I really like Stacy Willingham’s books and this did not disappoint. This was a good mystery and it kept me engaged the entire way through. I enjoyed the female friendship aspect.

Well. I’m a bit sad to give this rating. I LOVED Stacy’s last (and first) two thriller novels, but this one just didn’t quite live up to those and somewhat missed the mark - it was quite the build-up and slow burn.

A great, quick read! Stacy Willingham is becoming an auto-read author for me that I can easily recommend to friends and students who like thrillers. I love that her books have well-developed, complex characters who feel like they could be actual people in your community. This book (like her others) also showcases Willingham's creativity as she produces an engaging storyline that keeps the reader invested until the final pages. However, some of the storyline in this particular book is a bit far-fetched and less believable, even though I enjoyed the campus setting.

Wow this one had a lot of twists and turns. The time frame goes from past to forward and a few times I got confused if we were forward or back but it worked out fine. The story follows college kids who are living together. The story progresses great until the twists and turns start coming and I love it when you never see it coming!

This book was hard to get into, like Stacy's other books it has a slow start then usually has a twist towards the end. Unfortunately I could not finish this one. The story starts off with the main character living in a sorority house with unlikely friends and with some PTSD from past events.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy

Stacy Willingham always has such beautiful book covers, which makes me excited to read the books. This book surprised me in how deep and dark it got. A frat boy is murdered and a friend disappears. This psychological thriller kept me guessing and made me want to keep reading.

This book was just okay for me but I had very high expectations as I LOVED the last two books by this author. I really enjoyed how well the setting contributed to the overall spooky vibes of the story and the dark academia themes really set the scene well. I was super engrossed in the first half of this book and then found the rest of it to drag on a bit.

I absolutely hated the main character in this story. Her obsession with her childhood friend seemed borderline problematic and the repetition started to get irritating as the book went on.

Overall I enjoyed my time with this book, the writing is fantastic which was enough for me to want to keep reading but it was definitely slow for a thriller!

From the author of A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things comes a tantalizing thriller about the nature of friendship and belonging, about loyalty, envy, and betrayal—another gripping novel from an author quickly becoming the gold standard in psychological suspense.

Thank you St.Martin’s Press and Netgalley for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is the first book I’ve read by Stacy Willingham. I read 60% of this book and decided to DNF it. This book is set on a college campus but I didn’t like any of the characters. The college students were annoying and immature and the book moved too slow for me. I didn’t feel emotionally invested in this story and I can’t relate to it because I didn’t go to college.

ONLY IF YOU"RE LUCKY was an engaging portrayal of female friendship and the cost of unchecked envy. The pacing was a bit slower than I was expecting for a psychological thriller, but I found the multiple timelines and dark academia to help propel the suspense along. I appreciated the social commentary on the consequences of obsession and toxic relationships. I have enjoyed all of Stacy Willingham's books and look forward to what she writes next!

Many thanks to NetgGalley and the publisher for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lucy goes missing suddenly from her off campus house. Her roommates don’t know what happened or where she could have gone. What happened to Lucy?

Mmm what to say. Not my favorite by this author. I had high expectations, her last two books for me were easy 5⭐️. That is not to say this book wasn’t good but it wasn’t one I was rushing to finish over a bowl of popcorn. It was good, it had a good story but it was a bit slow. More of a slow burn mystery, not quite a thriller and definitely not a binge read for me. All that said, this was a good mystery and I wanted to know what would happen next. I could relate to the characters and their stories. I felt like once we got a couple twists revealed they came tumbling out, whereas with her other novels, she slowly released her twists while you read making you binge her novels.

Overall I enjoyed this. I like Stacy Willingham's writing and I liked the general idea of the book. I do feel I was able to guess most of the high points of the plot, but I liked the journey to see if I was right or wrong. Some of the college drama felt a bit repetitive, but I think part of that is being that I'm a bit removed from college myself, so I see it a bit different. I still had a great time following this story.

"From the author of A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things comes a tantalizing thriller about the nature of friendship and belonging, about loyalty, envy, and betrayal―another gripping novel from an author quickly becoming the gold standard in psychological suspense."

Stacy Willingham does it again! She is on my short list of authors whose books I will always read and always recommend. She does the slow burn so well. This is the author's third remarkable book, and I absolutely loved it. She is an excellent writer and makes you really feel like you are there with her characters. The psychological profiles are deeply engaging, the atmosphere immersive, and the plot compelling. Told from a first-person perspective, the writing style draws you in completely. It’s an incredible journey of friendship and betrayal.

Highly recommend!!

I’m late to finishing this one, it felt right to pick it back up in the fall since a lot of it takes place over a school year.
Margot is shy and careful and never the centre of attention (I really connected to the character because of that). At the end of high school, her best friend tragically passes away. Margot and Eliza had planned to go to the same college. She decides to go anyway and meets Lucy, who is charismatic and immediately makes her feel part of a group of girls. Margot ends up living with Lucy, Nicole and Sloane and realizes that the other girls are a bit guarded around Lucy. Lucy seems to take others’ fears and insecurities and use them against them and something just doesn’t add up.

Once I got hooked on this one, I couldn’t put it down. It was a bit slow for me at the start but once it got going, each chapter brought more and more secrets to the surface.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s press and the author for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The first 25% or so of this book fascinated me, but it slowed down considerably in the middle and I lost interest. I love a college campus and complex friend groups, but it just couldn't hold my attention long enough for me to finish. I loved the author's first novel and will definitely read more of hers in future, but this was just not for me.

Very slow burn throughout the book, but it still kept me engaged to the end with the tangle of complicated relationships, manipulations, and twists and turns. The tension was pushing and pulling throughout the book and certainly kept me guessing as I learned that Levi and Lucy were both gone. I definitely enjoyed the book, even if it did end up being a tad predictable by the end.

At a liberal arts college in South Carolina, shy Margot ends up meeting the energetic Lucy Sharpe. When they end up rooming together, Lucy starts to come out of her shell for the first time in years. But soon, a boy from the frat next door ends up dead and Lucy is nowhere to be found. This book is an incredible story about female friendships and the complexities that lie within them. I'm also personally a huge fan of the novels set on colleges campuses, so this is an especially great read for those going back to school or looking to reminisce on that college atmosphere.

This book kept me guessing until the end. When the big twist was revealed, I was completely surprised. Although the story flipped between the current time and the past, it was fairly easy to keep up with what time period the story was in any any given time, I enjoyed the characters and the story. I would definitely recommend this book!

I wanted to love this like I did her first book but it was just not the same. I think it wasn’t as fast paced and it was hard for me to stay interested.

“They were right, those women. College friends are different. We would do anything for each other. Anything.” Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham
This is definitely a slow burn psychological thriller; however, Willingham’s writing style captivates the reader and leaves you wanting more. With the story told primarily from Margot’s point of view, a college student, at times is an unreliable narrator. The story jumps timelines, before and after the death of a fellow student. Soon after the start of the book, the reader knows immediately that Margot and her friends know more than they are letting on. Like any good psychological thriller, Willingham put in several twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. As the end of the book approaches, you end up reading faster and faster to see what ends up happening. Overall, I think this was a good thriller, however a bit different from the author’s previous books. Nevertheless, Stacy Willingham is an automatic read and I can’t wait to see what she puts out next!