Review: Good Girls Lie by JT Ellison

Good Girls Lie

by JT Ellison

Publisher: MIRA

Pages: 384

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  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.

Kritters Thoughts:  The perfect scenario - an old all girls boarding school in the mountains of VA with stories passed of ghosts and secret societies and an opening prologue with a dead girl, this book should have been right up my alley, but it just didn't work.  

The short chapters were ok.  I felt as though they stunted the pacing of the book and I wanted more continuous flow in the story.  I think if the chapters had lingered a bit more and let you sit into the drama of the novel it would have worked just a bit better.  

The girls in the boarding school were great to follow.  I loved the range of characters of characters and they didn't feel cookie cutter - they felt unique.  The teachers and administrative staff of the school on the other hand were just ok.  They felt obvious in the roles that they played and I wanted more from them.  

The twists and turns ended up being just ok.  I would read this author again, but would have to make sure I liked the setting and the jist of the plot.    


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from HarperCollins.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.