Tag Archive for: J.T. Ellison

Thriller Thursday Reviews: A Very Bad Thing & The Hitchcock Hotel

 

Hey Everyone! Yes, Sharon here and I am back with a Thriller Thursday edition. Sorry for the hiatus, but life got in my way. I cannot believe it is already December and in just a few weeks it will be 2025. Where has the year gone? But today I am happy to share my thoughts on A Very Bad Thing by J.T. Ellison and The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel.

 

Thriller Thursday Reviews: A Very Bad Thing & The Hitchcock HotelA Very Bad Thing Goodreads

Author: J.T. Ellison

Publication Date: November 1, 2024

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Columbia Jones is a best-selling author, at the top of her game. She is on a book tour for her latest novel, but on the final night of the tour, a face in the audience makes Columbia collapse on stage and by the next morning she is found dead in her hotel room. Who would want Columbia dead? Turns out there are a few people who would.  And that is the premise of J.T. Ellison’s, A Very Bad Thing.

Riley Carrington is a reporter that Columbia hired to accompany her on tour and write an article on Columbia and then possibly help her write her memoir. Riley was supposed to meet with Columbia the morning after the final night tour and she is the one who found her body.

Columbia’s daughter and assistant, Darian, had an argument with her mother the night before. When she walked into the hotel room and saw Riley standing over her mother, she immediately accused her of murder.

Kira Hutchinson is Columbia’s biggest fan and she had won a meet and greet with her on the last day of the tour. Kira is devastated to find out the Columbia has been murdered.

The story is told from the POV’s of Riley, Darian, and Kira. Ellison did a great job of creating these characters and bringing them to life.  I really liked getting to know each one and try and figure out how they are connected. The secondary characters are also just as fully developed.

We also get chapters on a draft that Columbia had written years ago but was never published.  In this draft we find out about Columbia’s secret past and possibly who would want to see her dead. I really like getting to know Columbia through these chapters.

I know I have not said anything about what goes on in the book, but if I did then I would be spoiling things. And I think this book is best to go into blind.  I will say that I loved following the investigation and trying to make sense of the clues that came out. I really thought I had things figured out, but then a twist would come to prove me wrong. I pretty much ended up suspecting everyone in the story at one point.

A very Bad Thing was a fast paced read, that never had a dull moment and was full of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end. The suspense and tension really picked up at the end and I could not read fast enough to find out what was going to happen next.   4 Stars

 

Thriller Thursday Reviews: A Very Bad Thing & The Hitchcock HotelThe Hitchcock Hotel Goodreads

Author: Stephanie Wrobel

Publication Date: September 24, 2024

Publisher: Berkley

I have never read anything by Stephanie Wrobel before, but when I came across The Hitchcock Hotel, I had to read it as I am a fan of Alfred Hitchcock.

Alfred Smettle has been a fan of Alfred Hitchcock since he was a child, thanks to his mother. Alfred knows everything there is to know about Hitch, as he calls Alfred Hitchcock. In college he was the head of the Film Club, and it was here that he met his friends: Zoe, Samira, TJ, Julius, and Grace. But an event happened in their senior year and Alfred has not spoken to any of them in Sixteen years. Alfred is now the owner of a Victorian house high on a hill in the White Mountains. Alfred has turned this house into the Hitchcock Hotel, complete with a screening room, movie props and even an aviary filled with black crows.  To celebrate the hotel’s first anniversary, Alfred invites his college friends to spend the weekend. And in true Hitchcock fashion, before the weekend is over someone will be dead.

I am a Hitchcock fan, though not to the extent as Alfred was. LOL!  So, I really loved all the references to his movies and the props that Alfred has acquired for his hotel. I learned a thing or two about Hitchcock that I did not know. So not only was this a mystery but also a learning experience for me. Hahaha

I will say that I did not like any of the characters very much. With friends like these, you really don’t need enemies. They each had secrets they were keeping, some more severe than others. And when the events of what happened their senior year of college came out, I was like “Go get them Alfred.”  Then I learned more and was like “Oh Alfred, you are no innocent party here.”

When we find out who dies, I immediately thought I knew exactly what was going on. I was so sure I was right and then came a twist that blew that theory out of the water. I so did not see that twist coming at all.

The Hitchcock Hotel was a good read. It didn’t knock my socks off but kept me entertained throughout.  3 ½ stars

Review: GOOD GIRLS LIE by J.T. Ellison

Review:  GOOD GIRLS LIE by J.T. EllisonGood Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison
four-stars
Published by MIRA on December 30, 2019
Genres: Thriller, Mystery
Pages: 464
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

 

 

Thanks so much to Justine Sha for inviting me to take part in Harlequin Trade Publishing’s Winter 2020 Mystery/Thriller Blog Tour.  Today I’m sharing my thoughts on J.T. Ellison’s latest thriller, GOOD GIRLS LIE.

Those who follow my blog know that I’m always on the lookout for a good thriller.  I love reads that are filled with suspense and intrigue and that keep me guessing from start to finish.  I had never read one of J.T. Ellison’s thrillers and was primarily drawn to Good Girls Lie because it’s set in my home state of Virginia, but after flying through the pages of this novel, I can say without hesitation that J.T. Ellison has joined the ranks of Ruth Ware, Riley Sager, and the legendary Agatha Christie as one of my favorite thriller authors.

It’s always hard to talk about a thriller without giving away spoilers, so I just want to touch on a few highlights that made this read such a win for me.

  • If you enjoy reads that are set in boarding schools, Good Girls Lie is your book. It’s set in an elite all girls’ boarding school called Goode Academy nestled in the hills of Central Virginia, and I just loved how atmospheric this setting is. The school itself has an illustrious past – a student was murdered there years ago and rumors abound that the school grounds are haunted.  Supernatural elements aside, the school also has secret societies with bizarre initiation rituals, as well as its fair share of mean girls and hazing.  The girls at this school are destined for the Ivy Leagues and greatness, if they can survive their time at Goode Academy.
  • I love a story that captivates my attention from the very first page and Good Girls Lie definitely fits the bill. The opening scene of the novel features a dead student hanging from the school’s front gates, which of course immediately caught my attention and started an internal barrage of questions:  Who is she? How did she get up there?  Is it suicide or something more sinister? If she was murdered, who would do such a thing and why?  Death is tragic enough, but when it’s the death of a young person, a promising life cut short, it just pulls at my heartstrings all the more. I was completely engaged from this opening scene because I just had to know what happened to lead up to such a devastating moment.
  • I’m always drawn to characters who are flawed and complicated and J.T. Ellison has a cast of them in this book, my favorite of which is Ash Carlisle, a new student at the school who is struggling to find her place and fit in. She has come to Virginia from England and we soon learn that both of Ash’s parents recently died unexpectedly and that she has no other family.  It’s easy to feel sympathetic toward Ash because she’s all alone in the world and trying to find herself while maintaining some semblance of privacy.  Ash becomes an even more interesting character, however, as we realize that not everything is as it seems.
  • “Not everything is as it seems” is actually a recurring theme with Good Girls Lie and it’s what really kept the suspense ramped up and had me turning pages well into the night because I wanted answers and kept getting more and more twists and turns instead. Everyone in this book seems to have something they’re hiding and it was just such an entertaining read to watch the story unfold and all of their secrets unravel.
  • I will say that I ultimately wasn’t too surprised by the novel’s final reveal. Even though the reveal itself didn’t have huge shock value, the journey to get to it was well worth it.  I loved how intricately plotted the entire story was and how each piece gradually slipped into place to lead to the reveal.  Ellison’s ability to weave together the many tangled threads of this story and its characters into a cohesive and engaging read is on point.

If you’re looking for a dark and twisty mystery to keep you on the edge of your seat, J.T. Ellison’s Good Girls Lie is a must read.  Be sure to check it out when it hits bookshelves on December 30th!

 

PURCHASE LINKS:  

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SUMMARY:

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.

 

J.T. ELLISON GOOD GIRLS LIE BOOK TOUR

 

  

four-stars

About J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 20 novels, and the EMMY-award winning co-host of A WORD ON WORDS, Nashville’s premier literary show. With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim, prestigious awards, and has been published in 26 countries. Ellison lives in Nashville with her husband and twin kittens.