Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Bad Girl Reputation

Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy

8 reviews

larajoye's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Love this series, although this book falls behind good girl complex and the summer girl for me. It was a little slow. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

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caitsousa's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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tah_014's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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winterzeshoek's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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rusereviews's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

(3.5 rounded down to a 3)

Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy is a contemporary second-chance romance. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at ten and a half hours and is narrated by Lee Samuels and Summer Morton. We follow are two main characters with alternating first-person points-of-view.

Genevieve West just returned home to Avalon Bay for her mother's funeral. Known as a "bad girl" while she was growing up, she's attempting to turn a new leaf. To help with that, she knows she should keep her distance from her ex, Evan Hartley. That may prove difficult, though, as their coastal town is pretty small and Genevieve's agreed to stay for a bit to help her father run his business.

Though this is the second book in the series, it can be read as a standalone, which is what I did.

This was a pretty okay read. Though both main characters felt very immature to me, they both grew and developed as individuals over the course of the novel. There's a lot of learning how to love and forgive both themselves and others.

This is a character-driven story, and there isn't much plot here. But it was a pleasant way to spend a day listening to an audiobook.

The chemistry between the leads was great, but for a time I was wondering if that's all they really had going for them. They definitely had a fairly toxic relationship at the beginning of this book.

Tropes in this book include: second-chance, high school sweethearts, small town, toxic relationship, twins

CW: death of parent, absentee parent, addiction, sobriety, drug use (on-page) and abuse, alcohol abuse, mental health issues

The publisher provided a audio ARC of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

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eviecheesepuff's review

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challenging emotional funny inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really loved Good Girl Complex, so it was a no-brainer to request the sequel when I saw it available on Netgalley 😊 Thank you so much Macmillan Audio for approving me for this audiobook. Release date: 10/4/2022

Meet Evan and Gen. Childhood sweethearts. Troublemakers. Two peas in a pod. That is…until Gen left for the city without any explanation. Now she’s back for her mom’s funeral and staying in town to help her family out. Is she the same girl that used to cause mayhem around town? Evan doesn’t know…but he sure as hell wants her back.

This book was the complete opposite to its predecessor imo.
At first I was a bit put off by how destructive Evan and Gen’s relationship was but I admit they grew on me! There are so many good tropes in this book, it’s hard to pick my favorite (second chance love, friends to lovers, he falls first…)

The character development in this book is off the charts. The people we meet at the beginning of the book are NOT the same ones we say goodbye to when reading the epilogue. Evan’s efforts to get Gen back, by doing things completely out of character for him, are hilarious and so heartwarming. Props to Elle Kennedy! 👏👏 I absolutely love stories where we follow characters interconnected with each other because any details we get about other people within the same universe are def gonna pop up in the next installments of the series and I can not wait.

This was a multicast audiobook, which I always love! But I liked Gen’s narration better than Evan’s. Her pace was so well maintained throughout the story and I found myself looking forward to her parts a bit more. Then again, I always relate more to a female narrator so that might be unfair of me. 👀

For me this book was a solid four stars. I would highly recommend checking the trigger warnings for it however, as it deals with a lot of heavy topics (death of a parent, illness, postpartum depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, toxic relationship, abuse of authority etc.)

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

I really loved Good Girl Complex, so it was a no-brainer to request the sequel when I saw it available on Netgalley 😊 Thank you so much Macmillan Audio for approving me for this audiobook. Release date: 10/4/2022 Meet Evan and Gen. Childhood sweethearts. Troublemakers. Two peas in a pod. That is…until Gen left for the city without any explanation. Now she’s back for her mom’s funeral and staying in town to help her family out. Is she the same girl that used to cause mayhem around town? Evan doesn’t know…but he sure as hell wants her back. This book was the complete opposite to its predecessor imo. At first I was a bit put off by how destructive Evan and Gen’s relationship was but I admit they grew on me! There are so many good tropes in this book, it’s hard to pick my favorite (second chance love, friends to lovers, he falls first…) The character development in this book is off the charts. The people we meet at the beginning of the book are NOT the same ones we say goodbye to when reading the epilogue. Evan’s efforts to get Gen back, by doing things completely out of character for him, are hilarious and so heartwarming. Props to Elle Kennedy! 👏👏 I absolutely love stories where we follow characters interconnected with each other because any details we get about other people within the same universe are def gonna pop up in the next installments of the series and I can not wait. This was a multicast audiobook, which I always love! But I liked Gen’s narration better than Evan’s. Her pace was so well maintained throughout the story and I found myself looking forward to her parts a bit more. Then again, I always relate more to a female narrator so that might be unfair of me. 👀 For me this book was a solid four stars. I would highly recommend checking the trigger warnings for it however, as it deals with a lot of heavy topics (death of a parent, illness, postpartum depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, toxic relationship, abuse of authority etc.)

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I may not have been the hugest fan of the Avalon Bay series opener Good Girl Complex, but I dove into its sequel with an open mind, considering how much I've enjoyed Elle Kennedy's Off-Campus series and its Briar U spinoff series. As it turns out, I had a pretty fun time with Bad Girl Reputation, what with Gen and Evan's fiery push-and-pull chemistry, the tight-knit and heartfelt nature of the coastal community they live in, and the themes of self-improvement and forgiving others for their mistakes.

Gen was an intriguing character from the start. While we'd never met her in Good Girl Complex, her partier ways and her turbulent relationship with Evan had been brought up multiple times—and never in a positive light. I was able to see the reason for that myself in the first quarter of this second chance romance, which shows the two of them dragging each other back down into a toxic whirlpool, even as Gen is attempting to stay on the wagon. Evan has his own baggage to handle, having to cut down on his penchant for drinking and brawling.

Then there's the boatload of jealousy that they purposely stir up in each other, which, admittedly, was a big turnoff for me as a reader. I know this is supposed to be part of the messy side of their dynamic and they have to conquer it, but it irked the hell out of me nonetheless. In addition, there's a beat in the beginning that makes Evan feel a bit like a Nice Guy who believes Gen owes him sex and a relationship like she's a vending machine who needs to pop out her merchandise after he's dropped in the coins. It goes by quickly and I'm able to root for them to work out later on, but it's still present.

As the book develops, Gen and Evan prove how truly capable they are of shedding their destructive tendencies and maturing into better people while managing to preserve the mischief and passion in their cores. The evolution they make happens for each of them individually as well as for their relationship, helping them step away from the toxic co-dependency on which they’ve hinged in the past. The banter they toss back and forth is entertaining to consume, too.

As heavy as this book might sound, though, I don't think it actually spends that much time unpacking all the hardships of alcoholism and drug abuse in spite of how much Gen and Evan struggle with them. It tackles those issues from a fairly glossy perspective, which has garnered some criticism from readers. As much as I would have been into a darker version of what Gen and Evan had to do to best their addictions, I'm also satisfied with this rose-colored depiction. I've read enough contemporary romances that get surprisingly intense despite their fluffy-looking covers that I'll just want trigger warnings handled with a lighter tone sometimes.

Getting to know the Avalon Bay gang was a fun element of Good Girl Complex, so I’m glad its follow-up introduces us to even more of the town and makes it feel that much more alive. Riley, a teenage boy whom Evan befriends through a Big Brother program, is a particularly charming newcomer. The villain that comes in the form of creepy cop Rusty Randall can be a bit too mustache-twirly for my taste, but he’s a serviceable obstacle for Evan and Gen to overcome.

What I really appreciate is the arc that’s explored for Shelley, the outrageously irresponsible mother of Evan and his twin brother Cooper (the latter was one of the MCs in Good Girl Complex). After having abandoned them, she now has the habit of returning to town every once in a while, pretending like she'll stick around and rebuild a healthy relationship with them, appealing to them for money, and then skedaddling out of Avalon Bay with said money. Cooper is the one who's hardened himself and doesn't expect his mom to change for the better, while Evan has always been lenient with their mom and holding out hope for her. But after how deeply she screwed them over during her last visit (which you can consume for yourself in Good Girl Complex), even Evan intends to not let Shelley off the hook this time. However, she goes on her own journey while her son and Gen take up the main plot, and it becomes quite heartening as it interweaves with the book's thematic core of mustering up the courage to work on your own character and creating enough space in your heart to be compassionate towards those who are undergoing such a process.

If you're willing to accept the time that the green-eyed monster spends roaring out of Gen and Evan and the somewhat sugarcoated approach to their vices, then I think Bad Girl Reputation will have plenty of merits for you to enjoy. Make sure you mark its release date (October 3rd, 2022) on your calendar!

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cheyreads's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was the perfect second chance childhood love romance read for the summer. The characters were lovable but had an edge of realness to them. The interpersonal relationships within this book were realistic and clear. Although there was a lot of characters it was easy to remember who was who due to how each character was truly their own person. I really got to know each and everyone of them to some extent. The flaws within the characters just made them even more relatable. I never felt the negative biases against peoples life choices that make me feel judged that sometimes be a theme within romance books about turning your life around.

It was hard for me to put the book down at points. And I can't wait to read more about Avalon Bay, the characters, and their love stories. This book was a HEA.

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