Good Girls Lie

Good Girls Lie gripped me from the very beginning. That first chapter sure sets the atmosphere for what's to come. The characters were complex and flawed, which added so much to the story. Even with all the crazy twists, I actually believed this could be real. That's how JT Ellison's writing is: makes you believe anything. I mean, wow. Did not see that one coming at all. It definitely had my heart racing. At times, it felt slow-ish, but the execution of the story, the world-building, the characters, it all added to the story to flow seamlessly. It was definitely an addicting and exhilarating read. I was glad when I read the author's note and found out how quite a few details of the story happened in real life. It just added to the eeriness of the story. I cannot wait for more by this author.

Just finished this amazing novel! I received it at a gifting lounge this year at TIFF 2019, and actually got to meet and speak with Ellison herself! I couldn’t wait to start reading it. I could have devoured the book in a few days, but wanted to savor it. Good Girls Lie is your classic YA thriller, but even I didn’t see those twists coming! Nearly every suspicion I had was wrong. Ash is such a great, deeply complex character, and I loved that I couldn’t decide whether to trust her or not. And another great aspect? I think there is a total of only 4 male characters in the novel. This was such a female centered story, with strong points of view and independent voices. I thoroughly enjoyed all the places this book took me! Can’t wait to continue working my way through Ellison’s work.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publishing house. Thanks! All opinions are my own. Author: J.T. Ellison Book Series: Standalone Rating: 4/5 Publication Date: December 31, 2019 Genre: YA Thriller Recommended Age: 16+ (violence, some mature content, and murderrrrr) Publisher: MIRA Pages: 384 Amazon Link Synopsis: 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 behavior 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. Review: I liked the book pretty good. I used to enjoy reading boarding school books and this was right up the alley of them. The book had the annoying gossip that we all secretly crave and the characters were fairly well developed. The story was intriguing enough to keep my interesting and the pacing was spot on. However, I did feel like there were too many tangents and not enough of a cohesive story. The book also focused a lot on the gossip and I think for a boarding school book you gotta show the balance of school and backstabbing equally. Verdict: It was a decent thriller!

When the publisher offered me an eArc, I was happy to accept as I found the synopsis intriguing. After reading the first couple of pages, I was optimistic for the book. However, I found that it was not as engaging as I hoped it would be and I found myself putting it aside on several occasions. I found the pacing slow for a thriller. Based on how the story started out, I was looking forward to a fast-paced thriller. Unfortunately, after the exciting start, the story fizzled out, and it was not until I was at about forty percent into the story that the pace picked up and things became interesting. The story, which was set in a prestigious boarding school, was riddled with lies, murder and secrets. It had its share of twists, but it did not have the expected shock factor as I had my suspicions prior to the revelations. As, a result, the story failed to deliver nail biting feeling one would expect from a thriller. However, despite this, I felt compelled to continue reading, as I was curious to know how the story would end. The ending thrilled me as it delivered the perfect reward/punishment. The level of angst was what one would expect from teenage girls who feel the need to fit in with their peers. The characters, except for the narrator, failed to wow me. I felt no connection to them and frankly, I did not care what happened to them. They all deserved whatever was served to them. The narrator proved unreliable and her actions and words added to the complexity of the story. I had my doubts about her and as the story progressed, my uncertainties increased. She struck me as being someone smart but diabolical. I enjoyed getting to know her. Conclusion / Recommendation Overall, Good Girls Lie was an interesting story, which highlighted the ins and outs of life in an all-female boarding school for the rich. Although it did not deliver as expected, I still had a good time with the story. I believe that this book would appeal to fans of young adult mystery.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley, Mira Books and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this free copy. This was my first book from Ellison, and I don’t know if all of her books are like this, but the writing style was very interesting. The entire premise of this novel was pretty interesting when I think back on this. I believe it was the narration in the beginning that had me intrigued the most part, because it starts off with someone being found dead on the front gates of The Goode School. Now, this all-girls school is very small, very elite, so clearly it wouldn’t take very long to figure out who it was, which I can’t believe it would start off like that. Then when that third person narrator tells us who it is, we end up going back in time in the POV of the victim, and wow. Ash Carlisle is an interesting sixteen year old girl. Sometimes when I was reading it, I would forget that she was supposed to be sixteen. Actually, all the time, I kept forgetting that she was only sixteen. She gets accepted into The Goode School as a sophomore, and yet when I hear her voice throughout the novel, I felt like I was listening to a young 20 year old woman. Maybe it was her upbringing in Oxford, I mean she did come from a very rich family after all. Her father, really. Her mother just married into it. Her vocabulary had me highlighting all these words to get the definitions, and then feeling stupid for not knowing them right away. Her mannerisms were something I wouldn’t have pegged for a girl like her, and yet she was one of the most interesting characters in this entire novel. I was a little bummed at how one of the few brown girls that we know of in this novel is hostile towards Ash over something that wasn’t even her doing? At first we think Vanessa – the brown girl – is going to be a friend and ally to Ash, but then when Ash gets an invitation to “the attics” for something that’s supposed to be prestigious or whatever, Vanessa gets all bitchy. Then her suite-mates as well – mostly Camille – starts treating Ash like the enemy and that just didn’t sit well with me. I know girls are supposed to be catty or whatever, but the girl on girl hate gets me every single time, and not in the good way. I get that drama has to happen somehow, but I mean the deaths could have been drama enough. No need for girls to randomly hate on one another for no reason. They are already in a league of their own. It would be better if they were supportive of one another when they are already isolated from the rest of the world, in a sense. Other than that, I was intrigued by the mystery that surrounded this novel. The mystery surrounding Ash, her reasoning for keeping her true identity a secret, for trying to stay under the radar. She was an interesting character and while I wasn’t necessarily rooting for her to survive by any means, I couldn’t help but respect her for everything that she went through. Dean Ford was also an interesting character, whenever we would get to see from her point of view. Well, not really since whenever it was her chapters, it was a third person POV. But you know what I mean.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars If you are a lover of YA thrillers from authors like Karen M. McManus - this is your next book! Full of so many flipping twists and characters that will keep you guessing until the last page, this book was a freaking RIDE. Honestly, this is one of those books that the more I write, the more I will give away. But take my word for it - this book is killer! I can tell you that the characters are fantastic, though! All of the Goode girls, including Ash, are fabulously complex and flawed. And wildly unreliable. And a special shout-out to Ford, the dean of Goode. An amazingly scripted character who steps away from the traditional roles of being a woman and an authority figure - she is full of ambition, responsibility, and a maternal instinct without the desire for a family.  After this book, I have already added Ellison's backlist to my TBR - I am ready for more! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to MIRA for providing me with an e-ARC of Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison in exchange for an honest review! 3.5 rounded up! Content Warnings: Good Girls Lie starts off with a scene of a character hanging. This is mentioned a couple more times through the book. There are also scenes & mentions of child abuse & drug addiction. Good Girls Lie is a wild ride from beginning to end & you truly don’t fully understand what’s happening until the conclusion. Without giving spoilers, there are chapters in which it’s difficult to know whose’s point-of-view the story is being told in. This may sound like a mess, but J.T. Ellison ties it together very well at the end and makes the set-up worth it. As much as I found the beginning to be interesting (learning the history of the boarding school, the traditions, urban legends, etc.), I did find it to drag for a bit. It wasn’t until around the half-way mark that things started to fly, and I found it difficult to put the book down. Good Girls Lie has a lot of ~spooky~ factors — from whispers in the hallways to the boarding school’s murder history. At times, it feels Good Girls Lie has the right amount of ingredients to be a ghost tale. That is until you fully grasp what’s happening in the story. There’s also a lot of scandals within the halls of The Goode School. If you’re a fan of the dramz and shows/books like Gossip Girl then definitely give this book a checking out. There are relationship scandals & banned hazing rituals. What more could you want? There’s an epilogue & that ending is extremely satisfying, even more so then the conclusion provided before the epilogue. In fact, if the book would have ended without an epilogue, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much. Good Girls Lie is a good read for anyone who enjoys boarding school novels, mysteries/thrillers & drama.

Enough twists to keep me interested, but everyone in the book was highly unlikable to the point that I almost DNF. The big twist I kind of saw coming, and the ending was kind of predictable after everything Ash had been through. I listened to it as an audiobook, so the changes in narration were difficult to follow. A little thing that irked me was having a British narrator for the American characters’ internal monologues, as that contributed to my confusion during changes in narration. Also, the way the narrator says “anything” and “everything” was so distinctive, and hearing it with an American accent always made me laugh.

Good Girls Lie gripped me from the very beginning. That first chapter sure sets the atmosphere for what's to come. The characters were complex and flawed, which added so much to the story. Even with all the crazy twists, I actually believed this could be real. That's how JT Ellison's writing is: makes you believe anything. I mean, wow. Did not see that one coming at all. It definitely had my heart racing. At times, it felt slow-ish, but the execution of the story, the world-building, the characters, it all added to the story to flow seamlessly. It was definitely an addicting and exhilarating read. I was glad when I read the author's note and found out how quite a few details of the story happened in real life. It just added to the eeriness of the story. I cannot wait for more by this author.