3/5 -- I really enjoyed her first two books and was excited to read ONLY IF YOU’RE LUCKY but quickly found that it was different, a little less thriller and a lot more suspense. Definitely a slow burn. Although I didn't love the story, I did still love the writing style. It wasn't 100% predictable which I always appreciate. Read if you like campus/college settings, murder mysteries, toxic characters, alternating timelines.

While the core mystery of this book was interesting at first, it was clear about halfway through how the plot of this would end.

This felt like a YA thriller, and I honestly did not mind that even though it is not marketed as such. I typically love a book where the setting is a school of sorts so that hit the mark for me. I enjoyed it although I wish we got to read some of the other characters POV.

Stacy Willingham is absolutely brilliant. She came crashing into my literary life in 2023 after a friend told me I HAD to read her book and she wasn’t wrong. I love many genre’s of books and thrillers are way up at the top. I love the twists and turns and the unexpected of thrillers. However, Stacy is just an incredible writer. Usually when I read I can piece together things but she writes in such a way that you’re constantly questioning what is going on and where could this possibly end up. I have a hard time not binging and staying up until all hours to read her books. This books is about friendship, belonging, loyalty but also betrayal!

This story follows Margot to college where she should’ve been with her best friend, Eliza, but she died shortly after graduation. Margot finds herself eventually making friends with a girl, Lucy, who reminds her so much of Eliza. However, after Lucy enters Margot’s world things go crazy…parts of her past come to the present and tie into her current and new world but then all of that comes crashing down. Lucy and Margot become the best of friends but then Lucy winds up missing and a boy from the fraternity next door is dead.. 🤯🤯🤯

This books is packed with suspense and so many what the F moments. Just when you think you have something figured out Stacy throws something else in and your mind will be reeling.

There isn’t a person I won’t recommend this book to. It’s a book that would definitely get you out of a reading slump but all of Stacy’s books are like that.

From the writer that brought us A Flicker In the Dark — I had to request this one.

It is slower paced read, and it’s less intense than Flicker. I think this book would fare better as YA versus Adult, because it seems better for that generation and audience.

I really enjoyed it once I started to care about the characters.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up

A quick, slow burn. Plot twists were predictable but overall if you are feeling a nostalgic college thriller, this one is for you. I enjoyed it. But it wasn’t my favorite of hers.

I absolutely love Stacy’s writing. She is one author who can write the slow burn thriller. This book had so many twists that I did not expect the ending. I loved the mystery behind Lucy and how was persuasive and how you were drawn to her and her stories I enjoyed the dual time lines

I’ve read all of this author’s published work and I think each book just gets better and better. The mystery of this one went seamlessly and everything got tied up in the end which I love.

The mystery surrounding Lucy took over all my thoughts. I really liked Margot, she was a great character to read from. The friendships between all the girls made me so happy, I enjoy reading about the dynamics of friend groups.

I love this author’s books, I feel like there is always a huge twist that blows my mind. This book absolutely lives up to every book I’ve read by her. Honestly I would love any of her books to be turned into a movie or a series.

This was a really average thriller for me. DNF'd it at 35%. I read another book by this author which was also very average. I think this is just not an auhtor for me.

I could not get myself to finish this book! I tried I tried I TRIED. But it was so slow to start I couldn't get myself to finish.

Unfortunately this one missed the mark for me. It read very YA and just very surface level with a very anti-climatic ending. All I got from it was College kids partying and whining. I loved the constant referring to one of the character eyes as “kaleidoscope blue” or something along those lines.

After reading this one I did pick up All the dangerous things and enjoyed that one a lot more.

Thank you to netgalley for an arc.

Stacy Willingham has quickly become one of my favorite thriller authors. While this book felt more YA as it focused on college kids, it was shocking!! That ending was wow.

Stacy Willingham, queen of the twisty thriller, returns with "Only If You’re Lucky," a dark dive into female friendships at a South Carolina college. Shy and careful Margot can’t resist the pull of Lucy Sharpe, who’s like a human magnet—bold, dangerous, and just the right amount of trouble. But when Margot moves in with Lucy and two other girls, things take a dark turn after a frat boy ends up dead and Lucy disappears. It’s a wild ride through loyalty, envy, and all the mess that comes with being "besties."

Despite its current lukewarm Goodreads rating, I found "Only If You’re Lucky" to be an addictive read. Willingham’s knack for creating messy, fascinating characters shines here, especially in the way she nails the college vibe, complete with all the drama, dorm life, wild parties and bad decisions.

Some twists were easy to spot, but predicting a few things didn’t ruin the fun. It was still a thrill to see where the plot went. If you love psychological thrillers with girls who have a dark side and a talent for landing in the middle of a murder mystery, you’ll devour this one.

Easy to keep track of with the POVs and timelines. slow but even pacing trying to figure out what happened. Stacy will be an auto read author for me!

Four college age friends— a borderline illegal apartment, a fraternity, and partying, what could go wrong? A missing person and mayhem that’s what. I enjoyed this one. While I figured out the ending before it happened, it did not lessen my enjoyment of the book. Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for providing me with an ARC.

Review posted:

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

After reading and really enjoying All The Dangerous Things and A Flicker In the Dark, when I saw Only If You’re Lucky was on Netgalley, I requested.

However, a IG friend did warn me that this was a slow burn. But man, did I not anticipate how sloooooooooooooooooow of a burn it would be.

In the first 2-3 chapters, I began to think this was a much watered down version of The Girls Are All So Nice Here, but that was not how it turned out. It just took forever for some action to start happening and by the time the action did start happening, I was somewhere between “meh and lukewarm” on this book. I don’t read YA books, but this seemed to have a younger audience feel and I realize these girls were in college and they are young, even though they think they are grown- but I feel Stacy’s 2 earlier books straddled a better line of being great reads for older and younger women. Just my 2 cents, though. YMMV.

What I Liked:

The cover is fantastic.

The actual ending. When everything ties together.



Bottom line: This book could have had at least 100 pages taken out and I think that would have been better for me. It was a times almost too angsty (again, perhaps considering the age of the characters). For me, it was just not up to the standards I have come to expect from Stacy Willingham. Fingers crossed book 4 satisfies like Book 1 and 2 did.



*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*

I love me some dark academia, and this book is dark! (Trigger warnings: death, murder, rape)

Starting off innocently enough, I didn't think this book would be so heavy. But the more I read, the darker and heavier it got. I had some theories throughout and some were close and others were not, but it didn't matter because I was hooked and needed to find out what would happen next.

I really enjoyed this twisty thriller and I can't wait to read more from this author. This book is one that will be burned in my brain for a long time!

5 stars for a fantastic thriller

I heard the author speak about Flicker In The Dark and was hooked.
When I saw the book and its cover I knew I wanted to read it.
Students, a murder and missing people add up to a fast paced roller coaster ride.
Highly recommended for fans of thrillers.

Willingham returns with a new mystery filled with unexpected twists and turns.

Margot is a sophomore trying to find her people after losing her best friend a year earlier. The freshman year she imagined was crushed when Eliza died. Pulled into an instant group by Lucy Sharpe, Margot’s sophomore year is all the things she hoped for, close friends, parties, and an off-campus house. But Lucy is missing and everyone’s past is coming back to haunt them.

Told in past and present chapters the mysteries compound and unfold. It’s a good satisfying conclusion, but not as good as Willingham’s first book A Flicker in the Dark.

Margot is finishing her freshman year at Rutgers, a school she was supposed to attend with her best friend, Eliza, before she died.

When Margot decides to move in with three other girls she barely knows, things slowly start to get weird. During a drunken party Lucy asks, "if you could get away with murder, would you do it?" And now it all feels dangerous. Secrets are revealed, pasts get exposed, and loyalties are tested. A psychological thriller that explores the excess of college parties, the toxicity of greek life, and the power dynamics of friendships.

(Honestly, she should have roomed with Maggie and her matching throw pillows.)

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.