Elle Kennedy

Good Girl Complex

Emilia Jarvis

Sanne nebbeling

Beatrix Haase

I enjoyed this. I bought the second book so I'll let you know how that one goes.

Catherine Duplessis

4.5 ⭐️

It’s my first Elle Kennedy read and it was WAY better than I expected. In my experience, « steamy » rhymed with « cringy », so my expectations for an interesting story was a bit low. I was pleasantly surprised. I could’ve read this book in one sitting. There are so many characters and they are all fun to follow and complexed. The love story is predictable, but not too much. The steamy bits are well balanced as well. Well done!

This is a very good first book for the series. Already added the second one in my TBR.

Sloan MacDonald

meh. almost put it on my DNF shelf when I figured out it was a “make this girl fall for me and fuck her for revenge” trope because ✨trauma✨ but ended up powering through cause fuck it.

Kiley H

This book was such a cute summer romance read but omg I was SO over Preston.

Amez

I'm giving this book a 4 out of 5 because I loved it. I loved the plot I loved the characters. Loved the writing and the alternating pov style. It has the after series vibes which I also liked. Some parts are sad and some are a little spicy. But it was a little bit too slow-paced for me. Overall a good book. Would recommend.

bella <3

Shawna Delellis

“After” meets “Outer Banks” in this rivalry/revenge romance. 
Great characters, dreamy visuals and laugh out loud humor had me eating this book up. Also.. Cooper Hartley 🥵 
I really enjoy Elle Kennedy’s writing and interesting plots!

sienna

this book was okay, could've been better but it wasn't boring. i was 100% interested but didn't connect with the characters at all.

Jennifer mitchell

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I overhyped this book so much in my head that it was destined to fall short in some way. I saw the words "Elle Kennedy" and "new college romance series" and immediately thought we were getting Off Campus 2.0. This book isn't that, so I was left slightly disappointed based on my own incorrect assumptions about what this book would be.

That being said, this was still a great romance book with a fun group of characters and I'm excited to see how the other books in this series will play out.

Things I liked:
-The writing style. I'm just a sucker for the way EK writes. The chapters are short and the dialogue is always realistic so it makes the book extremely easy to read and get through.
-Chemistry between the main characters and their connection to the side characters. There was one scene in particular about halfway through when the characters were first getting together that left me screaming out loud because it was so cute and swoon worthy. The main characters have great chemistry together and I was rooting for them from the beginning. The side characters were entertaining as well, and I'm excited to read more about them as more books are released.
-FUNNY!!! Despite the fact that this book deals with some hard topics and has its heavy moments, there are great moments of comedic relief thrown in there. I'll just say one word - Patricia. (Trust me, when you read it you'll get it).

Things I didn't like:
-The main premise of the book/reason the characters got together. It's very icky and rubbed me the wrong way, but I do think the resolution of it was handled nicely in the end. 
-NO EPILOGUE. Literally a crime that the book ended where it did and there was no epilogue.

Overall thoughts:
Another solid contemporary romance from Elle Kennedy. It didn't fully live up to my expectations, but that's entirely my own fault for setting the expectations so high. 

Reader warning: This book contains a cheating trope, which I know a lot of us hate (myself included). I personally thought it was resolved nicely in the end, but it's definitely a large part of the story and something to be aware of while reading.

Kasey Montagnat

what the hell was that ending… I feel like it just skipped over so many things. i would rather read after again then have to re read this again

Courtney

4.5 Stars!

Rich girl meets bad boy townie in Elle Kennedy’s new NA romance, Good Girl Complex. 

I thoroughly enjoyed Elle Kennedy’s new book and hope she makes it into a series. This book is an easy read with likeable characters, sassy banter, sexual tension and a rich girl meets down on his luck townie. 

We meet Mac and Cooper, our two main characters in Avalon Bay along with a series of side characters (Evan, Preston, Bonnie, Steph). Mac & Cooper are from different sides of the proverbial track. Mac is a people pleasing girl from a rich family and it’s accompanying rich lifestyle and Cooper is a bit of a badboy townie who is scraping by working a few jobs. Elle really took her time developing these two characters, giving them personalities, hopes,dreams, flaws and of course the sexual tension we know from other Elle Kennedy novels. 

Good Girl Complex has the vibes of “Outer Banks” and “the Notebook.” Mac and Cooper have undeniable chemistry and the circumstances behind their entire meeting (a big part of the plot) is a hard trope to pull off without getting cringey, but Elle Kennedy made it work smoothly and provided a resolution that worked so well. 

The only reason I did not give a full 5 stars is because I needed an epilogue- I needed more of their story a few months or so down the line. 

I definitely recommend adding Good Girl Complex to your TBR & picking it up in February 2022. 


I was provided an ARC of Good Girl Complex as part of Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

“And then you showed up and I started getting ideas. Maybe I didn’t have to settle for slightly better than nothing. Maybe I could even be happy” 

I highlighted this specific quote purely because it was one that immediately stuck out for me. 

For most of my life I had convinced myself that I was the common denominator in all the bad things that would occur. I didn’t believe that I would get a happy ending or anything close to it, I had accepted that I would just have to learn to be happy with whatever life threw at me. It’s so refreshing to see characters that have been handed the most crappiest cards - characters that are relatable in ways that aren’t ‘oh they’re so quirky’ or ‘they love books and i do too’ but in a profound way that means something to me.

Full of romance, hijinks, and longing, Good Girl Complex is Elle Kennedy at her very best... 'A deliciously sexy story' VI KEELAND, No.1 New York Times bestselling author She does everything right. So what could go wrong? Mackenzie 'Mac' Cabot is a people pleaser. It's exhausting, really, always following the rules. Mac has dreams of her own but to please her parents she moves to the beachside town of Avalon Bay to get her college degree. Twenty-year-old Mac has had plenty of practice suppressing her wilder impulses, but when she meets local bad boy Cooper Hartley, that ability is suddenly tested. Cooper is rough around the edges. Raw. Candid. A threat to her ordered existence. Their friendship soon becomes the realest thing in her life. Despite his disdain for the trust-fund kids he sees coming and going from his town, Cooper soon realizes Mac isn't just another rich clone and falls for her. Hard. But as Mac finally starts feeling accepted by Cooper and his friends, the secret he's been keeping from her threatens the only place she's ever felt at home. Why readers love Good Girl Complex: 'Delicious, complicated and drama-filled. . . Impossible to put down' L. J. Shen, USA Today bestselling author 'Elle Kennedy delivers another sexy and addictive read' Tijan, New York Times bestselling author 'With plenty of steam alongside the youthful romance, this winsome story about following one's heart will especially appeal to hopeless romantics' Publishers Weekly

a heartwarming modern romance from the TikTok sensation

Nicole anderson

Really good def worth the read, hard to get into but good

Laneh faith mesa

A cross between she's all that and 10 things i hate about you. Set in the stunning Avalon bay, the characters had such depth and made me feel like i was living it.

1⭐️ 

There’s not much to say about this other than this is exactly like After. And I’ve only read After when it was a fanfiction… even before it was supposed to turn into a published book. 

There was nothing that I liked about this story… Except the dog. The fmc truly doesn’t have any conscience of what real life is and goes through a rebel phase that it’s just unnecessary. And the mmc? Talk about having some issues dealing with situations at work. 

I get that everything needs to be “overdramatic” but this was just annoying. And someone please explain to me how does the fmc gets mad with the mmc but seeks comfort in his friends, THAT WERE ALSO INTO THE WHOLE REASON WHY THEY GOT UPSET? 

I’m definitely disappointed with this as the other books from this author that I’ve read were good.

rowan !

** spoiler alert **
           oh okay this one took a little bit of my time but we got through it, okay? okay.

alright so boom, let me tell you a little story of a couple of lousy little people. cooper? he's doing this little bartending thing in outer banks island's poppin ass bar (this book isn't actually in outer banks city, it's just all i could think about while reading this sawry ms. kennedy/netflix/outer banks fandom) anyways this rich guy douche from the mainland's harvard (like the harvard of florida) is being weird and all up on cooper's friend and bartending companion steph. coop's like "yeah i've had enough" so he's kicking this guy's ass. like it's baddd. but you wanna know who the guy is? preston i-forgot-his-last name-and-i-don't-really-feel-like-checking-the-book-for-it. and his daddy's like rich. mega rich. stinky smelly rotten rich. and he happens to own the very bar cooper's working at. he's fucked because he just got fired. now cooper's sad. now cooper is angry! cooper's friends are pissed too so when doing an analysis of preston's instagram, they see he's got himself a little girlfriend. 

okay insert mackenzie, mac on a good day. her life seems good on paper; she's got rich parents, a good looking boyfriend her apps are like mega popular with the kids... she's doing good. but she's soooo bored with her life. she's so used to being this puppet and not her authentic self. she honestly doesn't even know who she is. so to start anew, she decides (or is forced to) end her gap year and head off to college. slayyy!!! go mackenzie! 

now that we know about mac, let's get back to cooper. as i said he's pissed that preston got him fired so he, his twin (yeah bc he's got one AND he's identical), and their rag tag group of friends decide the ultimate revenge plot is not to fuck with him, but to fuck with him AND his girlfriend. his long term, loyal, loving girlfriend, mackenzie. dun dun dun. the two world collide. everyone's in it. they hate the rich people that infcet their little lovey outer backs island. they've had enough!

sooooo it's the big day (it's been one day since the formation of the plan) and coop spots mac. he's like"hey gitl, let's get out of here" and she (being loyal) says "oh hey sorry i gotta bf :/" and he (not being a quitter) says "ouuu forget his broke ass come with me bby girl" and she's like "alright fine you got me!!" so she and him (along with her roomie bonnie and coop's twin evan) go to the beach. they have fun talking about the systematic oppression of pastries or whatever and it's cute. coop's all like "damn this chick's fun she's cute i like this" and mac's like "ouu okay heyyy cooperrr."

anyways i'm gonna skip thru like a lot because none of it matters. they get a dog they find in the ocean, mac buys a hotel bc... why not?, coop's moms drops by and steals his money, they fuck (like bunch), mac breaks up with preston, cuts off her parents, and drops out of school (none of this is happening in chronological order by the way). let's just fast forward to the end.

okay we got like 6 chapters left and this girl still don't know that cooper was only tryna get with her to screw with preston! crazy right? so boom lemme set the scene. cooper, mac, and all they friends is having a little campfire slay, but mac gotta go pee or something ion really remember but she leavesthe group. this is when she's hearing all the tea.. basically heidi's (coop's summertime fling) shit talking mac to alana (one of coop's buddies) talking about "ouuu she's so dumb how she not know coop's fucking with her" alana’s like “mhm mhm” and mac’s like “whatchu mean by that” and heidi’s like “girl you ain’t hear this from me but cooper’s lowkey only with you because we wanted to fuck with preston for getting him fired” and mac’s like “alana, say it ain’t so” and alana’s like “sorry babe it’s chrew”

soooo shit hits the fan so let’s speed through so we can get to my review. mac goes back to the party, calls coop out for fucking with her, he feels like shit, she ain’t having it, he grovels for weeks on end, her spine disintegrates and she ends up forgiving him. the literal last line in the book is him saying how he’s not gonna fuck it up next time (oh but of course he will)

so after all of that, you may or may not be asking yourself, why are you rating this 2 stars? that’s very low. friend, i had to do what i had to do. this was not a fun read, i did not have a fun time. the funny thing is, i actually had kinda enjoyed the meat of the book. now if you asked me what specifically i like, i'd tell you you are out of luck; i can’t give any examples but i did enjoy it! let's move onto the things i hated. hate hate hate. one of the things that i HATED was the fact that it followed the after trope. i don’t know what this trope is professionally known as but i can only think of one other book it’s been in and that is after. if i found out my man was only with me because of a BET? and all my alleged friends knew and SUPPORTED it… you’d have to put me in a body bag oh my god.. that’s so nasty mac omg do better!! i also hated the fact that they had no chemistry whatsoever. cooper is so like… i can’t even. the way they was hate fucking like 90% of the time is not healthy. he got mad at her for helping alana and steph fix their roof after a storm fucked with it, they fought, and then BOOM shower sex.. where’s the class my gawd??


final thoughts.. rhis book… this book… it was a lot. i definitely rolled my eyes too many times in one sitting. would i tell you to read this book? if you will eat up the after trope? yeah.. why not. If not? NO. run!!

Lydia Ford

megan rapoza

4 STARS ⭐️ okay i really really enjoyed this story it’s quite literally a combo of outer banks w a little bit of after on the side LOL so absolutely amazing . and don’t lie, we ALLLL love a good bad boy good girl romance and Mac and Cooper are perfect for the role

EKs writing has improved so much and even though i loved her off campus and briar U series i feel like this book was a lot more mature with the writing style. ESPECIALLY this line :
 “Living without joy, without anticipation that tomorrow can still be extraordinary, will suck the soul right out of a person. It’s the cold, dark, strangling infinity of nothingness, of being swallowed up by despair. Nothing can grow in the empty places where we resign ourselves to the numbness. Never really alive.” 

not to mention the smut was amazing , not too much for people who aren’t into it being every chapter but it was just the right amount. 

the only thing that held back the 5th star was the fact i feel like there was questions unanswered, what happened with her relationship w her parents ??? and the hotel ?? idk didn’t love that there was no epilogue; granted this is going to be a series but it’s going to be about other characters so idk how she’s gonna include more of Mac and Coop

THIS IS ALSO GONNA BE A SERIES ?!?! i cant fucking wait for the next one, it’s gonna be off campus part two but even better

Gretchen Sartele

Listen. I am an Elle Kennedy simp, but this book was just not it.

Which is super disappointing because college town romance is really one of my favorite genres. That's what I was sold for this book and I don't think it should even be placed in that category. 

(view spoiler)[From the inevitable end to a relationship that starts as a revenge plot/fake interest to the unpalatable rich girl/blue-collar boy trope, I just did not love this. There were too many characters. Too much going on. Chemistry development was lacking. And I WANTED to love this book SO BADLY, but I just found myself wishing it was over. (hide spoiler)] 

Maybe I'm being too harsh, but maybe I will be chasing Dean/Allie chemistry for the rest of my life.

Megan Lowe

** spoiler alert **
           I really enjoyed this book! The bet isn’t my favourite trope, in fact, it’s my least favourite, but this wasn’t too bad and was done fairly well.
I loved cooper, Evan, and Bonnie. They were great.
I loved the small twin setting.
This was a really great book and I’m hoping for a series, but I’m not sure that’s possible with Elle’s schedule.

sydney

I am always a sucker for a good bet/revenge dating trope. I really loved this book and Mac and Cooper were adorable. I also am obsessed with the fact that their first few kisses were cheater kisses, I love cheaters. The blow up at the end was really good and Coopers plan to get her back was cute.

My only complaint with the book was that at one point Mac got upset and said she was tired of the microaggressions that were being said towards her. Considering every person in the book was white I really did not like that.

I received a copy through netgalley.

i’ve read after i didn’t need to read it again

This was a good read. I liked the characters, the setting, and thought the story was unique. I don’t mind the “boy dates the girl to win a bet trope,” even though it isn’t great. However,  I’m not really a fan of cheating, so that being part of the plot bothered me a little. Even though Preston was horrible. 

Overall, I liked the pacing of Mac and Cooper’s relationship and see that form. I liked how he was able to get to know her better first, and that she didn’t give in right away. I also loved how Mac and Evan ended up becoming really close friends. So much so that Evan would stick up for her with Cooper. 

Kendall Deranek

This was a good read. I liked the characters, the setting, and thought the story was unique. I don’t mind the “boy dates the girl to win a bet trope,” even though it isn’t great. However,  I’m not really a fan of cheating, so that being part of the plot bothered me a little. Even though Preston was horrible. 

Overall, I liked the pacing of Mac and Cooper’s relationship and see that form. I liked how he was able to get to know her better first, and that she didn’t give in right away. I also loved how Mac and Evan ended up becoming really close friends. So much so that Evan would stick up for her with Cooper. 

Good Girl Complex

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