Buy:  Amazon  |  Kobo  |  Nook  |  Google  |  Paperback  |  Audible

---

---

Review

3.5 stars!

This is an easy read with a sexy, fun-yet-intense opposites-attract NA romance, and it’s a great start to a new series by Elle Kennedy that I can’t wait to read more of!

Sexy bad boy, Cooper Hartley, is from the small coastal town of Avalon Bay. He hasn’t had the easiest life, but he works a few jobs and has done ok for himself, living with his twin brother, and has a big circle of friends. But it’s the time of year when the students who attend exclusive Garnet College descend on his idyllic home town when they come back to school. A bunch of rich snobs, they are dubbed ‘clones’ by the townies, because they’re all the same rich, snobby elitists who look down on him and his friends. And his latest run in with one of them ended up with him being fired from his job.

Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Cabot is 20 years old, and starting at Garnet College after taking a gap year. She is one of the rich kids from a blue-blooded family, but despite the privilege of her life, she is not interested in her parents’ ‘circle’ and the expectations placed upon her, and she has branched out on her own and created her own internet empire that has proven to be hugely successful. But she still toes the line with her parents, following their rules, going to the college they chose, and even dating the boy that they approve of. They have have been together forever, with plans to get married and follow in their wealthy parents’ footsteps. But she secret longs to break out.

It just so happens that Mac’s boyfriend is the very same person who got Cooper fired. And Cooper and his friends have hatched a plan to seduce her away from him to get revenge. It’s not the most mature or ethical plan, but there you have it. The problem comes when Cooper and Mac meet, sparks fly, and he very quickly realises that she is not the stuck-up ‘clone’ that he was expecting her to be. He actually likes her.

Me: What are you doing?
Cooper: Flirting with some chick I just met.
I walked right into that one.
Me: Still have a boyfriend.
Cooper: For now.
Me: Goodnight, townie.
Cooper: Night, princess

I enjoyed watching Cooper and Mac come together. They have an easy way about them, and quickly become friends – and it turns into the most real and significant relationship in either of their lives. There are feelings there, of course, but Mac has a boyfriend which complicates everything, so along with the anticipation of waiting for something to happen, there is angst that goes along with it as Mac wrestles between her head and her heart.

“I was half asleep until I met him.”

Is there cheating? Yes. And even though Mac’s boyfriend is a supreme douchebag, I wish her story didn’t play out the way it did, but I was able to move past it and was happy to see Mac and Cooper come together for real. It’s passionate and fast-moving, and I love how they gave themselves over to it so freely. There is a dramatic meshing of lives as Mac struggles to fit into Cooper’s world and be accepted by his friends, and he struggles with the fact that she has money when he’s constantly fighting for it, but I enjoyed their journey as they figured it all out.

“In that moment I vow, even if it takes me the rest of my life, to show this girl she didn’t waste her heart on me”

But the whole time, Cooper is keeping his secret, and I was waiting for the big implosion. It comes, of course, and there is drama and angst, and I empathised with Mac. I even felt a bit sorry for Cooper, though he made a number of stupid choices along the way. But it’s all part of them figuring themselves out, and goes along with some major life changes and challenges that force them to confront their pasts and figure out what they want from their futures.

It’s an NA book, and the aspects of young adulthood are really well written. But even with the cheating, and some stupid behaviour, the thing that bothered me the most about this book was that I didn’t really feel the romance as much as I wanted to. I liked the characters, and I thought the build-up was great, but once they made the step, it felt a little flat to me, which was disappointing, and then the ending was abrupt, but I guess we’ll get to see more of Mac and Cooper as the series goes on.

Cooper has a big circle of friends, and there are already some significant dynamics and backstories among them. I’m looking forward to continuing on with the series and getting to know them better – especially Cooper’s twin, Evan, he intrigues me.

This book had a few iffy moments for me, but on the whole, I enjoyed it, and I’m keen to read more.

3.5 stars.

 

Avalon Bay