I was still quite hung up on the 1999's hit movie called She's All That (young Freddie Prinze Jr. was such a babe) when I picked up Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy today. After a week of in-depth research (and by that, I mean dumping different keywords in the Google search bar), I successfully dug up a book with the same cliché yet addicting trope.
Following the story of Cooper Hartley who just got fired from his bartending job upon standing up against the rich jerk called Preston, this book starts by nudging his desire for revenge. Lucky for him, the chance shows itself when Cooper and his friends discover that Preston has an equally rich girlfriend, Mackenzie 'Mac' Cabot, who is now a freshman at Garnet College after spending her gap year growing her internet business. With that said, Cooper tries to seduce Mac to make her dump the cheating Preston. He doesn't count on the fact that Mac is more than she seems to be, however.
Well, let me begin this review by saying that this book was not what I had thought it would be, and my intention to substitute Zack Siler with another character was not at all working.
Good Girl Complex, all in all, was quite an entertaining book. I adored the vibes of the small city—kind of reminded me of Gilmore Girls for a second—and it seemed to suit the plot so well. Mac's snide remarks were also fun to read, and the fact that her name resembled one of my favorite authors' name was quite adorable.
I did not, however, entirely root for her romance with Cooper due to the fact that their relationship was built on, let's face it, Mac cheating. It did not bode well with me that she felt her actions were somehow justified by some shrugs and not-so-innocent thoughts about how "they're only hanging out", or "they were both drooling over each other but as long as they didn't do anything all was well, except for a kiss?". I know, I know, Preston was cheating too, but I was supposed to be invested in Mac and Cooper's relationship, and it's admittedly hard to do so when both kicked off their romance by emotionally cheating.
Other than that though, I had no other qualms to really complain about. Minus the cheating part, this book would be exactly the kind of predictable, fun story that I was looking for to spend the weekend with. If only Mac had the conscience to break up with her boyfriend first before starting to get close to Cooper... I was pretty sure I would adore this book more. Like how much I liked this quote from the book:
“Time to wipe up my smudged mascara and be a bad bitch. Fuck love. Build the empire.”
Actual rating: 2.9★
