Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Good Girl Complex

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy

42 reviews

etymoye's review

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emotional funny lighthearted

2.0

Genres: New Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance

Tropes: Childfree, Bad Boy Hero, Possessive Hero, School/College Setting, Secret Relationship

For most of this book, I thought it would be a solid three-star read. I feel like it’s essentially what you expect if you’ve read Elle Kennedy before–a little messiness in the OM/OW department, bad boy/womanizer hero, less experienced heroine, nothing groundbreaking.

But two things annoyed me and made me drop a star. One, Mackenzie is a pretty flat character. She’s a Cool Girl–rich, but a self-made millionaire on top of her family’s money. She doesn’t care about Cooper having slept with basically all his female friends at one point or another. The book even comes out and says she’s Not Like Other Girls. I initially expected her to have some kind of STEM background because she started a website during her gap year, but this is very poorly fleshed out. She apparently didn’t do any of the coding or actual building of the site (?) because that’s never discussed at all. And then she goes on to buy a hotel in Avalon Bay despite apparently not having any interest in architecture or interior design. I’m still not sure why she bought the hotel (or created the site, for that matter). It’s just to show how NLOG she is, I guess.

And two, the third act annoyed me.

At the start of the book, Cooper runs into Mackenzie’s boyfriend, Preston, in the bar where he works. Preston is a jerk and gets Cooper fired, Cooper and his friends decide Cooper should get Preston’s girlfriend to dump him as revenge. (It’s a weak premise, but I feel like anybody who’s seen a 90s romcom can roll with it.)

The only problem is that this is obviously hanging over our couples sword of Damocles-style the entire book. And when you expect the book to FINALLY bring this up at the 80% mark, it makes a sudden swerve and Cooper’s deadbeat mom enters the picture to steal his life savings. Mackenzie offers Cooper money, Cooper gets offended. The couple fights and makes up.

It almost feels like we’ve addressed the dreaded third act breakup…except that, at the 93% mark, Mackenzie FINALLY learns about Cooper’s stupid bet with his friends. It gives almost no time for a proper grovel or believable reconciliation. The entire conflict with the mom should have been removed, IMO. I was really surprised when the mom showed up because she was barely mentioned by Cooper previously, so it felt like there was almost no groundwork laid for that sudden development.

Safety Stats:

Ages:

While neither age is directly stated, if I can do math right, Mackenzie should be approximately 19. Cooper is implied to be in his early 20s somewhere.

Cheating:

Mackenzie has a boyfriend when she kisses Cooper, though she dumps him before sleeping with Cooper. Neither is with anyone else after getting together.

Other OM/OW:

Mackenzie has a boyfriend when she kisses Cooper. Cooper has hooked up with some of his female friends before Mackenzie entered the picture, and there’s some tension/jealousy from one of them. Cooper openly flirts with OW before getting with Mackenzie to make her jealous, but they do not have sex.

Separation:

Breakup in third act for a few weeks, but neither is with anyone else during this time.

Triggers:

Some mention of Cooper’s deadbeat mom.

HEA/HFN?:

HFN.

Content Warnings

evoorde's review

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lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

kamreher's review

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emotional lighthearted 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

4.0

this book had a good balance of conflicts along with reasonable responses which IMO are hard to find in the wild.

spice 🌶 - a 4 🌶 spicy

length - just right.

reading speed - read in 2 days
did it make me cry? - no

Content Warnings

clareasday's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted 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

3.5

Content Warnings

champagnemami's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

3.5

Content Warnings

izzysizemore's review

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adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

mrsalexisrjones's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

Rich girl meets local townie. It’s a book with some self discovery along with romance and a little bit of a revenge subplot.

Content Warnings

daisy1_f's review

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emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

fromjuliereads's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted 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

3.0

This was my first Elle Kennedy and I enjoyed it! I liked the characters and story. A couple parts had me rolling my eyes but that happens. The only thing that bugged me was that the conflict was resolved literally on the last pages. I like to have an additional scene or 2 after the resolution to smooth out the ending. But maybe that's just my preference.

Content Warnings

cassiereadsbooks_'s review

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emotional funny medium-paced

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

2.75

Content Warnings

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