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.

J.T. Ellison has done it again! Good Girls Lie grabbed me from the first page. I loved that it took place in a private boarding school with secret societies, cliques and secrets. Crazy twists and turns kept me guessing until the last page. Such a fulfilling ending! Bravo!

Ash Carlisle has come to The Goode School, an elite boarding school. One day, she will inherit a large fortune, but for now, she is utterly alone in the world, both of her parents recently deceased. Ash is from England, though the differences between her and the other students make her seem more like an alien who has just landed on planet Earth. All she wants to do is keep her head down, avoid trouble, and get a good education. But the Goode girls have other ideas, as this institution values trust, honesty, and integrity, as long as those things don't interfere with the senior girls who run the secret societies.
Told from multiple perspectives, we soon learn that not everyone values the truth. Add in a suicide, hazing, extreme privilege and wealth, and murder, and you have to wonder if Ash is an innocent victim or the one responsible for all the chaos. As the pages flew by, the suspense built, until this twisted tale ends with a satisfying, jaw-dropping moment. My guesses about whodunnit and why were solid( I thought), but ultimately, all wrong. An engaging read for a rainy fall day( or any kind of day)! 4.5 stars.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat! Definitely an original thriller that I'm glad I picked up. Didn't see the ending coming but it really tied it all together great. I feel like it took awhile to pick up and seemed to drag at points but overall a great read. Thank you net galley!

It was a good book, I'm glad it ended, though! Such a weird feeling about it and I simply can't shake it. I will compare it to the feeling you get when you are riding a very unsafe roller coaster, that you know it might drop you at some point, but you want to ride it anyways.

The premise of this book got me really intrigued, competitive teenagers inside a prep school filled with strict rules, secret societies, a possible suicide and lies to be discovered? Sign me in, of course. And it does deliver in all of those departments, although with a slow start for me as we are being introduced to Ash's story. Ash is coming to the school from Europe and while we follow the beginning of her journey, we are also given some bits and pieces of things that happened in her not so distant past.

However, as soon as Ash reaches the school, chaos come in full force, which gave us lots of scenarios such as, Ash hiding a great amount of dark secrets (and we know that due to so many flashbacks throughout the story), while struggling to fit in. It didn't help that those girls were not kidding with the bullying and they were completely self-centered and twisted. And what about those "Tap Events" to become part of a secret league? That really irritated me. I cannot fathom the fact that there are schools out there where these things happen. They are a disgrace to teenagers and I hated to read about them. Let's not forget that apart from all of that, there's also a suicide happening in parallel.

This was a very insane plot, let me tell you. And the fact that there were so many things happening at the same time, following different timelines, got me really confused and disoriented. Towards the end, I couldn't quite tell whose point of view I was reading about. Perhaps the author could've turned down a notch?

The plot twist at the end though, was so nice and not expected by me at all. I also appreciated the fact that the author introduced lots of deep subjects in the story, even though none of them were explored in depth.

To sum it up, if you are in the mood to get your mind all blown away, and not always in a good way, you are willing to goo deep into this crazy and dark prep school world, and you don't mind a story which gives you lots of different scenarios that sometimes it's hard to follow, it's the perfect book for you.

Ash Carlisle is headed off to boarding school in the states, she has been excepted to the Goods School in Virginia and is looking forward to making a new start. Getting a full scholarship was the best thing that could of happened to her at this stage in her life, both of her parents are dead from murder/suicide and things are getting uncomfortable at home. She is happy to leave England behind and travel to a place where no one knows her or her situation. Ash soon learns that this new life isn't as great as she thought it would be, not all the girls are nice and some of them seem to look for trouble. Ash has so many secrets, she fears that some of them may come to light and then her new life upside down. Everywhere you look there are secrets to be unearthed and new lies to pull apart. Will Ashe's secrets and lies come to light of will she be able to keep them buried and in the past where she thinks they belong. You soon learn that not everything is as it seems and appearances can be deceiving. This was an exceptionally good read that will truly keep you guessing until the end. I loved all the twists and turns and look forward to what.This author will bring to light of dark next!!!

GOOD GIRLS LIE has the familiarity of a number of boarding school mysteries and thrillers and the themes they have, from the mysterious new girl to the secret societies to the backstabbing and infighting. I wouldn't say that this book reinvented the wheel when it comes to the subgenre, but under the right circumstances that can be just fine. For me, when reading this, I was happy to have the comfort of a thriller that I could just enjoy, partially because of the tropes that had and how well it did them. Our main character Ash is your typical 'potentially unreliable narrator' as well as your typical 'new girl with secrets' character, and while it was familiar it was still enjoyable because Ellison wrote it well. I liked Ash enough that I was both invested in seeing what happened to her, and worried about what we would learn about it. I especially enjoyed her relationship with Becca, the popular senior that may or may not be fixating on Ash for all the wrong reasons. The only thing that didn't work for me as well in this book was that we also got some perspectives from Dean Ford, the headmistress at the school, and while this CAN work if done right (I like having the ability to see outside the scope of the first person protagonist to find more clues in a mystery usually), in this case it didn't quite land for me.

GOOD GIRLS LIE was a perfectly passable boarding school thriller. While it doesn't really push many boundaries, it was enjoyable to me as I read it.

They say your life can change in an instant. That instant occurs for 16 year old Ash Carlisle when, after the untimely deaths of her parents, she opts to escape her current circumstances and moves from England to Marchburg, Virginia to attend an all girls boarding school whose history includes secret societies and the questionable deaths of students.

Little does Ash know that her attempt to begin her life again, in anonymity, will be fraught with mean girl tricks and perilous situations as she attempts to assimilate into this fortress of young women who come from backgrounds of wealth, advantage and entitlement. Along the way she becomes the somewhat willing target and often complicit ally of one girl in particular, Becca Curtis.

Brutally real and fast as a speeding Lamborghini, GOOD GIRLS LIE skillfully draws readers in as it thoughtfully plumbs the tangled depths of the human psyche. The reliability of the multiple narrators is questionable and the supporting cast in this ingenious saga presents the reader with an assortment of characters that they will alternately love and hate.

J. T. Ellison’s characters put this reader in mind of Forest Gump’s box of chocolates………..you are compelled to keep reading because “you never know what you’re gonna get”.

Good Girls Lie is my second book by J. T. Ellison and I am once again fully satisfied with this sinister mystery/thriller read. This was a quick read for me and I was glued to its pages from the start. I enjoyed the alternating points of views 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.

Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin-Mira publisher and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'm a fan of JT Ellison, and this latest book did not disappoint! It was interesting to get an inside look at what goes on at elite private schools, and the plot of this thriller kept me guessing!

“How do you kill a narcissist?”
Centuries old secret societies, lies, scandal and murder, The Goode School is a very prominent girl’s private school in Virginia headed by the last remaining member of the family that has ran it for two centuries, Dean Ford Westhaven.
It’s storyline expands over two continents following its newest student 16 year old Ash Carr, a sophomore who arrives from London at the dark unsettling prep school named Silent Ivy on a secret scholarship (known only between herself and Dean Westhaven.) The schools hallways are littered with strange and unusual occurrences, secret passageways, hauntings, and a creepy gothic mystery with someone secretly plotting in the shadows. I couldn’t put it down! Dark and intriguing with full on intensity, Good Girls Lie is a must read for thriller fans!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin-MIRA for a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book kept me guessing. It was an intense read. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Well written and developed.

3.5 Stars.

An amusing, brain candy thriller. Ok, ok, not one but two people in the story had their eyes carved out by a murderer, but somehow this still felt like a pretty lightweight mystery.

Perhaps the multiple murders (and the grisliness of a few of them) were tempered by the fact that none of the victims are all that likable.

There are a few fun twists and the ending is the one that you want, even if the whole mess gets a bit convoluted at times.

A fun page turner, especially if you like boarding school-themed mysteries.

J.T. Ellison is one of my favorite authors. She never disappoints. I was so looking forward to another great book by her and she came through again!

I love a good murder mystery at a boarding school, so I was super excited to read Good Girls Lie by JT Ellison when it popped up on NetGalley. In all honesty, it had a lot going on. New girl at an elite boarding school with secret societies. Girls dropping dead (no spoilers here) and a dean having an illicit affair and computer hacking and an old mystery to solve and a lot of the threads didn't end up mattering that much, but this was 400 and some pages of twists and turn and I liked it well-enough. 

Ash Carlisle is the newest student at the Goode school, fresh off finding her rich parents dead in their home. But she's got a secret, and when another student dies on campus, the head school takes a shine to her, and the Dean gets involved, here secret might just get revealed. What really happened to her parents, because Ash Carlisle isn't who she says she is...and when the other girls on campus find out, there will be consequences. Throw in a hot computer professor, a mysterious townie with a murderous dad, the daughter of a Congresswoman, some secret society hazing, and this book is chock full of it alllll. 

I do feel that this book had maybe a little TOO much going on. I like multi POV, I really do, but there was a lot: we got Ash, the Dean, Becca, another girl I won't name, the sheriff's niece, it was all a little much.  Lots of twists and turns at the end too, though I ultimately like how it ended, in the epilogue. So, if you like twisty murder books with lots of details, check this book out.

The Goode School an all-girl boarding school that has a remarkable reputation. Any young lady graduating from here is guaranteed access to ivy-league colleges. The story begins with a girls body found hung on the school gate. Taken back in time you are introduced to 16 year old Ash Carr as she arrives from London to attend the Goode School. As you follow her you are instantly drawn into an artistically designed web of lies, deceit and at times abuse.
It is within the confines of these walls that you will find hidden rooms, tunnels and many dangerous secrets. The young ladies follow an honor code or do they?
Faculty and students die, before you are taken back to the beginning with the body found hung on the gate.
You will be guessing till the very end. Another work of art by J.T. Ellison!

JT Ellison is a gem and her writing is just fantastic. This book is a cross between Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars and I couldn’t put it down! I love books in boarding school settings, especially ones with a mystery. Good Girls Lie starts off with a bang and catches your attention right away!

The story is about Ash, a pretty girl with a tragic backstory that begins attending the prestigious Goode School. She comes in with a terrible secret and makes friends with girls who have secrets of their own. There are many different elements that come together to make this book so hard to put down!

I was intrigued by the character of Ash from the beginning, and I felt pulled in by the story and the drama Ellison creates. The book uses alternating points of view which gives each character a rich backstory and interesting personality. I love slowly learning about things throughout the book because when there is a big twist it catches you by surprise!

I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who likes a good twist and slow and exciting build-up. The high school drama makes the book completely intriguing, especially when you find out what's going on underneath!