This book was just fine! A good thriller if you need something quick to get out of a reading slump. Aside from the kind of petty and bland cast of characters, none of whom I particularly enjoyed & the filler narrative sprinkled throughout, I really did like the story. I am a sucker for a school setting, so the boarding school atmosphere was awesome. I was pleasantly surprised by the twists in the story, and I thought the tension build was successful.

All in all, I liked this one, but won't be coming back to it.

We are greeted on the opening page with a girl hanging from the entrance gate to The Goode School for privileged girls, and it all begins.

And then we meet Ash as she arrives for her first year here all the way from England to the United States.

Ash arrives with secrets and lies that are not revealed but are intriguing enough to make you extremely curious.

GOOD GIRLS LIE has a sinister, Gothic feel, and the school has rule after rule. Ash doesn't know if she can stay here, and she has only been there one day.

Every day is a struggle trying to fit in and learning how to deal with everything that happened back home and at the school both present and past.

The girls are catty and manipulative. Comments are made by the characters about what someone is going to do, but you never know who is talking. This definitely keeps up the intrigue and suspense.

As the new school year continues, things get worse and another girl is dead.

GOOD GIRLS LIE is filled with drama, cruel girls, administrators that look the other way, lies, deceit, secrets, betrayal, surprises, and an ending and ending twist you won't see coming.

You won’t want to put it down because it is filled with edge-of-your-seat tension, is chilling, and pretty creepy. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Harlequin-Mira/Netgalley for the advanced copy of Good Girls Lie by JT Ellison. I really think this book caught me at a bad time. I've read some extremely good thrillers lately, am close to finishing my Goodreads goal for the year, and am not finding as much time to read lately. Any other time I would have probably devoured this book. Now, it was a bit of a chore. The cliches surrounding boarding schools were plentiful. The cliches about girls who attend boarding schools were too. This didn't bother me too much until the plot became a little too far-fetched for me. Once the characters are meted out for who they are I felt a little cheated. It was a bit too contrived. I really believe this could be more effectively marketed as a Young Adult novel. Plenty of adults will enjoy it, as did I, but anyone who has read a great amount of mystery/thriller novels may feel slighted.

There was a lot I really liked in this book. Having attended an all women's college, I really connected with the setting and found some minor elements that really resonated with me (like the underground tunnels connecting parts of the campus). And maybe because I was college-aged in a similar environment, I had a hard time remembering that the girls in this story were only in high school. They seemed older to me, and when I remembered just how young they were, the story started to seem a whole lot less plausible. Not that high schoolers aren't smart or resourceful or interested in experimenting with drugs and alcohol. But I have a daughter who's a freshman, and trying to place her or her friends into this story is simply unfathomable. But mostly this book just felt like an early draft of a book. And yes, I know it's a DRC so changes could still be made, but that's generally pretty minor stuff. There's an interesting story in there for sure, and definitely a complicated cast of characters (most of whom are women!), but it just didn't feel fully formed. It read to me like it needed more substantive development (story and characters) and a more sophisticated execution. That's not to say I didn't like this book, just that there was enough going for it that it could (should?) have been better.

Wicked good story! Mix together a prestigious all girls school, a few mean girls, some secret societies, a few haunted areas on campus, sex, drugs and narcissism, and you get a tantalizing story that will keep you up past bedtime.

Ashlynn Carr, orphan daughter of a wealthy England couple arrives at The Goode School hoping to put her past behind her. She’s going by a new name, Ash Carlisle. Her reluctance to share her past puts her on the other students’ radar and some of them will stop at nothing to find out the scoop on their secretive new school mate.

Apparently there is a lot more to Ash Carlisle’s past than anyone realized. As the story unfolds, readers will be kept guessing as to who Ash Carlisle really is and is she to be trusted? Or can anyone be trusted?

The story ends with a satisfying twist that serves to raise even more questions about Ash Carlisle and her guilt or innocence in the events of the past.

Very scandalous read that will appeal to those who love psychological thrillers.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Mira for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

The Goode School is an all-girls boarding school full of privilege and history and secret societies. It is also a breeding ground for hazing, secrets and lies. Ashlyn Carr arrives at Goode under an assumed name to escape the sudden deaths of both of her parents. It appears that her secrets will be safe as the new headmistress is very interested in protecting her own secrets as well as how Ashlyn's tuition was funded.

When Ash’s roommate is found dead at the bottom of the clock tower. It brings back parts of the dark past associated with not just the school, but the headmistress and some of the students as well.. But Ash has her own secrets and they are just itching to come back to haunt her.

While it has all the necessary elements of a good ghost story that throws a shadow over the real mystery, it missed the boat in that there were too many characters doing and saying too many things that were not of any pertinence to the story itself. It didn’t hold my interested and I felt that the story dragged on and on and could likely have been done in about half the chapters.

2.5 rounded to 3 Stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a quick read for me and I was glued to its pages from the start. I enjoyed the alternating points of view and the clever way the author created the tension throughout the book. This book had all the right ingredients for a boarding school mystery: secret societies, hazing, murder, teenage girl’s cattiness, and eerie descriptions of an old school’s grounds and buildings. The plot was never dull and there were plenty of twists to make me questions everyone’s motive. I am looking forward to reading more books from this author soon.

This book takes place at an elite all girls boarding school that demands perfection in all the girls do. Each girl in attendance comes with her own baggage and secrets. Ash, a new girl, is no different.

When a group of elite girls are in one place, something bad is bound to happen. There are hints and teasers from the get-go for an epic plot twist. The twist was not at all what I was expecting, and I loved it!

The story is very well developed. I always love reading about characters whose lives are different from mine. Each character in Good Girls Lie are flawless, beautiful, and rich.

I was very satisfied with the ending. All of the questions I had throughout the novel were answered.
Overall, Good Girls Lie is a very good suspenseful thriller. Thank you so much to Netgalley for an advanced ecopy and the opportunity to read and review this book!

Thank you to the publishers for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! I didn't expect this book to have as many twists in it that it did, especially the ending!!

This was the most interesting read I've had this year and I'm glad to have the opportunity to read this in advance. This book will not disappoint!

From page one, J.T. Ellison had me hooked. The atmosphere of the boarding school, the girlish mischief around the secret societies, and the thrilling build-up to what I knew was going to be a deliciously soapy climax made the book impossible to put down... Or at least, until I got to the bit about Borderline Personality Disorder. If you're an author and you don't understand a particular mental illness, don't use it in your novel. It's lazy, irresponsible, and further fuels the stigma that's already out there.

This is my first read by J.T. Ellison book and I will be looking for more! The book starts with a murder at the Goode School, then goes back to tell the story leading up to the murder.

The Goode School is a boarding school for the daughters of the wealthy and powerful. Ash Carlisle, a new student arrived from England, has a tragic background and keeps to herself. Thing go badly right from the start for Ash. No matter how good the school is, teen girls are teen girls. Add in secret societies and questionable deaths at the school and things just go from bad to worse.

I love thrillers and this book really delivered! I highly recommend Good Girls lie to thriller fans!

I didn't finish this book. The writing was over-wrought. This isn't really a review, but I thought I needed to say something.

Incredibly addictive, it is perfect for fans of Pretty Little Liars. It had a great atmosphere and the characters weren't one dimensional. The twists of which I did not expect all, were shocking. Great thriller.

Huge thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin-Mira Books for the e-arc of Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison. All opinions are my own.

This is my first J.T. Ellison book and it won’t be my last. I could not put it down. I love boarding school stories because they have so many secrets. This one was no exception. There were so many twists. Every time I thought I had it figured out something happened to change my mind.

Who is Ash? Who is Becca? Who is Camille? Why are people so suspicious of one another? What are the secret societies? Is the school haunted? So many questions and so many answers. You will not be disappointed with this book.

Tear Me Apart by J. T. Ellison was one of my favorite suspense novels of last year, so naturally I was eager to review her 2019 offering, Good Girls Lie. While it did not quite match the brilliance of the first book, it is still a riveting read.

Ash Carlisle is a Goode girl. The recipient of a scholarship to the elusive, all female preparatory The Goode School in the small, picturesque town of  Marchburg, Virginia, she has now joined an elite group of young ladies who call this elegant Silent Ivy their home.  Catering to the daughters of the wealthy and powerful, The Goode School offers an intense, competitive education, that along with their stellar pedigrees, assures their graduates attend Ivy League colleges and become the movers and shakers of the industrial and political world. A diploma from this institution comes with a guarantee of success.

But Ash is not their typical student. Shy, with a tragic history, she has changed her name and left her home in Oxford, England to begin again. Her first encounters at the school do not go well. Becca Curtis, the reigning Queen Bee of the school, who is president of all the clubs and groups that matter and has a strong clique of girls who back her reign of terror, takes an instant dislike to Ash, calling her a “mad Brit” before classes have even begun. She implies Ash won’t be able to handle the tough curriculum and will commit suicide before the year is out.  Ash’s recital for Muriel Grassley, the music teacher, ends in disaster.  She’s not off to a stellar start.

But these hiccups will not be the only tragedies she faces. Everyone has secrets at The Goode School. Everyone lies to protect their privacy. Some are even willing to kill in order to do so.

This is a subtle, layered mystery which hinges around a secret that is alluded to but not spelled out until almost the end of the tale. My review will not contain particulars because I don’t want to spoil the winding, macabre, delicious ride Ms. Ellison takes us on to get there.

The author does an excellent job of depicting what most of us would expect from an elite all-girls school. There is a large degree of cattiness, an even larger degree of stress, and friendships and love bloom amidst this tense hormonal atmosphere. Anyone who has ever been to a secondary school will recognize that beneath the glamorous, gentrified facade of this one are the same cliques, challenges and concerns that all teens face. Sadly, recent years have taught us that this atmosphere can also lead to death and murder, which, of course, happens here. Within the first few months of the term, one of the girls jumps (or is she pushed?) from the bell tower. Of course she had secrets. Of course the discovery of those secrets has a domino effect; everything learned about the dead girl reveals something about a living person, something others would much rather keep hidden.

Most of the story is told from the points of view of Ash and Ford (the dean of the school), but we also see certain events from other perspectives. Using the currently popular trope of the unreliable narrator, the author makes it clear from the start that everyone is hiding something. Or lying. The voices are all vivid and compelling and finding out whatever elusive secret(s) is/are being hidden is addictive, and kept me turning the pages. My primary questions surrounded our primary narrator, Ash. Is she an innocent victim of everything that is happening? A pawn of a more powerful player? Or a manipulative witch who has perfected the art of appearing innocent and vulnerable?

That ambiguity kept me from liking Ash or any of the characters, really, because all of their actions seemed to have dual explanations. A good example of this is what happens at the piano recital. There is a claim that everything that occurs is a tragic accident, but oddly, that tragic ‘accident’ worked to the benefit of the person who caused it. I didn’t trust that it really was a mistake, which kept me from liking and trusting the person behind it. Moreover, most of the characters had some genuinely nasty characteristics which obliterated any sympathy I might have felt for their circumstances.  A teen in trouble turns out to be a snoop, a liar and a mean girl who had created a great deal of hassle for another student. One girl is clearly a psychopath whose narcissism leads her to kill to solve her problems.  Yet another, who has family issues that would typically lead me to feel some empathy for her, was so cruel and controlling with her classmates that I couldn’t feel much pity for her. The love affair between two of the girls came after one of them had been so cold and condescending to the other that I couldn’t really wish for an HEA for them. Or even an HFN.

Most psychological thrillers are a little bit over the top and this story is no exception. The big reveal towards the end, where our biggest villain is introduced, isn’t completely impossible, but I would put it at the high end of improbable. It worked, if just barely, because of the nature of the tale.  The author does a nice job of laying the groundwork for this particular twist so that it’s as believable as it can be when it arrives.

Like many of today’s psychological thrillers, Good Girls Lie explores the darkest parts of the human spirit. There are no innocent victims here. Just one long litany of damaged souls, which made it one of the darkest mysteries I’ve read in some time, and makes it a near perfect novel for someone looking for a grim, seductive, twisty story that will keep you reading into the wee hours of the morning.

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overall: The story centres around a private all girls high school, in Virginia, for the elite on fast track for the Ivy League schools.
I was totally hooked from the very first page, as we uncover the life of Ash Carlisle, a new student arrived from England. The school is full of secrets, deception, secret societies and of course … murder!
The tension build up was incredible! The writing was beautiful, atmospheric, the story so well told. I loved the characters, the inner dialogue really helped get to know everyone that much more too. There was definitely a “Mean Girls” vibe to the story too, which I kind of really enjoyed too.
Good Girls Lie was an utter creepy page turner, the twists and turns kept coming throughout, keeping me on the edge on my seat. My first read by Ellison, and definitely won’t be my last.

Loved, loved, loved this book! Boarding school girls and a murder, my favorite combination! The mystery of Ash keeps the story moving along quickly. Her roommates and friends are realistic teens born into wealth and often ignored by their parents. Additional mysteries involving the headmistress and her mother/predecessor are fresh and fascinating! Highly recommend!

Another great J.T. Ellison novel. Good Girls Lie draws you in and again demonstrates why Ellison is at the top of his game!

A girl arrives at a posh school and nothing is as it seems. This edge of your seat boarding school mystery will keep readers guessing to the end.

It was a good laid out story but it did lose me for awhile. It did pick up and a pretty good twist at the end.