the main characters, the backdrop of a prestigious college, and a very charming seaside beach town. Mac comes from a very wealthy family and due to a series of events falls in with a local bad boy. I found myself holding my breath waiting for the “Secret” to come to light and not wanting this couple’s relationship to combust! I recommend it!

Add this book to your summer reads!

I really enjoyed this story. I felt the author did a good job taking us on a journey with the characters and really getting to know them.

I felt one specific character could have taken more responsibility for her jealous actions….looking at your Heidi…!

The author did a good job at giving the reader what they needed without it feeling rushed or dragged out.

If your looking for a romance with some spice and comedy add this book to your list!

Outer Banks but age appropriate and with a believable romance. I love how clear Elle Kennedy’s writing style is yet the tones of her books never feel like repeats. The characters are great, very well fleshed out and believable. The basic premise of the plot was a little predictable, however there were some plot twists that I did not see coming. Overall a very enjoyable book, especially if you’re a fan of Outer Banks and the After series vibes.

I loved that their relationship was given time to develop and it wasn’t rushed like romance plots are a lot of the time. Like I said, the plot is quite similar to the after series (and many others before it), however I think this one is way better in a literary sense. Good girl complex it’s a story I think would have been good to read as a teenager. The female main character is quite self possessed and driven, while still making mistakes that a young adult would make.

I loved both narrators. Almost all of the characters are young, college aged kids and they both portrayed them all with the right amount of youth without aging the story down in my mind. Joe Arden has narrated a lot of audiobooks I’ve listened to and he’s always been great. Ava Erickson was less known to me but she was awesome narrating Mac’s parts.

Actual rating: 4.25/5

If the series Outer Banks and the book, After, had a baby…it would be Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy. Kennedy is one of my favorite authors, and this book, while predictable, hit all the right spots for me. I love stories with women who go against what’s expected of them and succeed. Lots of witty banter and I love the bad boy, good girl, opposites attract trope. This was a sweet easy book that made me happy. The narrators were great. How can you go wrong with Joe Arden? The answer is….you can’t. He is perfect. I need him whispering in my ear at night as I drift off to sleep.

Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy is a fun romance novel that will put a smile on your face. Mackenzie is starting her freshman year of college and has everything planned for her life. She has a successful business, an amazing boyfriend and a whole lot of money. But, as secrets are revealed Mac realizes her boyfriend is not as perfect as he seems. Cue the “townie” she meets and Mac begins to wonder why she never felt this way about her boyfriend. Will Mac stick to the plan of her cookie cutter life? Will bad boy Cooper be the change Mac needs?

I loved the setting of this story as well as the other storylines dealing with family. This book has some steam in it too!

Great audio book. Both narrators did a fantastic job!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio book in exchange for an honest review.

Cooper lives in a seaside town that often finds itself overrun with rich college students with bad manners aka the “clones.” When he has a run-in with a drunk college student named Preston who has no qualms with flaunting his wealth and his dad’s power that results in Cooper losing his job, revenge is on his mind. After some light internet sleuthing by his equally fed up friends, they discover that Preston has a long-time girlfriend and hatch a scheme to embarrass him by having Cooper steal her heart. Cooper and his brother Evan Hartly, aka the “Hartly Twins” have a reputation as two of the most desireable and infamous bachelors in the area but, despite their bad boy reputations, Mackenzie Cabot may not be as easy of a mark as they thought. 

I really thought Good Girl Complex may end up as DNF for a bit. It seemed at first like the relationship between Mac and Cooper was going to be dysfunctional and controlling, which I’m totally not into and while, Cooper does kind of pick at her throughout the book, I didn’t feel like it crossed into that toxic territory. If anything, it seemed like Mac didn't take it offensively and saw it more as give-and-take teasing (which I know can create a gray area for readers). In my opinion, Preston and Mac is 100% a toxic but Cooper and Mac, if we kind of negate the starting on a bet trope, is actually a lot more supportive and normal than I expected.

Positives: I really enjoyed the narration (by Ava Erickson and Joe Arden) and found it really clear and distinctive; I like the friends and was happy that there was actually a believable hesitation to include her into their circle; I like the character growth both in the main characters and side characters (mainly Evan and Heidi) ; and I liked that the only conflict in the story wasn’t romantic.

Overall, I really liked the story. It did feel a bit overly drawn out in places but it was good. I’ll keep reading the series.

I don’t read a lot of romance, but I could sense that this wasn’t a very unique story. I was still pretty intrigued and enjoyed reading it for the most part, especially in alternating perspectives. But eventually, I just couldn’t get over how unlikable the main characters were. Mackenzie spends most of the time complaining about being rich and Cooper has some serious anger issues. I stopped reading towards the end when she accused him (and the locals in general) of treating her with microaggressions because she’s rich. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of the audiobook!

I enjoyed this, but it wasn’t this authors best work. I did enjoy the narration. I’ve read everything from this author and unfortunately this one fell flat for me

This book was just so not for me, it almost feels unfair to rate it... How did she not realize how horrible her boyfriend was? How did Coop have such bad friends? How many more tropes could be smashed into one book? Anyway. I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy this, but unfortunately, I'm not one of them.

Plus, the narrator of the audiobook sounded like he was 40, so that made it feel weird.

I went into this book not really knowing what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. It’s fun and full of engaging characters. The story is about a young woman, Mac, who is a “rich trust fund kid” attending an expensive college in a small beach town in one of the Carolinas. But unlike her boyfriend and most of her college classmates, she doesn’t just plan to ride on the wealth of her parents. Instead she is a go-getter and motivated to make something of her life. Then there is Cooper, local “townie” bad boy who works with his hands, woodworking furniture. From different backgrounds, they find each other and romance blossoms. The banter is great, and the character development is amazing. I found myself really rooting for these people. I highly recommend!

Special thanks to Net Galley and St.Martin’s Press for the audiobook ARC.

I was given this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of two people from different worlds and how they fall for each other. I really enjoyed most of the book. However, there was far too much smut for me I felt like they were doing it every time you turned around and their relationship didn’t really have anything else to stand on. This for me made it a little unrealistic on the romance side but other than that I enjoyed the book. I really liked that she stood up to everyone for what she wanted in her life.

I gave this book a 3.5 stars.

This reminded me so much of the book and movies After by Anna Todd, which I used to love. However something about this was just off to me, maybe it’s because I’m older. The way cheating was talking about so casually really bothered me as well as the dating bet.

I liked the characters a lot and the premise of good girl/bad boy, rich/poor story line and think so much more could have been done with that instead of the bet.

I have been a fan of all the Elle Kennedy books I have read but this one just didn’t hit home for me.

The boy from the wrong side of the tracks meets the stuck up, rich girl, a “clone.” But Mac isn’t your normal clone, she’s independent, strong-willed, and fiery . What starts out as a plan for revenge (not my favorite trope), turns out to be a passionate love story between Mac and Cooper.

What I Liked:
The found family aspect: I love how Cooper and Evan have grown up making their own family around them, with their uncle and friend group. I’m glad Mac found her home with this group too.
The setting: I’m a sucker for anything set on the Carolina coastline
Character development: I respect how much Cooper and Mac grew and learned from each other. They learn that there’s more to each other than what they first expected. There’s more to Cooper than his tattoos, and more to Mac than her sundresses.
The narration: three cheers to dual POV stories that use dual narration. Both narrators were fabulous!

What Didn’t Work for me:
The cheating: I didn’t like the circumstances that finally pushed Mac & Cooper together.
The revenge dating trope: I can see how it’s part of the overall storyline, but it’s just not my personal preference

CW: parental abandonment; infidelity

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my review copies. Good Girl Complex is out now!

Revenge dating and second chance ... that's all you need to know about this book before picking it up. If that's not your thing then you probably wont like it. This is a new adult contemporary romance, and  I do want to say though that yes the book has a very predictable trope and I knew what was going to happen before it did and (even though I hate comparing books) it is very similar to After which is why I took a star off. BUT I still think this version was written well enough that readers will want to finish the story, and it doesn't read like fanfiction so that was  a plus for me. This was also the first book that I've read by this author so i was impressed by her ability to take a very well known story and still making it different enough that you wanted to keep reading more and more. so what is this book about ? well like the title implies its about a Mackenzie the "good girl" aka a rich girl that just doesn't seem to be totally involved with her own world, she's almost like an outsider but not really. And then we have Cooper the local tattooed bad boy that came an disturbed her perfect life. The story is told from both POV which I actually enjoyed. I prefer being able to hear the thoughts of both character specially when it doesn't seem to focus more on one over the other. This really allowed me to be able to get more into the story and want to know what else would happen.
Mac's character was likable, it was different to see a girl being portrayed as someone who didn't need to be saved which usually happens when it comes to this type of story line. But

This was my first Elle Kennedy book, and I certainly enjoyed her writing style. Mac and Cooper were both well-written characters with awesome banter.

The audiobook was excellent. Joe Arden and Ava Erickson were both new-to-me narrators as far as I know, but I will certainly be watching out for other productions by them in the future. The narration was smooth and clear, and I was able to speed up the audio significantly. Both narrators fit their respective characters well, and it was easy to distinguish between different characters when each was speaking. Audiobooks are hard to give star ratings to, because while I would give this audio production five stars, the story itself didn't do it for me.

I’ve never been a fan of the cheating/love triangle theme, and unfortunately there wasn't anything in this book to redeem the trope for me. A lot of the characters' actions weren't ones I want to promote as "normal" or good behavior. I've added spoiler thoughts on my blog post, if you want further explanation of how I feel about the storyline.

Overall, this book was well written and I would happily read another by this author in a different trope. Everything I didn't like about it came from my own theme preferences, so fans of these tropes will likely enjoy Good Girl Complex a lot more!

Thank you so much for this ARC. While I didn’t enjoy this one as much as The Deal, I’m glad I read it on audio- I liked the back and forth narrating from the two main characters. The ending fell flat for me and ruined it a bit. It would have been nice for more drama- maybe she returns to her wealthy life before reconciling? It just seemed rush and I was left with a ‘that’s it?’ feeling.

Great storyline and easy characters to connect with made this book one of my favorites so far this year.

Mackenzie Cabot seems to have it all. She's wealthy, comes from a good family, has a handsome boyfriend and is starting college. But looks can be deceiving. Meanwhile, Cooper Hartley busts his tail for everything in his life. With a father who died in a drunk driving accident years ago, a mother who is always MIA and a job he recently lost because of a rich jerk, Cooper has an ax to grind and is hungry for revenge.

When Mackenzie and Cooper meet, the chemistry is undeniable. Of course, she's a good girl with a boyfriend. So, how can this attraction play out? With a very clever plot...that's how.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The audiobook for this was outstanding. I already found this book to be quite enjoyable and the narration only made it better. I highly recommend the audio as well. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Good Girl Complex is the first book I have read by Elle Kennedy, but it will not be the last one! I enjoyed this new adult novel. The storyline and character development were excellent. This is an opposite attract and slow-burn romance between the good girl Mac and the bad boy Cooper. I would recommend this one for sure.

Thank you, Macmillan Audio, for my ALC for my honest review.