Review of Good Girl Complex

I’ve read many of Elle Kennedy’s New Adult campus romances, but the cover of this one is pretty different, suggesting that the story inside might be more sweet than spicy. Is that the case? Check out my review of Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy

Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy

To be published on February 1, 2022 by St Martin’s Griffin.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review.

Synopsis: Mackenzie “Mac” Cabot is a people pleaser. It’s exhausting, really, always following the rules.

Unlike most twenty-year-olds, all she really wants to do is focus on growing her internet business, but first she must get a college degree at her parents’ insistence. That means moving to the beachside town of Avalon Bay, a community made up of locals and the wealthy students of Garnet College.

Mac’s 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. 

What Else has Elle Kennedy written?

Series queen! Elle Kennedy is prolific. She has written two very popular New Adult series, the Off-Campus series (2015-2021) and the Briar U series (2015-2020).

She also has The Out of Uniform series, the Killer Instinct series, the After Hours series. There may be more.

Review of Good Girl Complex

The two series I’ve read of Kennedy’s feature bad boys and sweet-yet-sassy-girls, forbidden romances, opposites attract, and a lot of sweaty clinches. So I was not really sure what to expect going into Good Girl Complex.

Is the Avalon Bay series a new direction?

Based on the cover, I expected a rom com. A romance featuring soft marshmallow-y characters and fade to black love scenes.

Well … no. Good Girl Complex is a story that follows the same format as all Kennedy’s campus books that I’ve read.

Good Girl Complex is a classic new adult novel featuring a college town setting, a girl who’s a little bit sheltered and a “bad” alpha boy, a lot of sexual tension, and a decent amount of angst. Was it me, or was Kennedy’s usual steam toned down quite a bit? I think yes.

The positive of the New Adult format (for those who enjoy it): it’s emotional and angsty, filled with unlikely couples with a lot of sexual tension, a fair amount of conflict, and a bunch of make-up sex.

For me, the negative part is that the plots and tropes can get a little repetitive (to be fair, I feel that way sometimes about thrillers and mysteries too.)

The main plot trope involved in Good Girl Complex (a secret bet) isn’t my favorite, as it always involves the relationship being based on a huge lie.

I liked Cooper a lot but think that Mackenzie needed a bit more character development to make the extreme contradictions in what we’re told about her and what we actually see her do make sense.

She’s a savvy twenty-something girl boss who has made a MILLION dollars on a bad boyfriend/girlfriend confessions website yet has herself been dating a terrible boyfriend for four years and seems unaware of the irony. (She also pretty much cheats on him.)

Good Girl Complex had an Outer Banks setting and rich girl/poor boy vibe. It wasn’t my favorite Elle Kennedy book, but I’m a bit more excited by some of the supporting characters (Cooper’s brother and Mac’s roommate) and will keep reading in the series to see what’s in store for them.

UPDATE: The second book in the series, Bad Girl Reputation, is out!

Want to see some other romances I’ve enjoyed? Check out my Rom-Com-a-Thon post here. Looking for another angsty romance? You could try this one about a couple of country singers sent on tour together.