Give the gift of reading this holiday season!J.T. Ellison’s pulse-pounding 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… 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.
Don’t miss this fast-paced suspense story from New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison!
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I am a fan of J.T. Ellison, reading her books as soon as they come out. Good Girls Don’t Lie is my favorite so far. I started the book and finished the book within 24 hours and was sad that it was over but I loved each and every word of the book! It is at the top of my favorites of 2019.
The story is of a girl who has lost both her parents and is now in the US at an all-girls elite boarding school. She is watching her step, keeping her story to herself, and just trying to get the education she really wants. But as with any school, there is a set of unwritten rules that she has to be careful of. I loved how real it was watching her maneuver the hierarchy of the student population, knowing which students are really her friends and which she should watch out for. And then, of course, there is the secret she must keep. Gossip spreads, odd events start happening, and I knew the twists and turns were just starting.
J.T. Ellison is phenomenal as a thriller author. She is a must-read and a guaranteed winner with each book. The stories are all unique and not easy to forget. Each time I pick up one of her books I wonder what wonderful, twisted story I will get pulled into this time and am never disappointed with where she takes me.
J.T. Ellison has created a suspenseful drama with great characters and a great setting. The old school buildings become as much a part of the story as the characters themselves. Ellison is a master at blending characters to keep you guessing until the very end. I like J.T. Ellison a lot. This is one of the better suspense books I’ve read.
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!!!
Favorite character: Kate Wood
She is the one sane mind in a sea of doubt, anxiety, and mental illness. I love her stoic determination to unearth the truth, never once succumbing to the gaslighting and losing focus. Kate Wood is relatively a minor character in the amount of time dedicated to her scenes in the novel, but a significant character based on the impact she has on the story.
What I Loved About Good Girls Lie
The delightful intensity of being inside so many minds set me in the right mood to enjoy the story as it unfolded. By the end, I felt like I was gaslighted along with the characters. Moving from mind to mind kept me in an unsettled state and made guessing the who, the why, and then what will happen next tricky. Up to the last page, I wasn’t sure who did it, and even now, I’m not entirely sure. This uncertainty is fascinating to me as it allows me to draw my unique conclusion to go with the ending.
Seeing the story unfold through several characters’ minds is also inherently unreliable, but that is an excellent technique for a psychological thriller. Nothing is scarier than knowing what is in someone else’s head, though at times, I found that my reading slowed down as a result. So, I found the pace to be fast at some points and slow at others, like a natural ebb and flow.
The bits of real boarding school elements intrigue me. I find the whole idea of boarding school to wrapped in mystique due to its exclusivity, and this portrayal enhances my perception. The students, though born to wealth and knowing all the privileges that provides, still have to deal with the same issues as public-school students. They experience bullying, questioning sexuality, pregnancy, and drug and alcohol use and abuse. It’s just wrapped up in a more mysterious package since the secret societies are a big part of these problems.
The character development is based on the unreliability of the narration, so I was never sure that I had a handle on any one character. I realized that as much as I knew, I didn’t really know anything. I loved that I found the characters well-developed but unreliably so. How intriguing!!!
To Read or not to read.
If you love intense psychological thrillers, this should be your next read. It will leave you guessing till the last page and maybe even beyond. It is so good!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
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.
The Goode School is an exclusive all – girls school. Only 50 selected each year, the students selected are among the most gifted, intelligent, and generally come from wealthy, prominent families. These students are prepped to become Ivy Leaguers.
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.
There are truths and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened. Be warned … not everyone is who they say they are …. and not everyone is a Goode Girl.
This is an extraordinary psychological thriller full of suspense. The story starts with a young woman hanging in front of the school … and this isn’t the first suicide death. Or are they suicides? The story is told in different voices, blurring the lines between what’s true … and what’s not.
The characters are finely drawn, some are unique, some are likeable, some are flawed, but they are all unforgettable. Highly suspenseful, the action starts on the very first page and doesn’t let up until the very last word of the very last sentence.
Many thanks to the author / Harlequin-Mira / Netgalley for the digital copy of this fast paced thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
With her latest psychological thriller GOOD GIRLS LIE, J.T. Ellison again takes us through a whirlwind of emotions as we try to unravel what is true during this heart thumping spiel of lies and cover ups. The characters are enthralling and the torment and terror are divine, though hard to follow who is who at times.
Secrets and lies abound as a teenage Londoner travels to a prestigious Virginia all-girl prep school to round out her high school years with studious precision that will surely get her into the college of her dreams. She has secrets that we think we know the truth about, but as months unravel, we learn all isn’t what it seems.
When a popular student who happens to be her roommate winds up dead, everyone begins to believe the stories floating around about why she would want to commit suicide … but when more truth comes to light, it leads to more info than they ever bargained for. In the end, the day of reckoning arises … but who will be the victor?
I recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a deeply combustible story line of danger and lies. I was hooked from the start and though there was some confusion at times to figure out who was actually on point in certain scenes, I really enjoyed it.
Good Girls Lie is wonderfully atmospheric with a Gothic feel, and some of my favorite parts of the book were the descriptions of the school and its surrounding area. That’s not to say that I didn’t like the suspense of the story. And yes, I say suspense, not thriller, because this one moved a little too slowly for me to consider it a thriller. It does start out with a thriller vibe that is sure to pull a reader in. However, it slows down considerably after that and doesn’t really pick back up until about the 50% mark. There is a decent twist, but if you’re paying attention, it isn’t hard to figure out way ahead of time. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I always try to guess the big reveal, and while I love it when the reveal shocks me, I’m not disappointed when I’m right either. Although, I will say that this one could’ve been a little less revealing in its tidbits and hints from the start. In the end, this one didn’t wow me, but it was worth the read, and once the story took off, I was invested enough to keep turning the pages. I really think Good Girls Lie would make an excellent movie or mini-series with its rich atmosphere. One thing is sure, this author certainly knows her stuff when it comes to setting.
Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison, Mira, December 31, 2019
J.T.Ellison, author of “Good Girls Lie” has written an intense, intriguing, captivating, suspenseful and chilling novel. The Genres for this novel are Psychological Thriller, Thriller, Mystery and Suspense, and Fiction. The timeline for this story is in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events. The author describes her characters as complex, complicated, dysfunctional, and pathological. There are betrayals, lies, deep, dark secrets, bullying, and murder. The story takes place mostly in an elite private boarding school.
Goode Private Boarding School is an elite and prestigious boarding school for girls. The grounds and buildings have provided stories of heinous crimes in the past. There are tunnels and many floors in the school where the rooms are mostly modernized. The seniors have the most power, and there are secret clubs or sororities. Some of these clubs have horrible rituals. There is troublesome bullying that goes on.
Ash, is a new student coming from England to the United States to attend Goode School. Ash has lost both of her parents in tragic circumstances and wants to start fresh at school. Her goals include going on to Harvard. Not all that seems to meet the eye is a true picture of what is going on. Ash has many secrets, and she seems so have a way of irritating people. As a matter of fact, since Ash is at the school there seems to be some trouble.
There are strange things that are going on at the school, and different groups of girls seem to have a way of overlooking the honor and rules of the elite institution. Ash meets Becca, one of the seniors that are very powerful at the school. Ash tries to keep a low profile, but it is difficult when murder becomes involved.
I would recommend this chilling thrilling novel to those readers who enjoy a horrifying and thought-provoking read.
My thanks to the author, Harlequin-Mira and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Wow this was really one twisted book. I love thrillers, but for me this one was really out there. I’m not sure its because of the ages of most of the characters, but I have read many books that are more a YA book. The author is a very good author the book was well written but really just too twisted for me. I am sure many will love this book, and I was recommend anyone that enjoys thrillers read and make your own opinions.
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.
When Ash Carlisle learns she has been accepted into the Goode School located in Virginia, she is hoping it will be the perfect escape from her tragic past. But once she arrives she quickly learns that she has just wandered onto a campus that is brimming with secrets, rituals, danger, and a whole other host of issues. The Goode School paints a picture of perfection to all outsiders looking in, but for the young ladies that attend the school they know it’s anything but!
Good Girls Lie is a dramatic tale meant to thrill and captivate… with secrets, lies, murder, and deceit brimming within it’s pages it’s bound to give you that and more! From the very first page this one had me sitting up and taking notice, it ‘s action packed start instantly lured me in, and it continued surprise with each page that followed. I really enjoyed this newest offering from Ms. Ellison, she penned a compelling story line, that came with elements of suspense, and loads of jaw-dropping drama… needless to say it wasn’t hard to get lost between the pages of this one! Highly recommend you get your hands on this one, it’s words are destined to keep you captivated and on the edge of your seat!!
I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, via NetGalley, and I am leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.
I love the Taylor Jackson and Sam Owens series by this author but the last few books have not been my cup of tea. This book takes me back to why I love JT Ellison books. All girl school for the very rich. You can see where this is going. Backstabbing,hazing, bullying,girl clicks and murder. There is a creepy gothic feel to the whole book. Something seems of about Ash from the beginning. Her parents are both dead.She does not want to fit in. The first part of the book seems kind of slow but the second part takes off like wildfire. It’s a race to the finish and oh boy what a finish. I did not see that coming at all.
Generally, I love the books by JT Ellison. This time, however, after trying multiple times, I just had a horrible time getting into the story. I felt overwhelmed with too much dialogue. I’m sure it’s all meant to set up the characters. There is too much insignificant information. This story was just not enough to hold my interest.
This book was gifted to me by NetGalley and the author in return for an honest review.
The Goode school only accepts the very best girls. There are so many secrets at the Goode school that it makes reading the book quite a thrilling ride. Ash comes to the Goode school from England as a sophomore and quickly becomes singled out. Becca is head girl and seems to be in charge at the school. Camille is Ash’s roommate and isn’t friendly to Ash at all. As the secrets are slowly revealed, you can not put the book down! I thoroughly enjoyed this wild ride! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
I absolutely love this book! I love reading J.T. Ellison books but this one is one of the best! To think teenage girls could be so evil. J.T. Just keep writing these wonderfully evil stories please!!! Thank you so much!