I got the privilege of reading this as an ARC. And I gotta say, I think I liked it even more than the first (Good Girl Complex). Evan and Gen are such a fun couple and very relatable. I loved their banter and their romance. I was rooting for them the whole time. The villain of our story hit me hard because bad cops really do scare me, especially in this day and age. But this book really was a great read. I highly recommend checking it out.

I’m leaning towards a 3.5 rating. This book was angsty and about becoming a better version of themselves however, i just could not connect with or seem to care about Evan.

Thanks netgalley for giving me the chance to read this before release!

If you’re looking for second chance romance, then look no further. Reading this book is like watching 2 flames try to wrestle and win out, but eventually meld into one. I enjoyed seeing Gen’s internal struggles come out in a realistic way and the beef with Randall had me fuming. It spoke to a lot about wild things growing up into responsible adults, combating the stereotypes or expectations they’ve been lumped into and that was really heartwarming for me. For more than just the MC’s. Idk why but Evan is giving me huge golden retriever energy, even though he has that fire in him, and I adore him for it. I might even have to pick Evan over Cooper 🙈 Because y’all know I’m a sucker for character growth and then Elle Kennedy ties that all up neatly with a HEA bow? Yeah, the spice helps too 🥵🌶👌🏼

Bad Girl Reputation releases on October 4, preorder now!

genre: contemporary romance
pages: 320
rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨4.75/5
spice rating: 3/5

Another great book by Elle Kennedy. This one has a couple of romance tropes, second chance love and friends to lovers. When Gen returns to her hometown sparks instantly fly again between her and Evan. She isn’t sure she wants a relationship but Evan is determined to win her over. Evan’s life is also further complicated by the return of his mother. This a second book in a series but can be read as a standalone. Check this out for a great summer or beach read!

Bad Girl Reputation is the continuation of the story of the Hartley twins at Avalon Bay. This one focuses on the relationship between Evan Hartley and his on again, off again girlfriend, Genevieve. Given how much I LOVED the first in this series, this one fell a little flat to me in comparison. I love Elle Kennedy and will read anything she writes, but this one was a lot slower paced than the other ones I have come to love so much. I, of course, recommend it anyway considering, but it really is slower and I didn't feel as invested in the characters as I did in the previous installment. I give this one 3.5 stars for holding my attention, but don't feel right giving it any more.

Omg I devoured this book!!!! So good. Haha to the publisher for the ARC.
I highly recommend this book!

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Bad Girl Reputation is the second installment within the Avalon Bay series. If you've read the first book, we meet Cooper and Mac. In this, we follow Cooper's twin, Evan, and Genevieve. She's a blast from his past and somebody he can't seem to get enough of. Or quit either. They are both (sort of) addicted to one another but before anything happens, they seriously need to talk about what happened beforehand.

Of course, they don't actually do that and so much drama unfolds. Their group of friends is a one-way ticket for the hot mess express. No real destination in sight until they learn to grow up. So, yeah, things were kind of rocky between Evan and Gen once they reunited with one another. It also doesn't help that while she's sort of with Evan, well, she's also sort of dating some other guy too.

On top of all that nonsense, we have Rusty the sleezy cop. Not sure why he's so obsessed with her, but I absolutely despised this guy. Kept hoping for someone to fire. I also kept wondering if he was the real reason as to why she left with no word before.

After things were revealed, the healing and moving on could finally start. I'm actually surprised with how much I ended up liking Evan and Gen. It definitely took me a while because they were just way too much at times. Destructive but could eventually find to love one another. Correctly that is.

In the end, things worked out for these two. As for their friends, yeah, they definitely need help. Not sure if we will get another book in this series but I wouldn't say no to one being about any of Gen's brothers.

After reading Good Girl Complex and falling in love with Elle’s writing, I was ecstatic that I had an arc waiting for me of Bad Girl Reputation. Cooper and Evan are such wonderful characters who both go through amazing character development in their own stories. I devoured both of these! Evan and Gen’s story is a story about growing up and second chances. Gen’s character sucked me in with how much growth she showed despite her shortcomings, and with such grace. It also touches on law enforcement abusing their privileges, which is so important to highlight. Not only was this book spicy, but it had so much depth. You truly route for these characters all along, and cheer when things work out for them. I’m hoping there’s another story coming in the Avalon Bay series! :)

Bad Girl Reputation is the second novel in the Avalon Bay series that follows Evan and Gen after their explosive and sometimes illegal highschool shenanigans. Gen returns home after a year-long absence to find her attraction and pull to Evan hasn’t lessened.

Evan and Gen’s chemistry is some of the best I’ve read. They’re explosive when they’re together and every moment is filled with angst and heat. Their pull towards each other is hypnotic and charged. I honestly loved every high and low of their relationship.

Considering how tumultuous Evan and Gen’s relationship is, there’s very little drama. This lack of useless drama as filler allowed Kennedy to focus on Evan and Gen as individual characters as well as a couple. Also, the final hurdle at the end of the novel was dealt with quickly, which I appreciated very much.

Despite all this tension and angst, a large portion of the novel is dedicated to Gen and Evan becoming responsible and mature people with goals and aspirations for their futures. Most of Gen’s development as a character happens off page while readers follow Evan’s development on page. What I enjoyed most about their development was that it wasn’t drastic or completely life altering. This allowed for a believable transition from reckless to more introspective.

I will say that Cooper annoyed me very much. I don’t remember him being such a wet blanket in the first novel, but I might be misremembering.

Overall, Bad Girl Reputation is an angsty and explosive novel about two people who are drawn to each other but have to fight their own inclinations and the boxes society put them in. Also, Evan is as swoon worthy as they come.

Well, that was underwhelming. At least it wasn't problematic like Good Girl Complex, I guess. Personally, I think Elle Kennedy's writing style, as well as her characters are very awkwardly dated. Her stories often read like problematic, early 2010's romcoms. The main female character is always supposed to be a badass, but the way this is shown is by having all the other female characters around her be incredibly one dimensional to make her look better, and the men around her will often openly compare all the women in the book without any repercussions. This book is no exception from this pattern. However, the main problem I have with Bad Girl Reputation had nothing to do with the writing style or cliche characters, as sadly, I was expecting that. It had to do with the lack of plot, stakes, and character growth. This book follows Genevieve and Evan, two exes, however we never really see their relationship develop. They constantly state that they are bad for one another, and then they'll tell a short anecdote about when they were kids and first falling in love. Then, at the very end of the book, after being on again off again for years, they decide their love is worth it and get together, but there is nothing to say that this is the end of their story. We haven't seen them grow as characters or partners. There have been no scenes of their relationship or the status quo changing in ways that it hasn't already done so before. Everything was very cyclic, so when you get to the epilogue, there is no sense that this is the the end or that Genevieve and Evan have at all grown, matured, or even fallen deeper in love. This made the entire reading experience very weird, as I never could tell what point of the plot I was supposed to be at and if things were going to pick up more or fi this was it. Overall, I'm sure some people will enjoy this as a quick and easy read, but personally I found it quite dull.

This book was great. I loved the relationship between Evan and Genevieve. To me it’s a great beach and poolside read. There were some parts that made me smile beyond belief and want to cry the next. Overall it’s a great book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Elle Kennedy for the arc!

I love Elle Kennedy and have read almost all her works. This book gave me so much anxiety! In a good way. Our on-again/off-again couple definitely had all the hallmarks of a toxic relationship, before Gen leaves town to work on herself. When she returns, he is determined to get her back although some of their destructive tendencies are hard to shake. I enjoyed the growth of the characters, though I kind of wished Gen had stayed gone a bit longer to make their new "grown-up" relationship a bit more believable. I also felt like her issues with her mom were tied up a bit too easily. Overall, it was a good time.

Elle Kennedy is a well-known author amongst romance readers from her Briar U series. Kennedy has a very clear, authoritative voice in her books. She creates vivid settings with fun characters that we compulsively read. I read the first book in the Bay series, Good Girl Complex, which wasn't as good as her Briar U books. It was slower, with fewer enjoyable characters, but not bad. I picked this one with higher hopes, that she'd catch her stride with the series. Unfortunately, I found this book disappointing. It started slow and never picked up, neither protagonist was convincing, and the book lacked the sense of setting that Briar U had. Again, not a *bad* read but not very fun or particularly enjoyable. I won't be recommending this book as I do Briar U but for big fans of Elle Kennedy it would be worth a read!

I didn't like a lot of the side characters in the book and even though the main character annoyed me a few times I was still rooting for them. Not necessarily rooting for them to get together (I don't think the author did a good job in this aspect), but I was rooting for them as individuals to improve themselves. Even after reading good girl's reputation and for the most part, liking them I didn't like the part they played in this book. Finally, I think that in both books the author has tried to sell this group of friends as good friends, but they are clearly not. I don't understand how they're still friends after constantly dating their exes, keeping secrets, and going behind each other's back and I assume this is to give them all their own books/stories, but just ultimately decreases my enjoyment of the book. It wasn't terrible, but if the series does continue I do not think I will be picking those up.

I wasn't sure what to expect after hearing all the hype around Elle Kennedy's books and starting with this one. The main characters are childhood friends who dated through their adolescence then lost their way, and reconnect in this coming of age story.

I thought they were both pretty immature and a bit toxic to each other at the beginning of this book, but learned to love themselves and each other through the story. I struggled a bit to relate and connect to the characters, and couldn't feel much of a connection between them beyond their sexual chemistry. I just crave a bit more of a deeper connection between best-friends/childhood lovers stories than I got in this one. I also felt that with how much they wanted to feel like 'serious adults', the characters could have been aged up a bit because they are both only 22 and what they're going through doesn't really seem that unrealistic for their age (that's just my opinion though).

All in all, it was a sweet story of two characters shedding their bad girl/bad boy reputations and maturing into their adult selves, but felt like it was missing a deeper emotional backbone.

Thank you to the publisher, Elle Kennedy, and Netgalley for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Bad Girl Reputation was a fun read. My first Elle Kennedy read and she did not disappoint. I loved Genevieve and Evan's love story, the connection they have but cant deny that they had somewhat toxic relationship. I liked that it's also a story of forgiveness and second chances. The determination of both main characters to better themselves and give their love a second chance and Evan so determined to get his girl back.
I enjoy romances with POV chapters.
Overall i enjoyed this book, i think the other characters were written well in the story.

This is the second book in the Avalon Bay series and covers the relationship between Evan and Genevieve. While Bad Girl Reputation, out October 4, 2022, may seem like a easy read, it has a lot of heart and is a story about second chances, redemption, and growth.

I will admit I was really curious about Genevieve as a character. In the first novel, she is mentioned, but always negatively in relation to Evan and how their relationship was crazy and out of control. When I met her in this book, she was trying to get sober. I found her to be an interesting character, trying to shed her toxic habits while authentically being herself. That is not an easy feat and this book really focuses not only on her character growth, but Evan's as well.

The relationship between Evan and Genevieve, in the first third of the book was, honestly, unhealthy. However, the author acknowledges this and that is one of the overarching ideas of the book. How can two people who are clearly obsessed with each other, who love each other, who have this history, be together in a meaningful way without engaging in toxic behaviors? How can they grow together to be with one another now that they are adults? I really appreciated that the author doesn't rush this because I wasn't really on board with their relationship in the beginning because of how much influence they had on one another and the growing up that Evan had to do.

The big reason why this book is getting 4 stars (4.5 if you round up) is because I really do feel like that growth happened too quickly for how much they needed to reassemble themselves and how each other would fit into their new lives. I also felt the end happened too quickly as well. Really everything gets resolved in the last like 20 pages, and it didn't feel credible to me.

If you like angsty romance, second chance romance, and character growth, this is the book for you.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book for an honest review!

This book brings the DRAMA, and I loved it. Instantly I was obsessed with Gen and Evan's relationship. I didn't think I would like the push and pull relationship they had but I loved it so much.

When you read a romance novel you expect it to be focused on the relationship aspect of it, but I can honestly say I loved Gen and Evan just as much separately. The growth both characters go through in this story was so relatable as well as enjoyable.

Gen is returning home to her small coastal town for her mother's funeral. She left this town a year ago trying to start fresh and shed her "bad girl ways" but is back and is quickly pulled back into the life she tried to avoid. Evan has been her on and off boyfriend since childhood and he was a big part of the trouble she used to cause. Partners in love and crime their relationship fed off of the adrenaline of causing trouble together. But Gen has changed and is trying desperately not to fall back into old habits, as well as Evan's arms.

Their attraction is undeniable and SOOO spicy, but you get to watch them grow as people as well as a couple. I enjoyed it so much. The banter between the two was so fun.

I highly recommend this book for all romance lovers!

I thought this book was a great addition to Good Girl Compelx, as I read them back to back. I felt like it was a great way to hear about the love story between Evan and Genevieve, but also gave me some closure between Cooper and Mac. There were times I felt like it was just reading about sex, and they should have wanted more in their relationship—but whatever makes them happy!

This book was the perfect second chance childhood love romance read for the summer. The characters were lovable but had an edge of realness to them. The interpersonal relationships within this book were realistic and clear. Although there was a lot of characters it was easy to remember who was who due to how each character was truly their own person. I really got to know each and everyone of them to some extent. The flaws within the characters just made them even more relatable. I never felt the negative biases against peoples life choices that make me feel judged that sometimes be a theme within romance books about turning your life around.

It was hard for me to put the book down at points. And I can't wait to read more about Avalon Bay, the characters, and their love stories. This book was a HEA.