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Thanks to NetGalley and MIRA for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: December 31st, 2019
384 Pages
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.
I love mysteries set at boarding schools, so naturally Good Girls Lie called out to me. Unfortunately after struggling to read this over the last week, I’ve reluctantly come to the conclusion this just isn’t for me.
This is a tough review for me to write because I actually liked the plot. It’s dark and twisty and kept me guessing. However, there were a couple of things that drove me up the wall. First, I am 54-years-old so it’s been many years since I’ve a teenager, but I can say unhesitatingly that teens do not talk the way they do in this book. For example, there’s a scene where an adult is telling a 16-year-old girl that he approves of her not being an active user of social media. Her reply is: “Goodness no. I find social media a waste of time. Not to mention an invasion of privacy.” Or how about this: “Epochs of instinct tells me this is an important moment.” Goodness no. No teen talks like or thinks this. I could bore you with the many other examples of this, but trust me. The teens consistently talk and think like 50+-year-olds. There are also sections where the author inserts an interactive narrative that directly speaks to the reader. Instead of coming across as clever, which I’m sure was the intention, to me it was grating and self-indulgent. And finally, without venturing into spoiler territory, there’s a mental health issue that’s a big part of the plot, and I vehemently disagree with the way it’s handled and discussed.
I need to be honest and say that Good Girls Lie is getting many 4 and 5 star reviews on Goodreads, so maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood for it and I’m being overly picky. This is why I’m not rating it. If you do decide to give it a try, please keep in mind that despite the boarding school setting and the age of some of the characters, this is not a YA book.
By Hook Or By Book 
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