I’m still not sure what to make of this book!

It’s set in an almost cult like, old fashioned, all girls boarding school in a village in America. Pupils are meant to follow the ‘Honour Code’ and be truthful and kind etc. The school has a prestigious reputation and its graduates are accepted into top universities.

Ash is from Oxford and has received a scholarship to attend the school. Her parents have recently died and it seems like the perfect opportunity for her to start a new life.
As Ash makes friends and enemies there are a number of deaths at the school.
As these are investigated, police suspect something doesn’t add up about Ash and dig deeper into her past.

I found this book didn’t grip me as I expected it to, I didn’t like any of the characters and there were a lot of catty, bitchy teenagers I found quite annoying.
Some parts I had already worked out and found quite predictable. Some parts seemed a bit unbelievable too. The end felt a bit flat and cliched.

Thanks to Harlequin and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy for review.

Special thanks to Harlequin for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

I've read several of JT's books & this one just didn't grab me. It has all the elements I love in a thriller/suspense novel, but I just couldn't;t get into it. Honestly. I'm chalking this one up to my reading tastes have changed.

Thank you for the opportunity to be an early reader.

I really enjoy J.T. Ellison's style of writing. The story hooks you from the beginning to the end. So many twists and turns and ending I didn't see coming! some insight into private schools and the psyche of teenage girls. Great thriller!

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own. *

Published: 12/2019

Boarding school drama, LGBTQ+ relationships, and murders-- this book had everything a girl could ever want! Seriously though, Good Girls Lie took me for a ride and I am HERE. FOR. IT.

Our main character goes to an exclusive all girls boarding school after the death of her parents. There she is "tapped" to become part of an elusive club, and starts a strange relationship with one of the society's leaders. There is a twist that I'm not going to spoil.

I was hooked on this book. Couldn't put it down. All of the characters were awful in their own ways, but they were supposed to be. It worked well for the plot and made me interested in reading more.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys boarding school settings or thrillers-- or both!

I could NOT put this book down! I loved the boarding school setting and the unreliable narrator. The characters are ones you love to hate - as most teen girls are, honestly. I also did not see the twist coming - and then the ending!! The MOST SATISFYING ending you could ask for. Can't wait to read more from JT Ellison!

GOOD GIRLS LIE || 4.5 ⭐️ .
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Have I mentioned that I absolutely love @thrillerchick 😬 This book only solidified those feelings 👏🏼 Set in Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school that ensures it’s girls are good (see what I did there? 😂), smart + prepared for their choice of Ivy League university upon graduation. However, there’s some seriously dark stuff going on behind closed doors! When a stranger comes to Goode, things start to get BAD (I can’t help myself, truly) ✨ Murder, mayhem, + pretty little liar vibes? GIMME 👏🏼
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I loved this twisty ride JT took me on! The characters were rather well developed + the plot was very interesting! Short chapters with multiple POVs kept my attention + the ending was to die for (keep in mind - this isn’t a short book my friends). 👯‍♀️ I thought certain parts were rather dark (which I enjoyed) + loved the overall atmosphere of the story. Great job JT! 🖤

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison

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 behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder.

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.

I’ve read a few books by J.T. Ellison and this is my favorite. I like the setting of a fancy prep school and a mysterious death, the writing in this book is so good that you are kept in suspense from the first page!

Get the book here.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Good Girls Lie was my first JT Ellison title but it will not be my last. I was hooked from the beginning and kept clicking through the kindle pages! I will be looking for my more by this author and in the meantime will be checking out backlist titles!

Not usually my kind of book but after hearing a lot about it I was excited to read it. Definetely kept my interest the entire time.

This book sounded right up my alley, and it was thoroughly enjoyable. While some of the characters seemed a little underdeveloped, this book kept me guessing until the very end.

This is an interesting, intense thriller. It held my attention from beginning to end. I will be recommending this to others.

Good Girls Lie by J.T.Ellison is a psychological thriller with some very interesting and disturbed characters. It is a story that grabbed me from the start and held me to the very end. There are many twists and turns throughout the story. There were hints and clues that kept me in a state of anticipation of what was to come next.
J.T. Ellison has put together a story at an elite all-girls school with a dark past that plays a role in the story. The characters are well written and complex, each with unique flaws and issues. The characters are supposed to be typical students, but everything is not as it seems.
I highly recommend this book if you enjoy psychological thrillers or if you just like a good book.
Thank you #Netgalley and #Mira for approving my request for an advanced readers copy of #GoodGirlsLie. All opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

I would seriously read the phone book if J.T.Ellison announced she was re-writing it. She’s that much of a GOT TO READ author of mine.

I requested this book months in advance. Read it like the day I got it. Don’t ask me what took so long to write the damn review- but this book is EVERYTHING. I mean EVERY-freaking-THING.



What I Liked:

The cover!

The setting. I love books set at boarding schools and this one worked on so many levels with the mystery!

How JT is not afraid to get diabolical. I thought for a long time what the best word would be to describe some of her characters and diabolical is THE word. Give me more, more, more! I love it!




Bottom line: Twisty, twisty, twisty and with characters that would make you think twice about seeding your precious daughters to an all girl’s school- this book should def be on your To Read List!

This is an exciting, intense thriller! It held my attention from beginning to end. I will definitely be reading everything that this author publishes from now on!

Young Ash moves from Oxford, England to Marchburg, Virginia to attend the prestigious all-girl prep school - The Goode school known as Silent Ivy. Ash quickly find herself in unfamiliar surroundings. She is in a new country, in a new school, and quickly has to adapt to all these new changes and surroundings.

There are certain rules that the girls at the prep school must follow and abide by. Ash finds herself struggling with her new life and determined to make it work out and to settle and fit in with the other girls. What unfolds is a series of deception, betrayal lies and deceit. Oh the lies. There are so many of them and it is so clever and oh so very good. I loved this book!

Not everything is as it seems, and all the girls in this school are willing to lie to keep up with appearances. It is hard to know who is telling the truth, as everyone lies when they need to, so who do you believe? A great novel that I highly recommend!

An interesting psychological thriller. I was a bit suprised at how dark it was right out the gate but it peaked my curiousity and made me want to continue reading to figure out what actually happened.

This dark, twisty book opens with the death of a high school girl. Is it a suicide or a murder? It's unknown at first who the victim even is. Settle in for an exciting story that will draw you into the secret goings-on at an elite boarding school set just outside DC. With secret societies, dark hidden tunnels, elicit relationships, and characters you're not sure you can trust, Ellison weaves an exciting tale you're not going to want to put down.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for an advanced ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This story starts off with a death; whether it's a suicide or a murder, is yet to be determined. The girl's face has been mutilated, so at first glance we have no idea who the victim is. Then we jump between the past of the main character and the events leading up to this death.

Ash Carlisle is a blue-eyed, blonde girl, with innocence... At times she feels quite unreal, but then there might be some truth to the lies and some lies in her truths. But there is so much more to this girl.

Dean Westhaven is another character we follow. She seems to know much more, according to the narrator, but how reliable is the narrator really?

Now, the plot had kept me guessing, and while I figured some things out early on, there was also some parts that completely surprised me.

'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."

The writing reeled me in with the approach of starting out with the crime, then jumping between the past and present. This is a great book to enjoy when you need to get outside your own head and lost in someone else's nightmare...

This was such a great juicy thriller with an ending I didn't see coming. Full of secrets, hazing, murders, sexual surprises and some really creepy stairs, because really what else could you expect from an exclusive boarding school.

Ah, a book that has it all. We enter the Goode school where in great description we are told what we need to know at first. The girls are an upper echelon of the richest, smartest, and best of what daddy’s money has to offer. The story has a lot of ins and outs about things that we really do not know much about but know it exists such as hazings. The author takes you into the lives of these girls and just when you think you have it figured out, the situation changes. If you like mysteries that include all girls schools, then this is certainly one for you.