This book was just okay for me! I found all the characters unlikeable, and the twist near the end was overdone since I read so many thrillers. I loved the school setting and it reminded me of Pretty little liars!

I got a bit behind on my ARCs, but I finally made it through this one! I didn't really remember the premise by the time I jumped into it, which I'm glad I didn't. I didn't know what I was getting into, but I'm not sure you would know what you're getting into even if you did know the premise! I read some reviews that said they thought it started off slow, but I loved the first half of the book. But I am a lover of character-driven stories and this has that! I would actually love to read more about the characters. I want whole side stories for some of them. Everyone is flawed and human and I love that in characters. I love a bunch of morally gray humans in stories!

It is also a very atmospheric story. I loved the old boarding school in the south vibe and Ellison did a nice job setting up that atmosphere, in my opinion! I wasn't really a fan of the twist or how it played out. I think it honestly could have ended in a more interesting way and at times the ending felt rushed and just thrown out there given how much the first half built up, but that is probably why the ending was rushing a bit to wrap up.

However, I really did enjoy Ellison's writing style. This was my first book of hers and I can see myself picking up others by her. She has a style that's easy to read and holds my interest. So, I am interested in seeing what else she has to offer.

This was a solid 3-star read for me. I enjoyed it and it held my interest and sometimes that's all you can ask for from a thriller!


**Thank you to J.T. Ellison, Harlequin, and NetGalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

I can't believe it took so long for me to read this book! What a chilling story.

Ash wanted nothing more then to be accepted to the Goode school. She was accepted and got herself to the school. Her parents are dead and she's on her own. There are clicks on clicks in this school and a head mistress has more plans for herself. Don't want as long as I did to read this!! Read it now!

This was an insanely creepy and compelling novel from the moment I picked it up until I reached the gasp-worthy conclusion; fans of suspenseful stories that are begging to be told will love this book.
Don't miss it!

The Goode School is known for its 100% graduation rates and it's almost guarantee of acceptance into the school of your choice. An all girls school that's been run by the same family for generations, it's also home to a number of secret societies, some known and some unknown.

Ash Carlisle is one of Goode's scholarship students. And she's determined to keep her past a secret. The school means a new persona and a new chance at life. It's also part of her plan...her parents are gone and she has no one she can trust but herself.

But The Goode School is far from perfect. The elite prep school has a number of black spots on its seemingly perfect record, including a murder or two and rumors of ghosts that haunt the grounds. Classes are hard and the students are far from welcoming. In fact, some are downright murderous in their competitiveness to get ahead. But Ash can deal with it. She's smarter than all of them.

J.T. Ellison's latest is a twisty turny thriller set at a boarding school filled with secrets—secret societies, secret passageways, secret history...

And the book begins with a death. The dead girl's name isn't revealed at this stage and the story shoots back to the beginning of the semester and Ash's arrival at the Goode School. The timeline shifts throughout, back to Ash's time prior to arrival and finally giving readers a look at the home life she left behind.

Each new chapter uncovers a new grain of information that adds to the growing number of mysteries in the story: what is Ash's plan? How much truth is there to the rumors that surround Goode School? Who is the dead girl?

When I say this is twisty turny, I really mean it. There are so many crazy revelations as the story progresses that it soon becomes clear nothing and no one can be taken at face value. And even if the narration is from that person's POV, you still can't trust anything they're revealing!

This new psychological thriller examines the tenuous bonds of friendship, the power of lies and the desperate lengths people will go to in order to protect their secrets.

Goode girls don’t lie…

Set in all-girls boarding school, GOOD GIRLS LIE is filled with drama, suspense and unexpected things happening throughout the story. For me is a very solid thriller with an ending you are going to love.

I can´t recommend this book enough. J.T Ellison has become one of my go-to authors. Really enjoyed this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Books for sending me this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. #NetGalley #GoodGirlsLie

J.T. Ellison never disappoints with her books. A book about friendships and how far you are willing to go to protect your secrets. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the character Ash just wanted to fit in and not stand out. Well sometimes fitting in just doesn't fly.

Oh, I love J.T. Ellison and couldn't wait to read this book. I have read most of her prior books and was looking forward to this one. She has such a way of writing that pulls you into the story and doesn't let you go until the last word and this book is no exception. I like books about girls and sororities and this book checked all those boxes.

The characters on the whole aren't very likable but I don't have to have a character to root for or to like in order to enjoy the book. I like a book full of twists and turns and I don't want to be able to guess what is happening next and this book was that for me. I didn't like all the cussing but that is just a pet peeve of mine. Some of it seemed unnecessary. I thought the characters were very well written and it was just a good book overall.

Really enjoyed this thriller set in an all girl boarding school in VA. The story opens with a murder at the school. The girl is hanging from a gate on the school grounds but who is it. Flashback to Ash Carr arriving at the school. Her parents have recently died but arrangements had been made prior to their death for Ash to leave Oxford, England and attend the Goode School. The headmistress (Ford) agrees to be Ash's guardian and allows her to proceed with admission to the school. Ash comes to the school with lots of secrets but so do others around her....and the death count starts. Story told from mulitple POVs.

***I received an ebook copy from the publisher at no cost***

If Gossip Girl and Cruel Intentions got together and had a child, Good Girls Lie would be it.

J.T. Ellison wastes no time putting readers on an emotional roller coaster with this book. I was fully invested by the time I finished the first chapter. There are so many twists and turns throughout the book, you never know what’s going to happen. That’s what I loved most about it: the author kept me guessing, right up to the very end.

Ash is the new girl at the Good School, a well-known and highly esteemed boarding school in New England. She’s transferred in from England, and it doesn’t take long for the school’s most elite girls to make her the target of their torment.

This book had all the aspects of the whole YA boarding school type book that I like. There are secret societies, which the dean turns her head the other way from and the girls all hope for an invitation to join. The school itself is older and a bit creepy, with different areas that are “off-limits” and have an eerie feeling to them. There are stories about awful things that took place years ago on the campus and in the town. The school had its share of bad publicity under the previous dean and the current one works hard to keep the girls in line and the scandals at bay.

Except Ash brings scandal with her. Someone has to keep the Dean busy though, right?

I want to keep this review spoiler-free, so there won’t be many plot details. I will say the plot itself is unique. I had no idea what was coming next while I was reading. I’d go back and think about what had happened up to that point, formulate a theory, and then boom, two pages later my theory was shot. The author nailed the mystery/suspense in this one for sure.

There were two things that made this a four versus five-star read for me. One, the characters were hard to relate to at times, which made it difficult to form a solid connection with them. Two, I had a tough time following the dialogue and who was who at times as well. However, neither of these ruined the book for me and I was still able to appreciate the author’s attention to detail and world building.

This book was an easy read. It’s vivid, so I felt like I was in the world alongside the characters. And as I mentioned before, the plot was unlike any story I’ve read. Ellison hooked me and kept me on the line for the duration of the book and, although I was completely surprised by how things ended, it felt like the perfect ending.

Four stars to this book!

I was hooked on this story from the very first creepy, shocking sentence. If I had picked this book up in a bookstore and read that sentence, there’s no way I could’ve left without buying it. It was suspenseful and eerie and everything I want in a thriller.
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The setting is an elite, all-girl boarding school with such a high-pressure environment that it seems more like college than high school. The school’s network of old buildings and various tunnels and stairways made things even creepier.
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Throughout the book it feels as though almost every character is shady or has something to hide. As the tension built and things became more sinister, I didn’t know who could be trusted. And I love that in a thriller!
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The ending was chilling and could not have been better. It made my head spin! I highly recommend this book for thriller fans!

Good Girls Lie
A Novel
by J.T. Ellison
3 ⭐⭐⭐
464 pages
I think I am one of the few in the world who didn't like this book. I love this author and was so excited to get an arc of this book. Part of my problem was I didn’t find any of the characters very likeable. And for a thriller it was very slow. It didn't keep my attention at all. I kelpt putting it down and reading something else. Another issue I had was I found it very confusing. So much of it was just so unbelievable. I was also able to guess all the plot twists and the ending. I read tons of thrillers and it is very hard to find one now that I can't guess. The descriptions however were very well done and I was able to picture everything perfectly.This was one book I was glad to reach the end of. I really need to try harder to not finish books I don't like. Looking forward to the next book this author writes. Hopefully it will be one I can get into. This book just was not for me.
Many thanks to the Publisher , the Author , and NetGalley for a ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own. As always if you like the book you read please take the time to leave a review for the author in places like goodreads & Amazon. It does not have to be long. Just a few sentences saying you liked the book will do. Authors really appreciate every review they get !

#GoodGirlsLie #NetGalley

This thriller kept me guessing til the very end. If JT Ellison knows anything it is how to weave an interesting thriller. Less one star due to a kind of convoluted ending, but all the bones are are in place for an entertaining read.

At an elite boarding school for girls everything should be perfect? Should it not? After all this school is known for preparing the girls for a life of achievement, But lies and secrets rule the after school hours until a new student starts to understand the traditions and the consequences of not following them.

Good Girls Lie was my first JT Ellison book to read, and I really enjoyed it! The story takes place in an exclusive all girls boarding school on the East coast. I didn't find the book to be complicated or suspenseful, but it was a nice little mystery. The twist was not surprising, but I didn't mind that. I enjoyed the character development, and there were folks that I was rooting for throughout the book. Overall, I enjoyed the book. I will definitely be reading more by this author.

In J.T. Ellison's Good Girls Lie, you'll be hooked on the first page and can't put it down until the end. It all started for Ash Carlisle, a new student to join the Goode All-Girl Academy in Marchburg, Virginia. She came from her posh London home to get the education she deserved and needed from her trouble home. When she joined the ranks of the sophomore, it made everyone curious about her and why she fled England. Her first days were troublesome when everyone teased her and gave her a hard time. But she kept a dark secret that no one should know when she stayed there for her education. Ash had trouble making friends and even her room mate Camille had kept her distance from her, being secretive and distant. But when someone found her dead body on the ground, it made everyone suspicious of her, even the cops and Dean Westhaven. Lo and behold, when she's tapped by a secret society of senior students, she becomes friends with Becca Curtis who had a secret of her own to keep. There's some kind of fascination with her that made her want to get closer to her. But Ash's world is about to come back down and turn dangerous and deadly, when the truth could come about her and her true identity. In the end, she would have to free herself and expose the secret before someone like herself would get her in the crossfire of her worst enemy... someone close to her who would do anything to get her own way... even commit murder.

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison was definitely a twisted book. This book had all kinds of twist and turns crazy things thrown at the reader.
I liked this book but I did not love this book. I did not connect with the characters as much as I wanted too. Maybe it was the age of all the characters that got to me. This felt more like a young adult book too me then an adult book.
Overall, it was a good book but not what I was expecting so I am giving this book four out of five stars.

I am a big J.T. Ellison fan, she has not done me wrong yet. Her books are interesting and accessible. This book was much different than others I have read by her though, and whew it’s a doozy! You know the whole book something more is going on than what is on the surface, and when the twist is gradually revealed, it is so satisfying. One thing I love about this author is that she doesn’t wrap up the ending super quickly after the reveal like many mystery/thriller authors. She lets the wrap up breathe and reveal even more to the reader. I normally don’t like books that don’t end how I want them to, but I wasn’t even sure what I wanted for the ending of this one, and perhaps that’s the best part.

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison is a page-turner, wild ride of a book with not nearly as much teenage drama as I was expecting it to have. At 458 pages it is not a short book, but the pages will fly by and you won't want to put it down.

When I started reading Good Girls Lie I had no idea I would read it in one day, but that is exactly what I did. Short, punchy chapters really make the book fly by, and I was also a big fan of the chapter titles. Ellison's writing style in this novel was really unique as well and I loved it. I already enjoy her books, but there was definitely something even more great about this one and I liked it even more than Tear Me Apart.

I really liked the setting of an all-girls boarding school and even though I was expecting tons of teenage angst, that's not really what I got. There is plenty of drama sure, but overall the feel was more suspenseful than angsty to me. I don't think there are really any huge surprises in Good Girls Lie but it was a fun, solid thriller and I absolutely loved the ending.

Song/s the book brought to mind: Everything I Wanted by Billie Eilish

Final Thought: If you decide to read Good Girls Lie (which I highly recommend doing) then you are going to be in for a treat. It was highly addictive, and a lot of things I want in a thriller. There is suspense, drama, mystery, promises of ghosts, dirty deeds, and so much more! I love the things that come out of this author's mind and I already can't wait for her next book!

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

I honestly wasn't crazy about Good Girls Lie.

The beginning was too slow and without much of a story. To me, none of the characters were likable.

Let's meet the cast of women:

First, the novel starts with the introduction of a teenage woman from London, Ash Carlisle. She's starting a new school year in a well-known boarding school for young girls, Goode School. Ash is hiding something. Something painful and most likely deadly.

Second, there is Becca Curtis, a senior who is most of the time a mean girl. She's abusive but at the same time very lonely. Her mother is a senator who has never behaved warmly towards her.

Third, there is Camille Shannon, who’s Ash's new roommate. A girl who cries at night but won't tell Ash why.

Lastly, we have Ford Julianne Westhaven. The Dean of Goode School who has inherited the job as part of her family's legacy but who dreams of becoming a writer and moving to New York City.

When one girl appears to have committed suicide, Ash becomes a suspect. Dean Ford wants to believe Ash's innocence but when more clues point to Ash, she doesn’t know what to believe until a second girl is found dead.

I had issues with the behavior of the girls and their decisions. I found the mystery to be lacking.

I’m sad this one didn’t work for me. I had high hopes. :(

Cliffhanger: No

2/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Harlequin-MIRA via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.