I was given an Arc copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was my first Elle Kennedy book and to be honest I wasn’t impressed. I really struggled to relate to these characters and at one point their immaturity level was so out there that I had to put the book down. I know this book is about second chances but the journey to get there was so infuriating…(ex. Him crashing her date) the whole thing was awkward and not in a good way.

I had really high hopes for this book but I feel like it was kind of a let down.

Second chance romance in a small town setting. The chemistry between the main characters is good but lacking in the tension i had expected.. overall a swooney easy read about second chances and personal growth wrapped up in a solid romance

Thank you St.Martins press for this ARC.

I have been counting down the days till Bad girl reputation is released! Elle Kennedy is an author that no matter what I will read her upcoming books. I can’t even begin to tell you how many time I have re read her series. However, this book just didn’t do it for me. It was wildly predictable and honestly a little boring. I did not find any connection with the characters and had a difficult time finishing this.

Childhood friends turn toxic relationship. Then try to better themselves. The story plays out exactly how you’d imagine. I’m sad that I didn’t enjoy this book. I still love you Elle, throw some curveballs in the next one.

I enjoyed this book so much more than I anticipated! The second chance trope isn’t my favorite but I think Elle Kennedy did a great job of making things interesting. I really enjoyed watching Gen and Evan’s relationship develop as they try to navigate moving into a more responsible lifestyle.

I will say I didn’t fully understand some of the dynamics Gen and Evan have with their families. They both have really complicated relationships with their parents and I thought that part of the story could’ve been expanded on a little more to make the story more cohesive.

Overall though it was a great time!

12/10 yall, oh my gosh. I've never read an Elle Kennedy book but everyone raves about her and I understand why!!

Gen comes home for her mother's funeral and her ex-boyfriend shows up to pay his respects....and they get caught getting hot and heavy in the bathroom by her family.

Gen has just come home from a year long adventure of becoming sober, bettering herself and finally making good decisions. Meanwhile, ex-boyfriend Evan is still the party boy who gets into mischief every damn day. She tells him to get it together if he wants a chance to be with her for real.

I usually love Elle Kennedy books, but the Avalon Bay series has not been hitting the mark for me, sadly. Evan and Gen are the focus of this book and I think it mostly suffers by the fact that there's no real ramping up or stakes to their romance when we are told from the very beginning that they're obsessed with each other, have been in love for years, and didn't break up because of really anything to do with each other but because Gen wanted to figure out a way to improve herself and she didn't think she could do that with Evan.

I respect that this book is about self-growth and improvement but it doesn't make for a super compelling romance, sadly. There's no real heat or excitement here, despite these being two of the "bad boy/girl" characters. The fact that they both describe themselves that way also is just a tad frustrating because we really don't see them exhibiting any of these behaviors - everything they talk about happened already in the past and so there's nowhere to go from here.

I was more interested in learning about the side characters, but even with them I am not feeling the same love that I felt when it came to the Off-Campus series or the Briar U series. Elle Kennedy's writing still has some great moments that make me laugh, but this feels a bit more like going through the motions than a really compelling love story.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

it was good but i still enjoyed the first one way better. i can still see it being a big hit since tiktok adores elle kennedy!

A true second chance romance. The story of two people who share a past full of trouble and trauma. Through bettering their own personal lives, they find their way back to each other. I loved seeing how they both changed throughout the story but especially Evan who chances for the woman he loves. With the addition of bringing families with troubled pasts together, this book is full of emotion.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

2 stars

Petition for the next book to be about Harrison (the lovable side hoe) so that poor man can have the happily ever after he deserves.

A lot of reviewers claimed this book was an improvement from the first one. I disagree. Although book 2 was absent of any cheating (luckily), the relationship was much more toxic. I was, indeed, prepared for this, given that the synopsis indicates the characters were in a tumultuous love affair starting back in the seventh grade. However, the characters didn't spend enough time developing healthy communication habits and establishing healthy behaviors that would provide evidence for enough growth to justify the initial toxicity.

I'm sorry (not sorry) to say: so many of the quirky character traits in this story came across as stupid to me. For example, Evan calls Genevieve "Fred," the most unsexy and un-endearing name he could possibly come up with. WHY.

Now that we've introduced Evan, let's dive into his character a bit. Why is Evan constantly harassing Gen by showing up on her dates (yes, dates plural, as in multiple times) with another guy? Why did Evan try to convince Gen, a woman who once suffered some form of alcohol misuse, that she can surely enjoy alcohol again in moderation? I don't think the author did a single Google search on the behavioral patterns of people who's experienced addiction. If she had, she wouldn't write a male love interest that convinces the fmc "to just have one drink." On the bright side, I kind of liked Evan's mentorship of Ryan, but I wish he pursued all these charity and community service activities for the sake of bring a better person rather than for the sole purpose if winning his ex girlfriend back.

Unfortunately, since book 1, Kennedy has doing a really bad job of making her characters likable. I miss the magic of her off-campus series.

The only good thing (in my eyes) about this couple is the sexual tension/chemistry that they have, which unfortunately contributed directly to the worst thing about this couple: their perpetual toxicity. I mean, they constantly got in each other's pants to avoid their relationship problems.

Anyway, I wanted to give this series another chance with book 2, since I have very nostalgic memories associated with this author's other series. However, I have to say, I will not be continuing on with this series.

Book rating 4/5 ⭐️

Childhood best friends to lovers, second chance romance. Normally is not my favorite trope but boy did I love this book! I was hooked from start to finish and couldn’t put the book down until I finished it. This is a great pallet cleanser! Such an easy read. Would highly recommend this book to anyone☺️

3.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This is a classic Elle Kennedy novel with the childhood friends to lovers trope. It was a breezy read, which is exactly what one hopes for with this type of book. Good banter, characters to root for, and ridiculous tension between the protagonists.

Not my favorite EK book, but a solid read. I didn't read the first in the series before this and it didn't make a difference.

Themes: friends to lovers, second chances, dysfunctional families

*SPOILERS AHEAD!*
I wasn’t super into this one. While I do like to keep up with books written by Elle Kennedy, I felt like the chatacters needed more fleshing out and emotional reactions to things. I love the second-chance romance trope and the beach town setting.

For example *SPOILER* our MC is recovering and is on the road to sobriety, but I do not think we saw an authentic portrayal of this. I feel like if a person is on that journey we would see a lot of emotion and anxiety surrounding them when tempted, which we did not get with Gen.

Also *SPOILER* I felt like the subplot with the cop was…not great? It had a lot of good potential for suspense but I didn’t feel it. He felt one-dimensional.

This was such a great story! I admit I did like Good Girl Complex a little better, but I honestly loved this one, too.

Evan and Gen's relationship is so much grittier and more complicated than Mac and Cooper's. Where Mac was someone who was a good person with her life together, Gen is just trying to pick herself up and make something of her life. I liked the real, relatable edge of Gen and her whole story line.

Evan had some serious growth in this book, which he had to do if he wanted to be with Gen. Seeing his transformation was inspiring and also warmed my heart. The parts with his mom made me want to give him a big hug and so did the arguments with Cooper. I felt like Evan was someone who was overlooked as just a wild child with issues as opposed to a human being with emotions and trauma.

Overall, I liked the whole flow of this book and the re-development of Gen and Evan. This is definitely a series I'm very much here for and I'm hoping other friends get books of their own!

I'm not usually a fan of a second-chance romance or exes getting back together (it takes some of the excitement away for me) but I'm so obsessed with this series, I didn't even care. My main gripe with this book is I find both MCs' jealousy realllllly overdone (and borderline creepy) but that's me being nitpicky because I loved this book and I'm loving this series!

I really enjoyed this one!! Evan and Genevieve are both struggling to overcome their destructive tendencies and improve themselves. I love how Elle focused on each character individually and then made their relationship together a subplot. This continues from Good Girl Complex effortlessly.

Evan I utterly love.!! I really felt like I knew him and I was so proud of him. The relationship he builds with Riley and learning to be an example for others while still retaining his danger streak.Genevieve was a little harder to understand at first. However, as the book progressed I got to love her more. I think the way she views herself and her personality was heartbreaking. The side parts of this book where Genevieve does self discovery were my favourite. Elle did her characters justice by showing their growth rather than just telling the reader about it.

As always the banter, steam, and setting were phenomenal. I loved seeing Cooper and Mac intertwined in this one. Elle can do no wrong.

I enjoyed 'Bad Girl Reputation'. I liked Gen and Evan's story more than the prequel and found the trope 'what happens to the party girl and the bad boy once they grow up?' quite entertaining.

4.5⭐️ When I was reading Good Girl Complex I kept thinking how good Evan’s story would be, and Bad Girl Reputation proved it! I’m not always a fan of second chance romances, but this one was fantastic. This story is about so much more than the love story. It’s about redemption, forgiveness, growth and self-discovery. I hope this isn’t the last we see of Avalon Bay, because there are so many more stories ready to be told!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for the opportunity to read this ARC and provide my honest review.

Bad Girl Reputation was a book that I had an open mind going into. I loved Good Girl Complex, so I was reading to dive into Gen and Evan’s story. It turned out to be a very character driven book with very minimal plot. I know Evan was suppose to have a chip on his shoulder then “change”, but his character was very repetitive. As for Gen, she was a pretty unlikeable character. She used Evan a lot and it wasn’t mentioned that he even realized it (which is fine, but it’s a huge detail I couldn’t help but notice).

When reading this book, it took me a while to get through it. It didn’t pull me in like Good Girl Complex because there was nothing that surprised me or wasn’t predictable. I still absolutely love Elle Kennedy, but this book was definitely lacking.

5/5⭐️ 2/5🌶

God, I loved this book. Usually, I don't go for a second chance romance, but I'm so glad I did. The writing behind love story from back when they were first together, was so well done. I felt like I was really there and living in it. The stories that were told, the detail, and the characters that were sprinkled in with their friend group made it seem like we were retelling stories from our wild teenage years. The banter was very funny and the references and humour was just my style. I really appreciated the way that both Gen and Evan knew that their behaviours and actions, both as individuals and together as a couple, needed to grow and mature. They really found themselves and became better people so that they could be the best versions of themselves. It really drove home how much effort and maturity it takes to recognize that and bring on a second chance in life for yourself. Overall, such a great read and will definitely be purchasing a physical copy when it comes out for my collection. Arguably, my favourite Elle Kennedy read to date.

**I was given an ARC of this read by netgalley but the opinion is all my own.

I had such high hopes for this novel and unfortunately it didn’t quite meet my expectations. I tend to lean towards more plot driven stories, but I’m not even sure if this book had a plot aside from the two MC’s, Gen and Evan, getting back together. I found both of their characters to be very immature and toxic, and their character development didn’t feel authentic. I love the childhood best friends to lovers and second chance troupe but because of how immature they were I didn’t care for their relationship. There just wasn’t any build up or tension to sell me on their chemistry. I like the whole “bad girl/boy” troupe, but the fighting, drugs, jail, and pulling people out of the bar by their hair (not in the book, but happened previously) because of jealously just isn’t it for me. As for the writing, I felt it was very choppy/all over the place. I appreciate the author attempting to add deeper subjects within the story such as grief, bad parenting, bad cops, trouble with the law, alcohol/drug abuse, personal growth, but I just didn’t feel like the characters took any of it seriously. I personally enjoyed the ending. We really began to see their growth and everything fall in line for the characters in the last few chapters, but by that time I was just ready to throw in the towel. I enjoyed the writing style and even laughed at multiple scenes, but I would have enjoyed it more with mature, consistent, and deeper characters. There are definitely readers who will love this one, it just didn’t work for me.

You can also see my review on my Instagram @readingwithhaley_ now!