Such a great book full of suspense, plot twists, and endless drama! Exactly what a MYSTERY thriller should be all about. JT Ellison has an effortless style of writing that just makes you stay turned and want to keep turning the pages without a pause. This is my first J.T. Ellison book but not my last that's for sure!!

I loved this book! I am all about any book involving secret societies, boarding schools and rich teens! Especially when a mystery is thrown in! Read this book ig you like twists and turns!

Wow so this was a new book for me and I debated for so long if I was going to read it or if it was going to be too YA for me and I am so glad I did.. this is a great book and I have added this author to my must reads because it is amazingly well done.. I loved all the twists and turns. There is so many different twists and turns all laced together!

<I>Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.</I>

“Good Girls Lie” <I>should</I> have been right up my alley because it contains all of my guilty-pleasure plot motifs (prep schools, secret societies, a mysterious murder). However, this one missed the mark for me. I think the biggest problem I had with it was the gratuitous swearing and infighting. Every character is flawed, with very similar character traits—vindictive, vulgar, vicious—and yet they all martyr themselves. For real, the entire cast is made up of narcissistic sociopaths. The storyline is fast-paced but unbelievable (and at times downright nonsensical), relying on shock value and constant flips in the narrative rather than believable circumstances to move the story along. It made a decent psychological suspense/thriller, so if you are into unreliable narrators and lots of weird twists, give it a go. Just not my cup of tea.

This book was GREAT! Of course, why would that surprise me as I have loved every JT Ellison book I've read. The setting of this book was the first thing that drew me in. It reminded me of a big castle- almost like Harry Potter. I can relate to things the girls went through and the feeling of trying to fit in. The character development of the characters was thoughtful and gave me a sense of how the characters are in the book. The twist at the end was very unexpected but you see clues about it throughout that I didn't even think of.

This was such an awesome book! I had no idea who did it and the ending was so shocking! A girl I follow on Instagram loved this book as well and I loved hearing her thoughts on it! One of my favorite types of books to read are prep school books and this one did not disappoint. The beginning pulls you in immediately and I loved that about the book. It was a little hard to follow who was talking, but that may have just been me! Totally recommend!

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison is a fascinating thriller about the lifestyle of the rich and connected gone completely awry. This is my first J.T. Ellison book but I look forward to reading many more. The Goode School in Marchburg, Virginia is a girls’ boarding school that caters to the daughters of politicians and celebrities. The school prepares the students for admission to the Ivy League schools. A new girl arrives at Goode: she is from England and has recently lost both her parents to suicide. The dean takes her under her wing, and before long, the suspicious death of a student occurs. It soon becomes apparent that all is not what is seemed. The police get involved and become suspicious that this may be a case of murder. Not much more can be added so as not to divulge the plot. At first look, I thought this was a YA novel but this mystery can be enjoyed by most. Good Girls Lie will have you hooked from the first chapter and will take you on quite a ride. You will be astounded by the ending. Highly recommended. Thank you to Harlequin Mira and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A normally fun and light setting of a boarding school is fraught with troubling secrets and suspense throughout. This dark and twisty story centers around a murder at an all-girls prep school. It's an exhilarating thriller and was hard to put down because there was always something that was happening that I couldn’t take myself away from the story.

The pacing is fast and the stakes throughout are high. There is never a scene where you feel confident you know where the story is heading or that you truly knew a character. The secrets ooze out of each chapter slowly leading you to an unbelievable ending. This is 100% a thriller done right and I would recommend it for anyone looking for suspense and surprise around every chapter.

Thank you Mira Books, NetGalley, Harlequin and the author for this e-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The title Good Girls Lie is a play on words since the girls who attend The Goode School in Marchburg, Virginia are bound by a strict honor code: the stricture against lying is listed first. The school and the town are both fictional although J.T. Ellison is an alumna of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia (class of ’91). Ellison said she has “woven pieces of the school’s legends and tragedies into this story, all put through my own creative lens.”

The first chapter is entitled The Hanging. Ellison paints a horrifying picture—the opposite of how you might imagine a pastoral, purposeful prep school.
The girl’s body dangles from the tall, iron gates guarding the school’s entrance. A closer examination shows the ends of a red silk tie peeking out like a cardinal on a winter branch, forcing her neck into a brutal angle. She wears her graduation robe and multicolored stole as if knowing she’ll never see the achievement.
The scene quickly shifts back in time to the arrival of Ash Carlisle, a new student from Oxford, England. Dean Westhaven welcomes Ash into her inner sanctum and asks her over a perfectly prepared cup of Oolong tea if she remembers the words of the Honor Pledge. Ash dutifully recites it.
“I will hold myself and my fellow students to the highest standards. I pledge absolute honesty in my work and my personal relationships. I will never take a shortcut to further my own goals. I will not lie, I will not cheat, I will not steal. I will turn myself in if I fail to live up to this obligation, and I will encourage those who break the code in any way to report themselves as well. I believe in trust and kindness, and the integrity of this oath. On my honor.”
A classic mystery trope is the stranger entering an environment that is rich with long-standing traditions and customs. What is more hide-bound than an elite girls boarding-school? Think of The Official Preppy Handbook: fitting in at a boarding school is all about knowing and following the unspoken rules, be it clothing, manners, or the all-important who you know and where you’re from. Ash is worried “about fitting in with the daughters of the DC elite—daughters of senators and congressmen and ambassadors and reporters and the just plain filthy rich,” but she is “more than” pretty and as for her intelligence, she’s off the charts: “she’s both book smart and street-smart, the rarest of combinations.” Whilst Ash muses about her acceptability in a new environment, Ellison lays down a troubling marker.
Despite her concerns, if she sticks to the story, she will fit in with no issues. The only strike against her, of course, is me, but no one knows about me. No one can ever know about me.
What could this mean? Why does Dean Westhaven have to remind herself to call Ash by the last name Carlisle, instead of Carr? Troubling information like this is meted out in trickles but what really informs Good Girls Lie is the dichotomy between everything the school publicly represents and the actions of the girls behind the gates. The Goode School is known colloquially as a “Silent Ivy,” a sobriquet that plays on the school’s phenomenal acceptance rate at the Ivy Leagues. Of each class of graduates, “a full 90 percent go traditional Ivy.”
It is a laudable record. Goode accepts only the best, guarantees a serious return on investment. And in turn, expects blood, sweat, and tears. And future endowments. Elitism costs.
“Blood, sweat, and tears.” That’s a rather harsh description of high school, albeit a demanding girls-only prep school but Ash discovers the truth of it early on. Exhausted after dragging a huge suitcase up two flights of stairs, she looks at her information packet to find out the number of her room. It’s 214. A group of girls “point to the left as one, a flock of helpful, smiling little birds.” At the end of the hall, she finds the number written on a piece of paper, taped to a door. It’s a thoroughly gothic introduction to boarding school life.
Steeling myself, I open the door into…darkness. A heady, musty smell, overlaid with bleach. Across the room are two cobwebbed windows covered in smeary, dotted dirt. The floor is draped in tarps; neatly stacked ladders line the far wall, a row of paint cans in front of them. A fluorescent light swings from the ceiling. When I flip the switch, it comes to life with an ominous crackle.
That’s not all Ash hears—outside the door are “peals of laughter.” Really? “Oh, ha, bloody ha,” she thinks. But isn’t hazing of new students traditional? Or is this an indication of how things are going to be? Ash’s insularity, combined with her British background, make it impossible for her to escape notice. She is quickly targeted by her fellow students, particularly Becca, a member of the senior class. Becca is a natural leader, luminous, intelligent, and brilliant at blowing hot and cold at Ash. Becca and her followers quickly uncover the mystery of Ash’s mysterious background although Ellison deftly inserts clues that indicate that there’s much more to Ash than meets the eye.

The “hanging” marks a shift in the plot, from uncomfortable scenes of bullying and competition to dark secrets and downright terror. A paragraph describing Good Girls Lie takes on a frightening resonance: “In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or the dubious behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder.” Getting away with murder in this venue means more than scamming someone or something and getting off scot free—at The Goode School, murder is brutal and inexplicable. Good Girls Lie is a complicated, absorbing tale that is painted in morally ambiguous shades of grey, not black and white.

All I can say is wow! Just when you thought you knew what was going to happen, it completely takes you by surprise! 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2 star rating from me! Thank you Harlequin and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book!

I enjoyed this book but felt it was slow to get started. It picked up almost half way through and moved very quickly to the end. At times I felt that the story was a bit disjointed and almost moved too quickly. However, I was interested and intrigued enough to want to read to the end. I would recommend this to peers dispute only giving it 3 stars.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆☆
This is a fabulously creepy story. It’s a story about the students and staff at a prestigious boarding school for girls. The school has a dark history, but the secrets kept by the students are even darker.

The story is told from multiple perspectives which can be a bit bewildering. Especially when readers are fully aware that some – or possibly all – of the narration is decidedly unreliable. I found it impossible to feel any sort of empathy for any of the characters and even after I’d finished the book, I still wasn’t sure if any of the characters had been telling their truth.

The book is a puzzle and it requires careful reading. I really enjoyed piecing together all of the clues and examining the characters’ relationships. I don’t think the author really nailed the English content, but I’m sure American readers won’t notice. It’s a scary read – the body count starts early and there’s a claustrophobic sense of time running out that made me race through to the end. I loved the psychology and the suspense and I’m too scared of spoilers to write anything else at all about this book!


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is a book which leaves you pondering for a long while after – as well as being confounding whilst reading. There are layers and layers of deceit, intrigue, guile, and guilt. Some bits I worked out fairly quickly, only for a new perspective to make me doubt myself, before finally, I think, finding out that I was correct, albeit for the wrong reason. I enjoyed the weird and wild world of the Goode School and its inhabitants, although we never really got to know anything for sure!

If you enjoy a mystery, then this is one wrapped up in a strange, spooky school for clever young ladies, where a new student sets off a chain of events, the likes have never been seen before... although, maybe that is just what they would have you believe!

This was another hit by Ellison, she is a favorite of mine, and this one did not disappoint. Catty girls that bring the drama in a private school that also has a secret society? Yes please. People dying left and right? Yes please. A narrator that we don’t know the identity of but is clearly hiding something? Yes PLEASE!

What I loved is that this book had me hooked from the beginning with a dark death, and it just went from there with lies on lies on lies. The good thing is we the reader were kept in the dark. (See what I did there?) I enjoyed the fact that everyone was pretty much a hot mess as their world was falling apart around them, so it was difficult to figure out what was going on at first, since they all had a reason to try and keep things quiet, lest their own secrets come out. And by keep things quiet I mean especially Dean Westhaven, who is seems to be more worried about her secrets coming to light than dealing with the fact that folks are dying. Oh what a tangled web we weave…

I enjoyed this one very much, and recommend it for thriller fans. TW for suicide, murder, abuse, drug use… Thank you to MIRA Books and NetGalley for the free copy to review!

Xoxo,

Wow! When I find a novel with an all girls school, secret societies, and murder..I know I'm going to enjoy it.
Good Girls Lie was no exception. We have the mysterious Ash who's hiding something that only she and Dean (aka Ford the headmistress of the Goode school) know about. Or Dean thinks she knows all of Ash's secrets.
What follows is a lot of lies and scandals all headed for deadly ends. Really good and addictive!

Thrilling heart pounding cant put down book... J.T has once again written a must turn the page novel... Her characters are interesting and relatable... her plots are interesting... she has once more written what her fans expect from her.... a page turner

Good Girls Lie takes place at an all-girls school. Our main character gets involved with one of the most notorious girls on campus, and once that happens, crap gets real. There's some fighting, lust, betrayal, and murder (maybe?) to keep us readers interested. And for me, it was. Good Girls Lie is written in a way that kept me guessing.

Mysteries and thrillers are pretty much my favorite genre and this one fits right in. We have a newcomer who shows up, and once she does, her roommates are that bitchy, passive aggressive type, that, you know, everyone loves. Our newcomer is also trying to stay out of the way of what could be an on-campus cult (or secret society). Even the Dean of Students has a background that makes you want to know what's happening.

I really enjoyed this one, and I hope you do too.

4/5 Stars

Having been a teacher for 33 years, I often shy away from books that take place in schools, but with this one being penned by J.T. Ellison, I took a chance on it and am glad I did. The Goode School is a prestigious all-girls' boarding school in Marchburg, Virginia. It only accepts the brightest girls, who also have the means to pay the tuition. They gain early acceptance to the best Ivy League Universities. where the girls gain early acceptance to the ivy schools of their choice. Rules are expected to be followed and there is an honor and conduct code that must be abided by. There is also another side to the school, secret societies and hazing are overlooked. When a young woman from the UK is accepted on a scholarship due to her amazing piano skills, she tries to fit in to his foreign environment. When her roommate commits suicide the suspense ramps us. Did she commit suicide? Why? What do the other students know? How does Ash fit into all this?

This book was fast paced, disturbing at times (hazing, bullying), but definitely had me hooked. I quickly read/listened to this one wanting to know what was going to happen next. I thought I had it all figured out, but I couldn't have been more wrong. The story is told mostly from Ash's POV, but also includes POVs from Ford Westhaven, the Dean, and a few of the secondary characters. There is more than one death in the story that adds to the mystery and suspense, several ghost tales about the school, rumours about the girls, handsome men, some illicit encounters and a lot of lies. As the story unfolded I became intrigued with Ash and what was going on in her life, not always sure what was happening. Overall, I enjoyed this book. The setting was wonderful. An all-girls school in the hills without much around. The writing was good, and the plot moved at a good pace. The ending was a shocker and the epilogue did a great job of tying up some loose ends, also a huge surprise. I am sure that you will enjoy this story and I recommend it to those who enjoy a suspenseful thriller.

Boarding school? Secret passages? Lies, traditions, and murder? This book is right up my alley. A page-turner psychological thriller that will keep you up at night.

This book was a FIVE star read to me, but due to the way it was written I could not follow the plot easily and had to reread some parts for a few times to know from whose perspective it was written and how it as following the plot.
The story starts with a BANG, and there is no way to know what had happened before or what was really going on there without following the story closely. Ash is a new student at the Goode School and she has some BIG secrets and we know it, but till the very end, I was not even close to what was the real deal here!
Secret society at the school, murder, sexual tension in ALL-GIRL boarding school, exclusive school situations - how this lost girl will manage to survive there if everything is not what it seems, and lies are what seems true, and what seems truth are lies.
The ending was so unexpected and nothing would prepare me for this kind of situation and how it was played.

Good Girls Lie gripped me from the very beginning. That first chapter sure sets the atmosphere for what's to come. The characters were complex and flawed, which added so much to the story. Even with all the crazy twists, I actually believed this could be real. That's how JT Ellison's writing is: makes you believe anything.

I mean, wow. Did not see that one coming at all. It definitely had my heart racing. At times, it felt slow-ish, but the execution of the story, the world-building, the characters, it all added to the story to flow seamlessly. It was definitely an addicting and exhilarating read.

I was glad when I read the author's note and found out how quite a few details of the story happened in real life. It just added to the eeriness of the story. I cannot wait for more by this author.