I was pulled into this story immediately. There are few sure-fire ways to pull a reader into a book, and I will stand by the opinion that a murder is always a good place to start.

With an elite all-girls school as the setting, I expected cattiness and toxic friendships—and I was certainly not disappointed. The Goode School fits all those prep school stereotypes with ghost stories, secret societies, humiliating initiations, and privileged girls who think they can get away literally with murder.

The perspective shifts in this book are really quite unique. We mainly follow the first-person POV of Ash, which provides an excellent sense of unreliability and twisted instability that I really enjoy in first-person POVs. There's also third-person narratives following the school's dean and the local police enforcement. All of them helped push the mystery further, with the third-person ones offering more insight into Ash and the possible going-ons at the ironically named Goode School.

I did have a few issues with the motive behind the killer's actions, as well as some characterization. I felt some questions of why or how were not properly addressed.

But overall, it's a twisty and fast-paced novel that you won't want to put down!

This was a great edge of your seat book! This book kept me captivated the whole time! I could not put it down!

Let me start out by saying that I love, J. T. Ellison’s books which is why I was so excited to receive an advance copy from NetGalley. Let me tell you that I was not disappointed in the least. The name on the building is the Goode Academy. It is a boarding school for young ladies. Believe me, these girls may be young, but they are not ladies. Second, there is not much “good” going on inside the academy. From secret affairs to hazing to sex and murder, there is not a day, or night, that goes by that there is not something happening within these walls. Although this was a fairly long book, I was glued to the pages from the very beginning and did not want the story to end. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

Mysteries set in boarding schools are always fun and very Gothic. Good Girls Lie grabbed me and didn’t let go. As the story opens, we know that one of the Goode School girls has died in a horrific manner. The rest of the novel tells us how this happened. Ash Carr is a British transfer. Her parents just died (also in a horrible way, what a coincidence!) and she’s trying to fly under the radar. So far, not so good when she catches the attention of the queen of mean girls and accidentally sends a teacher to the hospital. The Dean of the school is also keeping an eye on her, but she has secrets of her own. Everybody, it seems, is hiding something. I had an inkling of what was going on but had no idea how it could be. The plot kept surprising me and I loved the ending. My favorite part is the Goode School itself, with its underground tunnels, secret rooms and legends. In the afterword, the author explains how some of this is based on schools she attended. Sounds fascinating! But it’s Ash that’s at the heart of the story. She may be a sociopath or just a fragile, lonely, scared girl. Either way, I enjoyed reading about her.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/HARLEQUIN – MIRA!

This book has all the makings of a twisted tale. A private, elite girls school with secret societies and rituals? Creepy. A murder? Creepy. Unfortunately, I had a hard time connecting with this one. The characters are unlikable and the story drags on for too long. I appreciate the atmosphere that the writer was trying to create but it just went on for too long and had too much “filler” for my tastes. The twists were good but not great enough to make this more enjoyable for me. Thank you to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review

4.5 rounded to 5

Thanks to Netgalley for the eArc in exchange for an honest review. This one gripped me from the start, so many twists and turns. I raced through it, unable to put it down.

Good Girls Lie is about the secrets of the privileged young women at the Goode Academy in rural Virginia. This has so many elements that make a great private school story: There’s the headmistress, who just wants out of the school, but who’s been tapped into running her ancestors’ academy after her mother resigned in disgrace over mishandled murder of a student. The school’s handyman/driver/pot dealer is the son of the murderer, because no one can ever leave this town, and also, what’s a good private-school story without a ghost or two? There’s a horrible bully who’s also the Head Girl and a secret-society leader, with all the secrets, hazing, and general rich-kid meanness one would expect.

Ash arrives, after the tragic and mysterious deaths of her parents, at the start of term and is immediately subjected to new classes, new classmates and obscure prep school traditions. (Slightly spoilerish note: I thought Ash’s slang and speech patterns were a bit odd for an upper-class girl with a titled father, and at first I thought the author had lumped all British phrasing together, but the reveal makes it all make sense.)

One thing I really enjoy in prep school gothic stories is that any creepy clue could be ghosts, silly pranks or evil classmates. Here, though, it was definitely evil classmates. Boredom and academic pressure, combined with their priviledged protection from any real consequences, leads the students to endless social manipulations, ranging from seniors-only areas and hostile seating arrangements to twisted hazing rituals. I thought the yes-mistress and general cruelty of secret hazing went a bit too far, and I wasn’t totally sure why anyone put up with it. Like in The Furies, I wasn’t quite compelled by the toxic friendships and I just wanted our protag to ditch the mean girl(s).

Still, there are so many unrelated secrets at this school, and so many characters with developed, hidden agendas to make this a great pageturner. The minor characters pursued their own goals, and weren’t just foils for the main plot. I really liked it, until the last bit of the book. I found the ending unsatisfying, where the novel changes from a thrilling pageturner with an unreliable narrator who’s probably keeping something back, into a soap opera where EVERYTHING IS LIES. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted the prep school secrets, and I enjoyed most of it, I just wasn’t quite on board with level of drama in the finale.

A decade old murder. Secret societies. A possible psychopath. Private school. Secrets. What more could my thriller loving heart need?
One of my favorite things about Facebook is how I can connect with other bookworms and find more books I want to read and add to my never ending TBR list on Goodreads. One of the recent posts that caught my interest was about a book coming out soon, Good Girls Lie. I'm a member of Netgalley, so once it caught my eye, I immediately signed up to get an ARC. I was luckily given the chance to read and review it.
"Goode girls don't lie... Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous. 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 behaviors of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder. But when a popular student is found dead, the truth cannot be ignored. Rumors suggest she was struggling with a secret that drove her to suicide. But look closely... because there are truths and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened."
The Goode School is bursting with secrets, and so is new student Ash Carlisle. Ash is desperately trying to keep her traumatic past under wraps and start a new life at The Goode School. And because it's an ancient private school in Massachusetts, it's naturally haunted by dead girls and secrets of the past. And because it's a prestigious stepping stone to the Ivy Leagues there has to be a secret society. (This is not a complaint. I love secret societies and hauntings.) Also, on top of all this, someone is trying to kill people.
Through the book there are a few narrators, and they all have secrets, and most of them are willing to do anything to protect those secrets. Who doesn't have secrets though? Ok, so mine are things like the fact that I am terrified of vampires... not something I'd go to great lengths to protect.
No one in the book was particularly likeable. It's like Mean Girls if you take away Janis and Damien (and why would you watch it without them?) Everyone is mean and because it's an elite boarding school, everyone seems to be under the impression that they're amazing and their parents' statuses are theirs as well. I never went to a boarding school, but the way the Goode School is described is exactly how I've always imagined them to be. I especially liked the details involving the history of the school.
As for the rest of the book? The plot itself is insane, twisted, and most of all, contrived. I normally don't mind knowing what's happening before the end. It's not a big deal to me since I read a lot of thrillers and I often reread them. But when I got near the half way point and realized what was going on, my initial thought was disbelief. All the ways this could have gone and this was the path? Someday, mysteries will be so over the top we'll find ourselves coming back to the simpler ones of the past.
So, you ask, if it was contrived and you knew what was happening so early on, why did you finish it? Well, I enjoyed the writing style. The flow was easy, and I'll probably check out a few more of Ellison's books because of her writing style.
Good Girls Lie is available December 2019.

Another wonderful mysterious and thrilling novel by JT Ellison. If you are looking for a book that will keep you guessing and keep you on your toes this one is it. I don't want to give anything away but I do want yo to be prepared to not want to put this one down.

3 1/2 ⭐️‘s
An old elite girls school in the woods ... secret societies and murders, need I say more? This book has a modern day gothic feel and Ellison does a good job of keeping the reader both on edge and guessing throughout. While this book has everything needed for the genre, and I enjoyed the overall plot, there were parts that were just too unbelievable!

This book kept me guessing. I really didn’t know what was going to happen. The characters are well developed and interesting. I wanted to know what was going to happen to them.

Initially, this appeared to be a novel capable of ticking all of my boxes.

YA/NA mystery/thriller? Check.
Boarding school location? Check.
Possible f/f relationship? Check.

It would be unfair to say that these things weren't delivered to me, because they certainly were, but I was slightly underwhelmed by how everything came together.

The characters were really hard to connect to, and as a reader who thrives off of living through my favorite MCs, that was definitely a disappointment for me. Some of the character dynamics where hard to understand or relate to (like, why in the world does Camille hate Ash so much? We will never know). There was also a lot of girl hate and bullying and, while I get that it had its place in the story, I am never a huge fan of overdoing the mean-girl trope.

Contrarily, I actually really enjoyed the mystery aspect in this because it kept me consistently guessing and doubting everyone. I started to unravel what was really going on much later in the book than I normally do for these types of stories, but it was an interesting enough plot twist in my opinion.

However, I had a hard time believing some of the ways that things were wrapped up. After enjoying the majority of the book, I think the way it all ended let me down a little. It was a bit of a sudden ending and some of the explanations felt rushed or incomplete for me. I mean, I did understand what was happening, but the unbelievable nature of many of the deaths and scenarios really did call for a bit more finesse.

Overall, a fun mystery to tackle and attempt to solve if you're a fan of big reveals/shocks and boarding school murders.

Big fan of Ellison and this new release is as good as I expected. Pacing is great. Dialogue is on point. Plot twists are perfect for keeping eager fans on the edge of their seats to the very end.

I received this digital arc from NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is a wild, twisted psychological mystery novel. It is captivating from beginning to end. The story is narrated from a first person point of view but it is never quite clear who that might be. Once you start to follow the story and feel you understand the narrators, an odd unexpected one seems to interject.

The story begins with a murder at the prestigious Goode School in Marchburg, VA where honor and tradition are paramount. Ford Julianne Westhaven has led the school for the past 10 years after her mother faced a scandal regarding the manner in which she handled a murder years ago at the school. At 35 years old, Ford desperately wants a career as a writer but feels a responsibility to step in after her mother was dismissed. The women in her family have proudly served as head of the all girls school for generations.

It seems that the rumors and traditions of the past continue to endure at the elite boarding school. It seems that everyone has their own secrets and family history which they will do anything to protect. Ironically, the school has a strict Honor Code which prohibits lies and dishonorable behavior. Of course, there always seem to be exceptions to most rules.

Such is the case of Ash Carlisle who transfers to the school from Oxford, England after the traumatic deaths of both her parents. Her father, Sir Damien Carr is an investment banker with a quick temper usually expressing his rage at Ashlyn. Lady Sylvia Carr, her mother, does little to intervene so it is a relief when they decide to send her overseas her sophomore year to finish high school.

This is where the secrets seem to spill as Dean Westhaven agrees to allow admission for Ashlyn under the alias Ash Carlisle to protect her from the gossip regarding her parents unexpected deaths. As Ash tries to fit in with her dorm mate and other suite mates, she realizes it won’t be easy. Once she begins to settle into a routine, her private life is gradually revealed as well as she decides to shun her new friends. Becca Curtis, a senior and head girl at the school, initially bullies Ash and then welcomes her into the senior class inner circle.

Her disgruntled and jealous dorm mates go to extreme measures to make life difficult for her. When a student dies from an apparent suicide, the chaos at the school just begins. Everyone’s life is examined and scrutinized. It seems there are many exceptions to the Honor Code at Goode School.

This story pulls you into the mysteries and indiscretions of the characters who struggle to maintain the demure façade expected of children of elite parents.

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.