This one was a bit difficult to get into… but once you’re past the first third of the book, the action picks up and Good Girls Lie is hard to put down!

This book had plenty of potential: an intriguing setting, all-girl school drama, secret societies and murder. However, the “big reveal” or the “big twist” of the story was easy to figure out as it was hinted at quite early on in the novel.

Back to the setting: I quite enjoyed the boarding school setting. Though it was sometimes hard to remember the girls are only in High School, as it had a more of a college feel (drugs, alcohol, parties, sorority-like secret societies, etc). Also, some of the rules were hard to believe, as a reader: such as, the no-cellphone-allowed-on-campus rule. A No-Cellphone rule during class would be easy to get behind, but cellphones not even allowed on school grounds, in this day and age, is simply unfathomable. Especially since kids are away from their parents during the whole school term.

There were many narrators and I particularly enjoyed Dean Westhaven’s point of view. She is an interesting character, with many facets of her personality, that make her easy to relate to. The main character though, Ash, sometimes feels a little cold and shallow. Her personality is harder to empathize with.

As I mentioned earlier, the first 30% of the novel was difficult to get into. I sometimes felt like it dragged on a bit too much. Once the action picks up, however, I devoured the rest of the novel quickly. The ending was also a bit disappointing, no huge twist that I hadn’t seen coming.

All in all, I give Good Girls Lie 3 stars, for the action-packed second half of the novel, and for the setting, which I enjoyed imagining.

The opening scene of this book is amazing and you know immediately going in that this is going to be a book that will be hard to put down! Welcome to The Goode School in Marchburg Virginia, an all girls prestigious boarding school that only the wealthy can afford, they send their young daughters to this school prepare them for the Ivy League futures. Behind the walls of this elite school holds some very dark secrets that include, murder and secret societies. Enter Ash Carlisle she’s from England she’s alone, recently losing her parents to a horrific murder suicide. Immediately picked on by the head girl she soon discovers her school isn’t the getaway she was hoping for. Not al of the girls are who they appear. Ash has her own secrets she’s hoping to keep hidden what they are we aren’t told right away, she hopes to keep them in her past. Soon the lies begin to pile up and when a murder happens you start to see not everyone is who they appear to be... this book had me at the edge of my seat. The author did an amazing job weaving each character in and had me guessing what was going to happen. I loved how everyone had their own secret and appearances are deceiving especially when you throw an all girls boarding school!! Five stars!

Wow! Add this one to my short list of books I really, really didn't want to put down. Absolutely loved it from start to finish.

Much of my reason for enjoyment is the in-depth, intriguing character development; each and every one has a complex, often secretive backstory, revealed as the story progresses. As might be expected, there are twists - some quite surprising - that kept me hooked as well. I'm aware, though, that some say the story has its unbelievable moments. I agree that's true to a degree; but in my mind, there's no reason a good story can't stretch the imagination a bit. I'm not reading it because I want to be immersed in total reality - in many cases, in fact, that wouldn't be any fun at all.

As this one opens, a recently orphaned girl named Ashlyn Carr has come to the elite Goode School in Virginia. She was admitted following a Skype-type interview by the dean, Dr. Ford Julianne Westhaven. The students here are highly intelligent but societal misfits, and Ash definitely fits the profile. But almost the moment she arrives, Ash bumps heads with senior Becca - the daughter of a powerful senator - who's clearly bonkers but just as clearly rules the student body with a heavy hand. The plot thickens when one of the girls is found dead - hanging from the front gates.

Flashbacks show Ash's life before her life got Goode when she and her parents lived in England, and it's not pretty. And early on, Ash (and readers) learn that life at Goode isn't very pretty either; there are secret societies and cliques, for instance, that bring out the worst in the girls who live here. Nor do the faculty and staff get off easy - they have their own secrets and peccadilloes that make life miserable for themselves and others around them.

Although Ash is talented enough to get private lessons from the school's computer whiz teacher, she can't seem to make much headway when it comes to making friends. Even her roommate, Camile - another girl who has some serious secrets to hide - turns on her. Then suddenly, the tide seems to turn when Ash receives a coveted invitation to the Attic from Becca - a rarity for a freshman and a sure sign that Ash has finally made the grade.

Or not. After all, good girls lie, don't they? A big part of the appeal of this story is trying to figure out which (if any) of the Goode girls are truthful. Thoroughly enjoyable book, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

Any book by J.T. Ellison is a must read. Simple as that. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

I love love love when an author surprises me!
The story is addictive and the writing is tight.
I thought I had the whole thing figured out, but she still managed to throw a few surprises in at the end.
Much love to NetGalley and HARLEQUIN - MIRA (U.S. and Canada) for my ARC.

Thank you so much to MIRA Books for this eARC!
I tend not to read a ton of thrillers, but when I heard Good Girls Lie was set at an all girls boarding school I was immediately interested! Ash Carr - who’s parents have both recently died- arrives from England at The Goode School, and everything starts going wrong.
The tone of the entire book is unsettling- I never knew who to trust, and I kept second-guessing the opinions I thought I had. If you like thrillers with tons of atmosphere, this is definitely one to pick up!

There are truths, and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened, which is where you and I will meet. My truth is your lie, and my lie is your truth and there is a vast expanse between them.

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison is a thriller of a most complex and convoluted nature and I absolutely loved it! The paragraph I outlined above perfectly captures the essence of the story. Who’s lying and who is telling the truth? And, whose truth is it?

Good Girls Lie has a cast of compelling characters that were, at times, unreliable narrators but had me so emotionally invested that I literally had to keep turning pages to satisfy my curiosity. The setting alternates between a fictional boarding school, The Goode School, located in Virginia and the U.K. The majority of the story takes place at The Goode School, where the privileged daughters of the elite and wealthy come to get the finest education possible before they head off to a prestigious college. I really enjoyed the world building and found the history behind the fictional school fascinating; after reading the authors note, I discovered there is a mix of schools and Ms. Ellison’s own experiences that the Goode School is constructed from.

The plot is tightly woven and thought-provoking; it moves along quickly and I was delighted to find that I didn’t know what I thought I knew! I absolutely love when a book - especially a thriller - has this effect on me! There are the requisite plot twists and red herrings, definitely, but they are well-crafted, well-placed, and above all else, they made sense! Especially when that ah-ha moment hits! Even after I thought all was done, Ms. Ellison had a surprise ending that kept the suspense going.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the mystery/suspense or psychological thriller genre.

A big thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin MIRA, and J.T. Ellison for allowing me to review Good Girls Lie in exchange for my honest review.

J.T. Ellison has come out with a brand new thriller to captivate their audience – Good Girls Lie. Though I’ll confess that it’s also the first novel I’ve read by them – so my review will not be making comparisons to their past work.
Good Girls Lie is a complex and disturbing novel, one that combines thriller elements with an in-depth study of human nature and the various extremes that come from the bonds of friendship.
The Goode School is one of the most prestigious all-girls schools in the country. Designed as a place to send the daughters of the influential, this is one of those stereotypical schools that only take the best of the best. And one has to continue to earn their place, once they’ve made it in.
Naturally, this is a highly competitive environment, with all of the girls seeking to go on to greater and bigger things. And that means they’re willing to do anything to get ahead – and create trouble in the process.
The Goode School has faced its fair share of scandal in the past. But they’re not prepared for the level of chaos that is about to be brought down on them. And it all starts with the death of a student. Though really, things were set in motion quite a while before that.

“If you spend your life apologizing, you’ll never gain any confidence.”

Warnings: Good Girls Lie is a classic thriller, in that it doesn’t shy away from some of the more graphic things human beings are capable of doing to one another. There are some graphic murders included, along with abuse, suicide, and scenes depicting hazing.

Good Girls Lie was a thrilling an intense tale of epic proportions. Have you ever picked up a book and found the web so tangled that you couldn’t look away? That is exactly the sort of story that’s taking place at the Goode School.
Honestly, it’s been a hot minute since I read a thriller that got to me as much as Good Girls Lie did. It had all of these brilliant – yet disturbing – elements in all of the right balances. I just couldn’t get it out of my head. Actually, it’s been a day since I finished reading it, and I still can’t get it out of my head.
What really impressed me about this novel was the level of detail that J.T. Ellison was able to weave into the story. Each scene felt so rich and alive, which certainly added to some of the more disturbing scenes.
Almost the entirety of the book is set at the Goode School, and yet the world was carefully thought out and expanded to its fullest. It’s almost hard to believe that this one school could contain so much intrigue and drama. Though I doubt that the Goode School would actually be proud of that fact…
There was a strong sense of mystery surrounding the thriller elements. This was not a clear cut story by any means. You couldn’t just pick up the book, read the first chapter, and know who did what. There were hints dropped along the way, of course, but nothing was clear. And that made plenty of room for shocking twists.
I loved every minute I spent reading Good Girls Lie. I almost wish that I could go back and read it again for the first time. But I can’t. On the bright side, I now have a new author (well, new to me) to go and read through their backlog. And that sounds like a win to me.

The Goode School is a prestigious all girls prep school, but one day a student is found dead on the campus and questions begin to arise. Was her death a suicide or did something more sinister happen here?

I was so excited for this book as i've heard great things about J.T Ellison and murder at an elite girls school definitely sounds like something I want to read! However, I felt a little underwhelmed by it.

This was a quick and entertaining read, but some of the middle section did drag a little for me and there was no real surprise in it. It seemed rather obvious to me what the plot twist was going to be. Overall, it was good read but not something that's going to stick with me.

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison is a wild and sometimes twisted thriller. Very had to put down as you have to get to the truth, or what you may think is the truth. Ash, a young sixteen year old comes from Oxford England to America and is enrolled in a posh all girl private school. It is one tumble after the other, mean girls, good girls, tragedy and more. Loved this!.

This novel kept me up late turning pages. I really wanted to know who Ash was, and what secrets she was harboring. The author painted a vivid picture of the Goode School, and I could really picture the campus and the dormitories. I thought I'd guessed the big "twist" early in the story, but I was wrong. My only issue with the book is that it was a little difficult keeping track of which character's head I was in. The book frequently jumps between first person (Ash) and third person (usually the Dean) and I kept having to reorient myself as to who was telling the story in that chapter. I also wasn't a huge fan of the sexual encounters in the book, which did nothing to advance the story, but that's personal preference for me as I don't enjoy that content. Overall, this was a suspenseful novel with interesting characters, and I would read more books by this author.

Favorite character: Kate Wood

She is the one sane mind in a sea of doubt, anxiety, and mental illness. I love her stoic determination to unearth the truth, never once succumbing to the gaslighting and losing focus. Kate Wood is relatively a minor character in the amount of time dedicated to her scenes in the novel, but a significant character based on the impact she has on the story.

What I Loved About Good Girls Lie

The delightful intensity of being inside so many minds set me in the right mood to enjoy the story as it unfolded. By the end, I felt like I was gaslighted along with the characters. Moving from mind to mind kept me in an unsettled state and made guessing the who, the why, and then what will happen next tricky. Up to the last page, I wasn’t sure who did it, and even now, I’m not entirely sure. This uncertainty is fascinating to me as it allows me to draw my unique conclusion to go with the ending.

Seeing the story unfold through several characters’ minds is also inherently unreliable, but that is an excellent technique for a psychological thriller. Nothing is scarier than knowing what is in someone else’s head, though at times, I found that my reading slowed down as a result. So, I found the pace to be fast at some points and slow at others, like a natural ebb and flow.

The bits of real boarding school elements intrigue me. I find the whole idea of boarding school to wrapped in mystique due to its exclusivity, and this portrayal enhances my perception. The students, though born to wealth and knowing all the privileges that provides, still have to deal with the same issues as public-school students. They experience bullying, questioning sexuality, pregnancy, and drug and alcohol use and abuse. It’s just wrapped up in a more mysterious package since the secret societies are a big part of these problems.

The character development is based on the unreliability of the narration, so I was never sure that I had a handle on any one character. I realized that as much as I knew, I didn’t really know anything. I loved that I found the characters well-developed but unreliably so. How intriguing!!!

To Read or not to read.

If you love intense psychological thrillers, this should be your next read. It will leave you guessing till the last page and maybe even beyond. It is so good!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have a thing for stories set at boarding schools, and the fact that this one was about an all-girls' one plus a murder mystery? Sign me up.

I liked the setting, the atmosphere of the school itself. I wish we had seen more of the everyday life of some of the girls and less of the constant gossip and backstabbing, unless that is what the author wanted to convey happens 24/7.

Some of the narration towards the beginning is purposely dubious (it is unclear who the speaker is), but in the epilogue I wanted the author to just say straight out who was narrating at what time, because by that point we know all the players; they've all been revealed. Not that I couldn't figure it out, but it just seemed unnecessary to try and keep us in suspense by that point.

The fact that all of this was masterminded by some teenage girls is the really unbelievable part, even though darkness can be found in anyone. The perpetrator was really twisted, but what the author did so well was make you feel for the main character, even when you find out that she lies about things (hence the catchy title).

This was a bit longer than it needed to be, as some sub-plots weren't necessary to add to the book as a whole. I found myself frustrated with the Dean and her obliviousness to the blatant rule-breaking, but also understanding since she did not want to be stuck in her role. I did not care for the Dean's love-life plots, though.

The cop Kate was one of those characters that just seemed thrown in as an ex-machina to move the story along.

I'll reiterate that what the author does so well is make you root for the one who may not be 100% what she seems, and that is part of the draw. And yet you end up hating another character that had a hard past, and yet you don't want to excuse her actions in the slightest.

This was a young adult thriller that delivered! It took place at a prestigious all girls school and had lots of girl drama. The setting added to the mysterious mood of the book. There were some stereotypical characters and they were juicy! The suspense held my attention and I wanted to read, read, read. There were some surprises for me and I didn't guess the ending. I haven't read much from this author, but I can't wait to check out others.

Do good girls lie? Or just Goode?
Wow! So much "good" in this book, I absolutely devoured it!!
I've read the boarding school suspense books before so, you can gather what my thoughts were when I began. However, that was NOT the case with this novel. This book had a lot of plot twists that created more diversity through the story and it all worked together to form a truly GOOD thriller!
A special thanks to Harlequin and the author for sharing this really amazing read with me. This comes out December 31st so you would be smart to pick it up then!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I just finished Good Girls Lie. It was one of my most anticipated reads for this year and it did not disappoint. Who doesn’t love a boarding school thriller?! Girls who come to The Goode School are the best, smartest, and come from influential families. A new student comes to town and the story starts with a bang leaving you to read to figure out what went down. The setting was perfect for murder, lies, secret societies…and GUYS! that. ending. I really enjoyed this one!

Ever wish you had gone to boarding school? Wonder what it would be like to be surrounded by smart, competitive, devious people? With Good Girls Lie, JT Ellison gives us the Goode School - an ultra-elite, all-girls school with a murderous past.

"Ash is a new student at the Goode School. Her parents in England have recently died and Ash is hoping for a new start in the US. She quickly finds that some lies are not enough."

This story sucked me right in. JT gives the reader enough description where you can feel and see the school. You can hear the whispers in the dining hall. You can feel the animosity from the Head Girl. And so many lies from so many people. The story goes back and forth from present to past, but it works. The beginning is ambiguous enough to make you wonder about the ending. And you may guess much of the ending as you get there, but there's a nice twist for us at the end.

JT has a fast-paced writing style that makes the story hum along. Fans of thrillers should add this to their list. JT Ellison is a relatively new author to me (this is my 2nd book) but I will be searching out more of her books.

An atmospheric thriller set in an all girls boarding school. I loved the atmospheric quality and setting but the plot went in a direction that I don't like and the characters were not enjoyable to read about. I appreciated the writing style and will definitely pick up other books by this author but this wasn't the book for me.

4 stars

Huh?! This book is so good and confusing I am still not quite sure who did what. I do know, damn girls be crazy b's! I loved the gothic boarding school background, and am now very glad I didn't attend one. This was my first book by J.T. and it probably will not be my last.

I liked this book. It had some really good twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I enjoyed the setting at the boarding school and it was interesting seeing through Ash's eyes as the story unfolded.

The descriptions the author uses for the setting kept me so immersed in the story as well.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I will definitely pick up more from this author.