This is the second book in the Avalon Bay series. I was excited to read it, after enjoying the first book in the series. I thought Gen and Evan had really good chemistry, and I enjoyed the second chance romance trope in this book! I also enjoyed the small town beach setting for this book, it’s a favorite of mine! I didn’t love how toxic this book was though. That is what really turned me off from it. I am curious to check out the next book in the series though!

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

*** 4.5 ⭐️ ***

This is the second book in the Avalon Bay series, focusing on Genevieve and Evan.

The underlying question in this story is what happens when the bad girl and bad boy grow up? While it was entertaining and fun in their youth to smoke, drink, and get in trouble, it’s not so much fun now that they are adults. Their relationship, both past and present, is the main plot line, and throughout the book and many walks down memory lane, it becomes evident how much they have both grown and matured. It is equally as heartwarming to discover that, over the years, they have also realized how in tune with each other they are and that they are meant to be.

This was a great second chance romance, and I can’t wait to read the third book in the series.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This one unfortunately fell really short for me. I really enjoyed the first book and I love a great childhood friends/lovers and a second chance romance. Everything just felt really off this entire book. So many parts had me going, huh? Really enjoyed the dual narration though.

I was excited for this one because I heard good reviews about it, but honestly I wanted to DNF it at the 20% mark. The narrators were good and used enough emotion to bring the story to life, but I think the plot is what made it difficult for me. I did end up DNF'ing at the 40% mark. It just wasn't for me.

I love this series because it doesn't take much energy to read, if you know what I mean. You can just fly through the pages enjoying these messy characters with ease. I think I liked GGC a little better but that's just because of Mac, I think I liked her better than Gen? I'm not sure why, I just did.
I did enjoy watching both Gen + Evan grow up & realize they didn't have to keep their 'bad girl' 'bad boy' complex to stay relevant. All in all, if you're looking for an easy read, definitely pick this one up!

I did not finish this book. I found it really difficult to connect with.

I didn’t enjoy the FMC. She felt very flat. The MMC was enjoyable, but not enough for me to finish the book.

Lots of potential, but unfortunately execution was lacking.

I thought the narration was great though.

Thank you NetGalley for this gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Due to rating, I have opted not to share on my public platforms.

This one just wasn't for me. I love Elle Kennedy's books, but for some reason, I couldn't get behind this one. It was still a well written book and she's still one of my favorite authors. So it must just be the book itself.

I love the relationship between her and Evan. The relationship they had both past and present is very realistic. Crash and burn and learning to handle that. Enjoyed the characters who show up and though I didn't approve of everything she does I find it refreshing that she's realistic.

I picked this book up after reading Good Girl Complex, and I was excited to get back into the world of Avalon Bay. Unfortunately, for me, this one did not live up to the first novel. I love a good second chance romance as much as the next person, but the level of miscommunication for these characters was just annoying. It completely overshadowed all of the sweet moments that happened when they reunited. The entire story lacked a lot of depth and seemed to just exist on them not understanding each other, which doesn't lead to it feeling like a great match. The audio book quality was great and I have no complaints about the narration or production, unfortunately, the story just wasn't a hit for me.

I started this book with a physical copy but switched to the audio book. I really do like all of Elle Kennedy's books and this one was great on audio!

This wasn't my favourite and didn't quite live up to my expectations. It felt somewhat shallow and predictable, there's a lot of miscommunication which is really not my favourite. I did like how the characters grew and their relationship developed and changed.

The narrators were great and they complimented each other and the story well.

Well. I’m just going to come out and say that this was not my favorite book. Having read Good Girl Complex I went into this book hopeful and excited. To my dismay I didn’t enjoy this storyline at all.

-The third act break up felt like it had to be done because most rom-cons have a third act break up.

-Officer Randall, frankly, just pissed me off and felt like he was just such an unnecessary character.

-It really irritated me that Gen was just hanging onto Harrison while banging Evan.

-I absolutely disliked that this book made Cooper come off as the bad guy every time he was mentioned in the book.

I did enjoy the narrators!

This was my first audiobook from netgalley and it was so perfect. I loved listening to Gen and Evan's story unfold. The audiobook allowed me the opportunity to really immerse myself in their love story. Second chance romances are my favorite.... the end doesn't always mean the end and it keeps hope alive. Way to go, Elle! Another hit!!

I did not read the first book in this series before reading Bad Girl Reputation but I will definitely add Good Girl Complex (book #1) and The Summer Girl (book #3) to my TBR. This was a quick read and a fun romance novel, I love Gen and Evan's on again, off again relationship and that they both recognize that they were toxic for each other in the past.

Lee Samuels and Summer Morton did a great job with the narration of this audiobook. I have listened to Summer Morton's narration before and I will continue to look for books narrated by her in the future.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I could not get into this audiobook as it did not hold my attention for any length of time.

I did like the small town setting and enjoyed a lot of the characters, but this was not one of my favorite Elle Kennedy reads. The plot felt somewhat shallow and drawn out to me. It was a lot of dramatic push and pull that ultimately took away from the romantic elements of the story.

3 stars- forgot to download the audio before it archived :( completely my mistake. looking forward to listening to & reading more of the author's work.

Unable to fully listen to title before archived. No review just didn't want it messing with me NetGalley %

This is my first book by this author. Love the audio the narration of the book definitely kept me intrigued. I really enjoyed the storyline. I cannot wait to read more books from this author in the future. Please do yourself a favor and add this book to your to be read list .

3.5 stars - Another good book set in Avalon Bay. I liked Gen and Evan's characters, and their chemistry was great. The way the book handled their history and volatile relationship was really interesting, and it was nice to see each of them grow as people separately and together. The drama with the sheriff was way too over the top to be believable, however, and took me out of the story a bit.