Good Girls Lie

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

This book was a conundrum. On one hand, the setting was full of promise: a Gothic prep school filled with overachieving rich girls. On the other hand, we have lots of internal dialogue and chapters that switch POV’s rapidly, causing confusion. There was also a slow start to the book, and it seemed to drag on towards the middle. This was almost a DNF for me, but I kept going.

The last 20% of the book is filled with rapid-fire twists and turns, and all the questions (and there are plenty!) are answered. There are some (more) deaths but I felt the conclusion was satisfactorily drawn. Ellison’s characters are typical boarding-school-with-money types, and there are a lot of familiar tropes (secret show more societies, girl drama, rich girls behaving badly) that will warm the heart of the reader that loves this type of thing.

I am unsure how to classify this book – is it YA or not? I feel it fits either category; the writing style is easy to read, if a little drawn out. I think each chapter would have benefitted from naming the narrator right at the beginning so the reader would immediately know who is speaking. However, this may have been done deliberately by the author to cause confusion and increase the intrigue.

My favorite character was Becca – she was an apt Head Girl, hiding her loneliness under a harsh and demanding exterior. I also felt sorry for the Dean, who was constantly under the thumb of the previous Dean (who just happened to be her manipulative mother).

All in all – an uneven but mildly pleasant read. Stick with it through the slow portions and you will be happy you did. show less

A special thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Goode girls don’t lie…or do they?

The Goode School is a prestigious all girls prep school nestled in the picturesque town of Marchburg, Virginia. Known as Silent Ivy, the school only accept the very best and brightest girls, the daughters of the rich and influential. But when a stranger comes to Goode, the ivy turns poisonous.

Appearances are everything, especially at Goode where the girls are being groomed for Ivy League educations. As long as you follow the strict honour code and stick to the rules, you will succeed. In fact, people will even turn a blind eye to the cruel and calculating hazings of the secret societies and the unsavoury show more attitudes of the spoiled and privileged rich girls to keep the school's reputation and its students' reputations in tact.

Ash Carlisle is an import from England. After witnessing both of her parents dying, she is trying to reinvent herself as a Goode girl. Only it isn't that easy. Ash is not only struggling to fit in—especially with being targeted by popular senior, Becca Curtis—but also with trying to keep her past hidden, as well as the many other secrets and lies that seem to be piling up.

When a popular student is found dead, the truth can't be ignored. Rumours are suggesting that the girl had a secret that drove her to commit suicide. But was it suicide, or was it murder? You see, there are truths, lies, and what actually happened in between.

This propulsive character driven novel is well-sculpted and sublimely atmospheric—the setting was absolute perfection! What is it about boarding schools that is so intriguing? Can't you just picture the stone walls, ornate wood, climbing ivy, and secret tunnels?

Ellison's writing is hypnotic, detailed, and consuming. The solid narrative is framed by equally strong characters. Told from multiple perspectives, the majority of the story is told from Ash's point of view, with a few other perspectives in the mix. This works exceptionally well, the reader experiences a lot of what Ash is as a newcomer.

Good Girls Lie is devious and delightful. There is plenty of back-stabbing, double-crossing, and plot twists. J. T. Ellison will have her readers engaged until the very last page. show less

I have two types of catnip when it comes to books; Witches coming into their powers and Secret Societies. Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison is filled with secret societies and teen drama, just like the shows I watch on CWTV. Don’t judge! Legacies, Nancy Drew, and Charmed, yup, some people think it’s trash TV, but I love it.

This is the second book I’ve read by Ellison, the first being Lie to Me. I really enjoyed that one, so I was excited to give this one a read. Good Girls Lie is filled with one twist after another. Many of them you knew were coming with the foreshadowing and clues Ellison weaved into the story. But this didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the book. And there was still some surprises that I didn’t see coming.
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It’s told from multiple points of view, with the main one being Ash’s. I thought this worked well to keep the reader a bit off balance. Right when you’re starting to get into Ash’s head, Ellison switched to another character, one of them being a menacing voice that the reader may not be sure who it is.
There is plenty of character development. You will root for some of the characters, feel sorry for some, and perhaps hate a few. Ellison also does a fantastic job with the descriptive elements of the school and town. You can feel how lonely and isolated the school is, and how the town is dead only to come partial alive when the students go into town.

As with any good secret society book there are secrets, some deadly, hazing, and the questioning of one’s sanity. And of course, with an all girls school, you’re going to have some questioning of one’s sexuality. I thought Ellison did a good job of combining hormones with not being sure of your place in the world yet.

There are two reasons I’m giving Good Girls Lie four stars instead of five. The first being I felt the story could have been tightened up a bit, and that would have given it a more frantic feeling that would have enhanced it as a thriller.

The second is because of the very, very ending. If Ellison would have left it at the first ending, I might have given the book five stars, but the second ending was a bit too far-fetched for me, and it felt like a horror movie when they add on the last jump scare so there can be a sequel.

If you enjoy thrillers, secret societies, or all girl boarding school novels then you should give this one a read. I know I’ll be reading even more of Ellison in the future. show less

After the sudden death of her parents, getting out of England and to the posh all girls’ school seems to be just what Ashlyn Carr needs. Goode is a strict school with a tight honesty policy operated by the 5th generation dean. The rules are stiff, some even archaic, the punishments as much as expulsion for daring to break them. The girls attending are from the richest and most important families in the country.
But Goode is also tainted by a tragedy 10 years prior and for current dean Ford is working to erase that memory after her mother was banished in shame after the death of a student.
But the Goode school isn’t as good as it appears. There are secrets, many secrets that this school hides and before long, the school is again show more plagued with tragedy. And Ashlyn, who seems to have secrets of her own seems to be in the middle of it.
This book, the first I have read by this author (and definitely not the last) grabbed me from the first page. The descriptions are so vivid, they take you right there and don’t let you go. There were many times when I had to reluctantly put the book down to do life things, that I was still back there, still caught up in the mystery of the Goode school and Ashlyn Carr. Is she an innocent girl caught up in a web of unfortunate circumstances or is she something else? I will leave it for you to find out. And I suggest you dig into this one. show less

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 show more 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. show less

Good Girls Lie by J. T. Ellison is a highly recommended psychological thriller.

The Goode School is a prestigious girls prep school located in the small town of Marchburg, Virginia. It accepts only the best and the brightest students and is considered the premiere prep school for daughters of the wealthy and influential. Graduating from Goode means admission to an Ivy League college. When new sophomore student Ash Carlisle arrives from the U.K. she, with full knowledge of the Dean, is trying to keep her identity and the recent tragedy in her past quiet, a seemingly impossible task in a school full of over achieving girls. Ash wasn't prepared for mean girls, cliques, secret clubs, and hazing. When there is a death in the school, numerous show more secrets, lies, and rumors begin to surface.

Good Girls Lie has all the standard components of a great Gothic novel. We have secrets swirling about the school. There are plenty of stories of murders and hauntings in the school and on the grounds. We have groups of students with insufferable attitudes, secrets, cruel rules, and bad behavior. And the whole shebang is set on old grounds and in a building with secret passageways and deadly stairways. If a Gothic novel set at a girls school full of secrets sounds intriguing, you will likely enjoy Good Girls Lie.

With the exception of Ash, the characters are in many ways, standard caricatures. In this case, that isn't bad because it works in this novel. Ash is a sympathetic character, at first, and then she does begin to grate on the nerves, and then things change again. And there are so many secrets from so many people. The narrative is told through multiple points-of-view, some of which are flashbacks to the past. The alternating points-of-view increases the suspense and allow insights into the character's motivations and secrets.

The writing is very good. The plot is complex and full of twists; some of the twists will surprise you, some will keep you guessing, and some can be predicted. The novel does begin to go on just a bit too long, but in the end, Good Girls Lie is a satisfying, entertaining read that ends in a surprising, but fitting, denouement.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of MIRA Books.
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The Goode School will be the perfect place to leave her old life behind. Ash Carlisle has just lost both her parents and is now happy to flee to Marchburg, Virginia, to concentrate on school and forget what happened in Oxford. However, her fellow schoolmates do not like secrets and eye her suspiciously, it is obvious that the newcomer has some interesting things to tell them and this exclusive all-girls school has its own rules that have to be followed. When Ash is exposed and her roommate found dead, her carefully set up facade is threatened to crumble and reveal the real person she so hard tried to hide.

J.T. Ellison has chosen the perfect setting for a mysterious story where everybody has some well-hidden secrets: the old buildings of show more the élite private school provide the characters with tunnels and undisclosed rooms, a history of secret societies with old passed down hazings and rules that bind the girls, rumours about suspicious deaths and a headmistress with her very own agenda. It all adds up to a thrilling atmosphere where the protagonist herself offers only shady bits and pieces of her own story so that you are well alert not to trust any of them.

I really adored J.T. Ellison’s style of writing, the author brilliantly creates suspense by only hinting at what happened back in England and by insinuating that there is much more to know about Ash. It only takes a couple of pages to dive into the atmosphere of this elite school and its very own rules that seem to have a long history and make the girls bond immediately.

Admittedly, there were some aspects I found not totally convincing, e.g. 16-year-olds acting and plotting like adults, the detective providing the girls with core information about one of the deceased, another detective investigating such a delicate case even though she has been suspended or the headmistress’s behaviour which equals much more the girls’ than would be considered adequate for her position. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the read and the mystery surrounding the characters. show less