The twists and turns in this book will keep readers on their toes as this suspenseful tale slowly unravels. The readers will get an up close look into an elite boarding school occupied by some out of control high school girls. Extreme hazing, alcohol, drugs and murder are all included in this mystery. Get ready for a crazy ride!
Love this twist at the end! Recommended!

This book was a completely delightful ride. I was hooked from the start and was down for all of the twists and turns that.JT Ellison threw my way.

First up let me just say that I am all about a book set in a boarding school. Add in murder and I’m even more here for it. I’m also a fan of Ellison’s writing so this book felt tailor made for me.

The book opens with the gruesome discovery of one of the students from the boarding school hanging from the front gate. Very dead. But also a little unidentifiable. But when the Dean arrives she knows exactly who it is. But before she can say her name we are sent back in time to when Ash Carr is in her car service arriving at The Goode School. Ash is coming from. England and is a bit of a mystery to the girls in the school who already know each other and have their cliques. She’s a sophomore and she. Instantly earns herself a lot of attention. - most of which is unwelcome. She’d rather fly under the radar and just take advantage of the opportunity to get a top tier education. But you can’t always get what you want.

We soon find out Ash is keeping plenty of secrets - as is most everyone else. And The Goode School is also steeped in a bit of urban legend...and was the site of a of murder a decade earlier. Add in some classic mean girl antics, secret societies and some major mystery and this book deliveries a solid thriller ride.

The book is told in alternating POVs (which I also love) and kept me guessing. There was one trope that I didn’t totally love, but I did really enjoy the characters of Ford (the Dean) and Kate (one of the detectives). I would love to see Kate get her own book too!

I would also note that while this is an adult thriller a lot of the core characters are high school students. It worked for me, but know it’s not for everyone so wanted to mentioned. All. In I enjoyed it and appreciate getting the ARC.

The Goode School is very prestigious, only the best are allowed to attend. There are a lot of things going on behind closed doors at the school.

I was torn on what to rate this book at first. I had a hard time getting into it, almost gave up, but I am glad I persisted. Once it caught my interest I had to keep going to see what would happen next. There are a lot of twists and turns in this story, some I guessed, others came out of the blue. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy of this book.

The Goode School is the best of the best, a prestigious girls prep school that ensures entrance into the Ivy’s. Secret societies run rampant, and as long as everyone agrees to keep it all hush hush, and follow the honor code, students are generally allowed to run free. When Ash arrives at Goode however, things start to get weird. Sudden suicide, murder, etc, and it all seems to center around this one newcomer. What is it with this girl?

I love a good campus novel. While this one was high school not college, it did hit disappoint. There were a few points where I was correct in my guess of what was happening, but a few others where I was completely off base. I loved this book, and even loved most of the characters, as catty, and conniving as they were!

**Thank you to Harlequin Mira, JT Ellison, and Netgalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review**

Good Girls Lie is a boarding school mystery, which calls to me because I LOVED these types of books in my high school days. Give me some snarky, privileged girls, secret societies, old campuses, and some murder and it's a great combination in a book for me. Good Girls Lie follows Ash Carlisle, a sophomore from England who moves to Virginia to attend the Goode School after both of her parents commit suicide. She is looking for a fresh start where she can just put her head down and get the education she always wanted. When her roommate dies after falling off the bell tower, her world starts to crumble around her. However, this is only the beginning of several events that will up end her life...

Good Girls Lie really allowed me to reminisce to my high school days where I read the Private series by Kate Brian, which is a similar take on ultra-rich, all girl, boarding schools where chaos, hazing, and murder happens. These are almost a guilty pleasure type book for me, and Good Girls Lie definitely fit that bill. There were twists and turns, mysteries, and some nefarious actions by our teenage characters.

One critique I will give is that the ending was fairly confusing. I'm still not 100% sure what exactly happened in that epilogue. Without giving any spoilers, there is a major twist towards the end that changes everything, with an epilogue afterwards. I might need to reread it to fully understand what happened, but some more clarity in the writing would have been nice.

For fans of Kate Brian's Private series, JT Ellison looks at friendships, truth, and secrets in this new, dramatic boarding school based novel.

3.25 stars for this solid, twisty, thriller!

There weren't a whole lot of surprises here, but it was still intriguing and a good read. I stayed caught up in the story and didn't want to put it down... I only gave it a lower rating because I felt a lot of the material was what I would consider typical. There was nothing mind-blowing or extravagant. I did like the twists throughout. The chapter changes that sometimes switched voices and sometimes didn't was a little disconcerting, but overall this was a good read.

Thank you NetGalley!

I really enjoyed this book! Nicely twisty, with the motives of lots of characters obscured. After reading the whole thing I’m still not entirely sure whether some characters were “good” or not. Reminded me a little of The Broken Girls, which I also enjoyed.

The Goode School is an elite all-girls boarding school in Marchburg, Virginia. The Dean Ford comes from a long line of women who’ve headed Goode and she intends to keep them at the top of the ranks. The Goode School is based on a code of honor and integrity, but even still, Ford turns a blind eye to the secret societies and the hazing that happens on campus.

Ashlyn (Ash) Carr is traveling all the way from Oxford, England to attend Goode. She was accepted into the program months earlier due to her excellent piano skills, but since, both her parents have tragically died, leaving Ash an orphan. But now Ash knows that this is exactly what she needs—to get away from her past life and start fresh. As only a sophomore, Ash knows she’s not near the top of the food chain, not like Becca and her posse; the seniors run the school and if you’re lucky enough to get noticed by them, you’ll also have power among the Goode girls.

Before attending Goode, Ash had no idea of its sinister past. Several suspicious deaths have happened on campus and the whole school has an eery feel to it. But when Ash gets noticed by Becca and her secret society, she feels chosen. Her time at Goode is about to change. She thinks it’ll be for the better, but when students start dropping dead left and right, Ash realizes just how wrong she was…

Good Girls Lie is JT Ellison’s latest mystery release. The novel is classified as adult fiction, but I think this leans much more toward YA, especially since it takes place at a boarding school with mostly an adolescent cast of characters. I recently read Tear Me Apart by JT Ellison and really enjoyed it, but for some reason, this one didn’t quite work for me. It was extremely long-winded at over 400 pages. The plot twists didn't shock me and most of them I saw coming. I wanted to love this one, but it very much read like most YA mysteries I’ve picked up before. 3/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley, MIRA and JT Ellison for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

16 year old Ash Carr arrived at the exclusive all girl Goode School in Virginia fresh from her home in Oxford, Great Britain. She was a recent orphan whose parents had died tragically. Yet she wanted to keep this from her classmates and had even changed her name from Ashleigh Carlisle. Her goal was to get into Harvard and to get the best education possible. The dean was sympathetic and tried to help Ash adjust.

Her roommate, Camille, soon took a dislike to Ash and began to spread rumors about her. The head girl, a senior named Becca, took a liking to Ash and that only further alienated her from her sophomore classmates. Ash was not prepared for the Mean behavior and the hazing for entrance to secret societies. Then Ash’s roommate died in an apparent suicide and the police began investigating Ash. Within a few weeks, othersin the school died under mysterious circumstances. The dean was more concerned about preserving the good name of the School rather than controlling the students and this contributed to the problems.

This thriller has many surprises for the reader and at times you are not sure who is telling the truth and who is telling lies. It will keep you engaged till the very end.

Good Girls Lie takes place in an elite all-girls school situated in a quiet town in Virginia. These girls are hand picked by the Dean and the school operates using an honor code.
Right from the start we find out a student has died. With many unraveling twists and turns, we can start to piece together that not everything is as it seems at the school and not everyone is as, or who, they seem.
This book was well written for the most part, the characters well developed and the writing provided a good atmosphere.

Loved this book! It kept me guessing and I really got to know all the characters with their back stories. The setting was amazing and I could picture it in my head while reading.

"August. It is June now. I'll have to work fast. There's only one way for me to truly be free. I have two months to plan how they die."

This book has a spooky feel and is a great read for October. Ash is send from Oxford to the Goode school for girls in America. From the start it is clear she has a whole lot to hide, and the ending was not a big surprise, but that didn't spoil the book for me. The author created a beautifully creepy world with the Goode school and all the girls who go there. The author spends a lot of time setting up the climax and I really enjoyed reading it. The ending felt rushed .

I love thrillers... I can't get enough of them!! But, they actually have to be GOOD.

Lately, I've seen quite a few thrillers that have become "fillers". In other words, a whole bunch of random extra info or too much extra unnecessary details that are added to the plot.

Unfortunately, I have struggled with J.T Ellison's books before with having the same issue as I did with this book. It's extremely way too long!!

There was a lot of interior dialogue going on and too much telling and not showing behind the mystery here.

I loved the atmosphere of this one... taking place at an elite boarding school. What more can you ask for? Girls that murder?! Sign me up!

I want to love J.T Ellison's books but they end up just becoming fillers and wayyy too long! There isn't enough spice in the plot and didn't quite deliver the way I wanted it too.

If you're a fan of her work then I think you'll love this one!

3 stars!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harlequin/Mira for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Publication date: 12/30/19
Published to GR: 10/7/19

I am already a huge fan of just about everything Ellison has written but this was a departure from her normal. IT WAS AMAZING. If you are into boarding school and teenage drama wii suspense dashed in, this is the book for you. It’s honestly one of my top picks for the year. Dive right in!

Review#62 GOOD GIRLS LIE by JT Ellison and reviewing for Netgalley.
Great story with a very twisty ending. The first major twist confused me a bit but I finally understood what was happening by the end. As always, this author is fantastic! ⭐⭐⭐⭐Four stars

I always look forward to new titles from this author. I did enjoy this book and it had a small twist at end, but I thought it was a little predictable.

When we first meet Ash, she seems like a likeable girl just trying to survive after the sudden death of her parents. She has come over from England, partially because she is a gifted pianist and was given a scholarship -although her father was royalty and wealthy so she could have paid her way.
It was her parents’ wish she attend the school before their untimely deaths, and it seems she simply doesn’t know what else to do except travel to America to start over. She even goes by a different name in order to avoid the gossip mill when the other girls find out about her parents and her past.
She quickly starts to make friends and is solicited by the school’s allusive secret society. But as she struggles to “appear” normal on the outside, Ellison begins to provide snapshots into Ash’s real life and background. And there’s the small matter that there have other accidents and deaths and all roads lead back to Ash. Are that many coincidences possible?
Ellison spins a great tale full of the mystery and dark past of a girl’s private school and creates multi-dimensional characters who are hiding things from each other and the reader. I would have rated this one higher, but it did take a little while for me to really get into the story.
Special thanks to Netgalley and Mira for an advanced readers copy of this one. My review will be published on my blog, Women in Trouble Book Blog on December 3, 2019.

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

I gave this book 4.5 stars, rounded down, overall I really enjoyed it, but I did have a couple of issues with it.

The beginning of the book was hard to get into, but once I got to around the 40% point, I was hooked. The issue for me was that all of students did not feel like teens at first, which made me feel like the author was an adult (which J.T. Ellison, of course, is) and that’s not something I really enjoy being hyperaware of while reading. Once Kate’s perceptive was introduced to the book, I felt like that either went away or I just got used to it.
SPOILER: This also could possibly attributed to the fact that the MC actually is 19, not 16. Which I LIKED. You don't know her age until the end though, so if someone stops reading before they get to the end, they wouldn't know that there could actually be a reason for this.

I will also say that college admissions simply just don’t work like how they are described in the book, but that part I’m actually okay looking past. But really, a lot of aspects of this book just felt dated - which I would also have been able to accept if there hadn’t been random things from 2019 thrown into the book like the Billie Eilish song getting stuck in someone’s head. Without those bits it could have easily taken place during a different year, that would have fixed so much and made it a better book! It felt very gothic— which I loved— but the references took away from that.

After all of that, it probably sounds like I didn’t like this book, but I really did!
I enjoyed the plot, I liked the twists, the secrets, and I did like how the author crafted each of the characters. I did guess the big twist, but that didn’t impact the reading experience. It was just the right amount of soapiness, something I personally love in boarding school books! One thing that I think is important to mention is that this is an adult thriller set at a boarding school, there are POVs from the teen MC, the dean, and a police officer. If you go into this book thinking that it's a YA thriller, I feel like there is a good chance you will end up disappointed; it is and reads as adult, not young adult.

Another thing I do want to point out is that I found the pacing at the end of the book GREAT. I mentioned before it was hard to get into, I felt like the beginning dragged a little, but I was really SOOOO impressed with the ending. So many times I will read a thriller and have the ending squished into a chapter or two and it feels unsatisfying, that was not the case with this book. All of the pieces fell together, it was just the right amount of soapy/dramatic that I enjoy, and it didn’t feel rushed at all!

Once this book picked up, I did really enjoy it! It was a solid story, after overlooking a few inaccuracies - it’s fiction, everything doesn’t need to be accurate. As I mentioned, I did really enjoy it overall. I will be on the lookout for more books from this author in the future.

Post on Instagram about this book will be up today (10/6) at @Bayley.Pepper

Good Girls Lie
J.T. Ellison
December 30, 2019

The Goode School for girls is located in Marchburg, Virginia. It sets upon the hills with magnificent splendor. Marchburg is a small town with shops and beautiful homes. The school is the keystone of the population. During the summer it is a quiet burg where townsfolk keep to themselves. At the start of the school year students arrive with their parents,: wealthy politicians, lawyers, physicians, and other elite from the states. A few girls travel from Europe but most are US citizens. Cars are ushered into the facility through locked gates. There is a wall that surrounds the school. For the most part students remain on the grounds. Weekends they are able to walk to the nearby coffee shop, grocery, and restaurants. This particular year, a student was arriving from Great Britain. Her parents had arranged for her enrollment, paying initial fees and providing interviews via Skype. Not long before her arrival, word arrived that Ash Carlisle had lost her parents to a tragic accident. Her father had taken a wrong dose of prescribed medication. He was found at the dining table by Ash. Shortly thereafter, her mother became so despondent that she shot herself. Ash wanted nothing more than to leave immediately for school. Dean Westhaven arranged for Ash’s flight and sent a driver to receive her at the airport.
This story tells a sorrowful tale of Ash’s life after her entrance to school as well as describing the life she led before. To expound the plot further would provide spoilers. The reader needs to interpret this narrative; chapter by chapter, line by line. J.T. Ellison is known for her riveting prose. This novel is yet another of her chillers that keep us guessing beginning to end. For those of you who have read Ellison’s work it will be read without recommendation. If this would be your first to read, it is an excellent work. Throughout I questioned the logic to Ash’s life and her plan for success at school.
Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison will be published by Mira Books on December 30, 2019. It was with great pleasure that I thank Mira Books for giving me the pre-published copy. I have read others by J.T. Ellison and have always looked forward to her new releases. It is one readers should not miss.

What would you do to get what you want? Ash Carlisle is new at school she has just joined Goodes School and she hopes that she can just disappear into the background. But nothing is that simple at this school and she is about to find out that someone will stop at nothing to get what they want even if that means murder. She hoped that no one would find out about her parent's death and that she could pretend to be someone else but someone has found out the truth and now they are dead and the police think that Ash knows something. But does she really or is she innocent as she claims? Who will be the last one standing and when the truth does come out the school will be destroyed. Who is Ash really and what does she want so badly? A good suspenseful read. Most of us wish for a better life but who would be brave or stupid enough to agree as this young girl did? I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publishing house in exchange for my honest review.