Review: The Downfall of a Good Girl

Title: The Downfall of a Good Girl
Author: Kimberly Lang
Publisher: Harlequin KISS
Release Date: February 2013
Format: eGalley

Southern debutante Vivienne LaBlanc can’t believe bad-boy rock star Connor Mansfield is back in town for the New Orleans annual Saints and Sinners pageant. He has a reputation as wicked as his devilish smile, and Vivi has no intention of becoming one of his latest groupies! He once crushed her high school heart, so playing the saint to Connor’s sinner should be easy. But how can Vivi get those less-than-angelic thoughts out of her head-especially when Connor’s so good at tempting her to be bad?—via Goodreads

Sometimes what you really need is solid I-hate-you-but-I-love-you love story.

The Downfall of a Good Girl falls solidly into that category and definitely doesn’t disappoint.

Though it’s a fun, flirty story about two people who knew each other when, only to be reunited after both having very public personas—Vivienne, a Miss America runner up; Connor, a rock star with a bad reputation—there is a shocking level of depth to this story. As the characters compete in the New Orleans Saints and Sinners pageant, a charity event to raise money for Hurricane Katrina clean-up in which two New Orleans natives compete to raise the most money in the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras, they find themselves drawn toward each other in a way that shocks them both, but they are also facing what life brings in your late 20s. They’re both trying to come to terms with their age, and with what life means when you’re possibly considered a washed-up beauty queen and a bad boy musician whose life in the public eye might have changed the way his fans feel about his music.

As Vivienne and Connor navigate not only their charity event, their past, their personal lives, and their careers, they also find that their feelings and relationships are the aspects of their lives that have been most neglected. Luckily for them both, they’re in the mood to fix that.

Overall, this is a really fun, quick read set in New Orleans. The setting is so evocative it will have you trying to book a flight so you can have beignets at Cafe du Monde, the romance is hot, but not so porny that you’re praying no one is reading over your shoulder on the train, and story is surpremely satisfying. If you’re looking for a quick read set in the South with a rocker who wears leather, The Downfall of a Good Girl will do the trick.