Book Review: Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison

**Disclaimer: I received a free electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, YA
Release Date: December 30, 2019 
Description:

" 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."

Well, this story progressed in a somewhat unexpected way. I'm a sucker for boarding school mysteries, and this book starts off in a pretty much average/standard way. Maybe that's why it took a while for me to actually get into the book, as nothing really interesting happens until the mysterious death occurs, which is when the plot eventually thickens. When things begin to unravel and secrets are revealed, the pacing also quickens and the ending was delivered pretty quickly too, but luckily it was a pretty satisfying ending. I'm pretty sure the only thing that I disliked was the secret societies that occurred in the school because I found it to be a waste of time as it did not contribute much to the plot at all other than giving Ash an alibi during the murder. 

Character-wise, the only interesting one was Ash. Everyone else wasn't given enough screen time nor development and had pretty much remained as the flat characters that they started off as. Ash was interesting because there was always a shroud of mystery over her (which later makes sense later on down the road). She has her head on her shoulders and has a pretty strong footing against the mean girls at the school. Not only that, she is pretty much a genius and a skilled hacker and is overall a good perspective to read from. Once you learn more about her mysterious past/self, you kind of see her in a new light, making you question more about her. Overall, solid character.

Overall, this was a pretty solid boarding school mystery.

Overall rating:  3.5/5