Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Good Girls Lie


Oh my gosh- this book! It's been on my TBR for a while, and I finally got to it. Wow, what a read. Twisty and quite the page turner. Ash Carlisle is a new student transferring in to the exclusive Goode school- a boarding school for the rich and connected in the hills of Virginia- but Ash has a few secrets. She's from England and is running from something- dark secrets indeed. And there is something else- every once in a while we get another perspective, but we don't know who it is. They know something about our protagonist though and it's not good. 

Things go bad as soon as Ash arrives, with death descending on the school almost immediately. Oh, and Ash isn't her real name either. Honestly, the secrets and lies in this book kept me reading way too late, and I was loving it. It starts out with a hanged girl at the gates of the school, so you know right off the bat things are going to be bad. And the writing style combined with the conversational tone of the writing made me feel like Ash- or whoever- were talking right at me. Not only that, but we get the headmistress' perspective as well as a few others. 

This is a story about girls at a boarding school, with all that that entails. Secret societies, initiations and hazing, relationships, the role privilege plays in all this- and a cracking murder mystery. Or several murders actually. Ash is kind of likable, even though right off the bat we're told she may be a murderer or at the very least a bad person- but you kind of root for her? I did, anyway. Also, having read a fair number of boarding school mysteries like this, I must say this one might be my favorite. The school is creepy but sorta realistic. 

The characters broke my heart a few times. Two in particular- I mean, just about everyone can be nasty here, but anyone who's read this will probably know who I'm talking about when I say there were two characters in particular who I wanted good things for. I won't spoil things, but suffice to say some things happened and I was like noooooooo. This book had me reading all night. 

Also the author has a note at the end where she talks about how her real life experiences at an all-girls school informed the writing of this book, and it's fascinating to see where she drew her inspiration from. If you like this kind of story, you need to read this.

20 comments:

  1. I didn't know about this one but you made me curious!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wanna know the dark secrets!! I bet you suspected that much :P
    Also, I like that the author got inspired from personal experiences, I find that something always interesting to read. You definitely got me curious, Greg!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm glad to see how much you enjoyed this book.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love a good twisty-turny mystery and this sound like it did it well!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Greg, You've really made me curious now. I usually like boarding school type stories but girls in particular can be so mean at the age.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm glad you loved this, I've been so curious. I also love boarding school mysteries, I'll have to keep this in mind๐Ÿ˜

    ReplyDelete
  7. YA thrillers! I feel like that's my new catnip, after McManus's One of Us is Lying!
    ~Lex

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love mysteries with a boarding school element, adds to the claustrophic element. I somehow missed this book but I will look it up, I love twists!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This sounds like an enjoyable dark academia read. I might give it a go someday.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I've found myself reading more thrillers this year. I'll have to add this one to the TBR. Great review!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've seen this one doing the rounds and I might actually have it on my Kindle. Let me go and take a look.

    Love to see how eager you were about it! I think I might enjoy it too.

    Elza Reads

    ReplyDelete
  12. When a book compels you to write a full review, we know it's a good one ๐Ÿ˜‰.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I couldn't put this book down when I read it either! It's such a good read. And all those different twists! I really liked this one. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love when a book has me reading all night.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Boarding schools always seem to make great settings!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I've only read one JT Ellison book but I absolutely loved it and really need to pick up another book by her. This one sounds amazing and I love the boarding school setting.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I recently read a book by this author and loved it. I'll have to check out this one too. Sounds great.

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is on my wishlist since you loved it so much! (The mass market paperback is actually super cheap, so I will definitely cave sooner than later!) I actually really want to read it because it's a bit different than the stuff I have been reading lately. Too much apocalypse, I never thought I'd see the day, but here we are.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh wow, I forgot about this one! I am also curious about girls’ private schools after your note about the author's experiences influencing this.

    ReplyDelete