Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison — ARC Review

Summary:

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.

J.T. Ellison’s pulse-pounding new novel examines the tenuous bonds of friendship, the power of lies and the desperate lengths people will go to to protect their secrets

Review: 4 Stars

When I first saw this book I knew that I was going to want to read it. I absolutely love books that are set at elite boarding schools. It’s one of my favorite settings and I am always looking for books like this one. I had expected this to be a fluff read full of girl drama, but it was really more of a psychological thriller. While I had expected to enjoy this book I hadn’t expected it to really surprise me like it did.

This book was truly a roller-coaster. It took me a little bit to really sink into this tory, but once i did I found myself pretty invested in it. I have always been fascinated by secret societies and the one in this book felt so real. I loved how the book followed the school’s staff’s lives and the students’ as well because the story wasn’t minimized down to teenage drama, but rather the events at the school as a whole. It felt like everyone was hiding something and curiosity kept me flipping pages to find out what was going on.

The plot really shocked me with its twists. I did not expect the book to go the way it did at all. The murder mystery was only the half of it, there was so much more to this story than just murder. The ending was also absolutely perfect. I loved all the lies and scheming and just could not get enough. I am thrilled to find out that J.T. Ellison has written many novels because her plot blew my mind.

Overall I’m pretty impressed. I had expected this book to be a fun, light and dramatic read, but instead I got an intense psychological thriller. This was really well done and will be a book that I will recommend to all of my friends.