Stacy Willingham is a master at capturing the human experience. I enjoy authors subverting the formula and making the narrator the villain and I found myself sympathizing with Margot even though she killed her best friend and covered up another murder. We were so inside her head that by the time we learned the truth, we were starting to justify her actions or rationalize just like she was that she wasn't really so bad. It was a chain of unfortunate circumstances. She'd never want to kill her best friend. But we also see the dark side of obsession, undying loyalty and the expectation of the same in return, and finding your identity in your friends. Under the right circumstances, could any of us snap just a little bit and never be able to take it back?

Only If You’re Lucky is the authors third book, it follows Margot, a girl who suffered the loss of her best friend a year ago, and now is moving in to a house with three girls she barely knows at her college. Lucy is the ringleader and a complete mystery, Margot struggles with their relationship, and tragedy strikes, with alternative past and present POVs.

3.5 ⭐️
I left this for so long because I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it, but I did. This was really, really slow, somewhat boring and a touch repetitive, but I still liked it. I liked this better than the author’s last book, but not as much as the first. I was shocked by the end, the twist and how everything came together. The second half definitely moves at a much faster pace and I enjoyed it a lot more, I liked finding everything out. I wouldn’t say this is hard to get into, but it took me so long to get through. There’s little snippets throughout that all contribute to the ending, which I enjoyed. I do recommend this for an academic thriller, a mystery, with a solid ending. It’s a bit hard to review, it keeps you guessing to the end, being led one way, then another. Thanks to NatGalley and the publisher for the free preview in exchange for an honest review.

📖 BOOK REVIEW

🎧 ONLY IF YOU’RE LUCKY by Stacy Willingham
3.5 stars

Genre: thriller
Did I cry: no
Published in 2024

💭: this book was good. I’ll preface this with that. I did enjoy it when I was reading it. Every time I’ve tried to remember anything about it tho, I’ve had to look it up and read the entire synopsis which i think says something. I felt a little bit like the pacing was off in some parts, and the middle kinda dragged on a little bit but i will say that the twist was pretty good, i half predicted it but i still felt it was well-executed. I liked the school setting but especially how it was an off-campus house, that kinda felt unique to me as opposed to traditional boarding school / dark academia vibes. While i didn’t think it was anything extraordinary, i did enjoy and i do recommend it!!

This book is about secrets and suspense. It follows a group of friends whose lives change when something terrible happens. The story is full of twists and keeps you guessing. If you like mysteries and figuring out what happens next, this is a great book for you.

This one was fun! Super easy to binge read and such great twists! I loved the dark academia and mystery vibes in this book. It was a bit of a slow burn but there was an interesting cast of characters that kept me interested!

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.