I love that Elle Kennedy wastes no time getting to the point. There is a plot, a point to what is being said, and I never felt like I was reading repetitive nonsense. Also, the bombshell at the end.... didn't see that coming! This is great as a standalone or as part of the series if you want to see more of the characters we see throughout the book.

☀️ It starts as friends
☀️ …then becomes a fling…
☀️ Local boy / City (summer) girl
☀️ complex family dynamics
☀️ small town

The Summer Girl is book 3 in Elle Kennedy’s NA Small Town Romance series Avalon Bay. Each book focuses on one of the locals from a pretty tight knit group if friends as they grow, learn, change, and of course find love 💕

Book 3 follows Tate, the local hook up and all around nice guy, and Cassie, who is visiting for a long summer break. The two have an awkwardly fun meet cute on the beach, that leads to a slow building friendship…that somehow evolves into more 😊

I loved revisiting the town and seeing glimpses of our favorite locals - I enjoyed the unfolding story of Cassie and Tate even more. This was such a fun, binge-able escape read - perfect for a summer day (or in my case to make me long for some warmer days as I read it on a snowy VT winter day 😅).

I love the dual POV and really found myself rooting for the two. I really loved getting to know Tate in particular in the story as we’ve only glimpsed him in prior books. Definitely a book and series I recommend for a little getaway- I’m excited to see whose story we’ll get next 😊

Thank you to St Martins Press for the opportunity to read an early copy!

My first Zelle Kennedy book and it did not disappoint!!

I enjoyed this book so much and it gave off such a summer vibe that, I a person who does not like summer, is actually looking forward to summer🫶

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Saint Martin’s Press for the advanced reading copy of The Summer Girl by Elle Kennedy.

This is the third book in the Avalon Bay series. I was fortunate enough to be given an advanced reading copy of all three books in this series.

The Summer Girl is a friends to lovers romance. The first perspective is Cassie. It’s a summer of endings for Cassie. She is visiting her grandmother this summer as they say goodbye to their family hotel, the Beacon, and sell their grandmothers house. But Cassie is looking for a new beginning in the shape of a summer fling.
The second perspective is Avalon Bay resident Tate. He is filling his summer with working part time as a sailing instructor for the club, working part time for his fathers sailboat business, and trying to get time with his friends. Tate finds himself housesitting for the summer next door to Cassie’s grandmother. After Tate meets Cassie he decides he isn’t the relationship type. He quickly friend-zones Cassie and soon realizes the mistake he has made. Can he win Cassie over or are the secrets of the Bay too much for both of them to overcome?

I highly recommend starting with the first book in the series, The Good Girl Complex (I rated it 5 stars). It is a dual perspective romance novel. The first perspective is Mackenzie (Mack). Mackenzie has her life planned out. Graduate from Garnet, marry her rich boyfriend Preston, be a doting wife and mother, and join her mothers charity organizations. She is a self proclaimed good girl always wanting to please her rich parents and even wealthier boyfriend/boyfriends parents. That is until the night she meets bad boy “townie” Cooper who makes her think maybe there is more to life.
The second perspective is local bad boy, Cooper. Cooper hates “clones” and when one gets him fired at the start of the novel he seeks revenge by stealing his girlfriend.

The second book, Bad Girl Reputation, is a second chance romance/friends to lovers romance. It follows two perspectives. The first perspective being Genevieve (who is briefly mentioned in the first book as the bad girl ex to Cooper’s brother, Evan). Genevieve and Evan have had a past relationship filled with plenty of faults and lots of passion leaving Gen to try to restrain herself from running into Evan in their small town.
The second perspective is local bad boy, Evan (twin brother to Copper, from the first book). Evan has been pining for Genevieve since the first book. He wants nothing more than to get back on her good side even if that means changing himself.

If you are a fan of Elle Kennedy’s previous work, especially her Off-Campus Series, this one is for you!

Thank you Net Galley for providing an ARC of The Summer Girl in exchange for my honest review! This is the third installment in the Avalon Summer series from Elle Kennedy. I have been a huge fan of Elle’s writing style since The Off Campus and Briar U series so I was super excited to pick up her newest book!

Overall it was a great read and I finished it within 3 hours. Cassie and Tate were adorable and I loved their humor. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romance novels!

Absolutely love anything Elle Kennedy writes. This was an ARC read of book 3 in the Avalon Bay series and it might just be my favorite. The relationship between Tate and Cassie is the absolute sweetest thing from beginning to end. If you read The Deal you will love this book as it has similar wingman beginnings. Iykyk…. From the close proximity to the family drama Elle Kennedy brings these relatable characters to life and I didn’t want this book to end. Can’t wait to see what’s next for this series!

Spicy, sweet, and just utterly entertaining! I think this is my favorite out of all three in this series. I hope she does more because they give such good vibes. This also got me out of my reading slump because of the smut!!! Definitely recommend if u love Elle’s books!

Thank you to NetGalley and st martins press for this ARC. This was my first read by Kennedy and although this is the third book in the Avalon Bay series, I was able to follow it. I enjoyed the chemistry between Cassie and Tate and I thought the spicy scenes were written well. Unfortunately I didn’t like some of the themes in this book and I found myself skimming a lot of it. It had one of my least favorite tropes, but I did enjoy the ending.

Easy summer read. I loved the characters and the next door window romance. Thought the family strife added a little extra to the plot.

I thought this was a really good book I would have enjoyed it more in the summer I wish I would have waited. I did really enjoy this though I’m going to try other if her titles in the summer

I’m so surprised at just how much I enjoyed this. I haven’t read the rest of this series, but I have read other books by Elle Kennedy so I had a sense going in of what to expect. The summer vibes were SO welcome, I loved the characters and Avalon Bay as a whole. I thought the balance between lighthearted banter and genuine growth of the characters was well done. While this is a mostly character driven book, I thought the third act really shined, especially with the emotional sinkhole Cass and Tate had been pushed in. A lovely beach read, and I will definitely be checking out the rest of the Avalon Bay stories this summer!

I love Elle Kennedy books….usually. But there was just something about this couple I didn’t like. The writing and story were great like I have come to expect with this author but sometimes you just don’t vibe with characters and this was the case for me. I just wasn’t rooting for them like I usually do when reading romance books. I would def say it’s a me not them thing.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with ARC in exchange for honest review.

So first of all before I start this review I want to give a big thanks to Net Galley and Elle Kennedy for the opportunity to read this book. Now for the actual review every time I read another Elle Kennedy book I always remember why I love her writing and Summer Girl is no exception. This book brought us back to the world of Avalon Bay with the story of Tate and Cassie and how one summer and one conversation can change everything you thought about life. So when it comes to Tate's character I have loved him since "Good Girl Complex" and I was hoping he would get his own book and he did and it did not fail me. Tate is one of those characters that you cheer on from the beginning and keep doing it. Tate's character was maybe the stereotypical playboy character that finally falls in love but that doesn't make him any less lovable. Tate made me see this type of character from a different point of view with his parents and how they handled their issues and still were able to be in love and move through the difficulties together. That brings me to Cassie and the love I have for her character and what she was out through being young at the divorce of her parents and having to deal with a mother who had the problems that her mother had. Cassie makes me remember that we all have moments of insecurity and that it's normal to have those thoughts but we also need a Tate in our lives that tells us that they don't see those flaws that we see. Now that we are past the characters let's talk about the actual story, it's a different type of concept I have not read in a while so I really enjoyed the FMC being the one who was the one to bring up this concept to the MMC, and the concept being they are each others summer fling and Tate being the king of flings, Cassie thought he was the perfect person but Tate said he will not ruin his friendship with her over a fling that ends badly, because someone always falls in love with the other at some point, this time it just happened that they both fell at the same time. So, I'm not going to give any spoilers but miss Elle Kennedy shocked me with that 3/4 way through plot twist. Now to the rating, this book is getting a 4.5 from me because it was a great book with a great plot and characters but I did have some issues with the filling senses and how they really didn't make me forget about the original plot and drama of the book and that is one of the reasons I like the fill senses so that way I can see how these characters would normally interact and be without the drama and the specific plot-related story line. But, overall this is another book I would read again. Thank you again to Net Galley and Elle Kennedy for letting me read and review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
Solid 3.5 stars! Such a cute summer vibes romance! Honestly it was my least favorite of the Avalon Bay series but it was still a super cute read and I enjoyed!
Small town
Slow burn
Drama
Summer vibes
I liked the characters and the story. It very easily grabbed my attention and kept my attention! Easy to follow dual POV.

I received a digital copy of The Summer Girl via NetGalley to read and review.

I’m rating 3.5 stars rounded down to 3. I liked Cassie and Tate’s story more than Gen and Evan in Good Girl Complex. You can read this as a stand alone or part of the series.

This was so cute, but read like a YA book that tried too hard to be smutty. I was drawn into the story, though disappointed at how obvious it felt. I did appreciate the twist with the mom and dad and HATED the mom's character.

Cassie is spending the summer with her grandmother on Avalon Bay. The hotel she owned has been renovated and she will be moving. Cassie and her grandmother have a wonderful relationship, unlike the antagonistic relationship she has with her mother. Cassie’s dad lives there also with his 6 year old twins and new wife. Cassie feels her dad has replaced her with the twins. Before she begins her last year in college, Cassie is looking for a summer fling. The first really attractive guy is Tate and their first encounter looks promising until he tells her they need to just be friends. He is her wingman and very protective of her. I loved this book. The characters are great and there is a lot of romance and surprises along the way. The community of Avalon is very close and I liked how Cassie was accepted even though she was one of the privileged families. It was fun watching Cassie interact with her stepsisters and stepmother. The changing relationship with Tate was also fun. I loved the relationship Tate’s parents had with each other.

Elle Kennedy definitely knows how to write a book that I want to binge. I think this book would be perfect for anyoone looking for:

- summer romance
- audience moving out of YA into New Adult
- college aged romance
- small town
- some spice but not too much

And while I read this fairly quickly and had fun reading it, I found both of the main characters to be unbearably immature and one-dimensional. I felt like Cassie's entire personality was defined as having big boobs, rambling when she talked and being a 'copper', NOT a ginger. Oh, and she has no idea how to flirt with men. And Tate was honestly like most of Kennedy's male leads: a playboy who is actually a bit of a teddy bear.

I loved the small town beach setting and was definitely craving the atmosphere that the book was bringing, but I was really hoping for some more depth to these characters. I also can't skip over some of the dialogue, which once again just felt very young and a bit cringy at times to me. Examples:

When Cassie is trying to ask him to be her summer fling:
"Will you fling me?" she blurts out. I blink.
"Sorry, what?" I blink again. "You want me to throw you? Like, into the water?"
"No! Why would I want you to throw me into the water?"

Separately, the male main character couldn't watch the FMC lick her lips without wanting to "rip her clothes off":
"Fuck." He groans softly. My forehead creases.
"What?"
"You licked your lips."
"Yeah, and? They were dry. So I licked them and now they're moist--oh my God, what a horrible word. Moist. Isn't it horrible? I'm sorry I said the word moist."

"Lip licking is my goddamn kryptonite. I can't see a woman do that, especially this one, and not want to rip her clothes off."

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for the attributes I listed at the top of my review, but probably wouldn't read again.

This is the 3rd books in the Avalon Bay series and it didn't disappoint.

Cassie came back to her hometown one last summer before her grandma leaves the town behind And her unexpected run-ins with Tate have not disappointed! In the market for a summer fling, she has found her target. And while that is usually his MO, he resists and the tense build begins! Not to mention, some unexpected family ties that cause more bumps in the road along the way.

Great read! For me, it started stronger than it finished but I still really enjoyed it. I thought the main character had great chemistry. I highly recommend!

I received this book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own. (Now go buy it & get to reading!)

A summer fling… what could truly go wrong?

This book was exactly what I needed to get out of the reading slump I didn’t know I was even in. To be thrown right back into Avalon bay was a plus! Being able to see how the town functions and seeing all of the characters come back into play in their own way. This book enters the life of Cass and Tate. This book is packed with childhood trauma; not just from Cass side. It was a nice read. I didn’t find myself forced to stay into the story. I actually wanted to see the outcome. To see how Avalon bay truly made an impact on those who live there. I wish I had a summer place to visit that felt more like home than our true home.

Thank you to NetGalley, St martins press as well as Elle Kennedy for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest review.